Mick Flannery, named best Irish male at last month's Meteor Ireland Music Awards describes his holidays
What's your earliest holiday memory?I remember, when I was about 12 or 13, we went on a Keycamp holiday in France. We stayed in caravans at different locations. I also vaguely recall staying in Paris and one of my brothers getting lost there. (I have three brothers and a sister.)
What was your worst holiday?Myself and a couple of friends went for a weekend to a festival in Galway. We had an awful time. It was horrible, rainy weather. I hated the music; it was desperate. It was all techno industrial music, really weird stuff. We didn't know what type of music it was going to be, as we had just wanted to get away.
What was your best holiday?A week I spent at Waterville, in Co Kerry. It was a great holiday, with lots of swimming in the sea. The sea was really nice. It was very cold, but that is good for a hangover, as it gets the heart working again.
If budget or work were not a restriction, what would be your dream holiday?Wherever it was, I would stop off in Las Vegas on the way. I'd love to spend time at a beach on the west coast of America, in California. When I'm on holidays I like to sleep and not think about stuff. I visited my sister [the former Young Scientist winner Sarah Flannery] in San Francisco. She's lived over there for the last couple of years. The people are nice, and they are very chilled out. We did a trip down Highway 1, along the California coast to Santa Cruz. It was brilliant.
If you had your pick, who would you bring on holiday with you?I'd bring Charlize Theron – she's a great actress – but post the era when she was in the film Monster.
What's your favourite place in Ireland?I like going down to Kerry. My mother's family live down there in Coolroe, outside Killarney. It's nice there, with beautiful mountains, lakes and natural landscape.
Your recommended holiday reading?Joseph O'Connor's books, such as Star of the Sea and Redemption Falls (which is kind of a continuation of Star of the Sea). It is a bit of a western, with people dying left, right and centre.
Where will you go to next?I'm going away to Faro, in Portugal, for a week this month. I'll disappear and be quiet there. I'll sleep a lot – on the beach, by the pool and at the bar.
** Mick Flannery was named best Irish male at last month’s Meteor Ireland Music Awards. His latest album is White Lies
** In conversation with Genevieve Carbery