Last Saturday, I took a day trip to Leigh-on-Sea: a new-to-me seaside destination that's just a 45-minute train journey from London. Once a busy fishing port, Leigh has stacks of character with its cobbled streets, historic buildings and wide array of wonderful restaurants, cafes and shops, as well as some great specialty coffee spots and a lovely sandy beach. Just be sure to check the tide times if you fancy a swim!

My Osprey Daylite Expandable 26+6 Travel Pack had its second foreign excursion this month when I took it on a five-day trip to Palma de Mallorca in Spain. Once again, I was impressed with how much I could pack in and how comfortable it was to carry. Read on to discover how the backpack worked as a personal item on a BA flight and what I packed.

With Easter approaching, I took advantage of the long weekend to book a city break in Riga. Compact and walkable, the Latvian capital blends rich history with a creative energy and beautiful architecture, from the pastel-hued Old Town to elegant Art Nouveau landmarks. Planning a trip to Riga? Here's how I spent 72 hours in the city and my recommendations for places to eat, drink, shop and explore.

In April, it was time to go exploring again. My destination? Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria: a new city for me and the 49th country I've visited. During my four-day trip, I learned a lot about Sofia's complex and fascinating history, admired striking architecture, took several excellent tours with passionate locals and ate delicious food. I even took a side trip to a UNESCO-listed monastery perched high in the Rila mountains and Plovdiv. Read on for all of my recommendations for spending a long weekend in Sofia.

My second, and almost certainly last, foreign trip of the year was to Porto last month. I spent 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 Porto's great specialty coffee spots, but read on to find out what else I got up to, and where I ate, drank and shopped. 

After I got back from Edinburgh, I had a day in London to unpack and repack before heading out to Heathrow. I spent nine days in Malta, my first trip out of the UK since Seattle in February 2020. I originally booked a shorter city break to Valletta, Malta's capital, for March 2020, but for obvious reasons, that didn't happen. Luckily, I was able to reschedule my hotel booking and extend the trip to include a stay on the Maltese island of Gozo when I was eventually able to travel again. 

Earlier this month, I spent four days in Edinburgh with my parents, and although we only scratched the surface, we had a grand time and packed a lot in. We even had reasonable weather in that it didn't rain much and was occasionally sunny. A return was long overdue since my last visit on a rainy family road trip through Scotland, almost three decades ago. All I remember from the trip is the Scottish National Gallery, Greyfriars Kirkyard and an overexuberant walking tour guide shouting, "Gardyloo!" I had a lot of ground to make up! 

Almost six months after my last mini-break, in Bath, I was craving R and R, and the call of the sea was particularly strong. This latter urge was not unique to me and a quick search for lodgings in a host of English seaside towns for the bank holiday weekend yielded very few options. But I was determined to get out of London for a few days, especially given the promising weather forecast, and I managed to book one of the last hotel rooms left in Canterbury, just seven miles from the Kent coast. With Canterbury as my base, I was able to explore the cathedral city and visit three seaside towns. Not bad going for a long weekend.

For my 40th country, I decided to pay a long-overdue visit to Slovenia, spending three nights in the capital, Ljubljana. With a population of just under 300,000, Ljubljana is the largest city in Slovenia, but its compact, mainly pedestrianised city centre makes it an ideal long-weekend destination. It's also very pretty, with pastel-coloured buildings located alongside a vibrant green river, and a plethora of parks. 

While exploring last-minute city breaks just before the recent UK bank holiday, I found a great deal on a two-night trip to Berlin. Return flights with BA (out on Saturday lunchtime, back on Monday night) and two nights at a boutique hotel in Alexanderplatz cost £325; the same flights alone were £100 more on the BA website. I'm not usually spontaneous when it comes to travel, preferring to research and plan every detail, but I hit the purchase button on Friday morning, and just over 24 hours later, I was on my way to Berlin.

It's taken me too long to visit Chicago — the Midwestern city, on the shores of Lake Michigan, has been in my sights for some time. I missed out on a work trip a few years ago, but as it would have been during a particularly cold and snowy February, that may have been for the best.

Estonia is the 12th EU country I've visited since 24 June 2016, as well as trips to Norway and Iceland. I've been to most of these countries before, but my Euro-philic sensibilities have also encouraged me to venture into EU pastures new — and to hope that these visits don't turn into a EU-logy. I'd wanted to visit Tallinn for some time and was able to book BA flights, including an outbound leg in business class, for a good price during the Christmas sale.

"How can I visit the Cotswolds by public transport?" I spent several summers working in the Oxford tourist information centre and this — along with questions about Harry Potter filming locations — was one of visitors' most common questions. However, the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty located between Oxford and Gloucester wasn't especially accessible. You could take a train to Moreton-in-Marsh, or a bus to Chipping Norton or Burford, and then, if you timed it well, travel by local bus to one or perhaps two more villages in a day trip.


