‘Dancing With the Stars’ Icon Derek Hough Is a Whole Journey Junkie When He is Off the Dance Flooring — and He Instructed Us All About It

Whereas Dancing the the Stars icon Derek Hough is understood for his depth and fervour on the dance flooring, he simply so occurs to deliver that very same vitality to his travels.

His most up-to-date journey? The dancer was in Iceland in August along with his spouse Hayley Ebert the place they hiked on glaciers, explored ice caves and waterfalls, went puffin watching, and even ventured inside a volcano.

“We love journey. We love happening walks. We love nature,” Hough advised Journey + Leisure in a latest interview. “So our travels are all the time very energetic. We might hardly ever be like, ‘Let’s go journey and sit on the seaside and chill out.’ We’re extra ‘Let’s go discover this place! Let’s go see all the things that it has to supply.’”

Which incorporates tasting all of the meals.

“We’re making an attempt something and all the things, he stated. “I like making an attempt completely different meals, and I like spicy meals. I like spicy meals a lot.”

Nonetheless, even the adventurous traveler takes a little bit of warning and packs Pepcid Max Icy Cool Mint in case of heartburn after a spicy meal.

He even partnered with Pepcid as Hough talked about he takes it on a aircraft as the mixture of the altitude and aircraft meals leaves him with heartburn. The peptide complement can also simply be his secret weapon on Season 33 of DWTS as properly — the dancing professional joked that he retains some underneath the decide’s desk and shares it with fellow decide Bruno Tonioli throughout business breaks. 

Transitioning from dancer on the competitors present — after 17 seasons — to guage, Hough considers his new function to to be the very best of each worlds.

“What I like about it’s it permits me to be a part of the present and to present again to the present, and to present my expertise, and my background to those contestants, but in addition it offers me some free time to do my different ardour tasks,” he stated.  

A type of ardour tasks consists of his upcoming 40-city vacation dance tour, Dance for the Holidays, which kicks off on Nov. 1. He’ll be acting on tour by means of the tip of December whereas additionally flying backwards and forwards to Los Angeles to movie DWTS — which sounds exhausting, however Hough isn’t phased.

He says a routine of consuming proper, ice baths, bodily remedy work, and a few snacking on the sofa along with his spouse helps him keep balanced. He’s additionally tremendous excited as a result of Ebert might be a part of the vacation tour, which suggests extra time touring collectively.

“Going to the completely different cities is actually cool, particularly throughout the vacation season,” he stated. “All of the cities are actually charming and so they have the decorations up. It is such a beautiful time of 12 months to love to journey.”

To arrange for the tour, Hough famous he is been deep into vacation music since July.

Although he has been part of many Disney Christmas tv occasions, together with Disney Parks Magical Christmas Day Parade — which he co-hosted along with his sister, fellow DWTS alum and now host Julianne — that is his first holiday-themed dance tour. He says the viewers can anticipate new enjoyable takes on basic songs like a Latinized model of “Winter Wonderland.”  He may even pay tribute to basic dance legends.

“I all the time have somewhat like Gene Kelly second in my present,” he mentined. “We’ll have a homage. I will tip the hat to him.”

Having Ebert as a co-star on the tour may even be fantastic, Hough advised T+L.

“Touring with my stunning spouse, and performing together with her on stage is so particular, particularly throughout the season,” he stated.

Ebert, who had a cranial hematoma on the finish of 2023 and needed to have emergency surgical procedure, is recovered and prepared for the subsequent journey, even when Hough is somewhat weary. As for his or her future adventures, Thailand and Vietnam are on the docket, swimming with the humpback whales in Tonga, and swimming with orcas — per Ebertson’s request.

“That makes me a bit extra nervous, however she needs to go, proper?” he stated. “I am like, ‘Woman, you are wonderful.’ She’s like, ‘Let’s go within the freezing, darkish, murky water with orcas.”