Italy best and worst. Puglia - lovely but Naples - shithole. Tuscany beautiful but coast v. polluted. Alto Adige, favourite region, stunning.
Japan best; Toyko wonderful, familiar yet different, 100 pct safe.
Hong Kong best; vibrant, in-your-face, can be dirty but fascinating and fun.
Vietnam - real culture shock, hated it at first, terrified of the traffic. Wonderful food including good bread and croissants!.
Gambia - sad place, sex tourists, grinding poverty and Campylobacter. Would not go again.
Croatia, Dubrovnik beautiful but overrun with shore parties off enormous floating hotels cruise ships that arrive daily with thousands of people on board. Food OK, Italian influenced but somehow doesn't quite cut it. Scenery stupendous and the Adriatic is amazing shade of blue, lovely to swim in.
Best - Northern Spain, Cantabria and the Basque Country. Cities like Granada and Seville very cool. Barcelona spoilt by pickpockets.
Travelled and lived on my own in Johannesburg years ago apartheid era and had a flat in the equivalent of Soho which was lively and social/racially mixed then, reasonably safe, but hear it's more dangerous now. Would not go back to Joburg but on a return trip to other parts I found lots of S.Africa changed for the better. Bits of Durban and Cape Town still dodgy, though.