Celebrity traveller

Melanie Sykes, 47, is an actress and TV personality who has appeared in I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! and is best known for fronting Today With Des And Mel and Let’s Do Lunch with Gino D’Acampo. Twice-divorced Mel is single and lives in London with her sons Valentino, 13, and Roman, 15.

WHAT’S YOUR MOST MEMORABLE HOLIDAY?

For Christmas 1992, when I was going out with Matt (singer Matt Goss from pop band Bros), we went to Barbados with his twin brother Luke, his partner and a few of our friends.

We had a four-bedroom hilltop villa. It was the first time I’d been away for Christmas and New Year and I have to say, I highly recommend it.

I was 23 and wanted some winter sunshine and it was amazing because we had a cook at the house and Mini Moke buggies to get around the island on.

Christmas wasn’t too expensive because we bought all our presents out there. Though we had trinkets and souvenirs from local shops and stalls, the real gift to each other was the trip.

It was a totally pressure-free festive holiday and on Christmas Day we booked into the Sandy Lane Hotel and ate turkey, barbecued fish, roasted yams and vegetables.

We did a little bit of sightseeing but mostly we sunbathed by the villa swimming pool and on the terrace overlooking the sea.

At night, we immersed ourselves in local life and culture, exploring local bars and reggae places and soaking up the Bajan spirit.

My god, we danced.

AND YOUR WORST?

I went to Bali in the mid 1990s after the Indonesian island was recommended to me by friends who raved about the country’s spiritual magic. The Balinese people were really nice and the shopping was good fun. In Kuta, the first place I stayed, I bought millions of sarongs and loads of jewellery from the hundreds of street markets. I also thought Ubud, which I picked for the second half of the holiday, was beautiful. The area is surrounded by