5 Places I Visited that I Regret.

Santorini is a beautiful island in Greece, ideal for weddings, but it's also very tiring. I always wanted to visit Santorini ever since I was 19. I took a picture of the blue-domed church and had it printed in three different locations. Finally, when I did go, I cried a little on the plane in fact, I was emotionally embarrassed and I cried about seeing a place that I had imagined for years.

The truth, 35°C, a path so packed I couldn't take a single picture without someone putting their elbow in it and a room that was more expensive than a week's stay in any other place I had ever stayed. About four hundred people stand shoulder to shoulder with their phones up, practically vying for the same picture that may be obtainable in higher quality on any stock photograph website the whole point of their being there, after all.

The thing no one tells you: The beauty of the pictures of Santorini is made possible by a photographer who arrived in March at 6 AM, and waited. The one you visit in July and August has nothing at all in common with those pictures.

It really works for: The couple who take a private villa with a pool and don't ever leave it. The Santorini that version is really pretty. Those who are not in the queue have to pay for it.

I had my heart broken in Bali, but I'm not afraid to say it, I have been there twice in the hope that the second time I would find what I had missed the first.

The Bali that is found in travel content, is one of the rice terraces, the silence and spirituality, and a woman meditating in a flower bath. The Bali in Seminyak and Kuta is around 45 minutes of sitting in the car without moving, a beach so packed that everyone is sharing a metre of sand with someone they don't know, a row of bars where everyone is doing the same thing at the same time and calling it the same.

Ubud was better. Genuinely. But even in Ubud, it has been found to the extent that the monkey forest is less a wildlife experience, and more like a theme park with animals.

What no one tells you: The Bali of the life changing description is in the north, Munduk, Sidemen and Amed. There are not many people who visit there as there is nothing to post.

Who it fits better: Individuals that are prepared to completely depart the schedule. For those who travel the standard tourist route around Bali it will be a very nice holiday. You won't get one transforming one of a kind.

But let's not beat around the bush, Paris is a beautiful city. I love Paris. If I could I would go back next week!

The Eiffel Tower is simply a big iron tower with a long line, though. I was at the foot of it and waited to feel a thing. It took a while before I waited. After some time I felt, I think, my feet hurting and a desire for a croissant. The tower is so immense tower-like. It will not propel you. Will not hinder breathing. It's a monument that's more photogenic than it is lived.

What nobody will tell you: The best way to see the Eiffel Tower is from a distance, there is no queue and it's seen from a café on Rue de Monttessuy where it looks like the tower in your head. Under it makes no difference.

The audience it truly fits: First time visitors to Paris who have seen it in person, a life moment that has been fulfilled. This is perfectly acceptable. Go once. Check it off. Please don't make too much of it.

I realize there's going to be some controversy here. The Maldives is certainly one of the most beautiful countries in the world. I'm not saying that I disagree with the water colour!

However, there is something that nobody talks about – there is not much to do. I had read on a sunlounger, snorkelled in the same lagoon and dined at the same three restaurant resorts for two days and was now feeling bored. The Maldives has been created to be a setting rather than a holiday. It's designed to help you recharge, to experience the reward of being cut off, and for those who have a busy life and nothing more is a luxury.

I'm not the type of person who is. I wished to go for a walk. Oh, I wanted a market, a nearby cafe, a street that I had never been to. In the regular touristic experience in the Maldives, there is no such thing.

What no one tells you: The local island experience (the guesthouses are in Male and the non-resort islands are much more interesting, and much less talked about) is quite a bit less expensive, quite a bit more interesting, and overlooked by most travel content.

Who it's best for: A honeymoon or anniversary couple that is willing to spend the money to be totally alone. In addition, those who have been through serious times and need a week to themselves to recover from it.

It's true that I've heard from every New Yorker I've ever been around, and I was asked: "Whatever you do, stay away from Times Square."

I did not listen. When I walked through it at 9 PM Tuesday, I felt I walked through a "very large, very loud advertisement" that became a "place. A great looking set up with the lights. There's a lot of energy in it. People are over-crowded. Approximately after 11 minutes, there's nothing more to experience. It's a display that is lacking in depth, an entrance hall to an extraordinary city the moment you step outside.

What no one tells you: New York's true character can be found in the West Village and the food markets of Queens, in Prospect Park on Sunday mornings and the jazz clubs of Harlem. The packaging is Times Square. The city is all that he sees.

For whom it is for: For anybody that has never been to New York before go, see it, cross it off. Just for that one reason, it's worth a single visit to see for the hundred films set there. It simply isn't worth while to spend time there.