Sarah McLachlan’s secret to caring for her voice on the road? “Lots of warm water with honey and lemon, lots of sleep, humidifiers in the hotel and dressing rooms, exercise, and healthy food,” she listed, which honestly sounds like a fine recipe for surviving the winter, too. McLachlan had a major 2025, releasing her tenth album, Better Broken, in September, with a tour across the United States. and Canada in October and November—not to mention her appearance in Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery, a documentary about the iconic music festival she founded. Some coziness is more than called for.

Ahead, McLachlan, who also offers music programs to underserved young people in western Canada through the Sarah McLachlan School of Music, shared her adoration of the Big Apple, her all-time favorite venue for performing, and the wonderfully basic place she couldn’t wait to take her daughters.

What kind of packer she is

Carry-on only, whether I travel for a week or a month—though it gets more challenging when it’s cold, as everything is bulkier. After all these years of living out of a suitcase, I know that I end up wearing the same few things all the time, and as long as there is laundry, I can live with three to four outfits.

Her first flight in first class

The only time I traveled first class in my life, it was to India 25 year ago, when there were three classes of service. We used all our points to splurge. I misread the flight time, and we barely made the flight. I think they held the plane for us only because we were in first class, and everyone glared at us when we raced on panicked and disheveled.

The city she’s always thrilled to return to on tour

I’d honestly be happy to never step foot in a big city again, as I much prefer the quiet of the country. But if I had to choose, it would probably be New York for its vibrancy—a cultural cornucopia of great art, theater, restaurants, and people. I have very dear friends who live there and it’s always a whirlwind of events, great food, and conversation when I’m there.

Her favorite venue in which to perform

Red Rocks, because I love playing outside under the stars, and the venue and surrounding area are epically grand. It is a venue carved out of the side of a mountain, with steep steps leading up to the sky. You are at the whim of the elements, and you feel at once extremely small in the grand scheme of things, but also very grounded. It’s a magical place to play.

The place she could travel to a million times and never tire of it

Honestly, anywhere in British Columbia outside of the cities. It is a virtual playground of rivers, lakes, and mountains. I could easily spend the rest of my life there discovering new trails, new hills to climb, and lakes to swim in.

An underrated destination she thinks more people should see

I like to keep my remote, secret, and favorite places just that.

Her travel pet peeve

Entitlement of any sort—people pushing in line, making a stink about some first-world problem like they’re the only person in the world. Also, people talking extremely loudly on airplanes with each other, or on their cell phones, having full-blown conversations with no thought to anyone else enclosed in that same small space.

The hotel amenities she cares a lot about
Good bedding and pillows. I also really appreciate a good gym.

The trip she was eager to plan for her daughters
I remember being very excited to take both my daughters to Disneyland for the first time when they were little, as it was a childhood dream of mine that was never realized. It was wonderful to be able to take my girls there. We went on every ride! I could do that roller coaster 20 times and not get tired of it.

A place she’s never been to that is next on her list

Iceland, for its rugged beauty and adventure.

Jennette McCurdy just got back from Vietnam, and she’s obsessed. “Would you say Hội An is underrated? Because I hadn’t really heard too many people rave about it and I was shocked, but maybe I just don’t know the right people,” says the bestselling author of the memoir I’m Glad My Mom Died and former child actor. “I think it’s a must-see place, and I couldn’t recommend it more—for the food, the people, the experiences.”

The dreamy town in central Vietnam came up several times during McCurdy’s chat with Conde Nast Traveler, as did her need for a great hotel view and her evolving relationship with New York City, where she’s excited to spend time on her book tour. Her second book, Half His Age, is not nonfiction but a novel. Out this week, it’s the darkly funny story of a teenage girl’s infatuation with her creative writing teacher. Ahead, McCurdy shares how the novel’s idea arrived while she was on a trip to Japan, and how flying business class has returned to her life.

