How to Travel Like a Pro: Tips From Alessandra Ambrosio & Johannes Huebl

The German luggage brand Rimowa knows a thing or two about how to do jet set travel properly. Earlier this week, the company flew a few lucky editors to the EAA Airventure in OshKosh, Wisconsin to unveil its first all-metal passenger air craft, the “Annelise 2,” which is based on a Junker F13 aircraft from 1913. Rimowa also flew in its current campaign stars, Alessandra Ambrosio and Johannes Huebl, to join in on the celebration. We spoke with the stunning pair to talk travel dos and don’ts, German efficiency, what not to wear on a flight, and how to join the mile high club in style!

Yahoo Style: Travel attire, what are your you do’s and dont’s when traveling?

Alessandra Ambrosia: I like my travel attire to be loose, comfortable pants. To me, it has to comfortable. I admire the girls who wear high heels and all that. I can’t even do that in the airport. I wear my most comfortable boyfriend cut jeans, a cashmere sweater, and like flip-flops or espadrilles. Even the bra has to be super comfortable — no wires or anything. It has to feel like pajamas, but not look like them!

Johannes Huebl: I always travel in a blazer and I always travel in appropriate attire. Sometimes when I’m really lazy I probably wear sneakers as well. For some reason, I don’t know if it was my mom or my dad, but my dad use to always travel in suits in Germany back in the 70’s and 80’s.

YS: That’s very proper!

JH: Yeah, I don’t mind it. To be really honest, in Europe, it’s a little different than it is over here in the States. Maybe because there’s more people here, but I mean in the States you see everyone in their jumpsuits and pajamas, they bring their McDonald’s food snacks and you can smell them before they come in. That doesn’t happen on a Hamburg to Munich flight at 8 o’clock in the morning on a Monday.

YS: Are there any airport styles you see that from your travel that doesn’t impress you? Do you ever wear pajamas in airport or a neck pillow outside of the flight?

JH: I don’t go outside in pajamas. Not even to walk the dog at midnight. It’s mostly when I travel over here in the States that these things have a little bit more significance. Also unfortunately in the New York area, three of our airports are voted in the top ten worst airports in the States. And when you fly from New York to Zurich, you wake up in Zurich and it’s clean, it’s nice, it’s organized. You wake up in Munich and I smell the pretzels and nice bakeries and whatnot. Aviation is just a tad different. You also see in London at Terminal 1 where our Lufthansa Airline flies into is really nicely done.

YS: Alessandra, do you ever see someone’s outfit at the airport and think, “Why would you do that?”

AA: When I see girls with the high heels I’m like, “How can they do the high heels?” There are so many places to wear high heels but at the airport, sometimes you’ve got to walk and run, you never know, and it’s slippery. Mini skirts are definitely a no. Especially because it gets cold — airports are freezing. I always have socks in my bag to wear.

YS: Would you ever let anyone pack for you?

AA: No way. Some of my friends have their maids packing for them. I’m, like, “How can you do that?” I can’t even think about it. The last thing you want is to get on a trip and you don’t have your favorite things or things you knew you wanted to use in that moment because you were lazy and you had someone else pack for you.

JH: It happened to me once or twice that someone helped us, but I like to pack for myself. I like to unpack for myself. I know how it goes. I’m very fast in doing this.

YS: It’s probably because you guys travel so much, you have the packing down to a science.

JH: Yeah, and also sometimes when Olivia and I have to go on a trip for three weeks to the fashion weeks or whatever, I have to pack a tuxedo. When I went to London Fashion Week I had two suitcases because I had ten outfits! I know how to pack them efficiently; I stuff my socks in my shoes, I roll up my suits.

YS: You do the rolling thing, as well?

JH: Mr. Porter has a really good “How To” for these things, but I have my own. You sort of just learn that over time. I also wouldn’t be comfortable with someone packing and unpacking for me. It’s personal. It’s your personal stuff. I’m happy to do it. It doesn’t bother me. Traveling doesn’t bother me. Sometimes I like to be more at home, but that’s the beauty of work.

YS: Who’s your favorite travel companion?

AA: I love to travel with my daughter because she is almost seven. She loves the ice cream that they serve on the flight and she’s happy with that. I tell her if she can have ice cream if she’s good and doesn’t bother me too much. [laughs] I love traveling with both of my kids, but with him, I have to take care of him because he is only three. He’s loud and screaming. Three year olds love doing that. The seven-year-old is aware of everything, so she’s way more respectful.

JH: My favorite travel companion is Olivia. It took me about three seconds to think of that. [laughs]

YS: Is she an easy person to travel with?

JH: I would say so. Of course when I go with my boys, with my pals on a trip, it’s a different thing because you’re all giddy and happy to be with each other all day, but that doesn’t happen so often. It happens maybe two times a year when one of us has a bachelor’s trip for a wedding or something like that. I don’t go on trips with many other people. It’s either just myself or with Olivia.

YS: And does she have any travel rituals?

JH: Oh definitely. She has her travel thing down. She packs herself too. If you open her carryon, it’s perfectly well done. Her makeup is there and she has all these little Smythson pouches to hold everything.

YS: Does she change on the flight when it’s long distance?

JH: Yeah, we’ll change on the plane. They give us pajamas to change into.

YS: Beside your respective partners and families, who are your dream companions?

JH: My best friend who was my best man at my wedding.

AA: I don’t know, maybe Stevie Nicks? You could have a good chat with her! [laughs]

YS: When was the last time you flew economy?

AA: Well, in Brazil, they only have economy. It takes one to two hours to get most places.

JH: Of course, I fly Jet Blue! We flew to St. Barth’s or something, our vacation last year. But when I fly overseas, which is like 90% of my trips, to Europe and Asia it’s business. Jet Blue is a fantastic airline, have you flown Jet Blue?

YS: Um, yeah.

JH: They have extra legroom that you can buy for like $15 or $20 and it makes coach feel like business class. I can sit like this. So we fly New York to Saint Maarten, New York to Mexico, you can really go anywhere with Jet Blue. But anyway: dress smart, be on time and collect mileage.

YS: Do you have any tricks to get an upgrade?

AA: I don’t know. I like to plan everything ahead so I don’t have any surprises when I get in the airport. There’s nothing worse than having a surprise, I always try to organize myself in that way.

JH: I was just speaking about this. When I was younger and I started traveling a lot, I would always wear a blazer is because my dad used to be well dressed when he would travel. He said, ‘Listen Johannes, when you go travel you always wear a blazer.’ Also, when you fly coach, go up to the check-in desk, and ask them in friendly way, ‘Is there any chance you can bump me up to business?’ It happened once in a while when I was 22 or 23.

YS: Good tips. Back to collecting miles…

JH: A lot of people don’t. When I met Olivia, she really didn’t care about collecting mileage because she wasn’t flying as much. I told her, ‘From now on you should start collecting miles and you should hop on the same trend as me: only fly Lufthansa and you’ll see.’ And now she doesn’t want to fly on any other airline. When we fly to Tokyo, we fly the route over Europe just to fly on that airline to be comfortable.

YS: What other great journeys have you’ve had? Have you been on a plane with your own bedroom?

JH: Singapore Airlines. We flew that on our way to Sydney, Australia. We were very lucky! The bed becomes a connected queen size bed and it looks like a train.

YS: Is this how one joins the Mile High Club in style?

JH: You would assume! I don’t know how busy it is at night when you fly. I’m sure they have the flight attendants there. That was the best flight. And that never happened again. 

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