Actor, writer, stand-up comedian and mother, Lucy Porter has many strings to her bow, but somehow she managed to fit in a quick chat with us about holidays, kids and daydreams. Lucy is best known for her appearances on TV and radio panel games, including Never Mind the Buzzcocks, QI, and BBC’s Pointless Celebrities, as well as for her own distinctive brand of feel-good, quirky comedy.
The past few months have seen Lucy preparing for her Edinburgh show, Consequences, which opens on 3rd August. She doesn’t have enough time for a holiday this year but has enjoyed travelling in the past – both before and after the birth of her children. Vegas and Florida are at the top of her list of favourite holiday destinations, and she plans to visit them again in the future.
Life certainly changes when you go on holiday with your kids. After easy to organise, relatively angst-free breaks when you’re travelling solo you soon realise that making a journey with kids means covering all the bases.
Lucy and her husband, actor and comedian Justin Edwards from BBC’s The Thick of It, have worked out how to make holidaying as a family as stress-free as possible. “We realised that parenting goes out of the window on a flight. They’re happy if they have all the sweets they want, as much use of the iPad and phones, and all the things that you try and rein in a bit normally.” The aim of the game is to keep them amused and quiet.
In Lucy’s eyes, the key to a relaxing holiday is to have more adults around to help out with small children. The first time Lucy tried this out was when her mother-in-law, Juliette, came to Majorca for a break in the family-friendly resort of Protur Aparthotel Bonaire. With only her husband on hand for childcare on a previous holiday to Tenerife with baby Emily, Lucy recognised that having more people around was a great way to lighten the load.
The Majorcan holiday was a lot of fun. Lucy puts the success of the trip down to the “luxury ratio of three adults to two children”. The extra pair of hands allowed Lucy and Justin to spend quality time with each other while Juliette watched over the kids. Delicious meals, plenty of swimming and enjoying the sun were central to this family getaway.
“There was light at the end of the tunnel” Lucy states. When the children are happy, the parents are too and everyone can concentrate on having a good time. Spending another holiday with a school friend, Rina, in Kos at the Lakitira Beach Resort with the kids was also a breeze. Late-night catch ups, wholesome dinners and island explorations meant that Lucy and Justin returned from Kos feeling refreshed and ready to plough on with their busy work schedules. Lucy remembers, “It was so beautiful, the weather was incredible and the food was wonderful. I look back on it very fondly.”
One aspect of holiday preparation that Lucy doesn’t relish is packing. “I am the world’s least organised person. I always end up packing the night before we go and just throwing everything in the case so we’ve got loads of really inappropriate clothes for the weather. If it’s sunny in London I always think it will be sunny in Edinburgh, and then we arrive in Scotland and its a few degrees colder but the kids are in flip flops and summer dresses.”
Lucy has some great plans for upcoming holidays. First of all she wants to share the delights of Las Vegas with her husband. It’s Lucy’s favourite place in the world and Justin’s never visited the city. Thanks to a love of South American literature, food and music, Argentina and Chile are definitely on the agenda for a holiday with the children. Lucy daydreams about spending some time on a ranch in Argentina alone with Justin, so this may be a possibility in the future.
The whole family will be renting a flat in Edinburgh this year during August. This ties in with the Fringe festival, where Lucy will be appearing in Consequences at the Pleasance Theatre. The month in Scotland’s capital is eagerly anticipated as the city will be packed full of kids’ activities and entertainment. “We just decamp north the whole of August and its lovely. I get days off during my run in Edinburgh, so we can take the kids to places like Berwick-upon-Tweed.”
For further information on Lucy’s Edinburgh tour please click here. Be prepared to laugh!
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