Why she doesn’t write on planes
I think there’s nothing more cringey than whipping open the laptop to a Microsoft Word document. I would feel too embarrassed to do that. But whenever I travel, I wind up writing something. With Half His Age, I wrote that primarily at home in Los Angeles, but I also wrote it in Carlsbad, in San Diego, in New York City, in Chicago, in San Jose, Stockholm, Copenhagen, and Mexico. I wrote it everywhere. I do need quiet, but location doesn’t particularly matter. I was in Mexico for a wedding and everybody was hanging out at the pool party, but I was in the room with the doors shut writing Half His Age. I did hear a little Katy Perry bleeding through at one point.

Her most recent amazing trip
I just got back from Hong Kong, Vietnam, and Cambodia. The food in Vietnam was amazing. I had so much good pho. The people could not have been kinder. I went with my significant other and at one point he joked, “Okay, I’m ready to get back to the assholes of L.A.” Something about being around people that were so kind, it really led to a perspective shift. In Vietnam, we went to Hanoi and then Hội An, and I fell in love with Hội An. It was beautiful and so charming. That was my favorite spot. The coconut coffee was amazing.

Her favorite mode of transportation
I once got horribly seasick on a boat leading from a cruise ship to Capri, and I get a bit of anxiety with flying. But trains, that’s my love. I enjoy them so much. When I was 24, I was on a solo trip in Japan, and funnily enough, it was on a bullet train that I had the initial idea for Half His Age. I suspect it happened because I was in such a relaxed, pleasant state that the creativity just came in.

Her airport routine
I don’t like to get there with too much time, but I definitely don’t like to be rushing. I once missed a flight to Nashville when I was like 18 and haven’t missed a flight since. I hope to keep my record strong. There’s a bookshop in the Tom Bradley International Terminal [at LAX] called Book Soup that I always stop by. I don’t usually need to stop in the convenience store because I have a travel checklist in my phone, and I check that obsessively. I also keep a carry-on backpack ready to go with all my toiletries. On that checklist, I mark anything that runs out that I might need to pick up on back at home, so I have that always ready to go.

Many celebrities have access to things that make traveling with a child easier: first-class seats, nannies or assistants, the latest tech, and familiar faces that make everyone treat them a little nicer. The funny thing about flying with young kids, though, is that all the money in the world will not entertain a two-year-old eleven hours into a 15-hour flight, nor will it make them sleep, or keep them from kicking the seat in front of them. A baby on a plane can humble us all.

Over the years of chatting with actors, authors, musicians, entrepreneurs, and A-listers of all stripes, we at Condé Nast Traveler have heard some pretty solid tips that even the most down-to-earth traveler can use while they’re up in the air with some tots. This holiday season, take all the help you can get—even if it’s from a billionaire—and here’s hoping the skies are friendly to you and your whole family.

Just accept the iPad

Today’s parents tend to be hyper-aware that too much screen time can be detrimental to kids, but air travel is certainly a time when the rules can be relaxed, for everyone’s peace and entertainment. After all, we adults are watching movies in flight too, right? “I’m very conscious about screen time for children, but when we travel, I just let it go,” said actor Gal Gadot. Virgin Air founder Richard Branson, who has two kids and five grandkids, also weighed in: “Obviously, the easiest way of traveling with kids on a plane is to put them in front of a screen, and they’ll be forever grateful. We’re no different from most grandparents or parents [in that respect]. We will spoil ’em on a long journey in order for everybody else to have a good sleep around them.”

Release the guilt, according to singer Kelly Clarkson: “I know there’s a lot of hippy dippy moms out there who don’t approve of iPads, and I think that’s great for them. More power to you,” she laughed. “But we definitely have iPads, because at some point travel can be total hell.” Her fellow pop star Katy Perry has a rule around airplane screen time that eases her mind. “I use an iPad if the flight is over nine hours, so she gets to watch her favorite movies and play games,” she said. But there are unfortunately, limits: “Even if you let the child have her iPad for two hours, they get bored. They want other types of stimulation.”

A key aspect of pre-plane tablet prep: Don’t forget your charger, or to download content ahead of time. “You have to have all the things they love that keep them entertained,” said singer Ciara. “If you bring their iPads, have the shows downloaded that they like—because oftentimes the Wi-Fi doesn’t work.”

