Checking in... Ade Adepitan MBE
TV presenter and Paralympian
EARLIEST TRAVEL MEMORY?
COMING from Nigeria to the UK when I was three. As a child I had a recurring dream of these beautiful trees and I wondered where that came from. Then 36 years later when my dad passed away, we went back to bury him and I saw those trees again.
TRAVEL ESSENTIAL?
A HEAD torch because you never know when you could have a power cut.
SCARIEST TRAVEL MOMENT?
I NEARLY got kidnapped in Mexico City. Someone from the hotel recognised that I was a British journalist and they targeted me. They called my room saying I hadn’t paid a bill. Then they put some gangster on the phone who was super threatening. I called back to the UK and the Mexican police arrived.
FAVOURITE HOLIDAY DISCOVERY?
PISCO Sours. I tried them first in Lima, Peru. It’s now my drink and I’ve spent lockdown making them at home.
WILL YOU BE COVERING THE PARALYMPICS IN TOKYO?
CHANNEL 4 will probably cover it from the UK. It looks like there’s not going to be any crowds, but sometimes there are things that are bigger than sport.
YOUR MOST MEMORABLE MEAL?
IN VILANCULOS before visiting the Bazaruto archipelago, Mozambique. The most amazing seafood.
FAVOURITE PART OF THE UK?
THE Isle of Harris in the Outer Hebrides. Great scenery, rugged, mountainous and beautiful beaches. I went there for a wedding once with my wife Linda.
ANY LANGUAGE SKILLS?
I SPEAK Spanish, and lived in Spain in the mid 90s while playing basketball professionally for Real Zaragoza.
HOLIDAY SOUVENIRS?
MAGNETS. We’ve got a chalk board with magnets of all the countries that we’ve been to. Our three-month-old son Bolla loves all the colours.
RUDEST PERSON YOU’VE MET?
I WAS on a British Airways flight in economy and a passenger was upset at having to sit beside me. She felt it was awkward to try and get past to go to the toilet. So she complained to the flight attendant who later got my chair
and moved me into business class.
WHAT’S THE FUTURE OF TRAVEL?
TRAVEL enriches us if we do it in the right way. People will appreciate it when it feels like more of a luxury.
WHERE NEXT?
EDINBURGH to see the in-laws.