Name: Sean Buhagiar
Age: 25
Occupation: Performing arts executive and actor
My best holiday ever…
I went swimming with Whale Sharks. Later, we got to know other kinds of sharks had joined the get-together
It was already a big decision to choose a limited number of photos for this feature. This is a hard one. A very hard one.
Everywhere I’ve been gave me something back, but between a rock and a hard place, it would have to be Morocco. Mountains, desert, waterfalls and ocean: a little bit of everything, all rolled into one... with a special mention to Essaoiura.
I would never return to…
Rudyard Kipling said that the first condition of understanding a foreign country is to smell it. There is one place I have been where every new step brought a new smell. But, it was always a bad one. Welcome to Monastir, Tunisia.
The most dangerous place I’ve visited…
Haiti, I guess. We had just left when another earthquake hit.
My favourite city…
I am not really a city person but if I had to pick a city, it would be Florence. Besides the fact that I am one of the few Fiorentina fans around, Florence remains an arts paradise with legendary ice-cream.
My most memorable experience on an aircraft…
I think it’s a prospective memory. Ina week’s time my answer to this will be “jumping”. If I make it back! I am off skydiving.
My most treasured holiday souvenir…
A great traveller once said that he has seen more than he remembers, and remembers more than he has seen. For me, it’s my photos, videos and writings.
My biggest gaffe abroad…
A sweet one happened when I was 10 years old, during my favourite school outing, in Egypt. I never knew they take the ‘no flash photos of Tutankhamen’ rule so seriously. The police came to stop me after I’d taken around 10 photos.
More recently, there was the moment while we were road-tripping in southern England before a Robbie Williams concert. We developed the usual tailor-made holiday joke saga; this was the one where we all get creative with our beloved Maltese language.
We were at a crowded place when one of us, who happens to be a local TV personality, shouted in Maltese to passers-by.
A large family suddenly turns around in stupefaction. The Maltese are everywhere, especially in England.
The friendliest people…
The Irish are great lads. I was touring with a theatre piece around Ireland for three weeks. We were touring with musicians, directors and the producers who had everything done for us.
We were then treated to the pub after most performances with the audience clapping as we came in. It furthered my belief that acting should be my career. Then I came back.
Wait. I also need to mention the friendliest and funniest tour guide in the world. The award goes to our guide at Bob Marley’s home in Nine Mile, Jamaica.
His name is Captain Crazy and his laugh is a world wonder. I will never forget him. You have to Youtube him. It will make you feel alright.
I never travel without...
Good company and a camera.
The taxi ride I will never forget…
When we were backpacking in Morocco we decided to stop at the highest waterfalls in North Africa before moving on to Marrakech. We had to stop at a station which seemed more like an outdoor hostel, with people sleeping all over the place. This was in Beni Mallal, which is like Detroit in the Robocop movie, but third world. There was not a tourist to be seen.
We immediately called a taxi and this weird old guy stopped. There was already someone in his very small car. While trying to get in the mini-taxi with our backpacks, a guy who looked like a thinner version of Sloth in The Goonies was offering his help to my girlfriend.
I closed the door and shouted “Go!”, as if we had just got into a getaway car after robbing the national bank. We told the taxi guy to take us to the waterfalls and he kind of agreed.
In less than five minutes he stopped at a place where there were bigger taxis and asked me for the money. I said he had to take us to Ozoud Falls since we did not want to stop in Beni Mallal again.
My room in Poland was the size of a hunter’s dura, and I had to share my bathroom with a Polish bachelor and a Spanish junkie
He started overreacting as though I said I was a suicide bomber, and kept panicking as we all got out of the car. He then went back to the car as if he was going to fetch his M16.
Turned out he wanted some cents; he got some out to show me how much he wanted. I paid him and he left. I’ll never forget it, I left my hat in that taxi.
My all-time favourite holiday photo...
Most of them. But I do have some special ones. I went swimming with Whale Sharks and I have photos with these gigantic creatures behind me. Later, we got to know other kinds of sharks had joined the get-together. It could have been my last photo, but now it’s a favourite.
I also walked through the whole of Copenhagen to take a photo with a mermaid. Reminding yourself it’s special makes that walk worthwhile.
I have a photo being kissed by a seal, and a photo with two Fiorentina players I met in a bar. Okay, I’m stopping. Though I love the one with Mickey Mouse, or the Jurassic Park set...
An unforgettable hotel...
For continuity’s sake... after that taxi ride from Beni Mallal, we took another taxi with a chummy driver and arrived at the waterfalls late so we had to sleep there. We found a hotel right on top of the falls. You could hear the waterfall while sleeping.
There’s also the story where we booked a cheap room in a massive resort in Mexico and were mistakenly upgraded to a room with a door opening onto the Caribbean. Good times.
Then there’s the place we found at around 3 a.m. on the far outskirts of London, after my friends realised I hadn’t booked a hotel.
It was an Indian hostel with Indian staff and Indian guests. We had their accent after we left.
And of course, my room when I was studying in Poland, which was the size of a hunter’s dura, and where I had to share my bathroom with a Polish bachelor and a Spanish junkie. Good times too.
I return most often to...
This is a constant battle between one city and a whole country. Theatre, shopping, friends and work take me to London a lot and, of course, Italy.
From agritourism in Sicily, a trip to Lake Garda, an aperitivo near Piazza Maggiore or a gondola in Venice, to strolling in Piazza Duomo and dinner at Turin’s Da Ciro... Italy keeps me coming back for more. I grew up in Malta in the 1990s, so I am kind of an Italophile.
My ideal travel companion...
Marilù, my girlfriend (I had to say that). Jokes apart, we share a common joiede vivre so it’s always fantastic to travel with her.
Country with the best cuisine...
I am a self-confessed buongustaio. I love to experiment, so cuisine is an astronomic part of my travels.
I would go three-course on this one: Spanish tapas as an appetiser, Italian fresh pasta as a starter, Moroccan tagine as a main course, served with French wine.
I also have to give honorary awards to Polish soups and Austrian würstel.
My next holiday plans…
North America, South America, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, India and the land of the rising sun. I know. My ‘to do’ list is more of a bucket list. The story of my life.
My dream trip…
I always loved the idea of those American family holidays in some far away cottage by the lake, or a long trip in a Cadillac along Route 66.
Rio Carnival with the 2014 World Cup bonus, or even simple things like fishing in Alaska or fruit picking in New Zealand would be dreams come true.
I’m a well-known professional dreamer, and trips are a great subject matter.
I partied hardest in…
Barcelona for U2’s opening concert vs Ayia Napa in Cyprus. Fight.
Come to think of it, one night at Coco Bongo in Cancun is also a good contender. But I think it’s the Ayia Napa story.
Through our teenage years, we grew up as a group of guys stuck together. We planned that before our university days we had to do something big.
Back then, our first holiday together was huge. Imagine a group of six Maltese 18-year-olds rushing headlong onto a party island. We were actually supposed to be seven, but one’s mum didn’t allow him at the time.
It was like we were in some kind of crazy teen feel-good comedy. Vita Spericolata. Those were the days, my friends. (Sorry, Gilbert).
My travel tip…
Seize the day. Make your travels extraordinary.