Andrea Bocelli's holiday heaven and hell It's very difficult to say because the big chain hotels that I tend to stay in are very much like one another, so it's hard to tell them apart. In Italy, though, I love staying at a very small hotel in Rome called Hotel Clodio . It isn't the most comfortable and luxurious hotel in the world but I'm very fond of it and I've been going back there for many, many years. I'm so familiar with it, it feels as if it's my second home. In England, I like staying at the Ritz-Carlton hotel, close to Hyde Park. What do you need for a perfect holiday? The sea and if I'm by the coast when I'm travelling for work I'll take the opportunity to do some water sports during my downtime. Good food and high-quality restaurants are also important, as is the sun. What do you always take with you? My laptop computer, because my computer does everything. I have a library of 5,000 books of all different kinds from fiction to biography and in terms of music it's mainly opera music and not much else. I also always carry my flute. It's very important for me to try to relax when I'm travelling and playing my flute helps me to unwind. What's your best piece of travel advice? To be happy when you are travelling you need to be happy inside before you leave. A positive frame of mind will definitely enhance your travelling experience. If I'm not in a positive frame of mind then the whole thing definitely becomes more of a challenge for me. Where do you want to go next? I've been to almost every country in the world and the most frustrating thing for me has been that my schedule has always been so busy that there's so little time before and after performances to explore where I'm visiting. I do look forward to the day when I retire from performing and I can return to all of the wonderful countries I've visited and take my time to explore them properly. ... and disasters? Which was your worst holiday? The worst part of travelling as a whole is anything to do with flying; airports, problems with flights, flights being delayed or in the worst-case scenario not leaving at all. And as I have such a heavy touring schedule I often have a problem with transfers. If there's a delay at one end or the other, I can miss connecting flights and be stranded in the middle of nowhere. The worst example of this was a very miserable night spent in Phoenix airport, Arizona, with my whole family. The transfers hadn't worked out because of excessive snow on the runway and everybody - myself, my wife and the children, who at the time were still very small - had to sleep on the airport's public benches, which was one of the most uncomfortable nights of my whole life. What's your worst experience on holiday? Considering the amount of travelling I've done over many decades, I've been incredibly lucky to have never been seriously sick, or been involved in anything frightening or criminal. I guess I've been a very lucky traveller. So far. What's the biggest packing mistake you've made? When you travel as much as I do, cases and bags ending up on the other side of the world is a normal occurrence, which I've learnt to accept over the years, but luckily I've not experienced anything of any personal or professional value going missing. And the worst hotel you've stayed in? I had travelled to Mexico to perform and the hotel we were staying in was more like a cave than a hotel. We had to sleep among some incredible creatures including tarantulas and other huge insects. It was horrible. What do you avoid on holidays? The one thing I would dearly avoid if I could would be telephones. If they didn't exist I would relax much more easily, but since telephones are essential these days it's hard for me to relax. Autograph hunters are not a problem for me, though. It's part of my job to be available to people and I think it's my duty to respect people who are making an attempt to connect with me. What do you hate about travelling? Being detached from my family. When I feel detached from my family there is no five-star hotel in the world that will make my journey more palatable. Andrea Bocelli is currently touring the UK. For information and tickets, see kililive.com or call 0844 871 8803.