KATIE Piper has swapped the Loose Women panel to soak up the sun on Spain’s Costa Brava.
She’s battling it out with two of her ITV co-stars to find out who can organise the best excursions from horse riding to making human towers on The Great Escapers.
Katie Piper, 42, has ditched the gloomy UK weather for a slice of Spain alongside Sunetra Sarker and Denise Welch, so how did she feel about jetting off with her colleagues?
Katie told Sun Travel: “Whether you go away with friends or family, travelling in a group is difficult.
“You want everyone to be having the food they like, doing the trips they like, and everyone has different ideas of fun.
“Then, don’t forget if you throw in a bit of competition and jeopardy as well – it starts out friendly, but everyone wants to win.”
Katie, Sunetra and Denise headed to Spain to organise the best excursions with the help of Jet2holidays‘ Gio who helped them create the ultimate holiday experience.
Once everyone has completed the excursions, the ladies take a vote to decide whose were the best and who is ‘The Great Escaper’.
For the Loose Women, activities ranged from going horse-riding, to trekking and even spending time on a luxury boat trip.
Katie however avoided the holiday stereotypes and instead, joined in the human tower festival which is a Catalan tradition.
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She said: “I wanted to show people local culture and to see what brings people together.
“It happens during some evenings for people of all ages and anyone can get involved – men, women and children. It made me laugh thinking about British culture at 7pm in the evening.”
Katie continued: “We’re watching I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! with a takeaway on the sofa. But in Costa Brava, they come out straight from work and they stand on each other’s shoulders.”
The three ladies tried everything out – but there’s one thing that they couldn’t do.
Katie confessed: “The only thing we didn’t do was fly and flop, we never got a tan. I came back the same white as a sheet colour as when I went out.”
During the trip, Katie stayed in Tossa de Mar, which is on the coast and has pretty beaches, coves and is centred around a walled medieval old town.
Katie is a mum of two, Belle, 11, and Penelope, 7, and heading to the Costa Brava has meant it’s been added to their family’s travel list.
She said: “I think I’ll go back with my girls, the kids will watch the show and go ‘it’s so unfair you got to go’. It’s affordable and accessible, you can go self-catering or stay in an Airbnb – I think we will plan a trip there.”
“I’ve been to other much more touristy Spanish places, like the Costa del Sol.
“The Costa Brava is a bit of a hidden gem, it’s touristy enough to take your kids out and walk on foot to restaurants.
“But it’s not lost its culture, like along the strip there’s lots of architecture like gorgeous churches, cliffs, castles – it’s not neon signs and karaoke. It’s a great place for families as well because it’s such a short flight.”
The fact that the trip to Costa Brava was not a family holiday was a strange experience for Katie.
She said: “Usually any holiday for me is putting the kids first – we go somewhere that serves chicken nuggets.
“Our next holiday will be to Tenerife where there’s a kids’ club and water slides – we’re doing five days during half-term.
“We tend to keep it cheap and stay in and around Europe where the flights are shorter.”
Katie is no stranger to a staycation though, in fact South East of England is where she spent lots of time on holiday.
She told us: “My mum and dad didn’t have a lot of money, so we didn’t really go abroad. Instead, we went Kent most years; Margate, Deal, and Broadstairs.
“We’d watch Punch and Judy on the beach, there would be donkey rides and we’d eat big sticks of rock and go to the arcades – we absolutely loved it.
“Then as I got older, we went away with family friends to Spain, Greece or Portugal. It would be like your typical package holiday and we’d go to the kids’ club all day.
“Looking back I think my mum and dad were drinking all day and then we’d go out at night. They’d let us stay up late and we’d all play card games like Snap and Happy Families.”
For her next trip, Katie and her husband Richard, are planning on keeping it Britain-based too.
She said: “We’re looking into a trip at the moment that we want to do in the Easter which is to go to Scotland.
“We’re trying to plan to do it on the sleeper train because it’s a bit of an adventure to go on a sleeper train and my kids have never done that.
“We’ve got a dog now. We got a puppy this year if we go on a sleeper train, then we can take her on the train with us.”
Watch the Loose Women on The Great Escapers on ITV, Sunday, December 14, at 6PM.
Catch up on previous episodes starring the cast of I’m A Celebrity, Coronation Street and The Chasers on ITVX.