My 2019 year in travel

We’ll, I guess this post could be more late than it is! Every year I write two year in review blog posts, usually in January. One about what I read, and one about where I traveled. Finally, in April, I am getting around to my 2019 year in travel!

Two thousand nineteen was a big year of travel for me! I did a decent amount of domestic travel, but international was the big story of the past year. I am lucky that my work provides me the opportunity to see both the country, and the world. From there, I never miss a chance to travel for personal desires, with my wife and I choosing to spend much of our disposable income on travel.

Speaking of my wife, in 2019 we got married in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico! Our wedding didn’t just account for 1 international trip, but two as we went once for planning and once for the wedding. We also took a pre-honeymoon honeymoon a few weeks later to Cabo, which was a first (and probably last) for both of us.

In June I was asked by my employer to travel to London, and I jumped at the chance! Better yet, my wife (who I worked with at the time) was also asked to go so we spent a few extra days on our own dime to get a little vacation out of it, too.

You’ll see in the data below that June was by far my. most active month for travel. After London, I flew right to Atlanta to speak at a conference, then home to San Francisco. A week later I was in New York to speak at another conference. I ended the month with a short hop up to Portland from San Francisco to spend the 4th of July weekend with my parents and friends.

My work brought me to Atlanta a total of 3 times in 2019, and Toronto twice. I changed jobs in October, which will mean fewer trips to Toronto but likely the same or more trips to Atlanta in 2020. I’ll miss my trips to Toronto, it is a fantastic city, but I’ll enjoy even more time in Atlanta, another wonderful place.

The highlight of my year in travel was our honeymoon to Argentina! Neither my wife or I had ever been to South America, and as both wine and steak lovers, Argentina was an easy choice. We flew to Buenos Aires from San Francisco, via Houston, and spent 10 days in the country. At the midpoint of our trip, we flew to Mendoza for a few days of wine tasting, and loved it! We even faced a little hiccup with our travel when the airline union went on one short strike and threatened another while we were holding tickets to return to Buenos Aires. I even took the step of buying backup flights on a budget airline from another South American country, but at the last minute, literally, the country and union came to an agreement that would avoid the strike that was to start the morning of our return flight. It was worth a couple hundred bucks to have a backup plan!

Without further to do, here are the numbers:

• 86,814 miles* flown (a 27% increase from the prior year)

• 53 flights (a 2% increase over the prior year)

• 6 airlines used (I prefer United, as you’ll see below)

• 6 trips home to Portland (1 more than the prior year, mom)

• Shortest flight: 325 miles from Washington Dulles to Hartford Bradley

• Longest flight: 5,368 miles from San Francisco to London (although I earned more from Frankfurt to Atlanta)

• First flight of the year: Jan 20th from San Francisco to Puerto Vallarta

• Last flight of the year: Dec 28th from Portland to San Francisco

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My 2018 year in travel

New year, new opportunity to reflect on how I opened my mind and my world through travel! Every year, I like to do a blog post which makes me reflect back on my travel throughout the past 12 months, and set some goals for the new year.

In 2017, I was bummed to not have traveled internationally (Canada excluded). This year I am happy to report that I did 3 personal, international trips! Additionally, I did spend a significant amount of time in Toronto, Canada this year. While technically international, it’s a very similar culture to the US, so hard to count. That said, I am really growing to love Toronto! I have my employer to thank for these opportunities to spend time there, we have a major office in Toronto, where most of the teams I work with are based.

My favorite trip this year was the trip to Paris that my fiancé and I took! We were having a particularly stressful time at work (we work together), and decided we needed some time to ourselves. So, we booked a week-long trip to Paris over the Thanksgiving holiday. There, we explored the city by foot and by Uber, checking out both tourists spots as well as local neighborhood life. The weather was cold, but dry, which made for a romantic setting as the holiday decorations came out.

Another highlight was a 5 day trip to Sayulita, Mexico. This small town north of Puerto Vallarta has a bohemian, surfer vibe. It’s a quiet, simple town, not overrun with tourists, but full of American expats. We rented an Airbnb right on the beach in a newer condo complex, and enjoyed an outdoor kitchen and living room, with Pacific Ocean views! When we weren’t at the pool and beach, or eating freshly made guacamole while relaxing in our outdoor living room, we were strolling the dusty cobblestone streets to shop and drink. We then got engaged shortly after this trip, so decided to do a destination wedding in Puerto Vallarta in 2019, “forcing” us to do a scouting trip in May of 2018!

Another highlight of the year was taking my 15 year old, soon-to-be nephew on his first flights! He lives in Connecticut and hadn’t had a reason to fly until we brought him to San Francisco to spend a week with us. Since he hadn’t flow before, I decided to fly to Hartford and fly back to San Francisco with him. We were scheduled to fly through Chicago, but a major thunderstorm was about to hit, and I quickly changed our flights to go through Newark. After a short, bumpy ride from Hartford to Newark, we had a long smooth ride from Newark to San Francisco, and he is now a comfortable and veteran flyer. He’ll be flying to Puerto Vallarta in March to be at our wedding!

I was also happy to see 2 new metro areas that I hadn’t been to before: Pittsburg and Raleigh-Durham. Unfortunately I didn’t get to spend much time there, with only 1 night in each and a schedule packed with meetings, but still fun none-the-less.

