My Holiday: Krishna Andavolu, host of Viceland's Weediquette

Krisna Andavolu, host of Weediquette, screening on Sky's new channel Viceland. Picture / Supplied

What was your greatest holiday?

My wife and I went to - it's so not even that glamorous - but we went on a canoe trip to this place in northern Minnesota called the Boundary Waters. It is a vast, untouched reserve where no motorised boats are allowed and there are campsites just scattered around hundreds of acres of little lakes. It's sort of like swiss cheese, there are more lakes than land but you can kind of navigate these little passageways. So we just stayed there for three or four nights and camped and went canoeing. It was the most off the grid and relaxed I'd felt in a really long time.

And the worst?

Virginia Beach in the US. We went there once when I was a kid and I hated it. I just didn't understand where we were. I grew up in New Jersey where we have a Jersey Shore, it's quite pleasant and Virginia Beach just felt like the same thing but worse. I was like "why did we drive six hours to get here?"

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

I'm most likely to be in that moment where I have a fear of missing out on being relaxed and that makes it hard for me to relax. That's like most of where I'm at. And then for a few hours I actually feel relaxed.

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

From what I gather the South Island is just extraordinary and it has a coniferous forest and it's big and beautiful, so just anywhere in those mountain piney areas.

How about for a dream holiday internationally?

I've never been to Italy, which is kind of nuts. I'd like to have a couple weeks travelling through Italy.

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

One time me and some friends from college were in Tibet during the college summer break. We tried to go to this monastery that was having a festival. We showed up and the bus ride was so long that we were like we need to go to sleep. So instead of camping out, which was our plan, we went to a guest house in that town. And in Tibet at that point, I'm sure it's still the case, you needed tourist passes to go places, you needed a minder to go with you, you needed to be on a tour. We weren't, we were just on a bus so when they asked us for our passport numbers we just faked them. So then the next morning we were in our room and our door was busted down by the Chinese tourist police and they were like 'where are your papers?' and we were like 'we don't have any' so they said 'you've got to go back to Lhasa now'. We didn't go to Lhasa; we got on another bus and went to a different place and camped out for a while, went to another monastery, it was fantastic. On our way home, the bus was stopped by police who came on and went and checked every single person who was Tibetan [for] their papers, everything. And then they came to us and were like 'alright, cool'. So we thought we were in trouble for being on the run from the Chinese tourist police but really we were just a couple of idiots.

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

A good book, something to pass the time in the midst of the cool things. I'm currently reading a book called The Underground Railroad by an author named Colson Whitehead.

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

Pack all of your stuff in individual zip-lock bags. Because then you can squeeze your socks out, your underwear out and it doesn't all get a mess. And then it all stays dry if your whole bag gets wet.

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

Recently while we were in Amsterdam we had this seven-course meal at a place called Johannes. It was just amazing.

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

When I met the President of Uruguay he gave me a cigar that Fidel Castro had given him. He had a whole humidor full and he just gave me one.

Favourite airport to land at?

I guess it's New York's JFK because it means I'm home.

* Krishna Andavolu presents Weediquette on Sky's new channel Viceland, from Thursday December 1, 9.20pm