What's your earliest holiday memory?All of my early holidays involved boats. My father was involved in the waterways. I've early memories of boating on the river Barrow and fishing. This was before hire boats were available. It was rougher sailing and the boat got completely tied with weeds and got stuck under a bridge. It was a great adventure.
What was your worst holiday?I remember going on a skiing holiday for Christmas in Switzerland. My daughter ended up getting sick after we arrived and was laid up for the week. She was only 14 but had to read a biography I brought about aviator Howard Hughes, the only material we had with us. Later in the year she met a colleague of mine who was an aviation expert and she was a complete authority on Hughes!
What was your best holiday?It tends to recur but I spend several weeks on Bere Island during the summer – sailing, fishing, cycling and swimming. I'm becoming part of the community there. There are not a lot of facilities, you have to get the ferry to the shop and pub. It's a beautiful majestic part of the country that lots of people in Dublin don't know about. Yachts from around the world pull into the marina every day. But there are no crowds, it's not touristy and the people on the island are great!
If budget or work were not a restriction, what would be your dream holiday?I have had a hankering to go on horseback safari in Africa, a real one not a touristy one. I've always had a great interest in Africa and its wildlife and it has been an unfulfilled ambition since I was young.
If you had your pick, who would you bring on holiday with you?Going on a frills holiday with Michael O'Leary would be interesting! But holidays would tend to be with family – we are normally a fairly active family.
What's your favourite place in Ireland?It's a journey rather than a place. Reversing onto Murphy's car ferry from the pontoon near Castletownbere and going up the ramp. The experience of the transfer from civilisation to the sanctuary of Bere Island is my favourite place. It takes only 30 minutes but when you get to the other side you are a changed person in a different world.
Your recommended holiday reading?I like to pick up books locally not knowing what I might get. In Castletownbere they sell second-hand books at the back of a shop. In Malta I read a book on the great siege of Malta. I only read the Examinerif I'm in Cork or the Tribunein Galway.
Where will you go to next?I'm sailing up the west coast and moving the boat gradually up the coast each weekend such as Bere to Dingle and Dingle to Mullaghmore.
It’s an unbelievable experience.
- Geoffrey O'Byrne White is the chief executive of CityJet
- In conversation with Genevieve Carbery