Last year, I travelled too much. By my final trip to Kiev almost exactly a year ago, cities and trips were blurring into one another, I was on first name terms with most of the easyJet cabin crew, and I'd re-qualified for my gold frequent flier card with several months to spare. I was so sick of being away from my family that I would catch the 6am flight to my destination and the 11pm flight home the same day, in a vain attempt to minimise my time away from home. And by the end of the year, I was sick of flying. I never thought I would say that. So I promised myself that 2014 would be a year of less travel and a quieter year in general. And I'm pleased to say I've kept that promise. Just 22 flights, less than half of what I did last year, covering 22,670 miles, not a patch on the 77,791 I did in 2013.
But more importantly I enjoyed my travel in 2014, there wasn't a single trip I resented having to take and it reinvigorated my passion for travel and for flying. I added two new countries (Portugal and the Czech Republic) and a few new cities (Warsaw, Cannes, Monte Carlo, Brno, and Linz) to my experiences, all of which were extremely rewarding in their own ways.
Strangely, stepping away from travel gave me some time to look at what's missing from online travel, at least for me, so watch this space for a few projects I've been working on to fill those gaps. Here's to 2015.
- Stockholm - Edinburgh - Manchester - Cannes - Brno - Monte Carlo - Linz - Las Vegas - San Francisco - Faro/Sagres - Warsaw
Average Distance: 1030mi Average Time: 2h42m Longest: SFO<->LHR, 5350mi, 10h09m Shortest: MAN<->LHR, 150mi, 1h17m
Airlines: Virgin Atlantic – 6 flights Lufthansa – 4 flights easyJet – 7 flights British Airways – 5 flights