‘Journey to the Magic’ podcast ‘best bits’ special – list of quotes that haven’t yet run in the press to plug the compilation episode, out now

CELEBRITY QUOTES NOT YET RAN

AMY HART

My dad ended up on a lads’ trip to Disney…

Amy reveals to Giovanna that her first trip ever to Walt Disney World was for a family holiday – but for her dad, it was a lads’ getaway.

Amy Hart says: “My dad went there in the 80s. He and his mates were going to book a lads’ holiday to Spain or somewhere when he got all the holiday brochures and went to the pub. He woke up the next day with an invoice for a holiday to Orlando that had been booked. So, he and his mates went and my dad absolutely fell in love [with Disney]. So, he took my mum there on their honeymoon and then when we were kids they saved up for two years to take us, saying it would be the only time we’d ever go. Anyway, we ended up going out every three years.”

“I was seven, my brother was four and that was the perfect age because Sam could still go on a lot of stuff, but he also really believed, he fully bought into all of it. I’ve been 10 or 12 times. I actually spent my 21st birthday in Hollywood Studios.”

‘I was like Cilla Black on Surprise Surprise’

No stranger to flying, Amy worked as cabin crew for nearly nine years. She tells Giovanna she was a fan of ‘making people’s day’ and giving them free things.

Amy Hart says: “I was a cabin manager, so I was in charge of the aircraft. I could make people’s day. I was like Cilla Black on Surprise Surprise. If I had loads of spare seats in business class, I would find people who were celebrating an anniversary or birthday to upgrade them. Or people who were drinking wine they really liked, I’d tell them to take the bottle with them. If it’s not nailed down, give it away! You can’t have it, so you might as well just give it to someone and make their day.”

Amy on flying with babies – ‘they’ve got every right to be there’

Giovanna asks Amy what’s the best way of getting through a flight with a crying baby…

Amy Hart says: “Try just not to care. I know it’s really hard. I remember I was working in business class, and they had a baby crying and this hand came up from behind the divider. A gold card holder and he said ‘can you shut that baby up’ and I was like ‘no’ and he said ‘what do you mean no?’ I said ‘well we talk, dogs bark and babies cry, darling. It’s just a fact of life’. That’s how babies communicate and, on an aircraft, there’s not really much for them to do. They’ve paid the same ticket money as you. So no, sorry, I would say just remember like you’ve got every right to be there the same as everyone else.”

I used to be awful at packing, now I’m a minimalist…

Amy tells Giovanna that when she was working for an airline, she would often just ‘throw things in’ to her suitcase, but over the years, she’s perfecting her packing technique…

Amy Hart says: “I am a bit spoiled. From the age of 18, being crew, you don’t have to abide by any weight restrictions. Once I had a four-day Vegas and had a 31kg bag because I had 27 dresses with me. I used to be really awful at packing. I just throw things in. You get back from a long haul flight in the morning, then you sleep all day. My dad would go and get my case from the car as I was so tired. Then I’d have to repack again two days later. The amount of times that I would get to Orlando and I would have forgotten pants or shoes. I’d have to wear a maxi dress with my crew shoes in Orlando and had to go and buy a pair of flip flops.

“But now I’ve become a real minimalist packer… I have also started to plan my outfits a lot more so that I don’t have to take seven pairs of heels for a seven-night holiday because that’s heavy. But at Disney, I did plan all my outfits out. I will wear havanas around the park and everyone goes mad on my Instagram like how can you wear those for 14 hours instead of trainers? I would rather have a slight bit of uncomfortableness at hour 12 ,than a wet trainer.”

My best holiday ever? Walt Disney World!

Amy admits her brother’s 21st birthday to Walt Disney World was her favourite… but she’s a stickler when it comes to holiday planning…

Amy Hart says: “We went for my brother’s 21st which was a really special trip, because it was the first time we could do everything together… we could all go to the bars and stuff… I did the itinerary for the first time last year, and there weren’t many rest days in it. My mum was a bit like, ‘we normally have more rest days’ and I was like ‘well I’m sorry there’s just so much to do now!’

“Animal Kingdom is always our first day… it’s a chilled park. You’ve been up since 3am with jet lag. It opens first, the rides are a lot more chilled. We would do it all by 4pm and then go back to have an early dinner and then chill, but now there’s evening entertainment…

“Animal Kingdom is always our first-day park and then we normally do Hollywood Studios the next day because it is my favourite, then we will have a little rest day just to get over all the jet lag. Then we will do Magic Kingdom then we will do Epcot.”

‘I’d never go hiking!’

Giovanna quizzes Amy on what her favourite holiday ever would be…

Amy Hart says: “I do love the beach but I do love a theme park holiday, but I wouldn’t love to go on a hiking holiday. I’m doing 25,000 steps a day so it’s got to be in a theme park , otherwise I am perfectly happy to vegetate. We just went on our first cruise a little while ago and … it’s the best thing ever! But we were on a Caribbean cruise, so we used to get off the boat and then go to the nearest beach or the nearest hotel and just vegetate by the pool and it’s very cultural. But I do like to vegetate.”

