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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 was sad to bid farewell to my old passport this week — not just because it was an EU one (*sob*) but also because the stamps inside remind me of the many great travel experiences I've enjoyed over the past decade. To highlight some of these wonderful memories, I decided to pick out one photo from each year, and boy was that hard! (I cheated because the header image features an 11th photo. Sorry!) And at the end of the post, you can find more details about my experience of renewing my UK passport during these incredibly hectic times. 2013 — Ziplining through the clouds in Monteverde, Costa Rica My friend and I spent two weeks exploring Costa Rica  back in 2013. Ziplining through the cloud forest on a 1km-long zipline in Monteverde was definitely one of the best moments of a trip filled with great beaches, beautiful forests and diverse wildlife. Visiting a coffee farm for the first time came a close second. 2014 — (What's the story) vermillion torii? Kyoto, Japan My whistlest...

At the end of my last post about my recent East African adventure , which focused on my time in Kenya, we had just managed to catch our flight to Uganda, with minutes to spare. Once I'd caught my breath, I sat back to enjoy the one-hour flight with Kenya Airways, which passed over Lake Victoria before landing at the lakeside former Ugandan capital, Entebbe. Although we'd had to take a PCR test the day before, Uganda requires all entrants to take a PCR test on arrival at the airport. You can pay for this on arrival, but it's faster if you pay for it online in advance. The whole process took about 15 minutes, and then I was able to proceed through immigration to the baggage hall. You receive your results by WhatsApp within 2–3 hours. Don't lose your stamped receipt for your PCR test as you'll be required to show it several times before leaving the airport! At the airport, I withdrew some Ugandan shillings (a local friend recommended Stanbic Bank for the best rates) a...