Pack more snacks and clothes than you think

Actor Christina Ricci’s advice is straight forward: “Lots of snacks, a tremendous amount of snacks,” she said. “It’s always a crap shoot. You just never know how it’s going to go with children below the age of four.” The queen of organization, Marie Kondo, is naturally prepared. “I carry small, healthy snacks like dried fruit or rice crackers for when the kids get hungry.”

His travel pet peeve:

When people don’t give grace to their fellow passengers, it drives me nuts. When I see somebody traveling with a young kid, and they’re not only worried about their baby’s experience of this flight and trying to make sure that it’s a good memory for them, but also then having to worry about the adult the row over who is huffing and puffing and rolling their eyes? Have some grace! We’re all trying to get to another destination, and we’re trying to be good to each other. I do that lame, overstepping thing where I say to a parent, “Just so you know, you’re doing awesome.”

The hotel amenity he cares a lot about:

It depends on who’s paying for the hotel! If it’s me, I just want a really nice bed. I’m there for the bed. If I’m traveling for work, then boy do I love great room service. I’m not getting a lot of stuff! But if there’s just a good falafel? Yeah!

The funniest place he’s ever been recognized:

I was in the Syracuse airport and one of the TSA agents was looking at me kind of funny. She said, “I’m sorry, are you famous?” I said, “It depends on who you ask.” She looked at me one more time and said to her coworkers, “I was wrong. It’s not him.” That was my favorite.

What movies he watches in flight:

Anything that [Wicked director] Jon M. Chu has made. I’ve watched Crazy Rich Asians on so many flights. I listened to some podcast recently about how planes are a great place to watch a movie—the isolation, and the heightened emotions that come with it. So I love watching movies of all kinds on planes. I just watched Sorry, Baby, on a plane, and Fall Guy, too. I love a blockbuster with a lot of set pieces on a plane.

A place he’s never been that he wants to see next:

I’m dying to go to Japan. I went on a bit of a tear a decade ago reading a whole bunch of Haruki Murakami books back to back to back: 1Q84, A Wild Sheep Chase, Norwegian Wood. I got these vivid images of Tokyo and Kyoto and Osaka, and was like, Oh my God, I’ve got to see that. So many people in my life say it’s their favorite place in the world.

Actor, writer, and comedian Joel Kim Booster currently stars in the third season of Apple TV+’s show Loot, has released a comedy special with Netflix, and received two Emmy nominations for his film Fire Island. But he still hasn’t quite made it in the way that a certain high profile pet has. “I remember my first Delta One flight cross country, and I mostly remember it because Amanda Seyfried was on the flight, and she had a golden retriever that also got its own seat,” he says of his first time flying in a class other than economy. “I remember thinking like, ‘Wow, that dog has probably flown first class more than I have.’ And probably still has!”

Booster, who’s in the final weeks of planning his New Year’s Eve wedding in San Francisco, chatted with Condé Nast Traveler about his bachelor party and honeymoon plans, as well as the the glories of Mexico City, audiences of New York, and landscapes of South Korea’s Jeju Island.

His priorities when planning a vacation:

For me, a vacation is not doing anything. I’m about to go on my bachelor party to New Orleans, and they’ve planned a full slate of activities throughout the weekend. And that’s fine, actually, I’m really excited about that! But for me, if I’m planning the vacation, it’s going to be about proximity to the beach, what books I am reading, and leaving me alone for eight hours while I bake in the sun.

How he spends his flight time:

It’s either one of two extremes: very active or very inactive. I do most of my writing on planes, especially in periods when I’m touring or flying a lot. It’s the one place that I can seem to focus the best. I don’t buy wifi, so I don’t have access to my phone. I wrote most of Fire Island on a plane to Tokyo, actually, so I associate flying with getting a lot of work done. Or the other way I travel is I’ve popped two edibles and I’m watching whatever I’ve downloaded on my iPad.