More than a decade later and it's still quite tricky to see much of the Cotswolds if you're short on time and don't have a car, although at least the bus timetables are online now. Luckily, when we head west for a family weekend in the countryside, my parents pick us up at Moreton-in-Marsh station. The train takes about 1h40 from Paddington, passing Reading and Oxford before trundling through Charlbury and Kingham, and then speeding past the now-defunct Adlestrop station made famous by Edward Thomas's poem of the same name.

If you imagine the Cotswold region as a tiny upended United Kingdom, Moreton-in-Marsh would be Southampton, located in the north, although not quite as far as Evesham. We are staying in Broadway, ten miles north-west, but stop for a short walk and lunch in Snowshill, just to the south. The National Trust property Snowshill Manor is closed between November and March, but we wander through the village looking out for snowdrops and peeking inside St Barnabas Church, whose honeyed limestone building matches the rest of the village (and the region) even though this incarnation only dates to the 19th century. The drizzle persists and we seek shelter and sustenance inside the Snowshill Arms, a cosy 15th century pub with a roaring fire, local ales, good pub food and plenty of muddy walking boots outside. We soon warm up over steak and ale pie and toad in the hole.




It's only a short drive to Broadway and we soon reach the Lygon Arms, our lodging for the night. This coaching inn turned luxury hotel has more than 600 years of history ingrained inside its thick, labyrinthine walls. My deluxe room, in the connecting annexe, is very cosy and of a decent size; the décor is Cotswold chic. The bed is extremely comfortable, and I'm pleased to find a kettle in addition to the Nespresso machine, which means I can brew my own coffee in the morning.




The spa treatments are all booked up, so I venture out into Broadway, whose picturesque high street boasts a combination of pubs, lifestyle boutiques, and clothing and outdoor stores. I buy a cashmere jumper at one and some locally produced lavender oil at another. I stroll up the gently sloping road, hoping to capture the perfect shot of the village with the moody hills in the background, but the weather and the bends in the road put pay to this.



Instead, I return to the hotel, for some pre-dinner R&R in the spa. I use the small gym and make use of the small pool, spa bath, steam room and sauna. Feeling very relaxed, I return to my room to change for dinner and join my family for a snifter at the hotel's cocktail bar. I start with a Cotswold's Fashioned, which puts a local spin on a classic drink, and then try the walnut and pistachio caipirinha, both of which are potent and very well mixed.




Dinner is two minutes down the road at Russell's. The à la carte menu puts a creative spin on modern British classics. I start with the lobster ravioli (actually, one giant raviolo), followed by lemon sole with parsley mash and turnips. My dessert is quirkier and vibrantly coloured: butter milk panna cotta with apple and celery gel, olive granola, walnuts and beetroot sorbet; the flavours and textures contrast nicely. The restaurant was completely full and there was a lively, welcoming ambiance.



After a good night's sleep, I drag myself out of bed and over to the gym. Breakfast at the hotel isn't included, and at £10 for continental or £20 for a hot breakfast dish, I pop over the road to the Broadway Deli. My doorstop of a bacon sandwich (£4) invokes feelings of envy when I bring it back to the hotel lobby. It's a good thing I have pounded the treadmill already.



After checking out, we drive to Broadway Tower, a late 18th century folly, which, over the years, has served as a retreat for artists like William Morris, and as a nuclear-fallout monitoring site, among other things. It costs £5 to ascend, and there's some historical information on the way up and a good view at the top. On clear days, you can apparently see 16 counties, but a smaller range is on offer for us. There are lots of walking routes if you have more time and better footwear.




Next on our itinerary is another classic Cotswold villages, Chipping Camden. Its high street is not dissimilar to that of Broadway, with its yellow limestone buildings and antiques shops competing for footfall with homewares stores and purveyors of avocado toast. We eye up some vintage cocktail glasses, but at £75 a pop, I decide to stick to a marbled candle instead.


We then drive back to Moreton-in-Marsh, via the pretty village of Bourton-on-the-Hill. Sadly, we don't have time this trip to see some of the other iconic Cotswolds destinations like the Slaughters, Bourton-on-the-Water and Stow-on-the-Wold. (Yes, they like their compound place names around here.) We are booked in for lunch at the Mulberry restaurant at the Manor House Hotel on Moreton's high street. You don't have to have a roast lunch but we all do, and my roast beef is just the ticket.


Trains back to London are every hour on Sundays. If possible, try to reserve your seats like we did. Although it isn't too busy when we get on, many of the seats are reserved from Oxford and most passengers have a fair bit of luggage. By the time we return to Paddington, we've been away from the city for less than 36 hours, but I feel refreshed and revitalised by my low-key weekend in the Cotswolds. January isn't necessarily the best time to visit — the weather isn't usually great and some attractions are closed — but it was still quite busy, although nothing like as crowded as it can get in the summertime. If you're there in summer, it's worth reserving accommodation and restaurants well in advance.