Hostel takeover – Niall goes backpacking in Oz
YOUR average backpacker is seldom a millionaire teen idol with legions of adoring fans. But One Direction’s Niall Horan is taking advantage of his band’s hiatus to travel in Australia for several months.
The pop star is currently winding down in London from his five-year odyssey with the world’s biggest boy band.
And the Mullingar heartthrob is hoping to head Down Under to enjoy a long holiday while the band takes a two-year break.
A close friend told the Irish Mail on Sunday that Niall is currently finalising plans to make the trip to Oz.
He plans on backpacking along the Gold Coast in southeastern Queensland, where he will recuperate away from the media eye.
It is understood his close friend and bodyguard Basil Whelan will accompany him for the start of the trip in case there is an issue over his security.
‘Niall has been all over the world but he has never actually got to see any of it. He has lived in a bubble and now wants to experience that rite-of-passage trip to Australia,’ the source said.
‘He wants to backpack and live on a beach and just disappear. Basil is his friend more than anything else and will be there from the beginning to make sure everything is okay. Niall has friends from Mullingar who emigrated and he would like to meet up with them. He doesn’t know how long he will be there, but if everything goes well it could be for a while.’
The 22-year-old found fame after auditioning as a solo performer for the seventh series of X Factor. He made it to the bootcamp stage.
He was eventually paired with Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Liam Payne and Zayn Malik and One Direction was formed. He was the only Irish member.
The act was only placed third on the reality TV show but thay shot to fame afterwards, garnering millions of fans around the globe and producing five studio albums.
Niall’s official Twitter page now has 24.5 million followers.