I was nominated by my better half Jodie from The Little Backpacker to blog about five cities I’d love to go back to as part of the Booked.net –Top Destinations to Go There challenge. As usual she was one step ahead of me and chose some that definitely would have made my list but to keep things interesting I’ll go for five fresh cities. Here we go…

1. San Francisco

This was somewhere I had always wanted to go and finally got the chance to during my epic American road trip of 2011. The city was everything I’d hoped for with even cooler trams, steeper gradients and wittier tramps than I’d imagined. My only issue was that I didn’t get to spend enough time there. Oh how I’d love to go to a 49ers game, have burritos in The Mission, check out nearby Silicon valley, go surfing on the west coast again or even see the Golden Gate bridge without it being shrouded in fog! The days I did spend in San Fran’ made me fall in love with the place. We stayed at a cute place called Adelaide Hostel, which brings me nicely to my second city…

2. Adelaide

Some people say Adelaide is a bit sleepy and there’s not much to do. For all I know those people may be right for 11 months of the year, which is why I would love to return to Adelaide during the Fringe in late February/early March each year. I was lucky enough to work for the Australian International Documentary Conference during my time in Adelaide and got to hear the roar of V8 Supercars echoing along Rundle Mall every day with the lush Adelaide Hills in the distance. But that wasn’t my favourite part about the city. The best bit about Adelaide during the Fringe is the Garden of Unearthly Delights – an intoxicating world of fairy lights and festival sideshows under a canopy of trees. Edinburgh is a great Fringe festival but when it comes to a garden party, Adelaide does it best. Oh, did I mention Edinburgh? That brings us to city number three…

3. Edinburgh

I spent four and a half years living in Edinburgh as a student but it remains the one city I will always miss when I’m not there. There’s something about Auld Reekie – the smell of barbecues on the Meadows in the summer, the sound of the One O’Clock Gun whilst shopping on Princes Street, the sight of the Castle dominating the skyline of streets built on top of each other, the taste of breweries in the air and the feel of Arthur’s Seat and the Crags under your feet as you ascend to one of the best city viewpoints in the world. It’s another city famed for its Fringe festival, which I revisited this year and fell in love with all over again. It’s also a great place to watch some Six Nations rugby, much like my next pick…

4. Rome

I’ve just got back from a fabulous week in Milan which reminded me everything I adore about Italy. Exciting and historic as Milan is though, Rome trumps it as a place of romance, beauty and intrigue. Around every corner is a piece of exquisite art or architecture and any city that has a country in the middle of it is by definition interesting. The food is glorious, the weather generally idyllic and the Italian lifestyle makes this the perfect weekend break. Not far further south is the gorgeous Bay of Naples and Isle of Capri – it really is a stunning part of the world. There’s no place like Rome, just like there’s no place like home. Speaking of which, I’m about to move back to…

5. London

Like Edinburgh, this is somewhere that I have lived previously and it makes this list purely due to good timing. In a week or so I should be all moved into a cosy new flat in South West London starting a new chapter in my life. It’s exciting, just as it was when I moved to North East London to work at the Olympics in 2012. It will be fun to see the capital at Christmas again before starting my new role at the England 2015 Rugby World Cup in Twickenham in January. There’s so much of London I never got round to seeing during my seven months there in 2012 and I can’t wait to start exploring…

My nominations

I now nominate Susanne from Adventures Around Scotland, Frances from Then Let’s Begin, Veronika from Travel Geekery, Samantha from Travelling King and Amy from Amy Laughing House to tell the world five cities they’d love to return to.