Lauren Holly talks motherhood, travel

Lauren Holly, 43, takes a night off from momming it up when she hosts the World Travel Awards at NYC’s Jumeirah Essex House.

“I got a really good night’s sleep last night, which I really needed,” the NCIS star tells me during cocktail hour featuring shotglass-sized milkshakes. “I don’t normally sleep a lot because I have three little boys. I feel very good today because I just had the night when I was by myself in a hotel and I had a great night’s sleep. I feel terrific.”

Her adopted sons, Alexander, 6, George, 4, and Henry, 3, light up her life with hubby of six years, investment banker Francis Greco.

“My favorite thing is having the conversation,” she tells me, as a server sails by with smoked salmon. “Now that they’re all talking, I just love to hear what they have to say and their views on things. I actually keep a book of all the funny things they say.”

What vacation spot is tops in her book?

“My trip to Dubai was pretty amazing,” she tells me. “The people were so warm. It was the cleanest place I’d ever seen in my life. It’s so luxurious. The sea was beautiful. It was like a giant bathtub. It was amazing.”

Following a dinner of beef, braised cabbage and gratin potatoes and dessert of baked Alaska and neapolitan ice cream, Lauren takes the stage to present the awards dubbed the Oscars of the travel industry.

We enjoy a performance from Broadway’s Jersey Boys, who sing a medley of '50s classics and hilarious comedian Wendy Liebman before Lauren heads home to tuck her boys into bed.