Third time lucky with my honeymoons
CONTINUING our series featuring the holiday memories of famous people, this week actor NIGEL
PLANER, 65, recalls his lifetime of adventures…
My first holiday:
We went to Watergate Bay near Newquay. Dad joined us for the weekends – he had to work so hard in those days. We tried surfing on the massive long beach, and went to Clovelly, the little cobble-stone village. We drove all the way to Cornwall in Mum’s Ford Popular, and it took hours. Talk about ‘are we nearly there yet?’ There was bingo in the hotel and Frank Ifield’s I Remember You was top of the Hit Parade, so that means it must have been 1962. I was nine.
First trip abroad:
A school trip to Brussels, to see the big silver Atomium building built in 1958 which looks like a massive molecular model. Apart from that, I can’t remember much of this trip except that it rained the whole time.
First school trip:
See above. But the second school trip was much more like it! Went on a cruise to Tangier in Morocco and Lisbon and Madeira. That one must have set my parents back a bit. I remember the excitement of the quay at Tangier and seeing a different culture with camels, pointy slippers, fez hats and strange music. I loved it.
My honeymoon:
Which one? I have a chequered career in the marriage department. But the latest, and definitively last, was in Corsica – a lovely place, very exciting, exclusive, and er… expensive. We had a gorgeous time and ate a lot of fish.
My best holiday ever:
As a writer for The Mail on Sunday I have had some amazing trips. But my favourite was going on a Pandaw river cruise in Asia. They treat you so well on these beautiful boats, and you get to visit out-of-the-way places. Another was looking for freshwater dolphins in Cambodia.
Worst holiday:
I can remember being so moody and sulky on several holidays when I was young – it would be fair to say that it’s the people you’re with that make or break a holiday, so I’m sure that I’ve given one or two people the worst holiday of their lives. But a week in the Canaries when I got food poisoning does spring to mind.
Holiday I’ve always wanted to take:
I always think it’s over too soon. I’d love to be able to afford the time and money at the end of the two-week trip to say: ‘And now we’re moving on to Bali, and then a couple of weeks in Australia, before pootling back home via Peru.’
My favourite place:
Until recently, I would have said India every time, but now I’m opening up to new possibilities. I’m always the most excited by the next trip, which happens to be Japan, where I have never been. I am reading up like mad, and preparing to have my mind blown.