George Karellas describes his holidays
What's your earliest holiday memory?Remember the glamour that air travel had in the 1960s? My earliest holiday memory doesn't stretch back that far, but it does leave me with a sense of that. I remember going somewhere on a jumbo jet as a child. I can still feel the sense of awe at the size of the plane and how I felt special when the beautiful air hostess gave me an airline goody bag full of puzzles and a model of the plane.
What was your worst holiday?I've never had a bad holiday. There have been times during trips when things could have been better – I once found myself in a Christian retreat on the Kenyan coast near Mombasa. It was New Year's Eve and my girlfriend at the time and I were definitely the black sheep as we were sharing a bed outside of wedlock.
What was your best holiday?All of them. Spending five months in my Land Rover exploring the surf spots of Europe; being lent a drop-top Ford Mustang while staying on the Floridian Gulf Coast islands; and my girlfriend's father giving me his Masai knife, which was of machete-like proportions, for a drive between Nairobi and Mombasa. He sort of said "just in case" and, as it turned out, I ended up taking it to bed one night out of fear.
If budget or work were not a restriction, what would be your dream holiday?All restrictions aside, my dream holiday would involve a small cottage or wooden house among some tropical trees by the shore of a warm water right-handed point break. That's a surf spot. I'd want perfect peeling waves every day and, of course, someone to share it with.
If you had your pick, who would you bring on holiday with you? There's no other-half right now, so in the absence of "the one" I have a handful of close friends who have been around from the beginning and who know me as well as I know them. There's nowhere you could throw us that we wouldn't create some mischief.
What's your favourite place in Ireland?I love Ireland. They say absence makes the heart grow fonder and having only spent two months here since March 2008 I know it's true. I see a lot of the country regularly while surfing and have some favourite spots, like the Dingle peninsula, if that's what we're calling it at the moment, but nothing will ever replace home – Bettystown, Co Meath.
Your recommended holiday reading?Not a big reader, but recently someone handed me In Search of Captain Zero by Allan Weisbecker, the true story of a life-long surfer and one-time drug baron searching for his best friend in South America. The descriptions of surfing are perfect, a real "couldn't put it down" for anyone who surfs. I also read Jaws recently, the perfect example of a film not living up to its parentage, and that's saying something – the movie is fantastic.
Where will you go next?Eh, hello? The Great Barrier Reef. You should too . . . www.experiencequeensland.com.
George Karellas is among the final 16 shortlisted entrants for the “Best Job in the World”. He will be travelling to Queensland, Australia, at the beginning of May for the final selection. Read his blog on http://georgetk. wordpress.com.
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