‘I’d pick Love Islander Amber to go on holiday with me’

Giovanna asks Amy which of her fellow Love Islanders she would like to take on holiday… Amy says she would take Amber Gill to a Disney Park as they’re both fans, but she admits her ex Curtis Pritchard wasn’t a fan…

Amy Hart says: “Me and Amber because Amber loves Disney as well, we used to sit and chat about it a lot. I think I said to Curtis, the guys I coupled up with, like day one I was like have you ever been to Disney? He was like no, I was like okay cool.”

Sam can’t ride roller coasters – in case he passes out!

And she reveals her boyfriend Sam isn’t able to ride roller coasters due to his blood pressure – but she’s convincing him Disney is more than just the rides…

Amy Hart says: “When I met my boyfriend the second conversation was ‘have you ever been to Disney?’ No. All right, OK. So, he’d been to a UK theme park that is just rides, no atmosphere and because he’s got dodgy blood pressure he went on a rollercoaster, passed out on it and then got taken off by the Saint John’s Ambulance people and had to go home.

“So I’m like, but Disney’s not just rollercoasters, Sam! There are parades and other rides and shows and different things. I love the atmosphere and the music and the smell and just that everything is so tied in together. I’m trying to convince him that he’s going to be fine.”

And Amy admits she wants to have two or four kids – so they can go on the rides together.

“My mum and dad are both massive ride people, so it was two adults and two children, amazing. So, when people always used to say to me ‘how many kids do you want?’ I always used to say, ‘I’ll have to have like two or four because who sits on their own when you go to a theme park?’

“Everyone used to say ‘well the mum holds the bags’. I’m like ‘this mum doesn’t, darling’. But now, I can have three children, because Sam doesn’t want to go on the rides!”

I was a weird child!

Amy admits she loves to plan a Disney holiday – and has been doing so since she was 14…

Amy Hart says: “I’ve always been like a planner. I put something on Instagram about how I’d been planning our holidays to Disney for 15 years and someone was like this is a lie because you would have been like 14. And my brother commented saying as her brother I can confirm this is not a lie, she was a weird child.”

‘I couldn’t stop screaming!’

Amy shares a funny story with Giovanna about how she ended up eating ‘footwell popcorn’…

Amy Hart says: “My Space Mountain story from Walt Disney World. The person before me had spilled their popcorn in the footwell. They’ve got off and nobody had seen it and I just got on; I thought I don’t want to wait anymore so I won’t tell anyone, it’s fine. [When the ride starts] I’m screaming and a piece of secondhand, footwell popcorn on one of the drops, went into my mouth and I could still taste the salt on my tongue. I obviously spat it out and then couldn’t stop screaming, but I could still taste this like salt on my tongue. Literally horrendous.”

‘Sing for free Disney parking!’

Amy shares another top travel tip with Giovanna…

Amy Hart says: “If you sing, you get your parking for free. We’re like ‘Luke sing to them’ and he was singing ‘let it go, let it go’, and then they said go on then go. Because they have Pixie dust, they can do nice things for people.”

KATE GARRAWAY

‘I always travel with Yorkshire Gold teabags!’

Kate admits her penchant for a certain brand of teabags when she’s travelling…

Kate Garraway says: “I travel with Yorkshire Gold teabags, but they don’t taste the same abroad, it’s the different water. But I still take it anyway.”

RUTH MADELEY

‘‘I can’t relax until I get to where I’m going and see my wheelchair is intact and there’

Giovanna asks Ruth, who was born with spina bifida and uses a wheelchair, whether there are things she needs to consider when booking a holiday. Ruth admits going away with mobility equipment can be stressful, which always leads her back to going on a Disney break…

Ruth Madeley says: “As a wheelchair user, travel can be really, really complex. Even just going on a plane. You have to trust somebody else with your equipment. When you get to where you’re going, you want to know that everything is taken care of, and everything is accessible – the hotels are great and the people there are going to be really helpful. So, whenever we’ve looked at any other holiday, we’ve kind of not bothered and just come back to what we love, which is Disney. So, yeah travel can be really complex.

“It’s a massive thing as well in the news and on social media, you just see horror stories about people’s mobility equipment getting lost or broken and I can never rest until I get to the other end of where I’m going on my holiday and see that my wheelchair is intact and there. Like my luggage, as stressful as that would be, I can live without that.

“But if my chair is broken, that’s my holiday done. There is no holiday without it so yeah, it can be incredibly stressful.”

‘I could not stop crying!’

Ruth tells Giovanna all about her last holiday, which was to Walt Disney World Orlando last September with her boyfriend Joe Lawrence. She said she found it really emotional to be back in her favourite place – even on the plane home she says she couldn’t stop crying because she didn’t want to leave!

Ruth Madeley says: “Of all the times we’ve been away, I actually think the last one we went on in September was our favourite. I really and I think because we’ve not been since pre-Covid.

