The good, the bad and the peculiar – five travelling lessons from the MR PORTER team.

Whether you are lying by a pool in Marbella or hiking in Madagascar, a holiday should be one of the happiest times of your life. And they often are, when they go as planned. But what if they, well, don’t? Disaster can ensue and harsh, but often necessary, lessons are learned. Here are five from the MR PORTER team to help you avoid making the same mistakes.

**MR JEREMY LANGMEAD **Brand & Content Director

**BEST HOLIDAY MOMENT: **Eating a delicious lunch with the monks in a monastery at the top of a mountain in Bhutan after a three-hour hike to get there.

**WORST HOLIDAY MOMENT: **After lunch, visiting the loos in the monastery at the top of a mountain in Bhutan.

LESSON Never drink holy water unless you’re sure it’s from an Evian bottle.

**MR JACOPO MARIA CINTI **Art Director

**BEST HOLIDAY MOMENT: **Watching the sunrise from a bunk bed in a former barrack in the deserted Asinara island just off the coast of Sardinia.

**WORST HOLIDAY MOMENT: **Going for a run in the mountains of said island and being chased by a pregnant albino donkey, soon realising I was way slower than her.

LESSON Improve my cardio. Even if there are no albino donkeys in east London, I might encounter two foxes, or even worse a two-legged hipster fresh from a night out.

**MR ADAM WELCH **Editor, _The Daily _

**BEST HOLIDAY MOMENT: **Discovering a treasure trove of ceramic bearded ladies, splatter plates and casts of giant disembodied heads in Grottaglie, Puglia, Italy. And then trying to work out whether they’d allow a giant horse sculpture on the plane as hand luggage. **WORST HOLIDAY MOMENT: **Sometimes you need to take advantage of being in a strange new place to try something new and adventurous. But if anyone suggests going on a 6.00am snorkelling trip through literally freezing water on a geothermal fault line in Iceland, in November, you should be mature enough to just say no, take it from me.

LESSON Only step outside your comfort zone for the sake of amazing souvenirs.

**MR CHRIS ELVIDGE **Associate Editor

**BEST HOLIDAY MOMENT: **Learning how to ride horses in the depths of winter at the snowbound Kazakh State Circus in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

**WORST HOLIDAY MOMENT: **Arriving into Brisbane on a Greyhound bus at the exact moment that the river broke its banks in the summer of 2011, causing the worst floods there in living memory. Then getting onto the very next bus and driving for 11 hours straight back to Sydney.

LESSON Never discount a winter holiday.

**MR DAN ROOKWOOD **US Editor

**BEST HOLIDAY MOMENT: **With the exception of six days (see below), it was the whole of the year 2000, which I spent travelling around the world with my two best friends. Halcyon days, hedonistic nights.

**WORST HOLIDAY MOMENT: **The day I landed in Japan I went straight out on a big night which ended with me throwing away my travel belt instead of an empty food wrapper – losing credit cards, cash, travellers cheques (remember them?), my round-the-world ticket and yes, my passport. I spent the rest of the night drunkenly scrabbling around in bins looking for it. Then I burst into tears while trying to mime what had happened to bemused/amused police. For the next six days I camped at the British Embassy in Tokyo until they issued me with a new passport. 

LESSON Check into your hotel before going out on an all-night bender. You’re far less likely to lose every important document you own.