Tracee Ellis Ross’ top tips for travelling solo

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There’s no off time for Ross, but she does answer texts more slowly when she’s on holiday (Credit: Courtesy of The Roku Channel)

Courtesy of The Roku Channel There's no off time for Ross, but she does answer texts more slowly when she's on holiday (Credit: Courtesy of The Roku Channel) — There’s no off time for Ross, but she does answer texts more slowly when she’s on holiday (Credit: Courtesy of The Roku Channel)

In the episode where you travel to Mexico, you wind up working. Does that happen often?

I think it depends what’s happening in my life, but the truth is that I’m a founder and CEO of a big, huge beauty company. There’s no off time. This is my big, beautiful life so I don’t find it to be a burden. I do answer texts more slowly when I’m on vacation. I don’t have my phone with me every move I make. And I sometimes day drink. [laughs] So if you day drink, you can’t be on that phone working!

What are the first things you do in a new place?

I settle in. I like to unpack; I’m an unpack girl. I also like to take a bath, because I feel like it settles my body off the plane, and I now actually have my feet on the ground. I love to look for a lymphatic drainage massage.

How do you plan your trip?

Usually, I have researched in advance if there’s a particular restaurant I want to try or if there’s a gallery or a museum that I want to visit so that I’m not spending my time researching. My favourite thing to do is find those places by asking [local] people versus TikTok, you know? Because I lived in Europe growing up and went to school in Europe, I know people and I can usually collect a really good sort of itinerary for myself.

What’s one thing you never do?

I don’t overbook. If I go on a trip, it might be like one restaurant that I try. I don’t like to jam pack my days in any way, shape or form. You don’t want to need a vacation from the vacation. I come home from my solo trips and I’m, like, ready to jive back into my life.

Ross never overbooks her solo trips to make sure she comes back to real life refreshed (Credit: Courtesy of The Roku Channel)

Courtesy of The Roku Channel Ross never overbooks her solo trips to make sure she comes back to real life refreshed (Credit: Courtesy of The Roku Channel) — Ross never overbooks her solo trips to make sure she comes back to real life refreshed (Credit: Courtesy of The Roku Channel)

There are some great scenes of you celebrating local food culture in the series.

I try to keep it simple and order things that I know and love. [But in] Morocco, my mouth was so happy and I had no idea what I was eating. [There] were flavours that my mouth had never tasted! And it was delicious! I was, like, ‘I don’t even know what these things are!’ So I love that part of it. And then you just wanna have some fries.

What’s the best way to experience a city on your own?

I listen to the sounds. I find it so soothing to listen to the sounds of an environment, because they sound different everywhere. Wind sounds different. The birds sound different. The traffic sounds different. So I do a lot of listening when I’m travelling. One of my favourite sounds in the world is wind on trees. Truly, it’s just magic to me.

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