Jane Fallon on New York, beach holidays and trips with Ricky Gervais

'Central Park is a fantastic place to eavesdrop'

Jane Fallon's latest book is 'Strictly Between Us'

You see celebrities everywhere you go in Los Angeles.

My favourite sighting was Mickey Rourke in a hotel lift. He was carrying two tiny chihuahuas like they were babies.

My childhood holidays were a little unconventional.

My parents ran a shop so they couldn't take time off together. Dad would take some of my sisters to Europe while Mum would take the rest of us to a holiday camp in Sandbanks. I loved it but do remember thinking it wasn't very fair. I won the fancy dress competition once. I went as a hula girl after Mum sneaked out in the middle of the night to rip up some turf to make me a grass skirt. I was covered in insects.

New York was a terrifying place in the early 1980s.

I first visited when I was a student. My friend and I arrived late and heard gunfire almost as soon as we arrived at our hostel in a not-very-nice area. I had no desire to return but it's since become the place where I'm happiest. Ricky [Gervais, Jane's long-term partner] and I have a place there and go roughly every six weeks.

Ricky is great to travel with.

He's become more patient, the more he's travelled, and he's good company to have on a long flight. But my fantasy travelling companion would be Alan Bennett. I have no idea if he's a good traveller but he would make me laugh. I think we'd go somewhere fabulous, such as Paris.

Beach holidays fill me with dread.

I once went on holiday to Rhodes and after sitting on the beach for two hours, I thought, “OK, now what?” I would've been far happier pottering around Athens for a week.

Crete wasn't much better.

It was the second holiday Ricky and I had been on and we were broke at the time so booked a cheap package on the south coast. There was a heatwave and our room had no air conditioning and we couldn't open the window because of burglaries. We woke up the next morning and the bathroom was cockroach central.

Chicago surprised me.

I visited with no preconceptions and absolutely loved it. We stayed just off the Magnificent Mile and walked for miles along the beachfront.

I write a lot on planes.

Long flights are a good time to be creative and there's nothing else to do. I've written lots of my books somewhere over the Atlantic. My other favourite place to write is the café at the boating pond in Central Park, New York. It's great for people watching and you can eavesdrop on some fantastic conversations.

Tree lines: Jane loves to write in Central Park (Getty)

I seem to collect metal chickens.

My favourite souvenir is a spiky 3ft metal chicken from a flea market in the Marais in Paris. I fell in love with it instantly and had to cart it home, trying not to poke everyone on the Eurostar. It now resides in our living room next to another metal chicken I got somewhere else.

Prague was painful.

I was so excited about being there because it was snowy and lovely, but I twisted my ankle and spent the time hobbling around icy streets.

I recommend time travelling in London.

Everyone should visit Dennis Severs' house in Spitalfields. It's a little Victorian terrace done up exactly as it would have been when it was built. It's as though the 19th-century family living there have just popped out.

The Arctic would be a dream.

I love really cold weather and would love to see the Northern Lights and visit Iceland. Japan is also at the top of my list because the culture is so radically different. I might go en route to Australia, another place I intend to visit because I think it has all the best animals.

Jane Fallon's latest book, Strictly Between Us, is published by Penguin, £7.99 (penguin.co.uk)