“I could not stop crying. Joe, my boyfriend, was sick to death of me. I cried as soon as I walked into the Magic Kingdom. One of the best things was, two of our best friends were there at the same time, so we went to Magic Kingdom together and then I cried when we left her, even though I knew I would literally see her a week after we got home. I cried on the plane home when we had all these really well-behaved children sat around us on the plane and I’m bawling my eyes out because I don’t want to come home.

“It’s really special to me and my boyfriend because I’ve only ever been to Orlando with him, so it just feels like our place.

“And it is that sense of knowing that access is so easy, everything, I genuinely do not have to worry about anything when I get there. I know all the restaurants are accessible, shops accessible, the rides and all of that with the access pass, which will get onto in a little bit. That all helps so so much and it just feels like you don’t have to second guess any of that which, as a disabled person, especially as a wheelchair user with a physical disability, I never get that privilege of never having to think about it.”

‘It’s nice but also weird because I can’t think of anything that could be improved’

Giovanna asks Ruth whether she faces any challenges, as a wheelchair user, at Walt Disney World, but Ruth reveals it’s the one place in the world where she doesn’t have to think about anything to do with access…

Ruth Madeley says: “I actually find it really hard to think what they could do better and I have never said that about anything in my life. It is just the one place where I know I don’t have to think about anything.

“They have the accessible bathrooms where they are big enough if you have a particularly big chair and if you need someone to go in with you. So they’re separate but they also have the cubicles in the toilets with everybody else that are bigger than a regular stall but there are just options for everyone.

“It’s so refreshing because on one hand, it makes me feel so excited to go, which is why we keep going back, but also it makes me kind of mad that other places don’t do it. It’s possible, see what happens when you think about it from inception, like everything is designed with that in mind. Nothing is like an afterthought.

“And it is worth me saying I can only speak about my disability, physical disability. I don’t have any sensory issues, I’m neurotypical, so I can only speak about my experiences. From a physical point of view and my personal needs, I can’t think of anything and there should be something but because I‘m so used to everyday life.

“I’m trying to think of something that can be improved and it’s so very weird and kind of unsettling feeling when you can’t think of anything because it feels so nicely like wow this feels weird.”

‘We would stay in a cottage, and it would be chucking it down!’

When asked by Giovanna what her favourite holiday is, Ruth says that as an adult, it was returning to Walt Disney World last September, but when she was growing up, it was the family trips to Wales in the rain…

Ruth Madeley says: “We grew up going to Wales and stuff. I didn’t go abroad until I was 13 – to Disneyland Paris.

“In Wales, we would stay in a cottage, and it was me and my sisters running around the grounds in the Welsh rain and having the best family time. It was just great.

“My favourite trip as an adult was definitely the one that just passed in September because we hadn’t been away, like I said before, since pre-Covid so it felt like a long time coming,

“But I think as children, Wales always because we just had the best family time.

“The rain just made it even funnier. I have this very specific image of when it was absolutely chucking it down and we were sat in this little cafe and we had hot chocolate with whipped cream and marshmallows on top and I just examine my mind like ‘oh my god this is brilliant’.”

‘Humidity affects my hair more than Monica in Friends!’

Giovanna quizzes Ruth on her top five things she wouldn’t go on holiday without…

Ruth Madeley says: “Wheelchair, for obvious reasons! Could you imagine if I didn’t take it one time? So, yes, mobility equipment.

“I can’t live without my skin care stuff. Joe is always saying to me, ‘we will just buy it when we’re over there’. I’m like ‘no!’ That’s such a lad thing as well, I think, like ‘we will just buy it when we’re over there’, like ‘no I need my specific things!’.

“There’s a routine going on, you know, I’ve got a pretty strict skincare routine going on. Yeah and hair stuff because in humidity oof.”

Giovanna asks: “Are you Monica from Friends person?”

Ruth Madeley says: “Times 10! Now [especially] because I’ve got a fringe as well. I can feel it just curling and I don’t have curly or straight hair. It just goes big and frizzy. Some people’s hair just goes gorgeous and curly when it’s humid, mine just doesn’t. I look like a cavewoman.

“So, hair products, skincare, wheelchair and my phone. I would never go on holiday without my phone. Not just because I want to contact people because I want to take photos of everything.

“And a book, I always have to take a book with me. I love crime thrillers. All that psychological stuff. So you know sat there in the happiest place on earth with my Mickey ears reading something really psychologically dark, awful!

“I love it, I do love it.”

‘If I had surgery the next day when I was younger, I’d watch a Disney film’

Ruth reveals she’s such a huge Disney fan as it reminds her of happy childhood memories, and watching Disney films also helped her during tougher times, including when she was in and out of hospital as a child…

Ruth Madeley says: “For me, Disney is just pure nostalgia, even the new films, because me and my sister grew up on Disney. There’s nothing but good vibes.

“I spent so much of my childhood and teenage years in hospital and Disney films, literally, the night before I knew I was having surgery I would watch a Disney film. It was literally the best kind of distraction and the best feel-good thing for anything. Go through break up, Disney film. Having surgery, Disney film. Regular Tuesday night, Disney film. But yeah I think just that sheer feeling of comfort and safety is really nice.”

