My holidays

Joe Duffy, broadcaster

What was your best holiday?

We had three kids of the same age and when they were two, we made the critical mistake of picking a holiday that suited us in a place with marble floors, sharp edges and the pool far away and full of Germans.

So for 10 years after that we went to a Keycamp mobile home in France. For couples with young kids it was brilliant. We didn’t have to worry about traffic, or sharp edges, the kids would enjoy themselves while we’d get an hour or two on our own. We used to bring our car with our own gear and food on the ferry.

It’s a lesson for people with young children – don’t go on a holiday you enjoy but one the kids enjoy.

What was your worst holiday?

Myself and June went on holiday to Bulgaria to a place called Sunny Beach. The beach was sunny and that was about the height of it. Food, if it was available, was atrocious and we should have brought loads of soap with us. A rumour would gather into a roar that a café at the end of the beach was doing baked potato and there would be a stampede to get the last one. They sold cheap Russian champagne that went to your head very quickly. I remember later during the Celtic Tiger a lot of people buying holiday homes in Bulgaria and I thought, are you mad.

If budget or work were not a restriction, what would be your dream holiday?

I like the whole idea of Russia, travelling across it on the Trans-Siberian railway and experiencing the expanse of it, the history and the culture. I enjoyed Conor O'Clery's book Moscow, December 25, 1991.

If you had your pick, who would you bring on holiday with you?

My family – they are very good company and my children are at an age where you can have intelligent conversations with them now about things such as history.

What’s your favourite place in Ireland?

I love Wexford. It’s close to Dublin and very welcoming to Dublin people, and my brother lives there. There’s also better weather once you get past the Sugar Loaf.

Your recommended holiday reading?

I always bring too many books – although with the iPad I can bring as many as I want. Last time I read Matt Cooper's How Ireland Really Went Bust, Simon Carswell's Anglo Republicand Bill Bryson's Home, which is a wonderful book with stories such as who invented the washing machine and washing powder. Also Anne Enright's The Forgotten Waltzwas excellent.

Where will you go to next?

I’ll probably go to Wexford next and I may go to Donegal this summer.

Just Joe: My Autobiography

is published by Transworld, £18.99