That’s a wrap: My 2023 travel in numbers

As the year comes to a close I am, once again, looking back at my travels from the year. The numbers are ticking back towards pre-pandemic levels, though I’m not entirely sure that is a good thing. Still, I’ve managed to keep chasing new routes, new airlines, and generally great adventures around the globe. Here are some of the statistics and highlights.

By the numbers

My 2023 travels covered 92,178 miles across 58 segments (including one media flight that returned to the same airport from which it departed. Both of those numbers are a little lower than the before times, but I’m still around 100 nights on the road. More of those are via train, bus, and driving now that I’m not living in NYC, though.

Firsts, for better or worse

Of the 58 flights, 25 were routes I’d not previously flown before and three were on airlines I’d not previously flown (Skymark, Wideroe, JSX). That brings my (documented) lifetime total to 146 airlines (plus 10 regional affiliates).

I was on three inaugural flights – Avelo’s first departure from Wilmington, the first LAX flight from Providence, RI on Breeze (including the “nicest” rebranding into “Ascent”), and the first transatlantic departure from Atlantic Airways, operating to New York-ish.

I had my first ever diversion, a JetBlue flight from Denver to Boston that spent a few hours in Rochester, NY along the way.

I also finally missed a flight. I’m pretty sure that had never happened before, but it did this year, thanks to a last minute cancel, rebooking, and living about 3 minutes farther away from the airport than I was able to cover at the last minute. And then it proved to not really matter as the rocket launch I was trying to get to was postponed several days for weather and the darn thing ended up broken in orbit anyways.

Back to normal?

Overall I visited 13 countries, but none were new to me. I used to chase those, too. Maybe I will again at some point. Or not.

I was back at multiple trade shows and conferences, including speaking at several of them. And catching COVID-19 again at one of them. Oopsie.

The good bits, however, still tend to dominate my memories from the year. A great vacation introducing a niece to Italy, for example. Or a splendid two weeks in Japan, where I was able to almost entirely stay away from work. That Faroe Islands trip with friends was also a highlight, and a reminder that I should go back and spend more time in that unspoiled land. Or spending a week between conferences exploring a new-to-me portion of the world partly solo, partly with friends.

I managed to requalify for Mosaic status, and also earned BA Silver, thanks to a plethora of TATL travels and some decent premium economy fares. Pretty sure that won’t happen again, but I’ll enjoy it while I can.