Actress Julia Stiles, talks to Gillian Crawley for WHEREVER about all her life in travels.

Born in New York, Julia started acting at the age of 11, after writing to the city’s La MaMa theatre company begging for a part. Her film credits range from romcom 10 Things I Hate About You with the late Heath Ledger to the Bourne films, with Matt Damon, in which she played a CIA agent. She lives in New York with her husband and three children.

What’s your worst experience on holiday?

This is going to make me sound like a dumb tourist, and I promise I’m not now but there’s no pretty way to describe it: I was in Havana flat broke. It was my own fault. I’d been spending my convertibles – the tourist currency – like Monopoly money. I’d miscalculated the cost of my lodgings and forgotten I’d have to pay an entry fee at the airport at the very start. Cuba’s not a place where you can access American banks or use your credit card, so if you run out of cash, that’s it.

I went over every expense that had got me into this mess. If only I’d argued with the taxi drivers more. If only I’d waited in the long lines with the locals for a better exchange rate, instead of lazily heading to exchange money at the main Hotel Nacional where all the tourists go. The dumb thing was I thought I’d been quite frugal.

I’d come with my younger sister Jane in our 20s as part of a humanitarian aid group, and I stayed in Havana while they went to the other side of the island. I felt sick: the couple putting me up had become my surrogate Cuban parents. Carlos and his wife knew just how I took my coffee and stayed up until they heard my key in the door and snuck up the stairs to make sure I got home safely. In the morning we’d sit in their sun room, chatting. My Spanish is good, but I couldn’t bring myself to tell these wonderful people that I couldn’t pay my bill and I couldn’t work out how I was ever going to get the money to them – you can’t just send a cheque.

The communication was terrible – another thing you take for granted when you live somewhere where things are easy – but eventually, Jane returned one of my many frantic messages – and said I could have some of the cash she’d left in her hostel’s safe in Havana. I got it and have never been so grateful for having money in my hand because I’d learned a tiny thing about what it’s like not to have any. Carlos drove me to the airport in his 25-year-old car and I boarded the flight to Miami. Havana taught me the true value of the American dollar. It also taught me that having people you can rely on is worth more than money.

Anything else you want to declare?

Havana taught me the true value of the American dollar but it’s not the first time I’ve not done my research. As I said, I speak Spanish so when I went to Barcelona, I thought I’d wing it and everything would unfold before me. My father, a great architecture fan, told me I had to see the Gaudi cathedral, so I took a picture of a big church, thinking that was it, and sent it home. When I got back, he told me I’d completely messed up. This big church was not the Sagrada Familia designed by Gaudi. It was a very beautiful church but not that masterpiece.

What was your first grown-up holiday?

My parents always took me to Latin American countries to experience foreign culture, but at 18, just out of high school, I went with some friends to Europe – Florence and Rome in Italy which are musts for anyone and a random detour by train to Montpellier in France which I’d not heard of. Someone we met recommended it and I’m glad they did because it was medieval with French modern chic which was irresistible to 18-year-old me. The first time an American comes to Europe, it’s always exciting to see how much older other cities are, and how their history stretches back much further than ours.

“ICELAND WAS PARTICULARLY MEMORABLE, BECAUSE OF THE LANDSCAPE AND THE LIGHT.”

What about work trips?

I’ve been fortunate enough to travel to places for work. For Bourne [Julia played a secret service agent in the Bourne franchise with Matt Damon] I’ve been to Berlin, Prague, London and Tangier. Iceland was particularly memorable, because of the landscape and the light. You really feel like you’re on the edge of the earth. I always try to pick up some of the language, but Icelandic was the trickiest I’ve ever heard. I can say only two things: “Smoking kills”, because it’s on the cigarette packets, and “Yes”, which sounds like an inhalation. I suppose inhalation and smoking go together.

Any other duolingo tips?

I’ve picked up random phrases from spending hours in trailers on film sets listening to people. Whether it’s useful is another matter. I can say “I’ve seen you naked” in German and “Come here, you beautiful man” in Italian. In Prague, I learnt how to say “I’m sorry, but I don’t speak any Czech”, which at least shows you’ve tried.

What is your heaven on earth?

My favourite place is Costa Rica where I was involved with a charity project aimed at housing. I surf a little bit, I ride, and there’s great hiking. They’re into ecological preservation and there’s a lot of biodiversity, so there are plenty of adventures to be had. I was there during the rainy season, when the dirt roads get flooded, so I learnt to drive a car in small rivers. I was thrown into it. It was either learn or turn back. I stalled at one point, and my boyfriend of the time told me to floor it or we’d get bogged down and have to hike back miles through the mud, then explain why we’d abandoned the car.

It was just a little rental car and I made it though I was terrified all the way – I’d never make a rally driver. Oh, and it was quite exciting finding the clip to a handgun in the pocket in the door – it wasn’t mine, it was just left in there by a previous driver. It’s not the kind of thing you’d expect to find left in a rental car. Usually, it’s sunglasses or a hair scrunchie. I left it there and didn’t say a word when I returned the car. I didn’t think I’d manage to explain that I’d just found it – it’s not like I’m really in the CIA.