A travel editor’s tips on how to get the most out of your trips this year

But it’s not always where you travel – but how you travel

Happy new year from Porto, where I escaped to a few days ago. It’s 16C, the wine’s local and cheap and there’s the magnificent Dom Luis I bridge to gawp at – where better to spend the first day of 2019?

I was determined to make it to Portugal’s second city in 2018 (we like second cities at The Independent) and I’ve just about managed to crowbar in a short trip to the home of francesinha and port.

Ticking off new destinations and experiences every year is an easy resolution for anyone to make. On my list this year is Athens (after 32 years, Greece remains a travel black hole for me), summer in Aspen (this Colorado ski town is so much better in summer) and Malawi in east Africa (friendly, varied landscapes and still with a whiff of the undiscovered).