The bould Francis Brennan is back for another TV holiday with a busload of Irish tourists and this time his destination is India.
Francis Brennan's Grand Indian Tour begins tonight on RTÉ One and the Dublin-born, Kerry-based hotelier is joined by a dozen brave Irish folk as they head off on an intense ten-day journey through the most populous democracy in the world.
"You could go to Thailand but then you'll end up on the beach," Brennan says when asked about the choice of destination. "And I wasn't keen for that. We wanted something that would immerse people into some sort of culture, So I said 'India', and they all looked at me and said: 'What?'
"But anyway, when we looked into it - and then I had a meeting with Joe Walsh Tours, who handle it on the ground very well I have to say - we could see it was doable. Then we went full-on into it.
"The people travelling didn't know where they were going, only one - one girl said she thought of India. But she was the only one. She deduced it from the inoculations, as we had to get one for yellow fever."
Sunday's opening episode sees the gang meeting each other and Francis at Dublin Airport, before learning of their destination and then boarding the flight. Several hours later they're in the most alien environment they've ever experienced.
"That's why I wanted to do something a little bit different," says Brennan. "The first thing that Irish people notice about India is the number of people. It's like Croke Park every day. There's so many people.
"The second thing is the heat. It was 47 degrees celsius. The only mistake I made was I didn't fry an egg on the pavement, because you could easily do that. And our cameras took a hit. They stopped two or three times because of the heat."
The intense heat wasn't just a problem for the light-skinned Irish and their technology. "The government closed the schools because it was dangerous," he notes. "And the Irish are out in the middle of it! Not a bother on us. But we were lucky it was not humid."
For Francis Brennan, one of the key elements for him was the diversity of people on the trip: it resembles something like a human version of Noah's Ark.
"For example we had painters from Donegal, hairdressers from Greystones, two ban gardaí, two scout leaders from Dubin, a nurse from Cork, two girls from Limerick. So we had a great, diverse number of people.
"But it gelled very well, I have to say," he adds. "Better than the last trip [to Italy]. It was just different. And we got on very well."
Francis Brennan's Grand Indian Tour, 8.30pm, Sunday, RTÉ One
