The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Travel
RUSSELL HOWARD MY LIFE IN TRAVEL
The comedian is happy to go anywhere, as long as the sun’s shining and he can hang out with quirky local characters
I LIKE STRANGE CHARACTERS such as when I once met a man in a bar in Copenhagen with half a rainbow-coloured beard.
DUBLIN HAS A WILD ENERGY
I can feel in the audience whenever I’m in the city for my gigs. I love Dublin and the locals are extraordinary. I’m also a Liverpool football fan, so I have been enjoying the city a lot more recently for the games.
I HAD MY BAD KARMA REMOVED at a temple in Bangkok where I learned how to kick-box at a kick-boxing school. I visited Thailand as well as India with my mum recently, and we’ve had some very interesting experiences.
RATS ARE WORSHIPPED at the Karni Mata Temple in India, and it was fascinating to visit. We also watched a cacao ceremony [a sacred ritual centred around the plant] on Koh Phangan island in Thailand.
MUMBAI WAS MAGICAL which I was really surprised by, and I got an insight into the world of Bollywood while hanging out with some the stars while I was there.
THE MOST MEMORABLE PLACES sneak up on you, such as the Monkey Bar in Mumbai, where I had an incredible night out. The food’s amazing and I love the Eighties tunes they play.
I LOVE SLICES OF AMERICANA like meeting cannabis growers in Portland and hanging out with cowboys in a place called Fossil in Oregon, during the trip with my mum for the latest television series I’m doing.
WE MET FOLKS who were abducted by UFOs, or at least they claimed to have been. It was a pretty remote place and there were only around 400 people living there.
LOS ANGELES FEELS EMPTY and overrated. I struggle with it as a holiday destination. It’s the sort of place where you really need to know some locals, otherwise it just feels so empty. Plus the traffic is so rubbish.
THE BEST PLACE FOR READING is the Maldives. I was there for a relaxing week-long break last year and really enjoyed reading Shantaram by Gregory
David Roberts.
A PERFECT HOLIDAY entails sunshine. Books and good food are also a must, and I had all three of those things in the Maldives. I stayed in a hut on stilts, so it was easy to just slide into the sea and go for a swim before breakfast. I’M A VERY EARLY RISER on holiday, so I am invariably down at the pool on a sun lounger even before anyone has the chance to put a towel on one.
IT KILLS ME when you’ve been promised sun and it doesn’t arrive, like when I went to Mexico a few years ago and the weather was disappointingly average.
I HAD THE WETTEST HOLIDAY ever in Bournemouth as a kid. Our family holidays were always in the UK until that one, which was so rainy that we went abroad after it. Our first trip was to Lanzarote followed by camping holidays in France.
I RECOMMEND BOOKING a really bad hotel, to begin with, that is, and then moving to a very good one – it will make you fully appreciate your holiday.
NEW YORK’S NIGHTLIFE is special, and I always love hanging out with friends there like John Oliver
[the comedian].
LONDON IS SO BEAUTIFUL in the summer, and I love spending it in Regent’s Park and the Edinboro
HEADPHONES
These noise-cancelling headphones from Beats are incredible.
£247.90; amazon.co.uk Castle pub in Camden, which has the best beer garden for a summer drink.
BRING A LIKEABLE WEIRDO on your travels, then go with them to the ends of the Earth. Also travel with someone positive and pack a good book.
I’M 38 AND PAST CARING about grooming on a plane, so I just put on a hoodie, zip myself up and look like the Kenny character from the South Park cartoon series.
Bring a likeable weirdo on your travels then go with them to the ends of the Earth
I’D LOVE TO TRAVEL around South America. I’ve never been there, but also want to return to Liberia where I visited a village last year for Comic Relief. I met some children there who had been affected by the Ebola outbreak. It would be great to know how they’re doing.