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