Stuck in foul hotel... run by an avid Spurs fan
CONTINUING our series featuring the holiday memories of famous people, former England football manager TERRY VENABLES, 75, reveals his lifetime of adventures.
First holiday I can remember:
In Sevenoaks, in Kent, when I was 11. It was a small holiday camp owned by a miserable old man my dad nicknamed “Humpy”.
First school trip:
We didn’t have them. If we were lucky we had a day trip to London Zoo!
First time abroad:
When I was 18 and captain of the Chelsea youth team we went to Cannes in the South of France. I thought it was wonderful, so glamorous.
My honeymoon:
We went to Barbados for a week and then to New York. We married in early December, so it was bitterly cold in New York and baking hot in Barbados. We flew back on Concorde. That was fantastic, and an experience my wife Yvette and I will never forget.
My best trip:
To the Arctic on a small cruise ship. It was breathtakingly beautiful. The experience of 24-hour daylight is also incredible. I used to wake at 3am and go on to deck and it was broad daylight. The silence that surrounds you cannot be explained. La Escondida (hotelescondida.com), the hotel I run with my wife in the Spanish countryside, is the only other place I have experienced this type of tranquillity. At one point on our cruise we were at a town called Ny-Alesund which is so far north there are only 500 people who live above that point. It’s weird knowing how isolated you are. On our first day we saw a polar bear pull its kill of a bearded seal on to the ice. It’s fantastic to be that close to nature.
... and the worst:
Our first time in Phuket. We arrived at the hotel and it was awful. The manager was a fanatical Spurs fan and I was the team’s manager at the time. We had booked two weeks but knew we had to find another hotel. It was very embarrassing telling the manager that, having been in his hotel for an hour, we’d be checking out!
Dream destination:
Antarctica… in the footsteps of Ernest Shackleton. After seeing a replica of the James Caird, the tiny boat he sailed in with five of his men when his own ship Endurance was trapped in the ice, how they survived 16 days in the terrible freezing conditions is beyond belief.
My favourite place:
Sydney. We spent a lot of time there when I managed the Australian national team. It’s a beautiful and vibrant city and the area around the Opera House and The Rocks is great. And the Maldives. We have been several times and it’s a perfect place to unwind. The crystal clear sea makes the snorkelling fantastic. It was wonderful to swim with huge, graceful manta rays.
My perfect holiday companion:
My wife, Yvette. Well, I have to say that, don’t I?