2017 Travel Highlights

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Compared to years past, I flew a lot less this year. Check out my travel highlight posts from years past: 20162015, 20142013 and 2012.

Here’s where I went this year:

Cities Visited: 16
Countries Visited: 2 countries
Miles flown: 57,107 miles
Weekends away from DC: 25
Total miles redeemed: 85,000 miles

And here’s what all that traveling looks like for this year:

January:
Cities Visited: Reykjavik
Miles flown: 5,568

Iceland

Gulfoss Waterfall on a cold January day!

February:

Cities Visited: Portland, OR
Miles flown: 5,603 miles

Portland, Oregon

Haystack Rock at Cannon Beach

March:

Cities Visited: Miami
Miles flown: 1,851 miles

Miami

Murals in the Wynwood District of Miami.

April:

Cities Visited: Raleigh, New York
Miles flown: 0 miles

Raleigh

Ran the 2017 Raleigh Rock N Roll Half-Marathon

New York

Walking along the Hudson Greenway looking towards Jersey City.

May:

Cities Visited: Los Angeles, New York, Punta Arenas 
Miles flown: 10,965 miles
Los Angeles 

High school friend’s wedding in LA!

New York

Trying out Burmese food at the Queens Night Market

Torres del Paine National Park, Chile

Hiking in Torres del Paine National Park.

 

June:
Cities Visited: Santiago, Chile; Amsterdam, The Netherlands; New York City; Los Angeles; Hilo, Hawaii 
Miles flown: 18,861 miles
Travel Costs:

Chile

Wine tasting in Santiago!

Amsterdam

Exploring the beautiful city of Amsterdam

New York City

Marching with Spotify at the 2017 New York Pride Parade

Los Angeles

Walking around Fox Studios in Studio City, Los Angeles.

Big Island, Hawaii

Exploring Mauna Kea National Park on the Big Island of Hawaii.

July:
Cities Visited: Honolulu, HI; Cape May, NJ
Miles flown: 4,817 miles

Oahu, Hawaii 

Morning stroll along Waikiki Beach

Cape May, New Jersey

Beach weekend in Cape May, New Jersey

August:
Cities Visited: Boston, MA; Portland, ME; San Francisco 
Miles flown: 5,577 miles
Boston

Friend’s wedding in Cambridge!!

Portland, Maine

Roadtrip to Portland, Maine

San Francisco

Friend’s wedding in SF!

September:
Cities Visited: Chicago, Philadelphia, New Haven, Newport, Boston, Portland (ME), New York, Dallas 
Miles flown: 3,656 miles
Chicago

Wandering around Chicago on a beautiful September afternoon.

New Haven, Connecticut

Trying out clam pizza at Modern Apizza in New Haven!

Boston

Having oysters in Boston!

New York

Visiting the World Trade Center Memorial in New York

Newport, Rhode Island

Exploring the amazing architecture in Newport, Rhode Island

Philadelphia

Pre-wedding /  brunch in Philly

Dallas

Hanging in Dallas on a work trip!

October:
Cities Visited: Claymont, DE 
Miles flown: 0

Delaware

Friend’s wedding in Delaware!

November:
Cities Visited: Charlottesville, VA; New York 
Miles flown: 0 
Charlottesville

Weekend trip to Charlottesville!

New York

Post-Thanksgiving Weekend in NYC

December:
Cities Visited: Philadelphia, Durham (NC), Charleston (SC)
Miles flown: 0
Philadelphia

Housewarming in Philly!!

Durham, North Carolina

In front of the Duke Chapel

Charleston, South Carolina

Walking around Charleston

How did I afford to do all this?

A lot of my travel this year was actually through road trips. I also redeemed quite a bit of miles not only for myself, but also for friends and family. A major highlight this year was redeeming 25k miles less than a day before a friend’s wedding for a cross-country flight for a friend who’s flight was delayed due to weather. I also redeemed my points to fly back to Hawaii, the first time I’ve been back in about two years, and for my brother to fly out east for Christmas.

I also relied heavily on Southwest. With the exception of my flight to Iceland and Portland, Oregon, all flights that I paid for were on Southwest. Now that all the major carriers have gone revenue-based and have made award redemptions increasingly harder to redeem, I’m going with the cheapest option. I’m even considering flying Spirit in the coming year!

Conclusion:

Unlike in years past, I did not travel solo at all this year. All of my travels were either with friends or family. I’ve also done a lot less credit card hacking, having opened up just one new account this whole year! 2017 was another amazing year of travel, and hope to continue exploring more in 2018!