How I Travel: Simon Pegg Has a Long, Relatable List of Hotel Demands

Condé Nast Traveler

23-05-2025

[Kefalonia] is somewhere we know we can get to and just know it; we don't have to do any acclimatization. We know the restaurants, we know the parts of the beach that we like. Last year we went to Asia for two weeks, a tour of Korea and Japan, and that was very much an activity holiday. We went out and visited temples and sites and did our due diligence as genuine tourists. We like to do that as well, when we can. Kefalonia is for those holidays when we just want to sit around and relax. The island is quite cultural, it's got a lot of history—there are amazing caves there. There's Myrtos beach, which is very famous. They shot Captain Corelli's Mandolin there; it's set there. But for us, it's somewhere to do nothing.
How he spends his flight time:
I've got a real ritual now with flying. I make sure I'm dressed very comfortably, and always wear drawstring trousers so there's no taking the belt off at security. I love to get settled in and watch movies. For me, it's heaven if the only thing I have to do is watch movies. I tend to watch films that I wouldn't necessarily watch at the cinema, or classics that I love that are just a comfort. I can sleep on a plane as well. If I have to do a night flight, I like to get the bed down as soon as the seatbelt signs go off. Don't eat dinner, just go straight to sleep and wake up when the first announcement is called in the morning that we're coming into land. That's my favorite thing to do.
The area of the U.K. he thinks more travelers should see:
Obviously we're an ancient island, and there's so much history here. Go to any town and you'll find somewhere exhibiting the remains of a Roman settlement or some cultural civilization that came before. Even in the little town where I grew up—Gloucester in the southwest of England—there are glass viewing platforms where you can look down into Roman baths. I love the lakes up in the very north of England. The Lake District is lovely. It's geographically very different to the rest of the country, very dramatic, and it's a joy to drive up the M6 through the lakes. I always think the north of Scotland is incredible as well. Scotland is as different geographically to England as any other European country—as is Wales, funnily enough, which might be why that landmass was separated in the way that it was back when we invented countries. But the west coast of north Scotland, Loch Lomond and up through Loch Shiel over to the isle of Skye, is really beautiful, majestic scenery.
What he looks for in a hotel:
I think about this all the time, and there are certain checkpoints I have for a really good hotel: power points by the bed, preferably with a USB direct, that are not taken up with bedside clocks and things like that. I don't like a bedside clock that emanates light. Coat hangers that are real coat hangers, not those anti-theft ones, which I always feel is a faintly passive aggressive statement from the hotel: 'You are going to steal our coat hangers,' which is frankly insulting. I like the bathrobe to have the cord already threaded. I don't like it when they fold up the bathrobe really nicely, but then you open it and the cord falls on the floor. If you just got out in the shower, that can be really frustrating. I like pump-action toiletries, because when you're in the shower, if you have to take the lid off something and there's nowhere to put it and you're going to wash your hair, that's frustrating. [I prefer] when they're mounted on the wall and it's something nice, like Molton Brown, something high class. I love a turndown service. I love to come back to my room and find it all ready for bed with soft lighting, maybe a chocolate on the pillow, or a spray for the pillow. And a good restaurant, good room service that's available 24 hours. Yeah, I'm not too high-maintenance!