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As COVID restrictions slowly began to ease around the world, I was grateful to be able to travel more often in 2022 than I had in the previous two years, although I'm still not back at beforetimes levels. This year, I visited six countries across four continents, including four new-to-me countries — Kenya , Uganda , Indonesia and Greece — as well as a long-awaited return to my beloved New York City . Closer to home, I enjoyed a great city break in Bristol  and spent far too much time watching Wolves fail to score, consoling myself with speciality coffee stops in Wolverhampton and Brum . Keep on reading to find out the five stories I've picked out to sum up my travel highlights of the year (you can also check out my 2021 and 2020 editions). 1. Visiting coffee farms in Kenya, Uganda and Bali Before this year, the last time I'd visited a coffee farm at origin was some years ago in Costa Rica. This year, I was lucky enough to travel to Kenya and Uganda for a work trip, w...

As 2022 draws to a close, it's time for the 12th edition of my annual speciality coffee and food awards , where I share my favourite coffee shops and eateries from among all of those that I visited for the first time this year. Over the past few years, I've tweaked the geographical boundaries of some awards to reflect my travel schedule, which has changed somewhat as a result of COVID. Throughout the year, I visited some fantastic speciality coffee shops and ate some delicious food, so it was hard to pick my favourites. I was lucky enough to travel to  Kenya ,  Uganda  and  Bali  for work, drinking some excellent coffee at the farms and washing stations I visited. I also enjoyed city breaks in New York City (where the  coffee  and  food  were as good as always) and  Athens . And closer to home, I continued eating my way around London (most of my coverage is  on my Instagram ) and  Bristol . Read on to find out which places made...

I've been spending more time in and around Elephant & Castle since I moved house earlier this year and although there are plenty of great eateries in the area, there aren't a lot of speciality coffee options. So, I was pleased to come across a new location of  Old Spike  — the Peckham-based coffee shop and roastery — mere steps from Elephant & Castle Tube on one of my lunchtime walks. I've long been a fan of Old Spike and their commitment to combining great coffee with social enterprise and social impact. As well as their Peckham Rye cafe, they have a coffee bar near Piccadilly Circus, which was formerly a Department of Coffee shop and, before that  Tonic Coffee . Their third coffee shop on Southwark Bridge Road opened up a few months ago. The coffee shop is located on the ground floor of a sleek residential development a block north of the infamous not-quite roundabout. It was a sunny day when I visited and light was streaming into the small cafe. There are limi...

Last month, I left behind the grey, wintry skies of London and jetted off to Athens for four days of sun, sightseeing and great food and drink. Planning a trip to the Greek capital? My Athens city guide has all of my recommendations for things to do and places to eat, drink, shop and stay. Like most people, I had a lot of trips cancelled in 2020 and I've been trying to recreate them all, as I did in  Malta and New York . I'd wanted to spend my November birthday somewhere sunny in 2020 and, worried about cancellations, I only booked my city break in Athens ten days before my departure. I found a great hotel and did a lot of research. And then three days later, the UK went into full lockdown and I had to cancel. Almost exactly two years later, I finally made it to the City of the Violet Crown (well, the other one ). THINGS TO DO Acropolis now . The Acropolis , the UNESCO-listed ancient citadel perched on a rocky outcrop above the city, is, of course, the main event when it come...