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Lady Phyll: 'As a black woman, researching where I'm travelling is a huge factor in any holiday'

Lady Phyll - getty
Lady Phyll - getty

The Black Pride activist on street parties in St Lucia and saving up for a safari     

My family and my work life in London are pretty full-on

There’s always something happening, whether it’s Black Lives Matter, Grenfell or Windrush. But travelling provides me with respite and self-care, just to go somewhere where I can relax and unwind.

Before lockdown, I was travelling every month for my work for the Kaleidoscope Trust

The trust works in Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, Pacific and parts of Europe. There are some laws that exist in Commonwealth countries that mean people are being criminalised just because of who they love. I’ve also travelled extensively to Pride and Black Pride events around the world.

I went to Botswana last year to celebrate the fact that it had decriminalised homosexuality

It’s a beautiful country, so now I’m trying to save for the next year or two in order to go for a luxury safari in Botswana or Kenya.

When I go to St Lucia, I usually stay in Gros Islet

There is this wonderful tradition called Fish Fry Friday. It feels a bit like a carnival but it’s a street party. There is loads of food, including different types of fish, such as lobster and snapper, with wonderful creole sauce. There’s just something about being in St Lucia – the sun, the sea, and the people are so friendly.

St Lucia - getty
St Lucia - getty

The food in Chile is amazing, as is the nightlife

I went there for a women’s conference, but also took some days for myself and went to Santiago to the Museum of Memory and Human Rights, and learnt about Pinochet.

I absolutely love going to Cambridge in the summertime

I’m not the greatest cyclist but I make an exception for Cambridge because there are just so many different things and places you get to see on a bike. 

As a black woman, researching where I’m travelling is a huge factor in any holiday or travel plans

For work, we do a risk assessment and, if going to a country that has discriminatory laws, we make sure that we’ve got safety measures in place. For any personal trip, I will look at crime rates, incidences of hate crime towards women and hotel reviews. Making sure you don’t leave with a scarred view of the place is important. 

For a perfect holiday, I like sunshine, good food and a good book to read by the pool

Also, if I am going to go travelling with people, or a companion, the company has to be right. You may be travelling with someone who’s really active and wants to go on bike rides and hiking, and that’s not necessarily me.

My earliest travel memories include going to the Isle of Wight

It felt like “abroad” because you had to get on a ferry. Then there was tasting my first frogs’ legs at 10 years old in Paris, and a trip to Accra in Ghana when I was 11. I learnt there that, because of blackouts, people would have to sit in the dark or light a candle.

The Isle of Wight - getty
The Isle of Wight - getty

I went camping in Penzance

While the town was beautiful, sleeping on a blow-up mattress in a tent wasn’t for me. I like to look at nature on television or by going for a quick walk, not while I’m trying to sleep! I’m very frightened of spiders.

The last time I was in Jamaica I stayed in this beautiful resort called Round Hill

It had a stunning infinity pool and is now my favourite place to stay in the world. St Lucia and Jamaica are possibly my favourite holiday destinations. I also love going to Bermuda, the Seychelles, Barbados and Mauritius.

Sometimes you have to call out the racism and the discrimination where you see it

Other times you just really want to enjoy yourself and you don’t want to have to deal with it. I think also sometimes because of my profile, I do have to put checks and balances in place when I travel somewhere. For example, I will be a lot more cautious when visiting a part of England that might have a high membership of the British National Party.

I have quite a long list of places I want to go, including Australia

But I will have to mentally prepare myself for the long journey. I’ve also never been to Portugal. I want to go to Sri Lanka, India, South Africa, and Australia Prides. If I can get to travel this year, I would love to go back to Barbados or to St Lucia. But of course, this is all Covid-pending.

Interview by Roz Lewis

Lady Phyll (aka Phyllis Opoku-Gyimah) is executive director of the LGBT human rights charity Kaleidoscope Trust, as well as the co-founder of the award-winning celebration UK Black Pride.