Travel hits and misses: Madeleine Sami

HIT

I went to Paxos, in Greece, for my friend's wedding. We had to take a lot of flights to get there but it was definitely worth it. The weather was amazing. We did lots of swimming, lots of diving off boats into crystal-clear blue water and swimming in caves. We also did lots of partying and the food was insane. They had the best tomatoes I've ever tasted. I don't know what it is about the soil in Greece, but I've never tasted tomatoes like it anywhere else in the world. We often visited the local taverna, where they served a delicious cold beer in the iciest of glasses I'd ever encountered. It was the most wonderful holiday ever.

MISS

I was in Edinburgh for a play in the Edinburgh Fringe festival. My friend and I decided to get out of the city for a bit and take a visit to Loch Lomond. We didn't book accommodation.

This was 1999, so I'd only just got a Hotmail account, online bookings weren't a thing! We under-estimated how long it would take to get there — we thought we'd do a day trip — but by the time we'd had a look around it was dark and we had to find somewhere to stay. We booked into a hotel and this crazy-looking toothless woman opened the door.

Unfortunately, it was our only option. It was freezing cold and the blankets on the bed were stained. I honestly thought I could get murdered that night. It was by far the worst quick night away I've ever had.

Madeleine Sami co-hosts The Great Kiwi Bake Off, premiering Tuesday, 7.30pm, TVNZ 2.