Roulette Table: My hols: Tamzin Outhwaite
The actress is right at home in five-star hotels — but adventure is vital, too
Tamzin Outhwaite, 35, was brought up in Essex and studied drama and dance at the London Studio Centre before achieving fame playing Melanie in EastEnders. She left the show in 2002, and has recently starred in the BBC's Hotel Babylon. Her latest role is as Rhoda Bradley in the new drama series Vital Signs, on ITV1 on Thursdays. She lives in London with her fiancé, the actor Tom Ellis
TRAVEL IS my favourite subject. I spend all my money on it. If I weren’t an actress, I’d like to be a travel writer. The only problem is, I can’t write. I’d have to bring somebody along to do that bit for me.
I started young. I can remember going to California when I was two, and again at four.
It sticks in my mind because my cousins were Minnie Mouse and Smee, from Peter Pan. Really. They lived in Orange County, Los Angeles, and that’s what they did for a living — went around Disneyland in Minnie Mouse and Smee suits. You’d think that would kill the magic of it, but it didn’t. On the one hand, they were our cousins, and we were staying at their house; on the other, they were our favourite cartoon characters, and meeting them was the most exciting thing in the world. When you’re that age, it’s easy to believe two contradictory things simultaneously.
These days, my holidays fall roughly into three different types: the luxurious ones, the experimental ones and the adventurous ones.
Luxury first. I do still love posh places, though Hotel Babylon has made me a bit more conscious of some of the things that go on. (Here’s a tip: never drink from the glass in a hotel bathroom.) My favourite places are Al Maha in Dubai — it’s so romantic, Bedouin tents right out in the desert — and the Maldives. I’ve been five times. The best resort there is Huvafen Fushi. It’s natural, raw, very simple, but beautifully done. You’re in a bungalow over the water, with your own plunge pool and steps into the sea: there’s a glass wall by the bath, so you can see the fish as you have a soak.
The experimental holidays are a recent thing. Tom and I made a decision that we’d go on breaks we’d never normally think of, things that just didn’t seem to be “us”. So, last year, we went to Center Parcs, and we loved it — riding, cycling, tennis and a great spa. And we went on a cruise, too. We ate an awful lot, and got ourselves a serious casino addiction. There were all these high rollers slapping thousands on the roulette table — we felt a bit sheepish with our $10 chips.
And then there’s the more “out there” stuff. I’m not just talking about distance, though. It’s a mistake to think a long journey means you’re going to end up somewhere exotic. Take Tasmania: it was the best part of two days’ flying and when I got there, I thought, “Oh God, I’ve travelled all this way to end up in Devon.” It’s really very ordinary.
No, I mean adventurous. Some of my favourite trips have been to places such as India, Thailand, Madagascar, and when you go somewhere like that, I think you have to experience both sides of life. You have to rough it a little, see how people really live: sometimes it’s not particularly pleasing on the eye, but that dose of reality is important.
So, I had a backpacking holiday in Thailand, staying in huts and all that — though I did have some luxury at the end, at the Banyan Tree on Phuket. That’s the sexiest hotel I’ve ever been to.
Madagascar was a bit tougher. I went the year that my character married Ian Beale in EastEnders: there was a big fuss about it and I just had to have a break. Back then, it wasn’t really ready for tourism. There were seven of us, and we didn’t see any other westerners for days. We trekked in the rainforest. It was beautiful, but life was very tough for the local people. We were in a village and this gorgeous two-year-old boy was taken ill. They rushed him to the nearest medical centre, but it was too far away and he died. It was heartbreaking.
India’s hard, too. There are some beautiful beaches in Goa, but the cities are something else — everybody beeping, cutting each other up, with little rickshaws weaving in and out, dogs running around. And, of course, the poverty. India’s tough on your heart, full stop.
In fact, I don’t go to India on holiday any more. That’s not “out of sight, out of mind”, it’s because you end up feeling that what you do for a living does nothing for society. That your life’s work isn’t worthwhile. And I don’t have an answer for that.