‘The idea of falling asleep until all your problems go away is lovely’

And Ruth admits an anesthetist once called her Sleeping Beauty when she came out of surgery…

Ruth Madeley says: “Sleeping Beauty for me, she was always my favourite princess, because I remember an anesthetist called me it when I came out of surgery.

“He was like ‘hiya sleeping beauty’, before I threw up. Something really un-princess-like but, Sleeping Beauty was always my favourite. If I was going to be a Princess, I would be Aurora, but the idea of falling asleep until all your problems go away is lovely ha-ha!”

‘We’re booking for next year so I can get joy out of using this pass!’

Ruth tells Giovanna about the Disney Parks accessibility pass, which is for people with different disabilities, to ensure everyone is able to enjoy the rides at the park…

Ruth Madeley says: “Guest services at Disney are fantastic as that is where you can go and you can ask about accessibility. They have a park guide for everybody but they also have a park guide for people with disabilities.

“Some rides have the option to be able to stay sat in your chair, which I think is incredible, so that park guide shows you where all of those different things are which are really specific.

“The accessibility pass [is for] people who have varying different disabilities … you’ve got sensory overload or you need medicine at a specific time, that you need to go away and do or tube feeding. You can get an access pass and if the wait time for the ride is 10 minutes and under you can go straight in and then if it’s over [10 mins] they give you a time when you come back that you can go straight in, so you don’t have to physically be in the queue.

“You just have a time when you can come back and just know that you can come back and go on. And I just think that system is so incredible, taking so much stress and pressure off and that’s not just for adults who are disabled either, that’s for parents with kids with additional needs or anything like that. It just takes so much stress away to know that that is there.

“So we’re booking again for next year where I can get complete joy out of using this pass!”

FRANKIE BRIDGE

‘We went on holiday to LA for five weeks – and our boys missed home!’

Frankie talks about how the last holiday she went on with her husband, ex-England footballer Wayne Bridge, and their two sons, Parker and Carter, was for five weeks during their school summer holidays. But the boys weren’t as keen to be away from home as the adults were…

Frankie Bridge says: “We went to America. We decided that, for the boys’ summer holidays, because they get so much time off school, we’d go for five weeks.

“For years when Wayne was playing football, he’d always go to LA when he had his off-season and I went and worked there with The Saturdays quite a few times. So we both had really good memories of LA, and we’d always wanted to take the kids because we were like ‘we can go to Disneyland, we can go here, there’s so much we can do. Be on the beach all the time and whatever’.

“We were like ‘let’s go for five weeks’, which is a really long time and it was amazing but in hindsight a little bit too much of a long time. It’s weird and I would recommend it, there was loads to do. But realistically, we were both a lot more fun when we were like single with no kids, do you know what I mean?

“Then my two, after two weeks, they were like, ‘can you ask daddy if we can go home now’ and I was like erm ‘no’. They just missed home, you know? Wayne’s mum and dad live with us. They missed his mum and dad, they missed the dogs. They sound completely spoiled but it wasn’t like that all the time, we had an amazing time but it was just that they just love home.

“But we had loads of fun and there’s nothing nicer than waking up to blue skies every day, being right by the beach. Carter, our youngest, learned to skateboard while we were out there in Malibu, which sounds really cool and extra and now is obsessed and does it all the time. It’s great, he’s got a new skill and a new hobby that he absolutely loves.”

Wayne and I have different ideas when it comes to our favourite type of holiday…

Frankie admits she and her husband Wayne want different things out of a holiday, but reveals it works well as he takes Parker and Carter off to do activities, while Frankie is able to get some peace and quiet.

Frankie Bridge says: “Perfect holiday for me is to just sit and read a book. Whereas for Wayne, a perfect holiday is to not sit at all and just to move and do stuff. Which is why it’s great that the boys are now at that age that he can just take them and do whatever.

“I kind of get to sit in peace. Our last holiday, when we went away for about a week, I managed to finish two books so I don’t think I did that much. [I’m after sun and sand] Somewhere that has stuff for the boys to do, that gets them off of iPads, gets them out of the house, whether that’s just a swimming pool or you know something. My two just aren’t interested in clubs like kids’ clubs.”

‘I’ve always loved Disney – and my dad was obsessed!’

Frankie admits to loving Disney ever since she was a child, thanks to her dad, Kevin Sandford…

Frankie Bridge says: “I’ve just always loved it, and my dad has always. When we were younger, he’s always been really fun but you just would not assume that he’s obsessed with Disney. He just so wanted us to go and there’s so much of it that I still remember.

“I remember something really random like it was the first cinnamon thing that I ever ate and now I’m obsessed with cinnamon and whenever I have anything that’s got cinnamon on it, it reminds me I’ve been at Disney. I remember I got a puppet from EPCOT. We were watching the fireworks and I was obsessed with it, you know one of the ones with the sticks that moved the arms? It was just magical.”

