The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Travel
PIERS MORGAN MY LIFE IN TRAVEL
With a job that takes him all over the world, the TV presenter looks forward to relaxing breaks and beautiful beaches
I AVOID HUMAN BEINGS as much as possible when I’m on holiday, especially Hugh Grant, Steve Coogan, Heather Mills and Cherie Blair. If they’re staying, I check out.
MY IDEA OF THE PERFECT HOLIDAY IS beautiful beaches with good food and wine. Because I work relentlessly, I need chill-out time. I’ve been going to the Caribbean for over 30 years and I love the laid-back vibe.
I’M CONSTANTLY ON THE ROAD
– I have houses in the UK and Los Angeles and travel to Middle America regularly, around Texas and Alabama, to do my crime documentaries – or to the Far East, places like Shanghai and Dubai, for my travel documentaries.
ONE OF MY GREATEST EXPERIENCES on the road was when I got upgraded to Warren Beatty’s old suite while living at the Beverly Wilshire hotel in Los Angeles for six years during the filming of America’s Got Talent. I’ve flown around the US during filming, and I always try to immerse myself in the local culture and sights.
TRAVELLING AROUND RURAL AMERICA feels like Groundhog Day. Everywhere you go, there seem to be the same restaurants, the same cafés and the same shops.
I KNOW DONALD TRUMP WELL and maybe if he goes to North Korea, I can go with him. I prefer to go to more unusual places for work.
PUTIN SEEMS A FASCINATING CHARACTER and, as I’ve never been to Russia, I would love to interview him there. It seems like an exciting, albeit dangerous, kind of place.
I’M ALWAYS FULL OF SELFLOATHING and a stone heavier when I come back from St Tropez, where I go at least twice a year, from drinking lots of Minuty rosé and eating lots of bread and cheese. I love going there out of season. It has more of a fishing port vibe outside the summer peak.
THE RESTAURANT I’D MOST LIKE TO DIE IN mid-meal, with a sudden dramatic heart attack after eating too much cheese, is Le Club 55 in St Tropez. Before then, I’d start off at
Les Graniers, which is one of Joan Collins’s favourite places in St Tropez. The fresh fish there is sublime. I DON’T UNDERSTAND what my wife, Celia [Walden, the author and Telegraph contributor], and my daughter, Elise, are saying when they chat to each other in French. Celia was born and raised in Paris, so we visit frequently. They jabber away in French and I never understand a word, which I think suits all of us.
I HATE PRETENTIOUSNESS and there’s none in Jumby Bay, a private island resort off the coast in Antigua. It’s five-star beach luxury, but incredibly casual. There are no cars on the island, everyone gets a bicycle and there are hotel villas and private homes dotted around the estate.
THE MOST MAGICAL HOLIDAY EXPERIENCE I ever had was at Baros resort in the Maldives. It was the night Barack Obama became president. Celia and I were having dinner on a sand dune that appeared every couple of weeks and was accessible only by speedboat. It was surreal, having dinner cooked in the middle of the ocean, water lapping at our heels, knowing that history was being made in America.
IT WAS HEARTBREAKING when my son Stanley was two and he got an acute ear infection on the first day of a two-week holiday in Almond Beach Village in Barbados. He spent the entire time in bed crying. We were all in need of a break afterwards. It was the worst holiday ever.
I LOVE GOING BACK TO NEWICK IN EAST SUSSEX to visit my family. I grew up there and still have a house in the area. Mum, Dad, my sister and youngest brother are all there, so it’s like a family reunion. There are only
SUITCASE
I always try to travel as lightly as possible, with hand luggage only, and this Tumi Gatwick International expandable leather carry-on is indispensable. I can pack a surprising amount into it. £1,495; selfridges.com about 1,500 people in the village, most of whom I know by sight and name. I grew up in a nearby country pub, The Griffin Inn, that my parents had, and my brother now manages.
ONE OF MY FAVOURITE PLACES FOR A TIPPLE is the Royal Oak, near Newick, where Beryl, the landlady, greets me with a firm ticking-off about some bad behaviour and then a nice pint of Harvey’s real ale.
DUBAI IS OVERRATED – it’s a bit like Vegas. After three or four days it gets very tedious. Go further down the coast to Abu Dhabi and Sharjah. They’re far more real in terms of the way of life, culture and people.
I’d love to interview Vladimir Putin in Russia. It seems like an exciting, albeit dangerous, place
CHINA IS MESMERISING – as I found when filming in Shanghai. I would love to explore more and venture into its rural areas.
I’D LOVE TO GO TO INDIA for the cricket. I took my three sons to watch the Ashes in Australia four years ago and had an amazing time. Piers Morgan can be seen on
airing weekdays from 6am on ITV.