The thought of travelling from the UK to Australia with a toddler in tow sounds like most people’s idea of hell.
So spare a thought for Strictly Come Dancing star Ellie Taylor, 41, who has done the ’36-hour, door-to-door’ journey, there and back twice, with her 18-month-old son, Rhino – and is planning a third trip to Sydney later this year.
‘My husband’s Australian, so we visit quite a lot,’ she explains in an exclusive interview with MailOnline Travel. ‘It’s always gorgeous and sunny, and there are lots of beaches and fabulous food, fabulous weather and family, which is great.
‘I love Sydney, because I’ve got a lot of fond memories there, and it’s an amazing city. It’s the best city in the world.
‘Whenever I go there, I think, why on earth does anyone ever leave? I always say to my husband, “Why did you leave? You fool!”
But, while Ted Lasso actress Ellie loves Sydney, getting there is another story.
She says: ‘My six-year-old, Valentina, is absolutely fine. Once she hit about three, she was as good as gold, but the baby years are awful.
‘We went when my son was four months old, and when he was a year old.
Strictly Come Dancing star Ellie Taylor , 41, has flown to Sydney and back twice, with her 18-month-old son, Rhino
She says: ‘Door to door, the journey is about 36 hours, and I think my life expectancy dropped by that many years! ‘It’s just so full on, and it’s not their fault; they’re just babies’
‘Door to door, the journey is about 36 hours, and I think my life expectancy dropped by that many years!
‘It’s just so full on, and it’s not their fault; they’re just babies, and they don’t want to sit there for that long.
‘And you have to share a seat with them – and it’s just all awful.
‘But it could have been worse. I think I’d ramped it up in my head, like it was going to be so unbelievably horrific – and nothing could ever be that bad.’
She adds: ‘I think we might go again at some point this year, but he’s mobile now, and he walks, so may God have kindness on the entirety of that plane, because they’re going to know my child pretty well!’
But the flights to Australia haven’t been the worst part of holidaying since starting a family.
For Ellie, her worst holiday was when she was heavily pregnant with Rhino in Sardinia.
‘It was freakishly hot,’ she recalls. ‘It was one of those heat waves in Europe, and around 45 degrees.
Ellie’s worst holiday was when she was heavily pregnant with Rhino in Sardinia during a heatwave. ‘It was freakishly hot,’ she recalls
These days, Ellie and her family enjoy staying in child-friendly hotels in Majorca, which she says is ‘the absolute top notch place to go’
‘And this beautiful resort was quite barren and open, with no shade.
‘I was just so uncomfortable and massive and then we found out the hotel pools were salt water, so my daughter refused to put her head under the water or swim in the pool.
‘Just getting to the beach in the heat with a whinging four year old felt like some sort SAS, military ordeal
‘It was an endurance test for a week, and I was very glad to come home!’
These days, Ellie and her family enjoy staying in child-friendly hotels in Majorca, which she says is ‘the absolute top notch place to go’.
‘The food is amazing, the weather’s beautiful and it’s only a couple of hours from London on the plane,’ she adds.
Another family favourite for Ellie’s clan is Centreparcs (‘for our sins’) – but she dreads getting recognised while her kids are on the waterslides.
She says: ‘As a woman who’s occasionally on telly, I dread someone coming up to me while I’m standing in a queue to go down a flume, in my swimming costume, a bit soggy, having been up all night with a baby.
On Majorca, Ellie says: ‘The food is amazing, the weather’s beautiful and it’s only a couple of hours from London on the plane’
Ellie has partnered with Intrepid Travel to ‘pitch’ a proposed new travel show, Travel Ann, following the adventure travel group finding almost half of Brits (48%) are ‘exhausted’ by the current format of most TV travel shows being fronted by men
‘That’ll be like my community service.’
But Ellie’s not fussy when it comes to hotels generally.
‘I love any hotel because it means I’m not at home, so I sleep through the night,’ she says. ‘Even a Premier Inn in Luton would be a mini break for me!
‘As long as I have a nice, big, fat bed, loads of cushions and a blackout blind – plus free biscuits with the kettle – I’m happy.’
Ellie has partnered with Intrepid Travel to ‘pitch’ a proposed new travel show, Travel Ann, following the adventure travel group finding almost half of Brits (48%) are ‘exhausted’ by the current format of most TV travel shows being fronted by men.
She says: ‘Intrepid is trying to get more women on travel shows, because it’s just so disproportionate at the moment, and we want a change in how we view travel on telly. Only 23 per cent of travel shows in the last year have been female-fronted, and 80 per cent of holiday-making decisions, in the UK, are made by women, so there’s such a big appetite for it.’
Travel Ann is in the process of being pitched to major UK TV networks for a six-episode run. Further information on the TV series can be found at intrepidtravel.com.
