Tracee Ellis Ross Shares Why Solo Travel is Ultimate Self-Care

“Solo travel, in particular, is how I’ve come to know and honor myself,” the actress tells iBestTravel on a trip to Sensei Porcupine Creek.

Fresh-faced, wearing a breezy cotton dress and her hair slicked back, Tracee Ellis Ross is nestled in a chair in a private villa at Sensei Porcupine Creek, in Rancho Mirage, California. Stretched behind her, visible through a wall of windows, are the Santa Rosa mountains. Ross chose Sensei Porcupine Creek as the site of her iBestTravel cover shoot and spent the morning posing around the property — in a sun-filled villa bedroom, on the ivy-covered veranda of the Sensei by Nobu restaurant. The vibe during the shoot was upbeat and fun, thanks to Ross’s energy and choice of energetic music.

A Look into Sensei Porcupine Creek

Once the estate of Silicon Valley mogul Larry Ellison, Sensei Porcupine Creek opened in November 2022 as a 230-acre wellness oasis. The 22 rooms and villas are decorated with a touch of Japanese minimalism, while the landscaping overflows with dark green palms and pink bougainvillea. The grounds are dotted with artworks, like the massive puppy sculpture by Yoshitomo Nara that greets guests on the road to the resort’s entrance. But it’s the wellness offerings that set the place apart.

Experts in nutrition, rest, mindfulness, and fitness create customized, science-based treatments and activities, with the goal of making clients feel both pampered and healthier by the time they check out.

At the resort, wellness is both a luxury and a necessity. For Ross, who usually has a dozen projects in the hopper at any given time, taking care of herself is a non-negotiable. Roles on hit television shows like Girlfriends and Black-ish helped to make her a household name and earned her dozens of nominations and awards (including, for Black-ish, a Golden Globe and an Emmy). Ross sings — she sang five original songs for the 2020 film “The High Note” — hosts award shows, and produces projects like the docuseries The Hair Tales through her production company Joy Mill Entertainment. In 2019, she launched Pattern Beauty, an ever-growing collection of products and tools that supports and celebrates curly and coily hair.

As much as Ross thrives off her work, she finds that taking time off to travel is a vital form of self-care. “It’s very important to me,” she says. “Solo travel, in particular, is how I’ve come to know and honor myself.” The soon-to-be 51-year-old has been a globetrotter since she was a child, traveling with her superstar mom, Diana Ross, and even living in Paris and Switzerland. “I feel like I’m a child of the world,” she says.

“Growing up this way allowed me to understand that, even though people may not speak the same language, we are all the same. And that allowed me to feel safe anywhere. The things that make us different are what make life so robust and textured.”

Tracee’s Perspective on Travel

Here, Ross shares more about the impact travel has had on her life.

How did traveling with your mom inform who you are today?

Because of the magnitude of my mother’s life and the way she mothered, I know that home lives inside me. I can find and create a home wherever I am. It’s part of the reason that I have a lot of compassion for my overpacking — because home just comes with you. My mother used to ship a turkey to Switzerland for Christmas. Another result is that I’m not great with new people. I used to have so much shame about that. But I realized, if you think back to my childhood, it would be weird if I trusted people immediately. The more I get to know myself, the more compassion I have for myself. The other funny thing that is a result of my upbringing is that I don’t have a sense of adventure.

What does travel mean to you at this point in your life?

There are ways to travel so it’s not expensive, but having the time in one’s life to travel is a luxury — one that everyone deserves. I work really hard, but that doesn’t make me more deserving of joy and luxury and freedom and safety than anybody else. So many people work really hard, and everybody deserves those things.

I recognize that the luxury that I experience is expensive, and I don’t adhere to this whole “blessed” thing because I picked a lucky straw. I feel like my job as a human is to take that straw and use it responsibly and with accountability — and then also enjoy it. Experiencing joy is a revolutionary act, especially for a woman of color in America. Therefore, I’m very mindful of how I do it, and also that I’m not wasting it. It’s an abundance that I absorb into every cell of my body.

— Tracee Ellis Ross

Do you have any tips for people who haven’t traveled alone but are interested in it?

Start by going to dinner by yourself on a Friday night. See if you can do that. And you might not be a person who can do that. You might say, “I’m not doing that ever again.” Then you’re not somebody who can go on vacation by yourself.

Tips for New Solo Travelers

Where have you never been that you really want to go?

I’m dying to go to Tokyo and Kyoto. I had a whole trip planned. Something came up, and it didn’t happen, but it will. I also have never been to Spain — I think I’d love the food. I’ve heard Mexico City is incredible. And I’d like to go to Marfa, Texas, for the art.

As the founder and CEO of Pattern Beauty, how has your dream for the company evolved?

The mission is still the same: to fill the needs of the curly, coily, and tight-textured community. It is one of the most extraordinarily fulfilling, challenging, exciting things I’ve ever done. My intention has been to change the myth that Black hair care is a niche market. Pattern has created a gold standard and allowed the market to expand. I want Pattern to be the best choice, but I don’t want us to be the only choice. It’s very exciting to have a lucrative business that is purposeful — that is more about the love of humanity than sales. I don’t believe that hair has a gender or a race, but our content is centered around the celebration of Black beauty.

Understanding Wellness

This is our wellness issue. What does that word mean to you?

I don’t adhere to the idea of wellness because to me, it means you could be unwell. For me, it is about wholeness, which makes space for the well and the unwell, the happy and the unhappy, the scared and the courageous — all of it. But what I love about the idea of wellness is that it conjures how you take care of yourself. It’s about how you honor yourself. One of the questions I’ve been asking myself since I turned 50 and am coming out of one chapter and moving into another is: How have I honored myself today? As opposed to: What did I accomplish today? How do I want to honor myself through mind, body, and spirit? Focusing on how you honor yourself is a big part of staying well.

Doubles at Sensei Porcupine Creek start at $1,600.

Credits

Photographs: Jared Chambers

Styling: Dani + Emma

Hair: Chuck Amos, Statement Artists

Makeup: Molly Greenwald, A-Frame Agency, using Armani Beauty