BBC radio DJ Jo Whiley shares her best and worst holiday experiences
She also presents coverage of festivals, including Glastonbury for the BBC. A keen gardener, she has her own scent garden at this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show.
Jo, 51, lives in Northamptonshire with her husband, Steve. They have four children, India, Jude, Cassius and Coco.
WHAT IS YOUR MOST MEMORABLE HOLIDAY? About five years ago, we took a family holiday in Los Angeles.
We rented a house in Bel Air, and every day I went to a local coffee shop I had been told Robert Downey Jr frequented – but we never saw him!
We did touristy things such as going to Six Flags Magic Mountain theme park, which has some absolutely terrifying rides.
It was my husband’s dream to go surfing at Malibu beach, so we did that too. I remember Coco was only four at the time, so I stayed on the beach with her. We went to see the Hollywood Walk of Fame and bought a map so we could go to see where the movie stars lived.
A friend of ours lent us some paddle boards and showed us where to do that on the local canal network.
I remember shopping at Abbot Kinney Boulevard, too, which has some cool bohemian shops and we discovered that you could get cupcakes out of an ATM machine, which was really fun.
AND YOUR WORST? We love Cornwall and go every year but occasionally we have fallen foul of the weather when camping.
Sixteen years ago, just after I fell pregnant with my son, I remember camping in Croyde in Devon. It was raining torrentially and being so very miserable, we just abandoned the tent and left. A couple of years ago, in Polzeath, we camped on a hilltop in a gale and had to pack up the tent at 4am. We haven’t camped since and we now use caravans!
BEST SOUVENIR? As a rule I am not a huge souvenir collector but I bought a striking South By Southwest poster from San Jose, Austin, Texas, when I was there in March, covering the music festival for Radio 2. It is pinned by the front door, so that every time I go out I am reminded of it.
Occasionally I will also buy jewellery from a local market.
BEST HOLIDAY READ? I remember being at Lakitira Beach Resort, Kos, and reading the seventh and last Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling.
I read it by the pool and remember crying at the end of it, which was rather embarrassing for my children.
Jo and her family prefer to stay active while on holiday
HOW DO YOU SPEND YOUR TIME ON HOLIDAY? We are an active family so we like to snowboard, wakeboard or waterski. If there is a pool we play volleyball, swim or have diving competitions. Just recently we have been skiing in Méribel.
WHERE WOULD YOU LIKE TO REVISIT? We are looking for somewhere new to go to this year.
We have been to Ibiza and Cornwall a lot, so we are thinking about going to Lake Geneva or one of the lakes in Italy so there is somewhere we can go wakeboarding or waterskiing.
Jo will be at Glastonbury with Radio 2 this summer
WHERE NEXT? This month, after The Chelsea Flower Show, where I am involved in a Radio 2 garden, and The Derby in early June, I will be at Glastonbury.
Over the summer I will also be doing gigs at festivals and taking the family along.
Jo Whiley will be DJing at the Investec Derby at Epsom Downs on Saturday June 3, epsomderby.co.uk
