{"id":253756,"date":"2025-12-27T08:58:17","date_gmt":"2025-12-27T08:58:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/253756\/"},"modified":"2025-12-27T08:58:17","modified_gmt":"2025-12-27T08:58:17","slug":"as-soon-as-you-book-a-flight-in-this-industry-thats-when-youll-get-a-call","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/253756\/","title":{"rendered":"‘As soon as you book a flight in this industry, that\u2019s when you\u2019ll get a call!’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fair\u00a0City actor and Cork native Stephen O\u2019Leary is no stranger to fast-paced schedules and new horizons \u2013 whether it\u2019s on set or on the road. With filming underway and panto season in full swing, he\u2019s planning his most exciting trip yet: a long-awaited adventure to Australia. But before that, he reflects on unforgettable travels from LA to Lisbon, and why there\u2019s no place quite like the west of Ireland. Catch Stephen on stage this Christmas in The Snow Queen at The Helix.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m from a big family \u2013 seven kids growing up \u2013 so it was always a big thing to try and plan trips when I was younger. My first cousins also have a large family of kids \u2013 our two families used to get together, pile into cars, and take the ferry to the south of France. It was like a mobile home park, where we had maybe three or four mobile homes for all the families. I just remember the drives from home to Rosslare; it was such a simple time. It wasn\u2019t every year \u2013 maybe once every three years \u2013 but I\u2019m very lucky to have those memories of everyone together.<\/p>\n

Most memorable trip<\/p>\n

One of the first trips I took with my girlfriend, Lauren, was to the United States for a month. It was my first time in the States as an adult. We started in New York for ten days, then went to LA for ten days, and spent three nights in Vegas. We stayed with my uncle and aunt in San Francisco for another week. Just thinking back, being in the States for the first time as an adult \u2013 it was beyond my expectations. After New York, LA, and Vegas, we crawled to my uncle\u2019s house saying, \u201cPlease feed us \u2013 we\u2019ve spent all our money!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"StephanStephan O’Leary in San Francisco<\/p>\n

Most surprising destination<\/p>\n

We were in the Philippines just over a year ago, and never having been there before, it was a completely different world. We island-hopped, and I was amazed at how different and how beautiful it was, and how friendly the people were.<\/p>\n

\"StephanStephan O’Leary in The Philippines\u00a0<\/p>\n

There was one island called Siargao that wasn\u2019t as touristy as the others, and we found this gorgeous Airbnb, rented a moped, and it was very freeing to be that far away from home.<\/p>\n

Favourite city<\/p>\n

Probably Lisbon. It\u2019s all about culture \u2013 why I love it so much. I love a food market or a vintage market, and Lisbon is full of them.The city is buzzing all the time. Every time I turned a corner there was amazing artwork on the walls outside, on the streets.<\/p>\n

\"Lisbon,Lisbon, Portugal. Stephan O’Leary<\/p>\n

Favourite hotel<\/p>\n

We took a drive along the Wild Atlantic Way a couple of years ago \u2013 spending a week driving up the entire west coast and finishing in Ballina, Mayo. The Ice House in Ballina was stunning. The rooms are amazing, the view is incredible \u2013 the wall is pure glass looking out over the river. I didn\u2019t think we knew what we had at our doorstep. At the end I thought, that\u2019s one of my favourite holidays ever, and we only drove for a few days. It was freeing too \u2013 realising you can just get in your car for an hour or two and have the best time ever.<\/p>\n

\"IceIce House Hotel in Ballina<\/p>\n

Most memorable food experience<\/p>\n

We were in LA, walking around looking for food, and came across this ramen restaurant on Melrose Avenue. There was a massive queue, and we weren\u2019t even thinking about getting ramen, but we joined to see what everyone was queuing for. To this day, we still say it was the nicest Asian food, the nicest bowl of ramen and one of the nicest plates of food I\u2019ve ever had.<\/p>\n

\""To“To this day, we still say it was the nicest Asian food, the nicest bowl of ramen and one of the nicest plates of food I\u2019ve ever had”<\/p>\n

Favourite thing to do while travelling<\/p>\n

The thing we love most when we\u2019re away is trying to immerse ourselves as much as possible \u2013 meeting locals, getting involved in the culture. When we visited Marrakech last year, we booked a private walking tour with a local guide who spent the entire day with us. We became friends with him; he brought us into shops, introduced us to people, told us about the history and the best food spots. We felt part of the culture. I just love that feeling of connection.<\/p>\n

Bucket list trip<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve been talking about Australia for so long. We\u2019ve tried to plan it a few times, but it\u2019s hard to take time off. As soon as you book a flight, that\u2019s when you\u2019ll get a call! We\u2019re planning to go in February when I finish the Helix Panto and Lauren the Gaiety Panto \u2013 she\u2019s a dancer. Lauren would go for six months; I\u2019ll do two or three and then come back for auditions. We\u2019re talking about a camper van for a few weeks then settling in Sydney for a few more. As an actor, it\u2019s good to take yourself away \u2013 to live,explore, and learn about yourself and new places.<\/p>\n

\"AustraliaAustralia \u2014 Stephan O’Leary’s bucket list holiday<\/p>\n

Stephen plays the role of Christopher in \u2018The Snow Queen\u2019 in The Helix Panto, until January 11 2026.<\/p>\n

Tickets on sale now from thehelix.ie<\/a>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fair\u00a0City actor and Cork native Stephen O\u2019Leary is no stranger to fast-paced schedules and new horizons \u2013 whether…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":253757,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[74],"tags":[52027,52026,22362,18,52025,6600,19,17,51532,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-253756","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-technology","8":"tag-airbnb-thomas-breathnach","9":"tag-bbs","10":"tag-camping","11":"tag-eire","12":"tag-flights","13":"tag-hotels","14":"tag-ie","15":"tag-ireland","16":"tag-staycation","17":"tag-technology"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115790709398521554","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253756"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253756\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}