Actor Darragh Kelly
What was your best holiday?I travelled to Crete quite a lot in the early 2000s. It's beautiful – like Donegal but with good weather. I would go at the end of the season when locals were counting their shekels and winding down. They were convivial and more relaxed than at any other time of the year. The crowds were starting to thin out and there was an easy-going atmosphere with the owners having much more time to sit and chat.
What was your worst holiday?Travelling to Newfoundland to do a television series was odd. I flew from London and connected in Halifax, Canada and then flew to St John's, Newfoundland. I had spent so much time on a plane but when I finally got out at St John's I could see so many Irish heads. It was very unsettling to feel like you were at home after all that travel! The people there were really lovely – it was a little bit like Galway in the early 1980s.
If budget or work were no restriction, what would be your dream holiday? I would really love to travel up the Nile on a boat. One of the things I like on holidays is having history all around you. It’s not just about lying on the beach, it’s about the crumbly bits too. The joy of seeing the pyramids and the Nile in full flow would be something to behold!
Who would you take on holiday with you if you had your pick?For company I'd pick Stephen Fry – he's very smart, well read and has travelled a lot.
What's your favourite place in Ireland?Connemara. I love going to Roundstone and eating fish at O'Dowd's restaurant. I also think Inishmore is magic. I've been there on a misty, drizzly day at Dún Aengus when you can't see the edge of the cliff from the gate but you can hear the waves. I can imagine how people could have believed Tír na nÓg lay off in that mist.
Your recommended holiday reading?I have just got back from the Canaries where I read Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall which is set in the period of Henry VIII. I'm currently reading travel writer Jonathan Raban's Hunting Mister Heartbreak in which he travels to New York on a ship. It's a contemplation of the emigrant journey and it is fascinating.
Where will you go to next?I recently had a holiday in the Canaries and it was my first in two years! But I would like to get back to Crete or go to Italy, where surprisingly I've never been, but know I would love.
In conversation with
GENEVIEVE CARBERY
Actor Darragh Kelly stars in Emma Donoghue's The Talk of the Town at the Project Arts Centre during the Dublin Theatre Festival, September 27th-October 14th dublintheatrefestival.com