‘The only time I’ve been to Disneyland Paris is with The Saturdays’

Giovanna asks Frankie about the time she went to Disneyland Paris, which was when she was in The Saturdays. Frankie reveals the band got to go on the attractions while the park was shut. But she admits that although she finds the fireworks inspiring, she’s also a ‘scaredy cat’ when it comes to the rides…

Frankie Bridge says: “It was just so fun. One, because I’d never been and two just getting to go with the girls and I think we were there when it was closed at one point and being able to just go on rides just time after time.

“We were experiencing it together and because, you know what I’m like I’m a scaredy cat, so to be able to get on a ride without psyching myself out before I go on and then being like ‘this is amazing’!

“That was really fun like being in the parks and you know, walking around with the [Mickey] ears on and just like all the characters walking around and stuff like that.

“There’s nothing that really compares to it – in the same way as the fireworks. I leave the fireworks believing I can do anything I want in the world. That is a genuine thing. I go home and I’m like, be whoever I want to be, I can do whatever I want, I feel really inspired, I feel amazing. And then when I wake up in the morning I’m like… Frank they were fireworks. You’re still the same person.”

‘I couldn’t wait to share Disney films with the boys’

Frankie talks about how Disney has always been a huge part of her life, and she watches Disney films with her sons. She said she has so many favourite memories around Disney, and she’s pleased her sons will too.

Frankie Bridge says: “It’s always been a massive part, like I always watched Disney films when I was growing up.

“Parker’s favourite film when he was little was Jungle Book. He watched it over and over and over again, and Cinderella, he loved Cinderella and that didn’t really come from me pushing on to him.

“So it has always been a big part for me and I think as we went when I was young that was always an amazing family memory that we had. I did Disney on Ice.

“I was really excited about it. If you’ve grown up with it and it just has so many memories and there is just such a magical element of it, which is why I couldn’t wait to take the boys.”

‘If my first child had been a girl, I would have called her Jasmine’

Giovanna asks Frankie what her favourite Disney film and character are. And Frankie reveals it’s always been Jasmine from Aladdin… So much so, Frankie said if she’d had a daughter, she would have named her after the princess…

Frankie Bridge says: “When I was growing up, if you asked me who I wanted to be and what my first child if it was a girl would be called, which hasn’t happened. it would’ve been Jasmine. That she had long dark hair and I just loved her but when we used to go shopping at Lakeside [shopping centre] they had the big Disney Store.

“And my mum and my dad used to have to actively distract me when they knew the Disney Store was coming because I would go in there and I would want everything in there and I always wanted a Jasmine costume. One year my aunt made me one and crimped my hair and we’ve got pictures of it and I still remember it and I just thought I was Jasmine.

“I haven’t had a daughter but you know someone else can name their child Jasmine and that’s fine with me.”

‘You’re lucky if I manage to book the flights!’

Giovanna asks Frankie if she’s a planner when it comes to holidays…

Frankie Bridge says: “You’re lucky that I’ve even managed to book the flights at that point! No, I don’t really plan, also because with kids I just don’t think you can really properly plan. You might have a loose plan and then you know, it all changes. But I do have an idea of like everything that I want to try and get done.”

CARRIE HOPE FLETCHER

‘Joel and I are going on our first trip to Disneyland [Paris]… I might cry the whole way round!’

Carrie admits she’s a Disney superfan… and so is her new husband Joel Montague. She tells Giovanna how Joel has already bought her Disney presents, and she’s expecting a lot of tears when they head to Disneyland Paris this month…

Carrie Hope Fletcher says: “My lovely fiancé [now husband] Joel is a big Disney fan as well and he bought me these amazing hooks that I didn’t know existed. They’re Disney hooks and they have a little curve at the top for the ears to sit on and hook underneath to put your matching Loungefly bag underneath. It’s amazing. So I have a wall of those, and I’ve got them all neatly lined up in my office.

“We go to Disneyland Paris next week and that will be our first Disney trip together. I might cry my whole way around because I get emotional at Disney anyway, so being with Joel and knowing how much it means to the both of us to actually be in Disney together because it’s like our happy place but now we get to be in our happy place with each other.”

‘Introducing someone to Disney is my favourite thing in the world’

Giovanna asks Carrie where she went on her last holiday, and she admits it was to Disneyland Paris. Carrie then talks about how she loves travelling to Disney destinations with new people to share the magic with them…

Carrie Hope Fletcher says: “There are just so many people I know who I want to take to Disney, because I think that’s the most magical thing about Disney. So much of why I love Disney is nostalgic, it’s because I’ve been going since I was a kid and rides like the Haunted Mansion are my favourite rides of all time.

“I love it so much but when you’re introducing someone in their thirties to Disney for the first time, it’s not exactly the most up-to-date ride with the latest technology [that are my favourites] – I love it because it’s something I remember going on when I was a kid.

“It’s really hard sometimes to introduce someone to something where they’re like ‘why do you like this ride?’ Like ‘why is this the one?’ When you’ve got Tron opening up yet this year or you’ve got Flight of Passage with the latest technology – and it’s like ‘I’ve cried the first time I went on the ride, it was like mind-blowing ridiculous, mind-blowing’. But introducing someone’s Disney is just my favourite thing in the world.”

