Com Hayes - DJ - 2FM
What’s your earliest holiday memory?
We were very fortunate to go on an annual family holiday down the country. When I was three, we went to Tralee with another family. I was the youngest and I was always being left behind.
My aunty gave me the nickname “Wait for me” because I always said it when we were dashing off to the beach. For me, the stairs seemed very daunting as everyone else rushed ahead.
I also remember my red woollen swimming togs. They were grand going into the water, but coming out they were like a four-stone bag of potatoes. I think my mum may have knitted them!
What was your worst holiday?
A few years ago we were going on a late holiday and picked an expensive five-star hotel in Cyprus which we had been told was pretty good.
When we landed it was the worst experience ever. There was a crowd of 50 English tourists and I have never seen such loud people. They used to get into the pool in the morning and drink, and when finished they would chuck their cans out of the pool. One day leaving the villa my daughter asked what the red was and it was blood from a fight the night before.
By the end of the two weeks my wife, two kids and I would disappear for the whole day and be in fear of our lives coming back at night. It was just made up of two or three families and the hotel should have just thrown them out. The worst thing is I will never go back to Cyprus, even though I am sure it is lovely.
What was your best holiday?
Noja in the north of Spain. We went to a caravan site in the little town outside Bilbao. Everything was really nice there and all of the tourists were Spanish and French. There was a little zoo at the campsite and in the evenings we would go and feed the animals. It’s a place we always talk about as somewhere to go back to.
If budget or work were not a restriction, what would be your dream holiday?
I would love to do a safari. I have been to Morocco and Tunisia, but not into the heart of Africa. Brazil has always fascinated me. I think it’s the football, amazing beaches, the samba culture and proximity to the Amazon.
If you had your pick, who would you bring on holiday with you?
My wife and two kids. We have always travelled as a family since the kids were very young. They get used to different food and pick up bits of the language. My son is a teenager, so there are only a few holidays left with him. A couple of years ago, we went to Orlando with another family.
What’s your favourite place in Ireland?
Possibly Rosslare.
Your recommended holiday reading?
I'm into a big, big novel I can get immersed in. I've just finished John Irving's Last Night in Twisted River, which is more than 500 pages. I read Nick Hornby's Fever Pitchone afternoon in Lanzarote and I still remember exactly where I was sitting and what the weather was like when I read it.
Where will you go to next?
We’ll go to Portugal and spend a few weekends in Rosslare.
* Colm Hayes presents The Colm Hayes Showweekdays from 11am to 1pm on RTÉ 2fm
* In conversation with
Genevieve Carbery