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For the second year running , rather than picking my top five leaps  of the year, I've picked five stories that sum up my travel highlights of the year. It has, of course, been a year with very little foreign travel. It's also the first year in 15 years where I haven't been to New York a single time. I miss the city so much and can't wait to return. But I'm grateful that I was able to travel to one new country ( Malta ) and one new European city ( Porto ), as well as taking short trips to  Edinburgh and Canterbury . I've also spent time with family in Oxford and Walsall, and spent a little more time in Birmingham , usually on the way to Wolves matches. My motto for the second half of the year was carpe diem — if a trip or event was possible, I would try to do it as soon as I could, before the situation changed again. 1. Leaping into Malta's Blue Lagoon Like many people, I had to cancel a lot of travel plans last year, including seven international trips, a...

Welcome to the 11th edition of my annual speciality coffee and food awards , where I am highlighting some of my favourites from the coffee shops and eateries that I visited for the first time this year. For obvious reasons, I travelled much less than normal this year, although I did manage a holiday in Malta  in September, as well as city breaks in Porto , Edinburgh and Canterbury , and regular visits to Oxford, Wolverhampton and Birmingham. As such, just like last year, I've rejigged the regions covered in each category so that I can showcase as many of the places I've loved closer to home and further afield. As the pandemic continues to disrupt life as we knew it, it's more important than ever to support the hospitality industry — respecting all local guidelines that may be in place, of course. If you're keen to read more of my speciality coffee recommendations, you may find my London coffee guide  to be a useful starting point; there are currently more than 150 coff...

My second, and almost certainly last, foreign trip of the year was to Porto last month. I spent just over four days in the Portuguese city and was treated to warm weather, blue skies and bright sunshine. It was a welcome break from the near-constant rain and greyness of November in London. I've already written about the great speciality coffee spots I found in Porto , but read on to find out what else I got up to, and where I ate, drank and shopped. THINGS TO DO Walking tour with Porto Walkers If you're a regular reader, you'll know I love taking walking tours to familiarise myself with and learn more about the cities I visit. Porto Walkers runs free three-hour tours (but do tip your guide if you enjoyed it) every day at 10:45 am and 3:30 pm. They have slightly different focuses, and I went for the morning tour, which covers the city centre and Porto's history. My guide, Ana, was brilliant: informative, entertaining and excited to share as much of her city with us as po...

With a few days of annual leave left to use this year and the desire to spend my birthday somewhere sunny for once, I found myself in beautiful Porto earlier this month. I'd been wanting to visit the city nicknamed Invicta ever since my trip to Lisbon in 2015 . My city guide is now live , and here is my guide to Porto's excellent speciality coffee scene — well, the ten coffee shops I was able to visit during my four-and-a-half-day stay, one of which is in Vila Nova de Gaia, technically a separate city. Porto's city centre is relatively compact, making it easy to explore its coffee shops. Do check Google Maps or the coffee shops' social media for the latest opening hours, and note that some places close on some combination of Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays. And I was able to sample coffee from five local roasteries, as well as from several international roasters. It was also great to see hand-brewed filter coffee featuring on so many menus. Although I'm partial to a p...