Sainsbury's Magazine: August 2006

James Lohan is founder of Spy Publishing, which produces the Mr and Mrs Smith series of travel guides and runs the website www.mrandmrssmith.com, aimed at what he calls the 'modern-day dirty-weekend market'.  He set up the company with his fiancee Tamara Heber-Percy after experiencing a series of weekends at grim hotels recommended by unreliable travel guides.

Where are you going for your summer holiday this year?

To Cape Town on my honeymoon and also on a South African safari.  The best food I've ever tasted has been in Cape Town: it's half the price of London and the weather's wonderful.  We're going white water rafting at Victoria Falls, then we'll stay at Royal Malewane, a really beautiful safari lodge.  I don't mind screwing up a weekend in England, but I don't want to screw up my honeymoon!

Your best holiday ever?

My best holidays have been renting a villa on Ibiza.  We've done this for the past six or seven years, around the end of June - just before it goes too mad out there.  Ibiza usually gets a bad press but it's a really special place.  It has amazing bars, beaches and restaurants.  I know it really well and it's nice to hit the ground running when you go on holiday: you swim in a lagoon in the northwest of the island or sip a cocktail in Ibiza Town.  It has everything, and that's what makes it so special.

And the worst?

We went to Egypt during high season - which I don't think is a good idea - and I was sick three times.  You get hassled so much that it becomes exhausting.  The food was atrocious and the accommodation was appalling.  I booked the hotel from a website, and anyone who arranges their own trip runs a risk - which is one of the reasons we started Mr and Mrs Smith.  The place had been, apparently, a gentlemen's club and it sounded really nice, but when I saw it, I just said, take me to the nearest Hilton.  I wouldn't sleep there if you paid me - it was filthy.

You wouldn't leave home without?

My computer.  Well, I'll probably just look at it at the beginning of the honeymoon...

What will you be reading?

I don't supposed we'll read much this year.  I tend to listen to a lot of music and I'm more likely to do that than read.  I'll definitely be taking my ipod.

Where to next?

We're going to Provence for our third book - European Coasts and Country - so I'll be visiting all the best beach boutique hotels and countryside retreats.