Eleanor Tiernan in conversation with GENEVIEVE CARBERY
What's your earliest holiday memory?
We had a very particular ritual for my childhood holidays, as my family would go to the same place, at the same time every year with the same people. We went to Ballinskelligs in Co Kerry for the two weeks beginning with the August bank holiday. My father and his friends have been doing this trip together since their early 20s.
What was your worst holiday?
On my first and only trip to New York I visited a friend but he got very sick. So I had to help him out and get in touch with his family. I only had very vague details about his family so I had to contact his ex-girlfriend to get in touch with them. So my first visit to Time Square I was totally distracted and was just trying to find an internet café.
At the end of that whole drama I was on my own in New York. I had an afternoon left to visit one tourist attraction and had to choose between the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty.
I found myself on the top of the Empire State Building with families all around me taking photos. An iconic place like that can feel really lonely. Then clouds cleared and I could see the Statue of Liberty - so I got to see them both in the end!
What was your best holiday?
I used to work as an engineer so the girls I worked with used to go skiing together. It was brilliant fun. We went to Italy one year and Andorra another. We would do ski school every day and stay out partying until five or six in the morning. Any time I go on holiday now I like to relax but I find that kind of activity holiday really suits me.
If budget or work were not a restriction, what would be your dream holiday?
I'm dying to see China and I have a romantic notion of how to do it. I'd get the Trans-Siberian railway from Moscow to Beijing. I fantasise about adventures with Russians on the train and meeting Mongols on the way. I like to think of myself as more robust in these situations than I am in reality, I like my comforts too!
If you had your pick, who would you bring on holiday with you?
I'd love to go away with my two brothers, John and Conor, again - we have not done that since we were kids.
What's your favourite place in Ireland?
The road from Westport to Leenane through the Delphi Valley is almost mythical, whatever it is about the light and the way the sun shines.
Your recommended holiday reading?
When I do stand-up comedy trips I am normally free during the day so I bring a book. The last one I read was Englebyby Sebastian Faulks. It's a great book but serious and heavy going.
Where will you go to next?
Spain with my boyfriend on our first holiday together. We keep joking with each other that it's going to be the big test of the relationship.
Comedian Eleanor Tiernan's show City West Side Story is at Bewley's Café Theatre Dublin from September 13th - 18th at 6pm as part of ABSOLUT Fringe. Tickets from 1850Fringe or fringefest.com