My holidays: Don McGlashan

Don McGlashan once ran on to the baggage carousel and into the security area at an airport to retrieve a book from his bag. Photo / Mark Binns

What was your greatest holiday?

When I was very little my family sometimes used to go to the Travelodge in Rotorua for long weekends. The bath water was an unnatural blue colour and I thought it was the most luxurious thing in the world.

And the worst?

A motel in Scotland that had little bits of electrical wire and wood screws in the beds and a hyper-paranoid proprietor who made Basil Fawlty look like the Dalai Llama.

If we bump into you on holiday, what are you most likely to be doing?

Looking confused. I get lost a lot and have a terrible sense of direction.

If we could teleport you to one place in New Zealand for a week-long holiday where would it be?

I really like Okarito on the South Island's West Coast. I did a solo show there a few years ago and the organiser met me with: "Do you want your smoked trout now or after your canoe trip in the lagoon?"

How about for a dream holiday internationally?

I was in Prague once for a Mutton Birds gig and I always wanted to go back there for a holiday. All those cobblestones and unpronounceable beers.

What's the dumbest thing you've ever done while travelling?

I once ran on to the baggage carousel, through the fly screens and into the security area of an airport to get a book I'd mistakenly put in my suitcase. Silly enough anywhere, but particularly as it was Mexico and the security staff were nervous and heavily armed. I really wanted to read that book.

Complete this sentence: I can't travel without ...

... getting lost.

What's the best travel tip you've ever been given?

In Antarctica, before I went out for a walk, I was told to take my pee bottle with me, but to keep it in an inside pocket of my anorak, so it wouldn't freeze.

What was the most memorable meal you've had while travelling?

A bizarre, noisy lunch in Paris put on by a pair of eccentric brothers who invented musical instruments. Wine, bread and cheese at a long table in a shed full of frightening metal sound-makers that clanged and whizzed around us.

What's the best thing you've brought back from a trip?

The sticker on my guitar case from Antarctica with a picture of a penguin and the words "Do Not Freeze".

Favourite airport at which to land:

New York. The Manhattan skyline always stops my heart for a second when it swings into view.

What's the next trip you've got planned?

I'm co-headlining the 2015 Winery Tour with my dear friend Dave Dobbyn. We start on January 24 at Mills Reef Winery in Tauranga, and then cover the whole country over the next month, ending up at Waipara Hills Vineyard on February 28. Playing my songs and Dave's songs loud and proud under big summer skies. Really looking forward to that.

Don McGlashan is a trustee of the New Zealand Music Foundation, the official charity of the 2014 Vodafone NZ Music Awards. The awards night is on November 20.