A city where he loves stopping on comedy tours:

New York is the best city in the world to do standup, because of the audiences. There’s so much comedy that’s accessible in New York, and you’re seeing some amazing comics for free or very cheap, so the audiences in New York just tend to be more comedy-literate than anywhere else in the world. As a standup, that’s really fun because we’re always trying to stay ahead of whatever the first-thought punchline is. If anyone on the internet could make that obvious joke, then I don’t want to be making it. But sometimes when you’re performing for audiences that haven’t seen a lot of comedy—they’re not even thinking about the first-thought punchline—so if you’re trying to go to 2.0, you’ve just lost your audience. They don’t even know what the obvious punchline is, much less the heightened punchline. That’s never really a problem in New York. It’s a lot of fun to be able to do some more advanced, more alternative, or more complicated stuff in New York.

Since her star-making turn in The White Lotus, actress Meghann Fahy has been booked and busy: This month, she stars in the drama Rebuilding, as the ex-wife of a cowboy whose ranch burned down in a wildfire. Unsurprisingly, her packed agenda requires catching up on sleep wherever she can. But if you see her resting on an airplane, kindly avert your eyes. “I famously am always sleeping with my mouth open if I’m in a seat that doesn’t go all the way back. My boyfriend has so many videos of me, just teed up,” she says. “If it’s a night flight, I love to get on the plane, watch a little movie, eat some dinner, have a glass of wine, and then lights out.”

Fahy chatted with Condé Nast Traveler about the experience of making Rebuilding below Colorado’s wide open skies, why her work schedule requires 24-hour room service, and the movie she loves watching in-flight just before she drifts off.

On the filming location for Rebuilding:

It was Alamosa, Colorado, which I had never been to before. Colorado generally is a state that I’ve not spent a lot of time in, and it’s a totally different world than what I’m used to—I grew up in a really small town in Massachusetts—and it was amazing. Just driving down one of those really long, really straight roads and seeing that much sky, with the radio on, continues to be one of my favorite parts of having been there. And the sunsets were absolutely incredible.

Her coolest filming location to date:

Sicily [for The White Lotus] definitely takes the cake. It’ll be really hard to beat that. We traveled around a bit while we were filming and bopped from town to town, so we got to see a fair amount of Sicily, which was wonderful. Then we actually finished the shoot in Rome. It was just one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen. There’s still so much of Italy that I haven’t been to that I’m excited to explore. I love the culture, I love the people, I love the food. I just have no notes on Italy.

Her approach to packing:

I’m sort of a chronic under-packer, because I get really overwhelmed when I’m doing it. So what I do to soothe myself is just say, “Don’t worry about it! If you forget anything, you can just get things as you need them.” But I have recently gotten into packing cubes. Honestly, it makes such a huge difference, not even in terms of space necessarily, but just knowing where everything is. I’m leaving on Monday to go to England to do a film, and I’m going to be there for a couple of months, so I’m going to have three big trunks. When you have that much luggage, it’s really hard to know where all your stuff is, and it becomes frustrating to be going through your bag all the time trying to find one thing. The packing cubes are really helpful with that organizational component.

It will come as zero shock to hear that Marie Kondo, who revolutionized the province of junk drawers and overstuffed closets over a decade ago with her widely popular KonMari method for tidying up, is a careful packer. “First, I check my travel schedule and make a list of what I’ll need,” says Kondo, who in addition to her tidying empire is the mother of three children. “I prepare items by category such as outfits, underwear, sleepwear, cosmetics, and supplements, and pack them separately into packing cubes for each category.”

Kondo is getting out her suitcase now in anticipation of her eighth book, Letter from Japan, in which she explores the Japanese cultural traditions, like tea ceremonies and bathing in hot springs, that she feels have guided her own approach to tidying (and life). Ahead, she discusses some of her favorite trips across Japan, shares the cosmetics she stashes in her carry-on, and advises what snacks to bring along to keep young ones from getting hangry.

What’s in her carry-on bag:

In addition to essentials like my phone and wallet, I carry a book, a small notebook and pen, a little balm or nail oil to prevent dryness of my hands, nails, or lips, a handkerchief, and honey throat lozenges. I also sometimes bring a shawl or leg warmers to keep warm.

