Dom Joly: My wife and I beat 'divorce' myth of Istanbul
BEST known as the star of Trigger Happy TV, comedian and journalist Dom Joly, 50, divides his time between London and the Cotswolds. He lives with his wife Stacey, their two children, Parker and Jackson, and their pets - two dogs, two pigs and a cat.
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MOST MEMORABLE HOLIDAY?
Recently I took my wife and kids on a road trip to Istanbul and back. Everybody said it would be a divorce tour, but we actually had a blast.
We got shot at by a policeman in Serbia and left our passports behind in a hotel safe in Budapest but otherwise it all went rather well. We do a family road trip every Easter - I think it's good for the soul.
AND YOUR WORST?
I'm not good with beaches and resorts. I like places that don't have tourists, are tough to get to and don't have a Starbucks.
My worst holiday was a weekend in Disneyland Paris when my children were young.
My daughter had a princess fixation so I agreed to go.
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BEST SOUVENIR?
I went around the world monster hunting for a while.
I hung out in northern California, in the middle of nowhere, trying to find Bigfoot.
I didn't spot him but I bought one of the five original plaster casts of his footprint that started the story back in the 1950s.
BEST BOOK?
The Trigger: Hunting The Assassin Who Brought The World To War, by Tim Butcher. It tells the story of Gavrilo Princip, who assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand and inadvertently started the First World War.
I'm very interested in assassinations - I once went around America on an assassination vacation.
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HOW DO YOU SPEND YOUR TIME ON HOLIDAY?
I read a lot. I save all the books that I like the look of and splurge.
I need to be active and I love boats, so if there's any excuse for getting in one and mucking about, that's where I'll be.
My wife is Canadian so we go there every year and I spend a month reading books on the dock, roaring around in a speedboat and jumping off cliffs.
WHERE WOULD YOU REVISIT?
I loved Bosnia Herzegovina. It's a fascinating country with a dark past.
Sarajevo is a splendid city - a mish-mash of churches and mosques, very unvisited and incredible fun. T he countryside is wild and untamed and you get the feeling of being on the edge of two civilisations.
I longed to dive off the bridge at Mostar but I wasn't allowed.
WHERE ARE YOU OFF TO NEXT?
My next series is taking me to many places including Egypt, China, the Arctic Circle and Burton upon Trent. I'm so excited about Burton as I've never been there before and I can't wait to explore.
Dom Joly's audio book, Big American Vacation, is available at audible.co.uk
