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<\/p>\nP<\/b>etra Ecclestone, 36, the daughter of the Formula 1 billionaire Bernie Ecclestone and the Croatian model Slavica Radic, is a model and beauty brand founder. Raised in Chelsea, London, she now lives in Brentwood, Los Angeles, with her second husband, the businessman Sam Palmer. She has three children from her first marriage to James Stunt (Lavinia, 12, and twins Andrew and James, 10) and a daughter (Minnie, aged 5) with Palmer. <\/b><\/p>\n
My dad\u2019s job took us to different places every other weekend when I was growing up. Everywhere my mum went, my sister Tamara and I went too. That\u2019s just the way we were raised; she never left us on our own and we never had nannies. Often we\u2019d be in Brussels or Monaco. The Monaco Grand Prix was always so busy, so fun, so chaotic \u2014 and great for people watching. There were so many celebrities, really cool footballers and basketball players \u2014 I was a huge Lakers fan and remember being so excited when I saw Kobe Bryant and Shaq. We\u2019d mostly stay at the H\u00f4tel de Paris Monte-Carlo, other times on my dad\u2019s boat, and we\u2019d fly there on his plane.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve never been away just with my husband, because trips always revolve around our kids. I\u2019m quite a nervous individual and I can\u2019t imagine being far from them if there\u2019s an accident. My children actually prefer flying commercial to private jet. I don\u2019t know why \u2014 I think it\u2019s more of an experience for them. I like the ease of a private jet, but I feel safer flying on a larger plane. Emirates and Singapore Airlines are my favourite airlines: they\u2019re amazing, and the staff are always so helpful. <\/p>\n
Airlines I\u2019d avoid? Well, we just flew to Bora Bora in French Polynesia with Air France, and I found that the level of care just wasn\u2019t the same. The air stewards didn\u2019t seem happy with any sort of noise, and that makes it stressful when you\u2019re travelling with four kids. On the way back we flew Air Tahiti: it wasn\u2019t the same level of luxury, but the people were so kind and that meant everything.<\/p>\n
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Petra and her family in Bora Bora<\/p>\n
Bora Bora was beautiful, but the food there was disappointing \u2014 lots of it has to be imported because the island is so remote. I don\u2019t eat fish, which didn\u2019t help me. We stayed at the Four Seasons for the first five days and then we went to the private Brando Island for another five days. Both hotels had incredible views: the Four Seasons was surrounded by the ocean and the green mountains beyond, while the Brando felt more rustic, with wild forest all around.<\/p>\n
Living in LA means weekend breaks are often to Las Vegas, which my kids love. They\u2019re so excited by everything that\u2019s going on, and they\u2019re entertained the entire time. We also love Los Cabos in Mexico, which is an easy two-hour flight away, and we stay in Las Ventanas al Paraiso. It\u2019s my favourite Rosewood hotel, and they have a lazy river and ice lollies for the kids. But my favourite hotel in the world is the Amangiri in Utah. It\u2019s breathtakingly beautiful \u2014 the scenery is otherworldly \u2014 and we love taking a day boat to Lake Powell.<\/p>\n
Dubai is one of my top places to travel with the children. I feel safer in Dubai than I do in LA or London. In London my dad\u2019s been robbed four times, my sister\u2019s been burgled; it\u2019s not the same place it used to be. LA is an absolute disaster too, safety-wise. I sleep so much better in Dubai.<\/p>\n
\u2022 26 of the best hotels in Dubai for 2025<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n When you grow up with such wealth, you just think it\u2019s normal. You go to private schools with all these other wealthy kids and we all lived equally. My mum didn\u2019t grow up with much money, though, and she wanted to show me how privileged I was. She was a huge advocate for learning through travel, so she took us all over the world, from Egypt to Morocco. Egypt was really fun \u2014 we visited Luxor, Cairo, the pyramids \u2014 until my sister got bad food poisoning from a salad and had to be hospitalised. But one of my most emotional trips was a visit to India when I was 11. We drove around for hours, visiting orphanages and charities. Seeing such poverty was awful and made me realise how lucky I was.<\/p>\n My mum is from the city of Rijeka in Croatia, so we\u2019d also visit the country three times a year, either staying in a rented house with all my extended family or on my dad\u2019s boat. The country has changed a lot since I was a child \u2014 nowadays there are luxury hotels, but there weren\u2019t any back then. <\/p>\n Petra goes skiing in Aspen, Colorado<\/p>\n GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n We\u2019d also regularly return to Gstaad in Switzerland, where we had a chalet. My dad lives in Gstaad now (he owns a hotel there, Hotel Olden), but I visit less nowadays because it\u2019s so far from the US. I have to say, though, skiing in America is better. We go to Aspen, Colorado, and it has wider runs, better snow and a longer season.<\/p>\n My first holiday without my parents was a week in Mykonos with four girlfriends after my GCSEs, and it was a crazy one. The trip was a gift from my dad. We went on his boat, and I just remember going out late at night and sleeping on the top deck, thinking it would be dreamy \u2026 until I woke up sunburnt to a crisp. ![\"Skiers](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/\/4645480b-efcc-43e8-99d6-70b90a1f95ff.jpg\")
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Petra Ecclestone is the founder of the beauty brand Crickle Daisy <\/b>crickledaisy.com<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n