Cash & Rocket Tour 2015

Good God it’s been a busy few weeks! The fortnight after returning from Soma Bay (#takemeback) seemed to fly by in seconds. Between shoots, meetings and a whole lot of parties there wasn’t a whole lot of time for relaxing but I’m not particularly keen on chilling out, unless there’s 30 degree heat and a beach involved. I’m also absolutely useless at saying no to anything but then, there are some opportunities that only a damn fool would turn down. One such opportunity is the Cash & Rocket Tour…

Ready to roll!

Beautiful Villa Sparina

Not a bad Monday morning view!

The Cash & Rocket Tour is an initiative I’ve been fascinated by since it’s launch four years ago. First and foremost, it raises a huge amount of money for three hugely important causes. It’s also a seriously cool and highly innovative concept that feels incredibly apt for now. In the words of the tour’s founder, Julie Brangstrup, “Cash and Rocket was set up to bring inspiring women together for the ultimate adventure of a lifetime. Through female solidarity, our aim is to raise money for charities around the world, which will make a huge difference to the lives of many.” In simple terms, thirty-five red cars and seventy of the most successful women are hand-picked each year from the worlds of fashion, film, music, art and business to travel to the top cities of Europe and unite in their efforts to raise global awareness and funds for chosen charities. But in many ways, the tour is more than that and was easily one of the most amazing experiences I’ve had in my life so far. Brangstrup, herself a phenomenally impressive woman, launched the Cash & Rocket Tour with the two intertwined aims. On the one hand, to give luxury brands a unique platform to promote their products and name in new ways and with a focus on the female consumer. On the other, it’s all about harnessing the power of mega brands like Valentino, McArthurGlen, Maserati and Chopard, and of course the incredible women involved in the tour, to support specific causes. I was truly honoured, not to mention rather surprised, when McArthurGlen asked me if I’d be up for joining forces with Mollie King and Jodie Kidd to drive the final Milan to Cannes leg as part of their team. Obviously the only conceivable answer was a big, fat yes.

Cash & Rocket arrive at Serravalle

Haiya

On a sunny Sunday afternoon I headed to Heathrow to fly to Milan where I Mollie, Jodie and I would be grabbing our Maserati to join our fellow drivers, many of whom had driven the whole way from London via Paris and therefore had much more reason to be shattered come Tuesday than I. After a night’s stay at the utterly stunning Villa Sparina Resort in the heart of the Italian countryside we were up bright and early to hit the open road. Our first port of call was the McArthurGlen outlet in Serravalle which slightly boggled my mind and totally transformed my view of outlet shopping. This place is STUNNING! Classic Italian architecture, chic cafes and restaurants, shops ranging from Bottega Veneta, Gucci and Prada to Nike and L’Occitane all boasting genuinely gorgeous – and generously discounted – product. I will be returning at the next possible opportunity, you mark my words. One by one, the rest of our the teams arrived in their assortment of bright red Aston Martins, Ferraris and other assorted supercars. We all tucked in to a delicious lunch, as I wasn’t driving I could enjoy a couple of glasses of Prosecco mwahaha, before indulging in a spot of shopping.

Shopping afternoon at McArthurGlen Serravalle

Lunchtime at McArthurGlen

Me & Mollie at the McArthurGlen outlet in Serravalle

Cash & Rocket Tour headed to Milano!

Several blissfully hot hours of milling about (and shooting a really fun video that I’ll be sharing soon!) later it was time to pile back into our rides and make for Milano. I’ve never driven in a Maserati before and holy hell is it awesome. We were also lucky enough to be being driven by Jodie Kidd who, besides being gorgeous and seriously cool, is a phenomenal driver who had literally joined the tour fresh off the back of an 1000 mile classic car rally across Europe. Racing through Italy with the music blaring and countryside whizzing by in the blink of an eye was certainly an experience I won’t be forgetting for a while! Nor will be the experience of our arrival in Milan. Think 35 hot red supercars driven by women only and accompanied by a police escort (yes really) to ensure that trivial things like stopping at red lights or abiding by normal rules of the road wouldn’t hamper our fabulous entrance. Does life get much better? I don’t think so!

Not the most flattering photo but SO MUCH FUN!

Out of the Masarati and into the Principe!

Second instalment of my Cash & Rocket Tour 2015 diary is now live here. You can still donate to Cash & Rocket online here. Please do, these are incredibly important causes and every donation makes a difference!

Love Ella. X