Because sometimes we have travel regrets, some big and some small! Unfortunately it’s not all coconuts on white sand beaches (only most of the time!). While I love reading about the amazing experiences people have done while travelling the world, I also think it’s good to talk about what we missed out on so that a fellow traveller might not make the same mistake!

• Not taking enough photos. I seem to always take a million photos of exactly the same angle of the popular sights like certain temples or famous monuments but I forget to take photos of the every day; the colourful tuktuks, the street food stalls, the flower markets and these are really the snaps that help sum up the real feelings and atmosphere of a place. When I recently visited India I tried to take more real photos that take me back to that moment!

• Not visiting the sand dunes in Mui Ne Vietnam. The person I was travelling with didn’t want to go so I didn’t go. Silly decision. Likewise with Monkey Island near Cat Ba in Vietnam. That was the first time I ever went backpacking, now I know I would be confident enough to go it alone!

• Not researching Dalat, Vietnam properly and missing out on canyoning down waterfalls because I didn’t know about it!

• Overpacking. So the story of my life is that I have too many clothes, too many shoes and just too much ‘stuff’ in general. My backpack was too heavy, and as a result I spent a lot of time complaining and being too lazy to walk too far to find accommodation which probably meant I stayed in scummier places at not as convenient locations.

• Leaving the Full Moon party early – at like 2am! Luckily I have been back for 4 more (and counting) to make up for this SHAMEFULLY early night! Here are my Full Moon party tips for newbies

• Getting in a big argument with a tuktuk driver in Siem Reap, Cambodia about money. I feel ashamed to have acted this way and it turned into a scene. It was after all, not very much money for me and a lot for him. In my defence I was a newbie and struggling with culture shock and poverty like child beggars. But really this where I should have been at my most generous and I’m embarrassed to say I was not. Hopefully now I am older, wiser and more understanding!

• Missing Christmas at home. It was just once, when I first moved to Thailand and I have made a pact with myself to never skip Christmas again. For some people Christmas travelling might be fun, a chance to celebrate on the beach or with new friends or old ones across the world. However, for me Christmas should be and always will be about family, and mine did not celebrate together because of me (I stole my sister who joined me in Thailand). Christmas is not the same without everyone who matters arguing about Dobble under the same roof. Also as a British person, Christmas should be cold! Wearing santa hats in the heat is just a step into the surreal for me!

• Worrying too much about planning things that I forget to enjoy the moment of where I actually am! (Still working on this one!)

• That said…BADLY PLANNING things. On two occasions I hadn’t factored in enough time to see a place and with transport being particularly SLOW in some areas of South East Asia I successfully managed to arrive in BOTH Penang and Singapore late at night… in order to fly out the next morning. Luckily I’ve since been back to Singapore for the weekend but I’m still waiting on that Penang trip…

• Not being more adventurous with food. Ok, I admit, I am so boring with food! I eat cornflakes EVERY morning for breakfast. Luckily for me, travelling forces me to be more adventurous with food and I need to do this way more. The first time I backpacked I refused to eat noodles, didn’t like Vietnamese food and generally did not enjoy eating food in South East Asia! Four years later, while I still eat my boring cornflakes I also point at random stuff displayed at street food stalls around Asia and I will try it.

• Having the worst hangover of my entire life in Siem Reap Cambodia in a boiling hot hostel with no A/C or fridge for water. Lesson learnt: hangovers in heat are the worst! If you know it’s gonna be a messy night, consider splashing out on an A/C room.

• Getting so used to travelling constantly that I became too lax about airport timings and missed a flight to Taiwan. Cue arguments and tears and FINALLY being allowed to board the next one! Sometimes making a (tiny) fuss pays off!

• Thinking that I probably wouldn’t like mountain biking but wanting to be adventurous so I signed up anyway. There was an afternoon of 10km downhill, or a full day trip of 25km downhill from the top of a mountain in Chiang Mai. Guess which one this idiot chose? Within the first five minutes I knew I hated and it DID end in tears and me walking my bike down the mountain. I’m glad I tried it but I regret not going for the ‘taster’ session!

What are some of your travel regrets and mistakes?