Winston Aldworth: Ticking the destinations off the list

Where to next? Photo / Supplied

After a long year, Travel Editor Winston Aldworth looks ahead.

Melbourne, Tahiti, London, Argentina, Croatia, Dallas, Sydney, Perth and - finally - tonight to Houston. I've been getting around the planet a great deal this year.

I've been lucky enough to travel more than most people lately and - y'know what? - when I look at the places I've been in 2015 I'm simply reminded of all the places I haven't yet managed to get myself to.

Restaurant reviewer and renowned tooth man Jesse Mulligan once wrote in these pages that "the publication of the World's Top 50 Restaurant list is an annual reminder of just how much on the planet there is left to eat".

I feel the same when I flick through an atlas. When I first landed this job almost four years ago, I scrawled together a list of things I wanted to do and places I would love to visit. Some of them I've since ticked off - Buenos Aires, Nepal, New York and the Melbourne Grand Prix. Others are still in the to-do file - notably Sri Lanka, Vietnam, the Northern Lights, the Amazon and Ellis Park.

It's those places I haven't been to that keep coming to the forefront of my mind.

Working on this week's edition of Travel underlined for me again just how many more places I have to get to.

For our last magazine of the year, we've asked our writers, including Jesse, to share the things that inspired, dazzled or amused them over the past 12 months. As with all the stories we run, I hope these short, sharp pieces will inspire you and plant the seed for some fabulous adventures of your own. And, as ever, if you disagree or have some thoughts on what should have been on our list, fire us an email (travel@nzherald.co.nz) and we'll share the best of your tips.

The travel writing business is tougher than you'd think and we're pretty knackered after an exhausting year, so we're off on holiday for a few weeks (it's Opoutere for me!), though Sunday Travel will continue throughout the Christmas break in the Herald on Sunday. Tuesday's Travel magazine restarts on January 12.

Thanks for joining us in our travels this year. I hope your own have been rewarding and enjoyable and we wish you all every luck for your journeys in 2016.

Next year we're launching a new feature in Herald Travel. It'll be called AskAway and will feature online and in print.

Our new Digital Content Producer Eli Orzessek will be answering your queries about the world of travel - places to go, luggage allowances, whatever you want to know. Fire Eli your questions and he'll chase the answers for you.