‘My brother Tom turns back into a six-year-old when he’s going to Disney!’

Giovanna chats to Carrie about who she likes to travel with – and Carrie admits she loves going on holiday with Giovanna and her brother, Giovanna’s husband, Tom and their three children…

Carrie Hope Fletcher says: “I’ve been very lucky to travel with so many different people but I love travelling with you and Tom and the boys. I love it though, I love that chaos.”

Giovanna says: “And there’s always tears.”

Carrie Hope Fletcher says: “The tears aren’t fun but seeing the excitement of the boys going somewhere and even Tom. Seeing Tom’s excitement going to Disney because he turns back – and I feel like you’ve got such a job on your hands when you go on holidays with Tom – because he does sort of forget all responsibility and turns into a six-year-old again.”

‘I was being my usual dorky self and dancing to the music’

Carrie reveals to Giovanna a magical moment that happened while she was on holiday at Disney, when she was dancing on her own while waiting for her Starbucks order.

Carrie Hope Fletcher says: “Disney is just so good at creating magical moments. I’ve been in Disney just on my own, I’ve gone ahead of the family into a park or something. And I remember once I was being my usual dorky self and I was dancing to the music in Starbucks, but not like a full out choreo dance routine, just bopping along to this music in Starbucks. Then my coffee came with the extra cake pop and on the packet it said for dancing with joy. Can you believe it! And it literally just made my entire day. I was on my own, 30 years old.”

‘I can’t wait to go to Disney with Joel – but it might be the first time we argue!’

Giovanna asks Carrie about her upcoming trip to Disney with Joel. Carrie admits that as a Disney superfan, she has a certain way of wandering around the parks – but she reveals Joel is happy to do it her way.

Carrie Hope Fletcher says: “I can’t wait because we’re so into Disney and we’ve had all of those experiences growing up and having that nostalgia of going to Disney parks when we were little. We’ve grown up with that magic so now we have the chance to share because we have traditions, we have like rides that we do first.”

Giovanna says: “It’s going to be interesting for you to see how you Disney differently.”

Carrie Hope Fletcher says: “Yeah, I know. I feel like it might be the first time we ever argue. It might be the first time we ever disagree with each other.”

Giovanna says: “Imagine if he wants to go around Epcot the wrong way.”

Carrie Hope Fletcher says: “The wrong way! We’ve already talked about this. I already had a conversation with him. Yeah it was actually [on our first date]. It was in my Disney questionnaire. He says that he usually goes the wrong way. But he will convert for me and if that isn’t love then I don’t know what is.”

‘My favourite trip ever was to Venice – with my schoolfriends’

Giovanna quizzes Carrie on what would be her favourite trip ever, and she explains how she went to Italy twice as a child on a school trip…

Carrie Hope Fletcher says: “I was lucky enough to go on a couple of art trips when I was a kid. They were both to Italy funnily enough. One was to Venice and one was to Florence and on both of those trips I think maybe like a year or two years apart because I did art for GCSE and they were so incredible.

“Going to Venice in particular was just amazing, seeing the place I’d always wanted to g o, so picturesque. You’ve got the gondoliers and you’ve got gorgeous architecture and the museums and it was just so beautiful. We went to Murano, the island that makes the glass and I remember it was also high tide at the time as well so you had to walk on boards that were put up on platforms and it was just amazing. I just loved it so much and of course because it was an art trip, a school trip, I was there with all my friends as well.

So it was just a lot of fun to be abroad with a bunch of mates when I was like 16 years old.

‘I’m like Monica from Friends!’

Giovanna asks Carrie what she packs in her travel bag when she’s flying away on holiday. Carrie replies that she’s very organised and still prints out her boarding passes. She also packs a book and a pen to write down the ‘genius ideas’ that come to her while she’s away…

Carrie Hope Fletcher says: “I’m one of those travel people where everyone else just goes ‘Carrie will sort it’. I’ve even bought myself one of those travel pouches where you put your boarding pass in one thing and you put your passport in the other and have all your printed stuff. I print out everything! I have a wadge of paper like three inches thick when I go on a plane because I’ve printed out everything that I could possibly need.

“I’m like Monica from friends when she’s got everything in the order that she will need it. I’m like that. And a book is a must and a notebook. I will never go on a holiday without a notebook because I know what I’m like. I will have the most genius idea of my life and then not have anywhere to write it down on holiday and then by the time I’m home I’ve forgotten it.

“I turn into someone from a movie though, I think I’m somewhere like Croatia and I have this idea and I’m like ‘uh this is a montage from a movie’, I can hear the soundtrack playing in the back like in my head, as I write this idea down and then in the montage I come home and it was like a genius idea and I’ve won a Nobel Prize.

“Everything is romanticised when I’m on holiday and then I get home and read it and it’s like the worst idea I’ve ever had and I just rip that page out of my notebook embarrassed that I ever wrote it down.”

