Why is Christina Milian making jewelry on a train?

AI-assisted summary
• Actress and singer Christina Milian has become a fan of train travel after spending time in Europe.
• Milian and her daughter, Violet Madison Nash, are featured in a new campaign for the rail platform Trainline.
• Milian finds train travel to be a simple and stress-free option, especially for families with children.

You may recognize Christina Milian’s voice from the theme song of “Kim Possible” or have seen her in a film from the early aughts. She’s not only an actress, singer and mother, but also a seasoned traveler.

For nearly the last decade, she’s been splitting her time between the U.S. and Europe, where her musician husband is originally from. That’s where she was introduced to train travel – and it’s become one of her favorite ways to explore.

“It’s big in Europe, but as Americans, like that’s not something that we were used to, and we can come to find out, you know, through my husband and through just living there, that it’s just so easy to travel that way,” she told USA TODAY.

When they first met, Milian and her husband would go on what she calls “mini vacations” around Europe, from the romance of Paris to the museums of Florence. Now she carries on the tradition with her eldest daughter, Violet Madison Nash.

Their shared love of travel shines through in their new mother-daughter campaign for Trainline, a rail and coach travel platform. “When we can work together on creating travel plans or what we’re going to do, it adds up to really good memories,” Milian said about traveling with the 15-year-old. “That’s all I ask for at the end of the day: make good memories, take lots of pictures and have fun.”

The two sat down with USA TODAY to talk about their favorite destinations they’ve reached by train and why this type of travel is their favorite.

The interview was edited for length and clarity.

What was it like to work on this Trainline campaign together?

Christina: I’d say this is one of our first campaigns in a really long time. When Vi was little, we did some stuff together, but we’ve always done it if it’s something we feel passionate about, something we can actually relate to. Train travel is definitely something that we carry on pretty big.

What are some of your favorite family trips?

Violet: I’ll start with Strasbourg; it’s one of my favorites because of the Christmas market.

Christina: Our family likes to go there during the holidays; usually, we go every year at the end of November. My husband is from there, so we go visit his family, we go to the cathedral, and we do the Christmas market. If we have any friends from out of town, they join us, which is fun.

We also enjoy going to the south of France – like Marseille and Nice – because it’s always warm there. You get to be on the seaside, and you can also party at the beach. A lot of these places also have historic locations, no matter where you go, so it’s not like you’re just having a beach vacay. You can dive into the culture as well.

How does train travel compare to other modes of transportation, especially for families?

Christina: If you’re last-minute travelers, it’s great because it makes it so much easier, especially when you have kids. Honestly, because it’s so simple, you could do all carry-ons. When you get to the train station, you look at where you got to go, and you just get directly on. It’s so simple. I think the simplicity of the pre-boarding part of actually getting to the train station, then on a train, that part is stress-free.

And even if you want to hang out at the train station too, because some of these train stations have been around forever. You can take in all the history at the train station and do a little shopping.

What are your must-haves when you travel?

Violet: My headphones for sure, and my phone. I like to bring my iPad, even my computer, just to work on some of my schoolwork while I’m on the way, even though it takes really fast to get to the destination. You really don’t have to worry about bringing too much.

Christina: I think with the kids, I always bring them anything to draw. They love to draw, so I bring them things like paper, markers, those kinds of things to keep them busy. Then for me, that’s when I tap into my hobbies, because it’s pretty peaceful on the train and everybody’s got their own thing going on. Whether it’s bead-making, sometimes I make jewelry, or sometimes I like to knit.

Then I like to look out the window – it’s beautiful. The views you get, no matter day or night, you get a nice glimpse of the greenery or farms. The next thing you know, you see the city. In a flash, you can see so much.

What’s a trip that you guys want to take?

Christina: I haven’t gotten to take Violet yet by train to London, so that’s one I’ve been trying to decide if I want to do just the two of us or with the kids. With Violet, we know what we like together, so it’s shopping, food, and then I like to add in a museum here and there.

Violet: I love food and so does my mom. I’m always finding things on TikTok, saying, “Oh my goodness, mom, look at that place.” So we’ll go to that place, but we’ll make sure to look for the reviews.

What are your travel pet peeves or unpopular travel opinions?

Christina: We always like to be on time, even though I said something about traveling late. The both of us prefer to get anywhere early.

Violet: The night before, we’re always making sure that we’re putting together our outfit for the next day.

Christina: For us, we’re gonna go early, and we want to stop and go get a croissant over here and a little coffee over here. Maybe we want to stop at the store and do a little bit of shopping. So our pet peeve is going late and not experiencing even the train station before we even get there. Sometimes you miss out on cool stuff.