A My Hols celebrity travel special

Oliver Chris, 29, is best known for his role as Boyce in the cult Channel 4 comedy series Green Wing. He is currently performing with the Peter Hall Company in The Portrait of a Lady at the Theatre Royal Bath. He lives in London

Last year, I booked a holiday to Costa Rica for me and my new girlfriend. I was very keen to impress her, so I was delighted when we got to Heathrow and discovered that we’d been given a double upgrade. I even phoned all my friends and family to gloat that we were flying business class, which they found sickening.

After the first leg of the journey, we arrived in Miami at 4pm, totally rested. We had a delicious meal and a few cups of sake at Nobu and then we walked up Ocean Drive to the beach and went swimming naked. It was an unbelievable first day of travelling. At eight o’clock that morning we’d been in Queen’s Park in London, for goodness’ sake.

My hols: Michael Caine

The actor has been a bum in Paris, a callow youth in Cannes and a superstar in St Paul de Vence. Not a lot of people know that

My Hols: Anastacia

The American pop star Anastacia recently threw a lavish wedding party in Mexico - but didn’t break the bank

• Frequent flyer: Erin O'Connor

BACKGROUND

• My hols: Phil Daniels

• My hols: Roger Moore

• My hols: David Mitchell

• My hols: Tracey Emin

• My hols: Colin Firth

BACKGROUND

• My hols: Ricky Gervais

• My hols: Sam Robards

• My hols: Jimmy Carr

• My hols: Johnny Vegas

• My hols: Moby

The next day, we flew on to Costa Rica, where we stayed below an active volcano. We watched it explode from the safety of a natural thermal pool. We could see the glowing lava flowing down the mountain through the night. It doesn’t get much more romantic than that.

Then we hired a 4WD Toyota truck, and my quest to impress started to go a bit wrong. After a discussion about who should do the driving, I persuaded her that it should be me. The next day, we were driving up a mountain and heard a loud bang. I’d left the boot open and all our luggage had fallen out. Our bags were scattered down the mountainside.

Then we drove down onto the beach. We were admiring the view and didn’t notice when all the other cars suddenly disappeared. When I eventually tried to drive away, the car was stuck, sinking into the sand as the tide came in. Luckily, a man from a nearby hotel came and dug us out – but I felt like a complete fool.

Then, not long after we’d escaped the sinking sand, I reversed the car into a tree in a car park. So, all in all, I think I did quite well trying to impress the girl of my dreams. The upshot is that I now admit she’s a better driver than me.

I don’t want to sound like Captain Holiday Calamity, but I had another close shave on a trekking trip a couple of years ago. I was travelling around Argentina with two friends and we’d reached the Valdes Peninsula, where I went snorkel-ling with a crazy German fisherman.

We were swimming with southern right whales, which are about 18ft long, and I got into a fight with one. I was caught between the whale’s body and a sandbank. Its huge tail glided past me and I could see it was going to hit me. One touch flipped me through the water and I lost my mask, flippers and snorkel. For the whale it was just a shrug of the shoulders, but it left me feeling incredibly fragile and insignificant. I thought it might come back for more but, luckily, it left me alone. An amazing experience, and a lucky escape.

After I got my first acting job and proper salary, I canvassed friends for advice on the best place to go on holiday. My girlfriend at the time and I were looking for adventure, beach and diving. The place that came up was Roatan, one of the Bay Islands of Honduras. It was Christmas, so it cost a fortune to get there, and when we arrived it was muggy and pouring with rain – completely the wrong season. There was no scuba-diving because the water was too cloudy, and on an island that is just beach there wasn’t much else to do.

We were staying in a homemade cab-ana owned by a psychotic couple who used to run weapons over the Nicaraguan border in the 1960s. They invited us to dinner one night, which was hellish. Another evening, after a few drinks, I went to bed and forgot to put on my mosquito repellent. My legs must have been sticking out from under the blanket, because when I woke up, I was covered in 10 million bites. It was the last straw – I had to get off the island.

The plane to the mainland was delayed because the weather was so bad. It was a 10-seater and when it finally left – carrying eight missionaries and us – we flew through an electrical storm. It was lurching around, but I didn’t care if we crashed – I already wished I was dead because of my itching, burning, swollen ankles.

We landed in Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras, and went straight to the most faceless, corporate, heavily air-conditioned hotel we could find. Then we stayed in bed and watched television for two whole days. It was pure bliss. + Oliver Chris talked to Harriet Perry

Times recommends

• New York hotels on sale in January
• Skomer Island, Wales: Britain's best job?
• Red Sea: the complete guide