A
My Hols celebrity travel special
Oliver Chris, 29, is best known for his role as Boyce in the cult Channel 4
comedy series Green Wing. He is currently performing with the Peter Hall
Company in The Portrait of a Lady at the Theatre Royal Bath. He lives in
London
Last year, I booked a holiday to Costa Rica for me and my new girlfriend. I
was very keen to impress her, so I was delighted when we got to Heathrow and
discovered that we’d been given a double upgrade. I even phoned all my
friends and family to gloat that we were flying business class, which they
found sickening.
After the first leg of the journey, we arrived in Miami at 4pm, totally
rested. We had a delicious meal and a few cups of sake at Nobu and then we
walked up Ocean Drive to the beach and went swimming naked. It was an
unbelievable first day of travelling. At eight o’clock that morning we’d
been in Queen’s Park in London, for goodness’ sake.
The next day, we flew on to Costa Rica, where we stayed below an active
volcano. We watched it explode from the safety of a natural thermal pool. We
could see the glowing lava flowing down the mountain through the night. It
doesn’t get much more romantic than that.
Then we hired a 4WD Toyota truck, and my quest to impress started to go a bit
wrong. After a discussion about who should do the driving, I persuaded her
that it should be me. The next day, we were driving up a mountain and heard
a loud bang. I’d left the boot open and all our luggage had fallen out. Our
bags were scattered down the mountainside.
Then we drove down onto the beach. We were admiring the view and didn’t notice
when all the other cars suddenly disappeared. When I eventually tried to
drive away, the car was stuck, sinking into the sand as the tide came in.
Luckily, a man from a nearby hotel came and dug us out – but I felt like a
complete fool.
Then, not long after we’d escaped the sinking sand, I reversed the car into a
tree in a car park. So, all in all, I think I did quite well trying to
impress the girl of my dreams. The upshot is that I now admit she’s a better
driver than me.
I don’t want to sound like Captain Holiday Calamity, but I had another close
shave on a trekking trip a couple of years ago. I was travelling around
Argentina with two friends and we’d reached the Valdes Peninsula, where I
went snorkel-ling with a crazy German fisherman.
We were swimming with southern right whales, which are about 18ft long, and I
got into a fight with one. I was caught between the whale’s body and a
sandbank. Its huge tail glided past me and I could see it was going to hit
me. One touch flipped me through the water and I lost my mask, flippers and
snorkel. For the whale it was just a shrug of the shoulders, but it left me
feeling incredibly fragile and insignificant. I thought it might come back
for more but, luckily, it left me alone. An amazing experience, and a lucky
escape.
After I got my first acting job and proper salary, I canvassed friends for
advice on the best place to go on holiday. My girlfriend at the time and I
were looking for adventure, beach and diving. The place that came up was
Roatan, one of the Bay Islands of Honduras. It was Christmas, so it cost a
fortune to get there, and when we arrived it was muggy and pouring with rain
– completely the wrong season. There was no scuba-diving because the water
was too cloudy, and on an island that is just beach there wasn’t much else
to do.
We were staying in a homemade cab-ana owned by a psychotic couple who used to
run weapons over the Nicaraguan border in the 1960s. They invited us to
dinner one night, which was hellish. Another evening, after a few drinks, I
went to bed and forgot to put on my mosquito repellent. My legs must have
been sticking out from under the blanket, because when I woke up, I was
covered in 10 million bites. It was the last straw – I had to get off the
island.
The plane to the mainland was delayed because the weather was so bad. It was a
10-seater and when it finally left – carrying eight missionaries and us – we
flew through an electrical storm. It was lurching around, but I didn’t care
if we crashed – I already wished I was dead because of my itching, burning,
swollen ankles.
We landed in Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras, and went straight to the
most faceless, corporate, heavily air-conditioned hotel we could find. Then
we stayed in bed and watched television for two whole days. It was pure
bliss. + Oliver Chris talked to Harriet Perry
Funny!Particualy about on Roatan! At xmas it gets to a certain point and shuts down - nothing comes in or goes of out the island! It is a deff to visit this special island (at the right time of year) it has fab diving and the most chilled out people, look at www.tranquilseas.co.uk our family resort
gabrielle benson, suffolk, UK