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Private Notes
Paul boards a luxury ocean liner for a tour of the dazzling Caribbean. Highlights of his adventure include a meeting with the Jamaican dog sled team, losing all sense of direction on a reef in Mexico and a run-in with a ferocious tiger.
Paul’s first guide on the White Island is Jon Sa Trinxa, who arrived on holiday 20 years ago and is yet to leave. His advice to Paul is to shed his inhibitions - and his clothes. After ditching his gear in a fabulous secluded villa in the hills, Paul takes up his first invitation, to an all-day animal party, where fancy dress is mandatory, although not everyone does it in the style Paul chooses. Paul’s next attempt at getting under Ibiza’s skin is to visit Keith Holden, a man who spends large parts of his day shouting on a cliffside, towards the mysterious rock island called Es Vedra. Keith has a few ideas about how we are all connected to the moon, the stars and the dinosaurs. He can also trace Ibiza’s reputation for orgies and dancing back to before Roman times. Paul then meets one of the main men responsible for keeping the island dancing, superstar DJ Guru Josh, described by his flatcap-wearing manager Billy as a ‘unique, extremely eccentric, creative genius’. Turning his back on the island’s debauchery, Paul heads inland to meet David, who runs a horse sanctuary that recently came perilously close to being engulfed in flames when the north side of the island suffered the biggest fire in the island’s history. The devastation is clear to see, but David and his horses survived and he still obviously gets a great deal of satisfaction from looking after them. On his last night on the island, Paul gets some advice from 6ft Colombian transsexual Catalina, who helps him go out with a bang. “It’s a touch Mae West, a touch Diana Dors,” Paul says of his new persona, Elastica, who makes quite a splash in the carnival that evening...
Paul travels to Florida where as he attempts to avoid the rollercoasters he bets on pig racing, visits a spiritualist community and becomes an ambassador for an odd republic.
Paul remains in Blighty, revisiting some holiday destinations of his youth and other quirky spots as he joins one of the largest clubs of people in the country – caravanners.
Paul visits the Alps, where he gets his mind, body and soul tuned up at a range of spas and retreats in the mountains.
Paul samples some adrenaline-fuelled activities and idiosyncratic adventures in Scotland.
