Author, actor and activist

Where did you spend your last holiday?

Among the wild life in the Serengeti and the Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania - during the great migration of the gnus and zebras.

What was the best thing you did while there?

Said virtually nothing, just stared at what I saw and had to pinch myself that I was not in a David Attenborough television special.

Your favourite city abroad, and why?

Berlin, because my mother was born there and I have, as they say, still got a suitcase in Berlin (ich hab' noch einen Koffer in Berlin).

What must a first-time visitor see there?

The way the city has acknowledged the past and remembered the pain. And also building on a future without that guilt standing in the way of new adventures. See everything - twice!

What was your best holiday, ever?

The Antarctic over Christmas and New Year. Swimming in that freezing water as the clock struck midnight.

What was your worst holiday ever? What happened?

I think I was 14 and I got German measles somewhere in a hotel near Three Sisters in the Karoo. Then passed it on to my sister at Golden Gate in the Free State. It was hell having fever in a small Austin A40 and pretending to be fine.

Which is the worst hotel you have stayed in?

The first cockroach isn't that terrible, but cabbage smells, rudeness from old ladies with beards and too many South Africans in Estonia singing Daar kom die Alibama is enough to invite the Soviets back!

Your fantasy holiday companion and why?

I would love to travel with Miss Jane Austen. Imagine her comments about our life today in her language that you would not have to explain through a thesaurus.

Your favourite SA destination, and why?

Any place where the roads aren't tarred, the cellphone doesn't work, the horizon is a straight line, the animals are in charge and the people are scarce.

Your favourite restaurant, anywhere?

In Berlin, Florian - which serves the best schnitzel - and has a history of satire and danger during the Third Reich. In Cape Town, Bukhara and Haiku.

What is the most exotic dish you have ever eaten on holiday?

I can't remember his name, but my goodness, the memory does linger.

One place you want to see before you die?

Heaven. I might want to change my booking.