Later this year, I am travelling to Peru, where I hope to cross another item off my bucket list: hiking the Inca Trail and visiting Machu Picchu. I'm really excited about the trip, which will be my first time in South America, and I couldn't help but look back on some of the other amazing travel experiences I've been lucky enough to have over the past few years. I hope some of these will inspire you with your own holiday planning for 2018 and beyond.

Each year, as part of my year-in-review top five lists, I like to look back on some of the most memorable places I travelled to this year and, because I enjoy taking silly leaping photos in new places, picking out my favourite five leaps of the year is a fun way to do this. Alas, there were a few particularly memorable trips this year during which, for various reasons, I didn't get the chance to take a leaping photo; most notably, my recent holiday in Reykjavik, where a photo with the Northern Lights in the background would have entailed a 12-second levitation. Even in a leap year, I wasn't quite up to the challenge.

Portland feels to me like the coffee centre of the universe and it is home to dozens of specialty coffee shops, cafes and roasters. I didn't manage to visit them all during my three-day visit, but I did pretty well, visiting 12 different coffee shops and cafes, including the five I took in on my Third Wave Coffee tour.

One of the main reasons I wanted to visit Portland was to explore its extensive coffee scene. But with only three days in the city, there were only so many coffee spots even a chronic caffeine-addict like me could fit in. A good friend, who travelled to Portland with her husband last year, recommended I check out Third Wave Coffee Tours, founded by "second-generation Oregonian and third-wave coffee lover" Lora Woodruff. Lora and her team of guides run several different three-hour walking tours, which visit various combinations of Portland coffee shops.

I awoke on Monday morning to another beautiful, sunny day. I am starting to think that Portland's rainy reputation is a fabrication! I was particularly pleased with the pleasant weather because I was heading on an organised tour to the Columbia River Gorge, a beautiful scenic area with dozens of waterfalls and hiking opportunities along the second widest river in the United States. 

The sun was shining again in Portland on Saturday morning — a rare phenomenon at this time of year, locals assure me — so I went on another run along the waterfront. My hotel has its own cafe on the ground floor, so I decided to take my breakfast there. The coffee was great: they use Ristretto Roasters coffee and my cortado ($3.50) really hit the spot. I also managed as slice of pumpkin bread, which was delicious.

When I arrived at Portland Airport on Friday night, it was raining heavily, of course. There was a live musician playing in the arrivals hall and he was actually very good. The airport carpet has its own Twitter handle and a sign politely reminds travellers that they are not permitted to take recreational marijuana on flights out of Portland. On MAX (Portland's light rail system) into the city centre, I was asked two sign two petitions.