Fiddle player Zoë Conway
What was your best holiday?The time I went to Paris and got engaged to my now husband, John. We also saw one of the greatest violin soloists in the world, Maxim Vengerov. We managed to get tickets even though we didn't know he was playing. If he was in Ireland it would be sold out a year in advance. We were in the front row of this old concert hall. I remember thinking, "We are meant to be here this week."
What was your worst holiday?At the end of a chaotic six-week tour of Germany, we missed our flight home. We had to stay another night, which doesn't sound too bad, but we had travelled half way around Germany to get there and had all of our instruments with us. We forked out hundreds for another flight and stayed in one of these grey airport hotels. I had been away so long and was so excited about going home that to miss the flight made me miserable.
If budget or work were not a restriction, what would be your dream holiday?Tuscany in Italy, it's just beautiful – from the food to gorgeous weather, and the warm people. We went there on our honeymoon and stayed at a family-run hotel in the countryside where nobody could speak English. We asked the old woman in charge about getting a bus to Florence. She somehow managed to communicate that the bus was too long and too hot. Then she drove us to the station, 40 minutes away, paid for our tickets and wouldn't accept money for them. The people there are incredible.
If you had your pick, who would you bring on holiday with you?Probably the whole family – my husband John, daughter (who's one-and-a-half) and three-year-old son. We don't take them when playing abroad as it would be like two full-time jobs. Instead, we fly in one day and home the next.
What's your favourite place in Ireland?Every year since I was born I go to the Willie Clancy Festival in Milltown Malbay, Co Clare. I love it and feel like I know everybody. We also feel like locals in beautiful Glencolmcille, Co Donegal, where my husband's father is from.
Your recommended holiday reading?The last book I read, The Sense of Being Stared At, by Rupert Sheldrake. It's about the sixth sense that everyone has, but some use more than others. Musicians are very aware of it as it happens all the time when you are playing with someone and you think together.
Where will you go to next?To Paris in September to celebrate our sixth wedding anniversary, and Milltown Malbay with the family during the summer.
Zoë Conway performs as part of Trio Elatha at 3pm on May 7th at Battle of the Boyne Visitor Centre, Drogheda, presented by the Office of Public Works and Drogheda Arts Festival
In conversation with GENEVIEVE CARBERY