The best vacation she’s ever taken:

One of my most memorable trips was with my husband to Yakushima, an island in Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan, before our children were born. Yakushima is often called a “spiritual island” in Japan, a place where you can truly feel the power and mystery of nature just by being there. What moved me the most was the trail to see the Yakusugi, a giant cedar tree that is over a thousand years old. The 10-hour round-trip hike was certainly challenging, but I enjoyed the journey itself, and when we finally reached the Yakusugi, I was deeply moved. I felt a sense of sacredness and natural wonder I had never experienced before. It was an incredibly special holiday for us.

Her advice for traveling with children:

I try to plan trips where the children can have fun while the parents can also feel relaxed. For that, the key is not to overdo it. I make sure to allow plenty of time so there’s no need to rush. I also carry small, healthy snacks like dried fruit or rice crackers for when the kids get hungry. Before traveling, we learn a bit about the destination in advance to spark their interest. Sometimes we watch anime, read manga, or picture books that feature the place together, which makes the trip even more enjoyable.

Though she traveled to the south of France earlier this year for the premiere of her latest film at the Cannes Film Festival, June Squibb has still never been to Paris. “I’ve flown into Paris, and been in the airport, but I’ve never spent time in Paris, nor London,” says the 95-year-old Academy Award nominee. “I know they’re beautiful cities and I would like to see one, or both.” Once Squibb was done promoting Eleanor the Great, of which she is the star, Squibb was invited to tack on a few days in the city of light with the movie’s director, Scarlett Johansson. “Scarlett was flying there afterwards to take some time off, and she said, ‘Come to Paris!’ But I had a cat back in LA I had to get home to,” says Squibb.

When she’s not turning down opportunities to hobnob with wildly cool people in wildly cool places, Squibb loves to hit the hotel pool, order room service, and settle in with some Sudoku, as she explains ahead to Condé Nast Traveler.

What’s in her carry-on bag:

My carry-on bag has at least one book, a book of Sudoku, and Kleenex. And then a charger for my phone, extra glasses, and pens for my puzzling—I do crosswords, and a lot of the puzzles, but Sudoku is my favorite.

The best vacation of her life:

Going to Greece. My husband was Greek, and he was the first generation American-born. We were in Greece for three or four weeks—Athens and Crete, which is where his family was from, and it was just wonderful. It was so funny because my husband spoke very fluent Greek, and he was always translating for me. Whatever they said, he was translating. At one point, he started translating to me and I said, “Charlie, they’re speaking English. I can understand!”

What it was like filming in Coney Island for Eleanor the Great:

Oh, that was great fun. I’m in LA now, but I lived in New York for 65 years. Coney Island was our first day of shooting and it was so perfect for the first day. [Co-star] Erin [Kellyman] and I got to spend time together and everything. It was a really good choice to go there first. There were paparazzi because it was Scarlett Johansson, and we did have a crowd watching. Wherever we would stop to shoot, we would end up with quite a few people standing there.

The place she could travel to a million times and not tire of it:

Hawaii, on the Big Island. I love the Big Island. I’ve been four times now, and relax more there than I do anywhere in the whole world. I travel with a couple that I know and love, so we’re very comfortable together. They have a share with the big Hilton there, [Waikoloa Village] in the middle of the island, but we always get different apartments.

And a few more of her favorite places in Africa:

I went to see the gorillas in Rwanda, and what an incredible trip. I recommend everyone plan that trip if you can, because you have to get the permit but it’s so worth it. It’s not safe right now, but I went to the Congo some years back, and the beauty of that country takes your breath away. I’ve been to South Africa many times, and working there was wonderful. Cape Town, oh my god!

Her first flight in business or first class:

I believe it was on Pan Am, which I read somewhere is coming back. I’m very excited because I loved Pan Am. It seemed very glamorous to me, but anything seemed glamorous at that point. Business or first, whatever cabin I was in was awesome. This is back when they had the tray with the salmon and the pancakes and the caviar. I mean, it’s just so sad when you think back on how it used to be! This was for work. I would never have bought that [ticket] for myself. I didn’t go anywhere other than home to see my parents on my own dime. It was so amazing to fly in first or business, like, “Wow, I’ve made it.”