Tamzin Outhwaite talked to Stephen Bleach
Tamzin Outhwaite, 35, was brought up in Essex and studied drama and dance at the London Studio Centre before achieving fame playing Melanie in EastEnders. She left the show in 2002, and has recently starred in the BBC's Hotel Babylon. Her latest role is as Rhoda Bradley in the new drama series Vital Signs, on ITV1 on Thursdays. She lives in London with her fiancé, the actor Tom Ellis
TRAVEL IS my favourite subject. I spend all my money on it. If I weren’t an actress, I’d like to be a travel writer. The only problem is, I can’t write. I’d have to bring somebody along to do that bit for me.
I started young. I can remember going to California when I was two, and again at four.
It sticks in my mind because my cousins were Minnie Mouse and Smee, from Peter Pan. Really. They lived in Orange County, Los Angeles, and that’s what they did for a living — went around Disneyland in Minnie Mouse and Smee suits. You’d think that would kill the magic of it, but it didn’t. On the one hand, they were our cousins, and we were staying at their house; on the other, they were our favourite cartoon characters, and meeting them was the most exciting thing in the world. When you’re that age, it’s easy to believe two contradictory things simultaneously.
These days, my holidays fall roughly into three different types: the luxurious ones, the experimental ones and the adventurous ones.
Luxury first. I do still love posh places, though Hotel Babylon has made me a bit more conscious of some of the things that go on. (Here’s a tip: never drink from the glass in a hotel bathroom.) My favourite places are Al Maha in Dubai — it’s so romantic, Bedouin tents right out in the desert — and the Maldives. I’ve been five times. The best resort there is Huvafen Fushi. It’s natural, raw, very simple, but beautifully done. You’re in a bungalow over the water, with your own plunge pool and steps into the sea: there’s a glass wall by the bath, so you can see the fish as you have a soak.
The experimental holidays are a recent thing. Tom and I made a decision that we’d go on breaks we’d never normally think of, things that just didn’t seem to be “us”. So, last year, we went to Center Parcs, and we loved it — riding, cycling, tennis and a great spa. And we went on a cruise, too. We ate an awful lot, and got ourselves a serious casino addiction. There were all these high rollers slapping thousands on the roulette table — we felt a bit sheepish with our $10 chips.
And then there’s the more “out there” stuff. I’m not just talking about distance, though. It’s a mistake to think a long journey means you’re going to end up somewhere exotic. Take Tasmania: it was the best part of two days’ flying and when I got there, I thought, “Oh God, I’ve travelled all this way to end up in Devon.” It’s really very ordinary.
No, I mean adventurous. Some of my favourite trips have been to places such as India, Thailand, Madagascar, and when you go somewhere like that, I think you have to experience both sides of life. You have to rough it a little, see how people really live: sometimes it’s not particularly pleasing on the eye, but that dose of reality is important.
So, I had a backpacking holiday in Thailand, staying in huts and all that — though I did have some luxury at the end, at the Banyan Tree on Phuket. That’s the sexiest hotel I’ve ever been to.
Madagascar was a bit tougher. I went the year that my character married Ian Beale in EastEnders: there was a big fuss about it and I just had to have a break. Back then, it wasn’t really ready for tourism. There were seven of us, and we didn’t see any other westerners for days. We trekked in the rainforest. It was beautiful, but life was very tough for the local people. We were in a village and this gorgeous two-year-old boy was taken ill. They rushed him to the nearest medical centre, but it was too far away and he died. It was heartbreaking.
India’s hard, too. There are some beautiful beaches in Goa, but the cities are something else — everybody beeping, cutting each other up, with little rickshaws weaving in and out, dogs running around. And, of course, the poverty. India’s tough on your heart, full stop.
In fact, I don’t go to India on holiday any more. That’s not “out of sight, out of mind”, it’s because you end up feeling that what you do for a living does nothing for society. That your life’s work isn’t worthwhile. And I don’t have an answer for that.
Tamzin Outhwaite talked to Stephen Bleach
