My holidays

Daithí Ó Sé talks about his holiday memories

What's your earliest holiday memory?I went with my mother, father and sister to Trabolgan for a week when I was 12. I think we spent about six months getting ready for it. My sister and I shared a room when we were younger, and we were up every night until midnight, talking about what we would do. We didn't do any of the stuff we talked about.

What was your worst holiday?My backside got sunburned one time in Croatia. I was on a nudist beach and threw off all my gear on a lilo in the water. Whatever way I was sunbathing I got scalded. It was very painful. I had to go home two days later. It was like I had ants in my pants on the plane. The woman beside me wouldn't believe me. It's very sore, and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

What was your best holiday?I went to Tenerife with some of the lads. It was my first time going away with a gang of lads, and it was really good fun. I had thought it wouldn't be for me – would just be lads boozing all the time. But I had the craic. I also enjoyed holidays to Puerto Rico, in the Caribbean, and Santo Domingo, in the Dominican Republic. I've never experienced such a very slow pace of life before. I stayed in a hotel where I could fall off the balcony on to the beach.

If budget or work were not a restriction, what would be your dream holiday?Either Hawaii or the Maldives. I like to be on the beach doing nothing, and those seem particularly nice places. I'd want to go for three weeks, as they are so far from home. I'd spend all day swimming, eating and lying down. I don't really drink on holidays – I do enough of that at home – so it's a detox along with everything else.

If you had your pick, who would you bring on holiday with you?Someone easy-going. Outside of that I don't care.

What's your favourite place in Ireland?Rathmullan House, in Donegal, is really nice, as is Lough Rynn castle, in Leitrim. It's a really out-of- the-way nice old castle with a lovely lake beside it. It's a nice hideout and a place to get away from everything.

Your recommended holiday reading?When out in the Caribbean I read Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh's first book. I kept looking out over the book for him, because I read it in his accent. It took me a couple of days to read it, because of the pace he speaks. I said it to him afterwards. On my next holiday I'll read Donal Óg Cusack's book – I can do his accent – and Brian Cody's. I haven't mastered his accent yet.

Where will you go to next?I'm busy working until April, but I might hit the Caribbean then.

Daithí Ó Sé is a weatherman on TG4 and a judge on The All Ireland Talent Show, which returns to RTÉ this month