In this week’s edition of On The Road, our series all about life’s journeys, we chat with Jodie Kidd about her favourite travel experiences, from swimming with dolphins to seeing the llamas while walking the Inca Trail.
The model and broadcaster, 42, shares her best travel stories about mind-blowing Botswana, sleeping in rowing boats and eating pigeon brain in Morocco.
What has been your favourite moment on-the-road moment?
A photo shoot for American Elle magazine. I went to the Bahamas and swam with dolphins. It was just myself, the trainer and the dolphins. It was a really magical moment.
I was only 17 and to be able to swim with them while being photographed by one of the world’s best photographers was just an amazing experience.
And your favourite city?
Cusco in Peru. I went there to walk the Inca trail. It’s a beautiful place, so high up in the Andes, and from the centre of the city it’s just a five-minute walk to all these fantastic Incan ruins.
The food was great, and I loved walking around and seeing all the llamas and the villagers coming into town in their brightly coloured clothes.
When have you been most frightened when travelling?
In Mexico City. I was transiting through the city prior to a photo shoot. I was quite young, didn’t speak a word of Spanish and was booked into this dodgy hotel on the outskirts of the city.
There were cockroaches everywhere and a huge storm came in. The roof collapsed and water was literally pouring on to my bed.
Have you ever pinched anything from a hotel room?
I think everyone has a pair of slippers. The most ridiculous thing was the time I took a small teddy bear from a Monte Carlo hotel room.
It was my first trip without my son and they had a little bear in the room. I took it but when I got home I discovered the hotel had added a charge to my credit card for the bear – around £400!
What is the best souvenir you’ve come home with?
I climbed Kilimanjaro in 2016 to raise money for Help For Heroes and I took a small chunk of stone from the top. It’s on my windowsill.
Don’t worry – it’s not tanzanite [a rare mineral] or anything like that. It’s a very boring, small brown stone but it’s just a reminder of the incredible moment when I made it to the top.
What has been your most life-changing moment while travelling?
That was the first time I went on safari in Botswana. As someone who’s been brought up in the countryside, I was blown away by the magnitude of it all.
It was so beautiful to see all these animals roaming wild.
What has been the worst meal you’ve had abroad?
I was in Morocco and bought so many rugs from a rug shop that the family who owned the store invited me to dinner.
I was quite fussy as a youngster but at one point a plate of chicken came out. I ate it all and was telling everyone how delicious it was.
I then found out I’d eaten the brains of a sheep and a pigeon.
Where’s the strangest place you’ve spent the night?
I’ve just completed this new TV show [Don’t Rock The Boat, due to air on ITV in November], which required me to row from Cornwall to Scotland – from Land’s End to John O’Groats – which is over 500 miles.
I had to sleep in the rowing boat’s tiny cabin in the middle of a storm. I’m over six feet tall and I was thinking, ‘What am I doing?’
Where are you hoping to go next?
We had so many trips planned, all of which have been cancelled! We had plans to see family in Barbados, Spain and France.
One thing I’d like to do when all this is over is to spend some time exploring the western side of Scotland – islands like Jura and Islay.
Jodie Kidd is teaming up with Tyrrells Hand Cooked English crisps to support British pubs following the Covid-19 crisis.
5p from special edition packs will be donated to the Licensed Trade Charity. Donate via tyrrellscrisps.co.uk
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