Rick O'Shea speaks to
GENEVIEVE CARBERY
What’s your earliest holiday memory? When we were kids the family used to go to Courtown in Wexford. My aunt had a caravan down there and we would go there a few times a year. Ireland in the mid-1980s was quite recessionary, so you wouldn’t stay in a hotel.
What was your worst holiday? In the summer of 1982 on the night of the World Cup final I fractured my arm playing football. I was nine years old and to go to Crumlin hospital to get a cast – it was a big deal for me. We had a family holiday planned to a caravan park somewhere outside Portlaoise. It was a nice family holiday but it was so hot that my cast melted. I had to go back to hospital in awful pain and have my cast reset. That put a dampener on the holiday.
What was your best holiday?I went to New York in January with my girlfriend for a week. It was my first ever time in America, let alone New York. From the moment I got to JFK I loved it, from the American- style bus to the way the city loomed up from Queens. Our hotel was off Lexington Avenue near the Chrysler Building and I am an architecture nut, so I spent days looking up at buildings. The minute I got off the bus, I wanted to move there. We also went see All My Sonson Broadway, took the Staten Island Ferry and had breakfast in the Empire diner. It even snowed as we shopped in Greenwich village – I couldn't have asked for it to be more perfect.
If budget or work were not a restriction, what would be your dream holiday?I have always wanted to go to Japan. I'm fascinated by their cinema, the architecture and the look of the place. Anywhere I have gone up to now I have tried to speak a bit of the language but I like the idea of getting lost somewhere that you can't even read the typeface.
If you had your pick, who would you bring on holiday with you?I'd love to bring Stephen Fry because he seems to be a most fascinating, witty, erudite, informed fellow.
What's your favourite place in Ireland?As part of my job I've seen every county in Ireland. But I love Galway and go to there on a regular basis. I particularly like Galway city, Barna and Connemara.
Your recommended holiday reading?Audrey Niffenegger's new book Her Fearful Symmetryis a page-turner but it's not as good as The Time Traveler's Wife.
Where will you go to next?I have no immediate plans. I travelled a huge amount this year – to New York, London twice, Florence for a friend's wedding – so the budget is all out for this year. But something will jump on me next year.
Rick O’Shea presents his radio show on 2FM between 2.30 and 5pm weekdays