My Kind of Holiday

London.

What was the best thing you did while there? Where did you spend your last holiday?

Followed all Queen Elizabeth’s diamond jubilee celebrations: the river pageant, the concert, the carriage processions — I was there!

Your favourite city abroad and why?

Definitely London. It embodies so much history, culture and pageantry.

What should a first-time visitor not bother with there?

Anything that involves being part of a guided tour led by an idiot. I once heard a guide tell a group of tourists as they stood gazing at Westminster Cathedral that it was Westminster Abbey (wrong) and it was where Charles and Diana had married (wrong again). It was a brilliant ploy: the tourists were thrilled, none the wiser, could tick several things off their to-do list and the guide could go home early.

What was your worst holiday ever?

A game reserve with young children in the car. I love the bush and I love children but never together.

Which is the worst hotel you have stayed in?

The Royal Hotel in Clarens back in the early 1990s. It was the food, and having to listen to Gaudeamus Igitur when you were put on hold on the phone.

What is the best thing you have been given on holiday … or pinched from a hotel?

The sight, at dusk, of a tigress walking next to the vehicle. If I’d put my hand out I could have touched her. She made the biggest lion I’ve ever seen look puny.

Your favourite SA destination and why?

Anywhere in the bush. I love the quiet, the primal antiquity.

Your favourite restaurant, anywhere?

Circus Circus Beach Café in Durban. There’s no better way to start a day than with breakfast while watching the sun rise.

What is the most exotic dish you have ever eaten on holiday?

Mopani worms.

One place you want to see before you die?

The Serengeti.

What’s your best piece of travel advice?

Pack, then remove three-quarters of it from your suitcase.

Sue Clarens is the director of the Hilton Arts Festival, now in its 21st year.