Stephen and Viv Redding are not your average travellers. The spirited husband-and-wife duo charmed their way into the nation’s hearts as contestants on BBC’s Race Across the World last year, gallivanting across continents with grit, good humour, and ultra-light luggage (11kg, to be precise). But this spring, they swapped the frantic pace of checkpoints and backpacks for something altogether different: a deeply immersive adventure with us in Sri Lanka, the teardrop-shaped jewel of the Indian Ocean. Gladly trading long-haul bus rides and tense border crossings for temple visits, tea picking and turtle spotting with like-minded travellers, Stephen and Viv were keen to share their Exodus experience.
Reflecting on how Race Across the World changed their travel habits, Stephen said, “We used to book a week somewhere in Spain or Portugal, do a few day trips, and go back to the same hotel each night – but the race showed us that you can just keep moving. I don’t think we were lacking confidence before, but we’d just never really thought to travel like that. And now, that’s how we prefer to do it— we want more adventure, with someone else sorting the logistics.”
Viv agreed. “I used to want everything planned. Stephen’s a more ‘let’s wing it’ kind of guy. And now, after the race, I feel like we’ve sort of met in the middle. We want structure, but we also want spontaneity and that’s what trips with Exodus give you.”
Leading the way on their Discover Sri Lanka trip was their expert local guide, Nalaka Thennakoon. Stephen said, “He was just brilliant. The best thing was he was from there—he understood what was going on, spoke the language, and had all the local connections. If someone wanted something, he knew exactly how to get it.”
“And who could forget Nalaka’s morning mantra?” Stephen joked. “Every day on the bus, he’d pick up the mic and say, ‘The sun is shining, the birds are singing and we’ve got smiling happy faces’. A couple of days in, everyone in the group started beating him to it—and we’d all laugh and chant it together.”
Nalaka’s attention to detail made the whole trip run smoothly, the couple said. “He set up a WhatsApp group from the start, and every night he’d go over the next day’s itinerary,” Viv explained. “You knew what time to get up, when the bags were going out—he made everything so easy.” Nalaka even joined the group on his days off. Viv mentioned they’re planning on seeing him again in the UK soon. “His wife is over in Watford at the moment, so we’re all going to meet up when he visits.”
When asked about the highlights of the trip, Viv didn’t hesitate. “Can I say the group?” she smiled. “There were 14 of us in total, seven couples. We’ve been on group trips with 32 people and the logistics of 20 women visiting the toilet on the comfort breaks was a little time-consuming”. But this time, everything just flowed. “We were all there for the right reasons,” Stephen added. “What’s great about Exodus is that they attract the right kind of people who are at a similar stage of life. We were all interested in what Sri Lanka had to offer, and just gelled instantly. We’re all still active on the WhatsApp group.”
“At the end of the trip, we thought it would be nice to have a few extra days to ourselves at the beach,” Viv commented. “We booked a cooking lesson and snorkelled with turtles, but we realised we actually preferred doing things with other people.” Stephen nodded. “One of the couples went on to the Maldives for three days and said they felt a bit flat because they missed the group too – we could have all kept going.”
Their Sri Lankan adventure was packed with unforgettable moments, some were planned – others were the kind you couldn’t script if you tried. A morning visit to a local farm had the group half-melting in the heat until an impromptu game of cricket with the farmer’s family lifted everyone’s spirits. Soon, they were trying indigenous Sri Lankan games, from hopscotch challenges to blindfolded flour-piñata whacks, and sack-fighting battles balancing on wooden logs. “We all thought initially, ‘We’re too old for all that’,” Stephen said, “but as soon as we got stuck in, it was brilliant.” The afternoon ended with a traditional lunch, dished out onto banana leaves under the trees. “It’s the sort of thing you couldn’t ever set up yourself,” Viv commented. “You might see the sights if you were touring alone, but you would never get that kind of genuine local experience.”
When it came to Sri Lanka’s headline sights, Sigiriya Rock was a standout moment for both Stephen and Viv. “I was going to stop halfway at the Lion’s Paw,” Viv admitted. “But another lady was struggling too, so I said, ‘Come on, we’ll do it together.’ We both ended up making it to the top, and when we said our goodbyes at the airport, she told me she wouldn’t have been able to do it without me – so that was nice.” Stephen agreed, adding, “It was real teamwork that day, everyone looked out for each other.”
Wildlife encounters were another highlight. The group saw not one but two leopards during a safari in Yala National Park. “We were lucky,” Viv said. “We were in one of the first jeeps to arrive. The leopard jumped down from a tree, walked off, and then flopped down and started washing its face, completely relaxed.”
They also visited an elephant orphanage and were lucky enough to take part in a baby turtle release, right outside their beach-fringed hotel, the Insight Resort. “We were given these little palm leaf cradles to scoop them out,” Stephen said. “Everyone had their own turtle. We named ours Terrance and Thomas, and we were cheering them on as they raced down to the ocean. The whole scene got Viv a bit emotional – she was crying at the top of the beach watching them go!”
Throughout, Sri Lankan cuisine also played a key part in their adventure. While the hotel buffets were impressive, it was the home-cooked meals that really left a mark on Stephen and Viv. “One of the best meals we had was at Kalu Farm House after our bike ride in the countryside,” Viv said. “It was pure and simple—freshly made coconut dhal, rice, and spicy chickpea curries. The cook of the house was showing us what to do, and the group had a little bit of everything. I don’t know whether we appreciated it more because we’d been on the bike ride and had worked for our lunch, but when it comes down to it, you just couldn’t compare hotel food to this.”
The adventure then moved onto the cooler hills of Nuwara Eliya, which came as a welcome relief after the heat of the lowlands. “We thought we were just going to see the tea plantations,” Stephen said, “but they handed us the hats and sacks and we ended up picking the tea ourselves.” Viv added, “It was such a fun surprise—and we even learned there are three different varieties of tea, which blew our minds a bit!”
When asked what advice they would give to travellers thinking about Sri Lanka, Stephen kept it simple: “Embrace everything. Slow down and take it all in. Don’t rush from one thing to the next. That’s something we didn’t do enough of on the race. So on this trip, we made sure to take our time, pause and go, ‘Wow, look at that!’ because when you’re on the move, time passes by in a flash.” Viv followed up with a practical tip— “Packing cubes. Seriously. When you’re switching accommodations every couple of nights, they’re a game changer.”
So, what’s next? “Well,” Stephen said, “we’re going back to China. One of our daughters used to live in Wuhan and speaks Chinese. She and her sisters found this Shaolin temple where you can go and study Kung Fu and Buddhism. You live with the monks for a month. They said, ‘Wouldn’t it be fun?’ So we said, ‘Alright then!’ So, we’re going to live in a monastery for a month, training with a 34th-generation Shifu warrior monk. After that, maybe Singapore, maybe Borneo—who knows?”
He paused, grinning. “It’s mad, really. When we were kids, going to Wales was a holiday. I never imagined I’d be saying, ‘Shall we pop over to Borneo?’ But the world feels more accessible now than it ever did before—and I guess that’s thanks to the Race, and to Exodus.”
If, like Stephen and Viv, you’re ready to take your travels beyond the ordinary, check out our Discover Sri Lanka trip, or browse our full collection of Sri Lanka tours.