The touristy places in New York City that she still recommends:

Central Park never goes out of style, thank goodness. It is still its beautiful self. I had friends visit when we were last filming who had never been to the city, and it was so much fun to take them to Bethesda Fountain and to walk down the grand promenade. They had no idea it was so big and beautiful—and the musicians! We also went to Washington Square Park, which was very busy, obviously, but so much fun. It’s so great to have people come to visit because you forget, when you’re living there, the joy of the first-time experience. And we went to Dumbo, which is now a tourist attraction?! It’s so crazy. I love where the 1 Hotel Brooklyn is. They’ve done such a good job with the gardening and restoration of the tip, where you’re looking a the view of the city. It’s beautiful down there. I got an Airbnb around there when we were filming the second season [of And Just Like That…] and I did not understand that it was an Instagram spot. I’d try to run from the Instagram people. Luckily I could get away and go for a beautiful walk there along the river.

The hotel amenities she cares a lot about:

I love beds and pillows. I desperately love having a coffee in my room, so I need an espresso machine or something similar. I like healthy food, which is sometimes a struggle, which is why I like the 1 Hotels. They have healthier food, which is nice when you’re traveling. I love a view. I will definitely shell over some money for a view of the water or a skyline. And a good location—I like to be able to walk out of my hotel and not be too far from a cute cafe.

Where she’s never been that she’d like to go next:

I have never been to Rome. Can you believe that? It’s so crazy. I’m like a third Italian! I have been to Milan, thank goodness, but I would love to do a long trip through Italy that includes Rome and Florence and the countryside and possibly even Sicily, and I would love to take my kids. People tell me it’s kid-friendly, and I feel like they would love it. It’s more of a planning issue, where I don’t really know when I’m going to get time off. I just need to plan better!

It’s a bit surprising to learn that Molly Shannon of all people spends most of her vacations in surfing hot spots around the world, as she tells Condé Nast Traveler. What’s perhaps less unexpected is that this beach bum is really, really polite to flight attendants. “Because I fly Los Angeles to New York a lot on one particular airline, I know a lot of the pilots and attendants. I’ve gotten to know them,” says the actress. “I feel like we’re all working together, so I say ‘Good morning!’”

Shannon, who’s currently a partner for the supplement Proactive Support from the Makers of Tylenol, chatted about her life in a surf family (her two children are in their early twenties), cowering from monkeys in Bali, and her first-ever first class flight, which was to Budapest.

Her priorities when planning a vacation:

When I’m traveling for fun, definitely the beach. I love the tropical vacation. That’s my favorite. Fun family dinners, reading, relaxing, swimming. I like to keep it simple.

What guides their choice of destinations:

We’re a big Hawaii family and a big surf family. My son and husband are really big surfers and my daughter does it too. I tried it a couple of times years ago, and it’s really not my thing—but I appreciate it. Taking a lesson was great. I was like, god, this requires such upper-body strength. I’m proud that I tried it!

How she spends her flight time:

It’s a nice, quiet time to read. Sometimes I download TV shows for the plane, but mostly I read. I’ll tear through a book. I don’t usually work on planes. Sometimes if I’m on my way to do a job, I have to memorize lines and that’s kind of a drag, so I won’t do it for more than an hour at a time.

The best vacation of her life so far:

Bali, Indonesia. My son Nolan surfed Uluwatu. My friend Tamra Davis knows a lot about Bali, so she was like, “You’ve got to go here, do this, eat at this restaurant.” It was everything I would have wanted and more—just a wonderful family vacation. We stayed at a hotel that was off-the-charts fantastic. There were so many monkeys trying to get into our room, so we were laughing and videotaping them. Sometimes [my family] would leave to go get breakfast and I’d be swimming in the pool and the monkey would come back around. Oh god, I was scared! But it was a magical vacation, with the best food. I would love to go back to Bali.

The most random place she’s been recognized:

Nothing too weird, but my daughter was doing a semester abroad in Madrid and I felt pretty relaxed there, walking around with a baseball cap or whatever. We were in a [clothing store], and two women were really staring at me while I was shopping. Looking at me like, “Do I know you?” Maybe they think I’m a school teacher. They were really staring! It took me by surprise.