From now on I refuse to travel without having a local guide me through their city/town/village! And no, I am not talking about hiring an official tour guide, or going on a hop on/hop off tour bus. I want a person with preferably similar interests, like photography and good food, who is willing to share my horrible humour.
Travelling alone and exploring by yourself is all fine and well, makes you use your own head and figure shit out by yourself, but having a guide is so much easier. Especially if you are only having a few days in a new place and want to get to the good stuff without wasting too much time on figuring transport options, getting lost and googling where the nice places are. And for me, those are hardly ever the places that are marked on the tourist maps.
I want to go to places that are not filled with other tourist, the small restaurants locals go to and get to areas that I would probably ignore if I was touristing just like any other person.
For the past few trips I've had, with 
Most say that the best part about travelling is meeting new people, and I kind of agree, but I'm really bad at making friends. I don't just go up to random people and start chatting and asking if they could show me around, that would be just weird! But if there is some prior connection in a new city I'm visiting, it's best to tag along with that person and maybe get to know more people by them introducing me to their friends.
Yes, stole this picture from out tour guide/photography enthusiast friend 