So, without further to do, here are my key travel stats for 2018:

• 68,384 miles traveled (83% increase from 2017)

• 52 flights (30% increase from 2017)

• Average of 1,315 miles per flight (41% increase over last year)

• 3 Airlines flown (United, Air Canada, Alaska)

• 5 trips to Portland to visit family

• 4 trips to Toronto for work

• 3 trips to Las Vegas for work

• 2 trips to Mexico for vacation (Sayulita, Puerto Vallarta)

• 1 trip to Paris for vacation

• First flight of 2018: Seattle to San Francisco, on January 1st

• Last flight of 2018: Portland to San Francisco on Dec 27th

• Longest flight: Paris to San Francisco, about 5,580 miles

• Shortest flight: Hartford, CT to Newark, NJ, about 105 miles

I expect 2019 to come in about the same as 2018. I already have 2 Mexico trips booked in the first 3 months of the year, one for our wedding! We plan to take a honeymoon, and expect to make that an international trip, but we haven’t decided yet among Europe, South America, or Tahiti. I like to visit my colleagues in Toronto about once a quarter, so should have about 4 trips there in 2019. I hope to do one or two trips out east to visit customers, and will surely do 4-6 trips to visit family back in Portland, with the first trip already scheduled for January 26th.

Here’s to a fun, eye opening, rewarding, and safe year in travel for 2019!

My 2017 year in travel

A number years ago, when my personal and professional life took a major turn, I committed myself to traveling more. Prior to that, I was fully wrapped up in work, and when i wasn't, I just wanted to stay local where I was comfortable. It was a short-sighted view that kept me from really experiencing life.

Since then, I've had some of the best times of my life while traveling near and far. I've grown in my knowledge, respect, and appreciation for other cultures. I've improved as a human being, and I think I've even gotten better at my job because of travel.

In 2017, I failed at traveling internationally. I try to do at least 1 international trip a year, but this year that didn't happen (I don't count Canada as international...its too similar to the USA to be considered a growth experience for me). I had planned to go to Argentina, but job changes resulted in putting that trip on hold, for 2018.

So, 2017 was a year of domestic travel for me! I traveled a fair amount, returning to some places for the first time in years, and revisiting common destinations. In fact, in 2017 I moved from Portland, Oregon to San Francisco, California, so some of my travel was to PDX, the first time I've been an adult visitor to my 'home' town.

This year's travel included:

• Two trips to San Francisco as a visitor, before I moved in February

• Five trips to Portland as a visitor, after moving to San Francisco in February

• Moline, IL/Davenport, IA...also called the Quad Cities

• Chicago, IL

• Wichita, KS for a family reunion

• Orcas Island, in Washington's San Juan Islands

• Las Vegas

• Seattle three times (once for work, twice to visit friends)

• Two Hawaiian islands (Oahu and the Big Island)

• Hartford, CT

• Isle La Motte in Vermont's Lake Champlain (with some time in Burlington)

• Toronto

I also got to explore my new home of Northern California a bit! I spent a few various days in wine country, including a spa day in Calistoga on one trip, some wine tasting around Heildsburg on another, and kayaking in Lake Sonoma while playing hooky from work. One weekend my girlfriend and I went to Palo Alto, just 30 miles away, in search of a hotel with a pool and air conditioning...totally worth it!

With that, here are my flying stats: 

• 40 flights

• 37,307 miles traveled

• Average of 933 miles/flight

• Most unusual flight: About 70 miles on seaplane with 3 take-offs and landings

• 5 different airlines (mostly United)

• Thats 23% fewer miles, 20% fewer flights than 2016

Here's to more international travel in 2018! Where should I go? Let me know on Twitter or Facebook!

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.”

— Mark Twain

My 2016 year in travel

Over the last few years, I've made it a priority to travel more. In the past, I had years where I either didn't have the time, didn't have the money, didn't have the interest...and in some years I didn't have all 3! When I went through some major personal and professional life changes in 2014, I made it a priority to see more of the world. About 6 months ago I wrote a bit about the various travel opportunities I've had and how it helps me be better at my job.

The year 2016 was a pretty good travel year for me. I started the year out in Cozumel, Mexico for a New Years trip. After a canceled trip to New York City in early February, I made up the trip in late February. In total I went to the east coast 3 times in 2016, adding Vermont and Connecticut to that Feb NYC trip. Of course, I had stops in Nevada (Las Vegas), Washington (Seattle), and a ton of trips to California (San Francisco 15 or so times, San Louis Obispo, Healdsburg, etc). One of my favorite trips of the past couple of years was to Mexico City, where I went in a desire to go somewhere that most others don't. Its an amazing city, with incredible history, culture, food, and people. I'll absolutely be back!

Of course, the highlight of my year in travel was 2 weeks in Spain with my girlfriend. I needed to be in Barcelona for work, so she joined me and we took a second week of vacation to explore San Sebastian, Haro, and Madrid. With two trips to Spain in the past 2 years, España is quickly becoming one of my favorite places in the world!

In total, it looks like I flew 48,510 miles in 2016, on exactly 50 flights (segments), which makes my average flight length just 970 miles. A whole lot of 550 mile flights to/from San Francisco will really bring down that average!

While nearly 50,000 miles and 50 flights seems like a lot, there were many places I didn't go. In 2016, I had hoped to travel to South America on vacation. I also wish I would have spent time in more states, specifically Illinois, Colorado, Georgia, and Massachusetts. Hopefully 2017 will bring me to these US outposts, and more! We have Hawaii booked for February, are talking about a Europe trip in the summer (France & Italy), and by the end of the year I'd love to work remotely from Argentina for a month.

What new and/or exciting locations are you traveling to in 2017? Let me know via Twitter or Facebook!

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.”

— Mark Twain