Where have you just come back from?
Sicily. I've got a lot of friends out there so I go quite often for a little chill out. It's a fabulous island. You get a lot of sun, which you need now and then to buck you up a bit, and then when it rains, you eat, drink and relax with the locals.
Where have you felt happiest?
At home [Essex], although when I was in Australia and New Zealand the people were so much like us it made me realise that it's not always about the place.
Name a place that most lived up to the hype
The Maldives is paradise and I think the Amalfi Coast is stunning. I also went to a place called Winton in the Australian outback, which is sort of like a cowboy town. It rained for the first time in five years when I was there and the next morning the plants had grown about three foot and the whole place was mauve. It was incredible.
What's your favourite city, and why?
London. We know how to light it now and we've got great food from every part of the world. The only thing that needs sorting out is getting around.
Which is your road most travelled?
My wife doesn't like a car trip, so she'll fly to Sicily, but me and my mate drive with our kids and we go through France into Switzerland and stay there, then down the Amalfi Coast and stop for a night, then down to Calabria. I drove to the Cannes Film Festival years ago and found a place in the mountains called La Bonne Etape in Château-Arnoux Saint-Aubane, which was recommended in one of those Relais [& Châteaux] books I nicked from a hotel once. The food was out this world.
Describe your favourite view
Standing on top of Whistler in Canada with a drink watching the city light up. Or when I was filming The Proposition in Australia, I was sitting by the pool at a motel and there was a rainbow around the sun. And when shooting Point Break, standing at the bottom of Angel Falls in Venezuela… I've been a lucky boy.
What do you pack first?
My wife says to me, 'Raymond, just take your shorts and a T-shirt'. But I still have to pack a suit; you never know when you might need a nice whistle.
Describe a memory from a childhood holiday
We never used to go abroad but we would go to Snowdonia. Me and my dad walked up Snowdon, which is quite a trek - I couldn't do it now - and we rode horses through the mountains.
Where did you go on your first holiday without your parents?
My nan and granddad took us to Mallorca when I was about 11. You know what it's like with grandparents: they give you a little bit of leeway, whereas mum and dad keep you right firmly planted.
Describe a holiday disaster
In the West Indies, we got on a small plane and my mate lent against the door when we were above the sea and it opened! Luckily he was strapped in, but his body kind of went out and we had to pull him back. It was telling us what to expect of the rest of the holiday…
Tell us about a great little place you know
There's a small hotel in Cianciana, Sicily, called Villa Platani. It's in an old monastery up in the mountains and it's a blinding little place to stay.
Which is the smartest hotel you've ever stayed in?
I like the little ones now because you get to feel like one of the family rather than having to be on your best behaviour all the time, which is very difficult for me. Saying that, my mate Bobby [Robert] Carlyle got married in Skibo Castle and that was fantastic - proper Scotland.
Sightseeing or sun lounger?
As I've got older I like sitting down, as long as the bar's close. I've actually started reading books, or listening to them if I'm feeling really lazy. I also find that if you have a couple of sunbeds before you go away, you stop yourself burning and come back looking like a local.
'I lost my heart in …'
Torquay, where I met my wife.
Who is the most interesting person you've met on your travels?
Last year I met a shaman in Venezuela. His feathers were claret and blue, which are the West Ham colours, and he liked whisky. We conversed, I don't know how, seeing as I was talking Cockney and he was talking Venezuelan Indian, but we somehow understood one another and we just rabbited on. It was obviously the whisky… But I always end up in places where the locals hang out and I enjoy that: even if the language is different, you find your way.
Which foreign phrase do you use most often?
Dov'è il bagno, which is 'where's the bathroom' in Italian. You've got to jump up and down when you ask it.
What's your guilty pleasure?
Oh you'll get me arrested, you will. I don't think I'd feel guilty about anything if it was a pleasure. I suppose my grubby pleasure is that I do love a kebab when I've had a drink the night before. If you reheat it at home it gets all nice and crunchy.
What would you most like to find in your minibar?
Chocolate. Trouble is, once I start that's me done and I always feel a bit rough after.
Most regrettable holiday souvenir?
My wife thinks you go on holiday to shop and bring everybody home a present. No, we're not on holiday to do any of that bollocks. I'm there to chill.
Nominate your eighth wonder of the world
The rock formation in my garden.
How do you relax?
Doing nothing. It's lovely just to sit down and watch Tipping Point or something like that. Turn the phones off and don't answer the door like you don't exist for an hour.
Ray Winstone stars in 'The Trials of Jimmy Rose' on ITV later this summer