Soap Hub Travel Tuesday: The Unsinkable Emily O’Brien

Emily O’Brien sat down with Soap Hub at the recent Day of DAYS event for a chat about her travels. The actress shared her love of going to places near and far. Earlier this year, she visited Wales and a few years ago, she went to Africa.

Emily O’Brien: Travels Near and Far

O’Brien tells Soap Hub that she attempts to travel every few years either to visit her family back in England or to enrich herself — or both! Believe it or not, the Bedfordshire, United Kingdom-born actress revealed that she had yet to visit someplace nearby. “I’d never been and I always wanted to go to Wales,” she says. Why go? “It’s right there,” she says with a smile.

“A bit of Welsh rarebit & Dylan Thomas #homegain #uksummer,” O’Brien posted on Instagram from her trip to Wales last June. “Please bring back some scones!” playfully requested O’Brien’s DAYS co-star Paul Telfer (Xander), who hails from Scotland. O’Brien shot back with a smile: “I already ate them all, with extra clotted cream…” Check out O’Brien’s post from Wales below.

DAYS: Out of Africa

A few years ago, she ventured to Africa to visit her best friend and her husband, who were living in Uganda, located in East Africa. O’Brien says, in addition to making sure a person has all the proper vaccinations and paperwork in order, that it’s not a bad idea to be up on your swimming lessons. A boat she was traveling in down the Nile capsized! “I almost drowned,” O’Brien reveals. “It was incredibly frightening. There were these crocodile-looking things in the water.”

The Unsinkable Emily O’Brien

The actress recalls prior to being submerged in the Nile, her boat captain said to her, “Don’t worry. It’s a waterfall. It’s not bad. The next thing I know, I’m underwater and going against the current,” she recalls. O’Brien was able to make it to shore and find safety. “I’m a decent swimmer [fortunately],” she says. The actress didn’t have to do much research on what to do once she got to Africa, as she had her friend there to act as a tour guide.

Emily O’Brien does caution it’s a long process to get one’s paperwork together and that the Malaria pills she had to take in advance made her ill. Plus, she says getting to Africa involves a time commitment. She posted: “3 flights, 2 boats & a 7 hour drive later…We finally made it.” Despite the effort it takes to go there and to prepare for the sojourn, she doesn’t regret going to Africa for a single second. “It’s been the best trips of my life,” she says. “I’ve been there twice.”