I'm so glad I came home . . . for Tayto crisps and a few drinks with the lads

I marked my first time home in months with a packet of Tayto and a few drinks with the lads.

I flew back with my band The Wanted this week, but we were here for less than 48 hours so I had to fit a lot into a short space of time.

We all live in the UK so I took it easy on Monday in preparation for coming to Dublin early on Tuesday.

It was my first time here since June when we played in Cork so it was nice to be back.

Saying that, we haven't been in the UK much either as we have been touring the States this year.

We were in Dublin to perform at the Cheerios Childline concert in the O2 on Wednesday, which was wicked.

Afterwards we had a few drinks at the after-party with the other acts, including our pals Union J so it went on quite late.

TRADITION

But I think we were pretty well behaved compared to previous years.

We have a bit of a tradition that we only get one or two hours sleep following the Childline after-party.

Last year, Jay (McGuinness) turned up at the airport with his shoes on the wrong feet. He was exhausted so we rolled him out in a wheelchair at Liverpool.

Max (George) didn't even get on that flight because he lost his passport.

Jay came out of the airport in Liverpool and was like, 'What's this in my pocket?' It was Max's passport. Max had to get some fans to drive him from Dublin to Belfast where they let him travel without his passport.

The boys always seem to get into trouble like that in Ireland so it's hilarious.

I had a great time on Tuesday though because I got to see my little niece and cousin for the first time in months.

I can never get over how much they have grown, the last time I saw my niece she was up to my hip and now she's over five ft.

We spent Tuesday afternoon in HMV, Dundrum where we launched our new album Word Of Mouth.

There were loads of young girls there, but some of our older fans too. I think you forget how much older people are from when we first started out.

I like that we haven't changed, but some of our fans now have kids so that's weird.

The reaction was great because when you are away for so long you kind of think 'do we still have fans here' but it was madness.

After being in Dundrum, we filmed Una's Dream Ticket, the new RTE show with Saturday's singer Una Healy.

We know the girls really well from the UK circuit so we loved doing it – and we went to the home of a competition winner in Crumlin and give her two tickets for the Childline show so that was brilliant.