My Hols: Sharleen Spiteri For the singer, her holidays in Japan, Malta, Miami and Spain have always been about the same thing — food

from The Sunday Times by Paul Croughton - 18 April 2010

We didn’t go on lots of holidays as a family because my dad was at sea. He was a captain in the merchant navy, so we’d go and see him on his ship, which was a huge adventure. He worked in America and then in Egypt and Saudi Arabia. One thing that sticks in my head about Saudi was that dad would play golf in the morning and, as it was mostly sand, he’d carry around this little bit of grass to put his tee on, then pick it up and take it with him.

My first proper family holiday was to Malta. I was about 13, and we met up with all these relatives I’d not seen before — Spiteri is a Maltese name, you see. What I remember was the amount of sitting around, chatting and eating. In fact, most of my holidays since then have carried that on. I really enjoy cooking, going to all the markets and trying the delicacies of different countries. I tend to cook quite a lot of European food, as that was what I grew up with. My grandmother’s French, my grandfather’s Maltese and, with my dad travelling so much, my mum and dad would experiment with all this stuff he brought back home.

I was just about to turn 17 when I went away for my first non-family holiday, with a couple of girls from the hairdressing salon in Glasgow I was working in. We had a little apartment in Marbella, bloody miles from anywhere, because it was all we could afford. We’d be out clubbing all night, having an absolute ball. Then we’d get the bus to the beach and sleep there. I’ve still got a photograph of me and my two mates in a photo booth, and I swear to God, all you can see is teeth. I dread to think of the sun damage we did to our skin.

Holidays for me are very low key. Because I like to cook — and my boyfriend’s a chef — I’d rather go somewhere we can do it all ourselves. One of my favourites was when I took a house in a place called Gaucin, in the hills in southern Spain, for a month. I needed to chill out, but I wanted to make an album as well. We loaded up the car with all the gear and the mixing desk, and drove down and set it all up in the house. We swam in the morning, relaxed, cooked a bit, had lunch, got a bit of sun, and then at night made a record. A perfect scenario. It was a beautiful big house with a pool, with all my family and different friends dropping in, so that was probably my most extravagant holiday. It was pretty damn good.

My biggest fear on holiday, my idea of absolute hell, is running into people I know. Last year, we decided last minute to go away between Christmas and New Year, to Miami. We flew into the airport and I must have seen about 15 people I recognised. I thought, “This is going to be a bit of a number, I’m going to hate this”, but they were all flying out to here, there and everywhere. We had a fantastic time, staying at the Delano — I’d been there for work, and I thought, “This isnae any good for a kid”, but it was lovely. We ate some good food, had some walks on the beach — dead easy.

I’m very minimal when I go on holiday. You don’t need anything other than a swimsuit and one change of clothes. I know I’m going away when all I’ve got in my bag is my flip-flops. I only take hand luggage. It’s amazing how quickly it gets filled up with colouring pens, and the Nintendo DS, a godsend when you’ve got children.

I’ll tell you what: if you’ve got kids and you can get good deals on flights, take them to Tokyo. They will freak out. I took my daughter, and it was genius. It was like living in a cartoon, everything was so bright and cheerful. And the shops — there was one store that was just five floors of stationery; I’ve never seen so many stamps and pens. And another place, called Mr Happy, had cafes that do low-sugar snacks, amazing little chocolate cakes. You get a bowl of melted chocolate to dip them into, too. It was so much fun. My kid was just looking at me, going: “I love you so much, mummy.”


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