‘Daisy Duck is my favourite – she’s the voice of reason’

Carrie admits her favourite Disney character changes all the time, but says she loves Daisy Duck as she’s straight talking..

Carrie Hope Fletcher says: “It changes all the time but Daisy Duck. I love her. I like that she’s so sassy and I feel like she’s a bit more like an adult Disney character, you know what I mean?

“I feel like she’s got that sort of sass and she’s in the cartoon she’s always like the voice of reason. She’s always the straight talking one who just gets to the point whilst Mickey and Goofy and Donald are faffing about doing something silly. Minnie and Daisy are always the ones that will sort it out.”

‘I’ve been to Disney World Florida 23 or 24 times… and I always buy Funnel cake!’

Giovanna quizzes superfan Carrie on how many times she’s been to Disney – and whether there’s something that she always had to get while she’s there…

Carrie Hope Fletcher says: “Walt Disney World I’ve been to 23 or 24 times. Disneyland Paris I’ve been to three times, this will be my fourth time there. I’ve been to LA once and the cruise. So whatever that is added up I can’t do maths and I lost count.

Giovanna says: “A lot. Is there something that you always have to get?

Carrie Hope Fletcher says: “Funnel cake is always my go to. Funnel cake and one of them massive toffee apples because they are ridiculous. They’re so good.”

ROMESH RANGANATHAN

‘I’d forgotten about a payment deadline and so I had to phone up and get that sorted out’

Romesh recalls a stressful moment when he forgot to pay his balance for his upcoming family trip to Walt Disney World, and how it was quickly put right by the nicest person he has ever spoken to on the phone…

“I already had like a little bit of Walt Disney World interaction, you’ve had to phone up and speak to someone on the phone. Well listen, I’d forgotten about a payment deadline and so I had to phone up and get that sorted out. That was a bit of a panic. So she said… “Where are you going?” I gave the date and then she goes… *Kind and relaxing voice* ‘You are going to have such a magical time, I’m so excited for you, enjoy every day that you plan for your wonderful holiday.’ I was like oh my goodness. That is the nicest I have been spoken to in, I would say, in like a decade. She was just like so lovely.

“She was like… *Kind and relaxing voice* ‘You are going to have an incredible time’. I thought what’s going on here man? Then she said ‘And you’re phoning to pay a payment that you’ve forgotten’. Listen I was incredibly stressed and by the end it I wanted to miss another deadline just so I could speak to her again. We had such a great time on the phone. I can’t remember her name but if you are out there, please reach out on Instagram or whatever you just seem like a nice person”.

‘We left the restaurant as I felt intimidated – kids shouldn’t need to be quiet’

Romesh reveals to host Giovanna that his last holiday was a staycation at a luxury hotel in the UK with his wife Leesa and their three children Alex, 13, Charlie, 11, and Theo, 9. But Romesh reveals he found the restaurant intimidating…

Romesh Ranganathan says: “We went to a lux hotel. It was very nice. I would say too nice for us to be honest. Went with my wife and kids. We stayed in this nice sort of tree house for like three nights. I found the restaurant intimidating.

“Because there’s somebody waiting for you there, they know your name when you arrive, it’s very sedate, and this is the second time we’ve been to the hotel. The first time we enjoyed the room and then went down to dinner and sat down and I looked around and I whispered to Leesa: ‘This is too nice for us’. So we left and went to the pub because I felt so intimidated.

“I looked at my kids and I’m going to be honest with you, my attitude towards children is they shouldn’t be quiet. I want the kids to just be how they are. Free range – and so I don’t like this idea of making them be quiet for the environment. But this time, we had a conversation with the kids and we said we’re going to quite a sedate restaurant. Do you feel like you can handle this? And they said yes, we can handle this and so they were really great. We felt comfortable.”

‘I’m disorganised when it comes to booking holidays’

But when it comes to booking holidays, Romesh tells Giovanna he’s really disorganised. He also admits for the first time – as his wife Leesa doesn’t know – that due to leaving it so late, he nearly lost their booking at a villa in Portugal that she thought he had arranged.

Romesh Ranganathan says: “We will book something and then as soon as we’ve booked it I think ‘that’s done’, but obviously that’s not how a holiday works. You have to book the details and what you’re actually going to do and maybe accommodation and stuff like that. Whereas I think we’ll get there.

“I might have booked the flights and then whittled it down to like three options where we’re going to stay and then often Leesa will say to me ‘Have you sorted it out?’ and I go ‘yeah’ because in my head I have.

“Like last year we went to Portugal, and I haven’t ever told Leesa this. I nearly lost the villa because I left it so late. We have stayed there every year for the last few years and then I just assumed it was locked in and I said ‘yeah we’re probably going to stay there’, but I never paid anything or confirmed it and then it got really close.

“And they said we’re about to give this away and so it happened when Leesa was in, I was in her eyeline, and I was just at my laptop pretending not to have a panic attack.

“It was alright in the end but I’m really bad for that. I’m really disorganised, too relaxed.”

