I agree with all of the above. I've traveled extensively over the past 10 years and (perhaps wrongly on my behalf - a bad experience is still an experience ) have never set foot on a Spanish beach or gotten drunk on an 18-30 holiday in Crete.
What I have done though is go to places that are off the beaten track, hired cars to drive to my destinations (sat navs are great, can't get lost even when you set off for miles away from the main roads), hired guides to take us away from tourist areas, got to meet real people and tirelessly trawl brochures to make lists of places to avoid.
You can even do this in Europe - cheap Ryanair flight to Germany, hire a car (cheap if you know where to look), drive through Lichtenstein, Austria, across the Alps to Italy and back again.
Or even in the UK - go to Scotland, or say, the Southwest, and don't plan your travel except the general direction, finding accomodation when you're tired. You get to meet great people, and that's the key.
I'm lucky - have seen many of the great sites and sights of this world but I know I've only scratched the surface. I've been in middle east countries where the population have risen up (scary but great memories), have driven the long highways of the US, been inside the pyramids, had tea with merchants' families. Definitely made me who I am today, for better or worse.