Our holidays fall into two main categories: escaping the New York winter and reconnecting with European culture. By February, we’ve had enough of the bitter cold, and for the past 12 years we’ve been to the same place in Antigua. We stay at Hawksbill Bay, on the west coast, which is fairly midmarket, but unsurpassable in all the intangibles.

The best way I can describe it is to tell you that, a few years ago, I found myself on the beach searching for sea glass, which is thrown up after there has been a hurricane. I was so absorbed by just being on the beach, collecting these smoothed and tumbled ocean jewels, I realised that I would rather find a beautiful bit of glass than have my agent call me with a million-dollar deal.

In the autumn, we stock up on culture in Europe. We go to Venice, Athens and Paris. Living in America, where by definition everything is new, makes me hungry for history and I feel a need to reconnect with places that have centuries of tradition.

I particularly love Italy, where the history is on display everywhere, but in a casual way. It’s wonderful walking up to a Michelangelo sculpture and touching it. I love that easy relationship that Europeans have with their past, rather than treating it as something weird and special.

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

I particularly love Europe right now because it is the last bastion of smoking. Walking into a restaurant in Spain and seeing whole families lighting up over plates of paella makes me feel right at home.

Cities are also great places for people-watching. Like all writers, I can’t help obsessively looking

at people and wondering what they are up to or what their particular scam is. I tend to seek out the rougher parts of cities and love walking there in the evenings, watching street life unfolding.

The last time I visited San Francisco, I took a walk, fairly late at night, to the Tenderloin, a very diverse downtown area, and almost immediately someone tried to mug me. In an instant, the rough, tough kid I had been while growing up in Birmingham re-emerged. As my mugger was asking for money, I found myself demanding that he give me some instead, and I ended up with a handful of dollars, which I passed on to the next homeless person.

Our holidays used to be more adventurous when we were younger. For our honeymoon, we hitchhiked around Greece and Yugoslavia. This was in the 1970s, while Tito was still in charge. Yugoslavia was the closest I ever got to the Soviet Union, which I would love to have visited. At the time, you were conditioned into being afraid, thinking all tour guides were members of the KGB and that you’d be arrested for chewing gum. That atmosphere appeals to the writer in me, but it’s gone now.

I suppose the Middle East still retains a certain fear factor, though I have only been to Israel, where we did have a couple of scary incidents. It was in the mid-1980s: we spent a few days in Jerusalem, then hired a car and drove out into the Negev desert. We ended up completely lost in total darkness. Eventually, we spotted some lights, which turned out to be a Bedouin encampment, where a couple of very menacing-looking nomads were selling coffee. They asked where we were from, and on hearing the words “near Manchester” became all smiles and handshakes and began chanting “Bobby Charlton”.

I think my best holiday ever was a six-day trip to the Bahamas, when I still worked for Granada. We had very little money, so my wife went to the travel agent in search of a trip to Tenerife for £199. She came back with one to the Caribbean for virtually the same price. We stayed in Green Turtle Cay, in a cluster of deserted islands, with a rudimentary hotel on the beach and motorboats for hire. The whole area was beautiful, with white sandy beaches and crystal-clear water. It was magical. Growing up where I did in Birmingham, visiting such a place was unimaginable. I remember thinking that, having got there, I would be quite happy to die tomorrow.

Lee Child talked to Lizzie Enfield

Times recommends

• The smart guide to travel blogging
• 30 top takes on New York
• Europe's 20 best Christmas markets 2009