‘I was doing impromptu English classes in Sri Lanka!’

Romesh talks about his first holiday ever – which was to a small village in Sri Lanka where his mother, Shanthi, is from. He said it was strange as while the people there were fascinated to hear his English accent, he didn’t speak any Tamil as he’d never been taught any.

Romesh Ranganathan says: “My first ever holiday was to Sri Lanka, which is where my family are from and my mum’s from like a tiny village and we just sort of relaxed and had a nice time but it was really interesting to see this. The background of this woman – I [only] knew British mum.

“Going back to the village and seeing what she’s all about and also me and my brother became like an exhibit because all of the people in the village wanted to hear English being spoken by English people. I was doing impromptu English classes and the big problem for me is I don’t speak Tamil.

“When I was growing up my mum and dad were so worried about me fitting in and then I don’t know, they had this bizarre idea that I would have an accent if I spoke both languages. Then it’s this weird combination of my mum not wanting to speak Tamil to me so that I spoke proper English but then now being angry with me that I don’t speak Tamil.

“Such a weird thing but what that meant was I couldn’t really interact with anybody there fully.”

‘I don’t want to do anything at all when I’m on holiday!’

Giovanna asks Romesh what he looks for in his perfect holiday. The comedian admits after travelling and filming for his TV show, when it comes to personal getaways, he prefers going somewhere nice and switching off.

Romesh Ranganathan says: “I’m in a weird, very privileged situation where I do a lot of travel shows so I sort of do see lots of different types of things – the Sahara, I’ve been to the Arctic. You have all these different kinds of experience holidays and also I’m very much all or nothing in terms of the pace at which I do things so when I’m working I go full tilt. When I’m not working I essentially shut down.

“I don’t want to do anything at all. So like the holidays I kind of am after are just to sit down and not do anything so typically we look for something where we’re staying somewhere nice, so that if we decide not to go anywhere for the day it’s cool just to be there.

“I always want a beach holiday but if I go into the water and I feel something brush by my calf… The sea is off-limits to me for the next three days. That’s how long it normally takes me to recover.”

‘I was tipsy while working as staff on a school trip’

Romesh talks about how he worked as a maths teacher at a school and was also the head of the sixth form… He reveals he often took the students on school trips but says one trip to Rome was memorable for the wrong reason.

Romesh Ranganathan says: “I remember one night, we were in Rome at a pizza place and we are having a nice time and it was towards the end of the trip everyone’s getting a bit relaxed… and I became conscious that I drank too much wine.

“I wasn’t battered but I was tipsy but then I remember that I’m staff on a school trip and we were walking around Rome and kids were talking to me and you know when you overcompensate.

“I just start being needlessly wordy and say like… *very animated* ‘Well that is a very interesting question, yes! Maybe we should look and try and find the answer together! Erm Mr Hopkins! Mr Hopkins! Stephen has a very interesting inquiry vis-a the architecture of this particular part of Rome!’

“It was just really bad, so paranoid.”

Giovanna asks: “How did it feel when you woke up the next day?”

“The fear… The fear was unreal.”

‘I wanted to hang out with Timon and Pumbaa!’

Romesh admits he’s a huge Disney fan and loved the films and the cartoons – but almost too much. He admits he used to be upset at the end of The Lion King because the characters weren’t real. And he also admits he and fellow comedian Rob Beckett model themselves on the characters Timon and Pumbaa…

Romesh Ranganathan says: “I have grown up being a huge Disney fan. Like the films, the cartoons, and everything that is part of my childhood. I’m obsessed with it and my kids are now as well. This is how much of a fan I am, so I become deeply, deeply obsessed with the films.

“Because I feel like they’re so kind of immersive. So Lion King is one of my favourite movies of all time right. When I first watched the Lion King at the cinema, I went through a period of being upset that I didn’t live in that world. I just sort of wanted to hang out with Timone and Pumbaa and obviously for normal people they watch that and they go… ‘Well that was a nice film.’

“But I left feeling sad like I mourned… love Timon and Pumbaa. Like Timone and Pumbaa for me, that’s a comedy double act. Rob Beckett and I model ourselves on Timon and Pumbaa. That’s the dynamic.”

‘The kids were absolutely buzzing!’

Romesh talks to Giovanna about the first time he took the children to Disney, and how much of an incredible experience it was…

Romesh Ranganathan says: “We’d always talked about going to Disney but it’s that thing of debating what age your kids should be to go. One year I said we’re going to go to Disneyland Paris and the kids were absolutely buzzing.

“So I booked it to be right at the door of the park and the room we booked was this super experience where every day they hide chocolates in the room and stuff like that and they let the kids do a little hunt when they come in.

“See I’m a Disney fan but I didn’t know what it was like, I’d heard stories of what it was like to visit a Disney Park but I didn’t know what it was like. And so I turn up to the hotel and somebody came over and said… ‘Oh yeah can we help you?’ And then he said: ‘Which room are you in?’ And I told him and then honestly this is what happened he gasped and said [imitates French accent]: ‘You are about to have the most magical experience of your life.’”