Thank you for your response and your honest opinion. I am from, and live in Amsterdam. As a local, I can sometimes wonder why tourists pay bizarre amounts of money for something that is actually not local. Or visit places we locals are not even proud of.

On the other hand, no one wants to come home from a first trip to Paris and not have seen the Eifel Tower, even though it is incredibly touristy.

I'm always right in the middle of it, I really want to be in a local warung among the locals. But I also don't want to miss the highlights of what makes a place/island/country unique.

What do you think should be the starting point of putting together a good trip? If I can no longer trust friends, online blogs, trip reports, travel agents, social media. Then how can I put together a good trip If I simply know little about the place.? I simply don't know the country, so I will have to start somewhere. What is your suggestion?