My Hols

Brazil and Cuba hit the right notes for singer Kirsty MacColl.

The first holiday I can remember is going to Poland when I was four. My parents were separated and my father, who was a very active communist, had been a playwright before he became a songwriter and he'd had a very successful play in Poland. He wasn't allowed to take the money he'd made there out of the country so, to make some sort of use of it I suppose, he arranged to take my brother and me to stay at a farm. A holiday in Poland might sound a bit grim to the unitiated but actually it was idyllic. There were fir trees and fields of the most beautiful wild flowers, not to mention wild strawberries. It probably wasn't so carefree for my mother because I managed to have an asthma attack and cut my head open while we were there. The only downside of that holiday, from my point of view, was that we had to go by train as my mother was terrified of flying. It took a long time in those days to get to Poland by rail.

Most of my childhood holidays were spent at the British seaside. We used to stay in those traditional hotels where you sleep between nylon sheets and breakfast is served between 7 and 7:30am. I loved swimming, and I can remember swimming in the sea when there was nobody else around, probably because it was too cold to even stand on the beach, never mind bob around in the sea. I got a real kick out of it because I thought it was exhilirating to get into water that cold and not actually die. I still love the sea and enjoy diving and snorkelling when I get the chance, but these days it has to be somewhere hot.

I didn't go on any school skiing trips or anything like that, but I did go on a day trip to France with the school. We became very excited because our coach followed a gold Rolls-Royce all the way to the ferry. We lost sight of it once we got on the boat but a bit later, when we were off the coach and roaming around the decks, someone recognised the guy from the Rolls-Royce. We weren't exactly shy and we dashed up to him to ask why he had this fabulous car. He told us that his name was Jimmy Webb and he was an American songwriter. I was really excited because I knew that he'd written huge hits like By the time I get to Phoenix. I couldn't help bursting out, "My dad's a songwriter too! He wrote The first time ever I saw your face, and Jimmy Webb looked at me as if to say, "You sad child, what a terrible lie."

In my early twenties I had several fantastic holidays in Formentera, which was still very unspoilt. On once occasion I hired a bicycle and went to meet some friends in a bar on the other side of the island. I had a fair amount to drink and somebody offered to put my bike in the back of their car and give me a lift in the direction of where I was staying. When I was dropped off it was pitch black and I had no idea where I was going, I got completely lost. In the end, I decided to sleep on the beach. I was so exhausted that I fell asleep straight away. When I woke up I could see a little fishing boat going out to sea and ecerything looked very rustic and pretty. I could see for miles down this beautiful, completely empty beach. Then I looked the other way and the beach was empty in that direction too, except for a family of nude Germans who, for some strange reason, had decided to sit about ten yards away from where I was sitting.

After the Berlin Wall came down, I decided to go to Cuba in 1992 because I realised that I hadn't been to a Communist country since my trip to Poland and that opportunities to do so were diminishing. Also, I'd been mad about Cuban music for years and I wanted to experience it first-hand. Another reason I wanted to go was that I associated it with my dad, because he'd visited Cuba in the late 1960s and met Raoul Castro (Fidel's son). I've been there many times since, but I went alone the first time because I knew it would force me to interact with people. There weren't many tourists then, so the locals were intrigued by visitors and were always coming up to find out what I was up to. I stayed in hotels during my first visit but, since then, I've tried to stay with families as often as possible because you're so removed from the heart of things if you're stuck in a hotel.

It's very easy to get a room in a family home, you just stop and ask anyone you meet and they'll know of someone with a room to let. I've found some fantastic places doing that and you're made to feel so welcome. One place I found was a finca, a little farm, where they produced some of their own food, which sounds odd but, thanks to the US sanctions, it's quite hard to get hold of proper food in Cuba. This couple kept goats and made me this amazing dessert, which was a bit like cottage cheese with a quince jam. I'd never had anything like it before and it was absolutely delicious. Cubans are incredibly poor but they are very generous and tremendously dignified.

After I'd been to Cuba a couple of times I decided to learn Spanish so I could understand song lyrics and chat to people. I met this Brazilian guy at my Spanish class who became my lodger in exchange for Portuguese lessons. In fact, he really didn't have the time to teach me very much but when he went back to Brazil I took up his invitation to go and visit him. I ended up travelling around the country and got completely immersed in the music. My new album is heavily influenced by my experiences in Cuba and Brazil.

In the past 14 months I've only been able to take a couple of short breaks. Last summer I went to Seville, which must be one oft he most beautiful cities I've been to; every time I turned a corner there would be a grander and more ornate palace than the last. I stayed at the Hotel Alfonso XIII, which is an amazing hotel and perfectly located for walking around the historic parts of the city. There was a wonderful park where the smell of jasmine was so strong it made me feel faint. In November, I spent a weekend a One Devonshire Gardens, a favourite hotel of mine in Glasgow where I always feel completely pampered. Although it's really plush, the staff are young and don't judge you just because you're not dressed head to foot in designer gear.

I'm not a great one for sunbathing, but I've been working so hard recently, at the moment my ideal holiday would be just to lie on a warm beach and do absolutely nothing.

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My Hols

Brazil and Cuba hit the right notes for singer Kirsty MacColl.

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