January 2007
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Actress
Filming in Uganda, I learnt more in three weeks than I have in three or four previous holidays there. It’s a very open, welcoming country, but poverty is prevalent. The minute you get outside Kampala, people are living in shacks on the roadside.
I am a notoriously bad packer. I take everything. The thought of finding myself abroad without something that I think I need sends me into a panic.
At times I’m adventurous, at times very lazy. It depends on my frame of mind. I was recently in rural France. There were ruins nearby, and lovely villages, but I had no desire to leave the hotel. Sometimes that happens.
I’m not averse to organised tours. It depends on the location. When you’re visiting a city rich in history, it’s nice to hire a guide rather than just read a guidebook. But it’s tricky: sometimes you get guides you want to strangle.
In the past few years, I’ve done more travelling than I’ve ever done before. I’ve probably been to 25 countries. My ex-partner was a big traveller, and it was something we did together. The most stunning places I’ve visited have been African countries such as Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Namibia and South Africa.
This year I went to Egypt, which was extraordinary. We arrived at nightfall at the Mena House Oberoi (+20 2 377 3222; oberoihotels.com), right by the pyramids. You wake up and open the curtains and they are literally on your back porch. It’s unbelievable. I love the process of travelling. I love being on a plane, but I don’t travel in first class – unless somebody else is paying for it, of course.
Le Bristol Hotel in Paris (+33 1 53 43 43 00; hotel-bristol.com) was obscenely luxurious. The suite was about seven times the size of a squash court, and staff left éclairs the size of canoes and bottles of Veuve Cliquot in every room. It was fantastically opulent. Gillian Anderson stars in The Last King of Scotland and Straightheads, both now on DVD. Interview by Nick McGrath.
