2013 – A (Personal) Travel Year in Review
2013 was an interesting year. Both for me personally from a travel perspective and also for the travel industry. Several firsts and several changes – some for the good and some for the bad. Here are a few I care about.
Personal Travel recap:
Personally, 2013 was a very interesting year. I made it to new countries this year, I stayed in new hotels and visited new places.
- I travelled to 10 countries outside the US – the most ever in one year – Indonesia, Singapore, Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Japan, India, France, UK and Luxembourg
- I went to the Far East for the 1st time
- I took my first trans-Pacific flight – ORD-HKG
- I travelled South of the Equator for the first time – Indonesia
- I stayed in a JW Marriott (Bangkok) for the first time
- I got upgraded to a suite in a 5-star hotel for the first time – Renaissance, Kuala Lumpur
- I took the metro or equivalent local train/subway in five cities – London, Paris, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok and Tokyo
- I travelled in Four airlines I had never travelled in before – Cathay Pacific, ANA, THAI and Singapore Airlines
- I made it to 1K on United for the first time in a non promotion (DEQM) year
- I also had a new ‘longest flight’ flown – ORD-HKG, unseating IAD-DXB (both on United)
- I batted a 1000 on International upgrades to Business Class on United – 6 of 6 (using miles or GPU)!
Travel Industry new recap:
- American Airlines and US Airways merged
- The world’s longest flight: Singapore – Newark (SIN-EWR) ended
- Qatar Airways joined OneWorld
- Tata and Singapore Airlines announced a new venture – a new airline in India
- The 787 had it’s share of issues – fires and more fires
- Asiana had a 777 crash at SFO airport
- United and Marriott announced crossover benefits (My favorite of the year!)
- United and many other airlines announced massive devaluations of their mileage awards
What were your top stories (personal or industry) of the year? Leave a comment below and share with us!
Check out the latest Credit Card Offers on my dedicated Credit Card page.
Subscribe to get updates via email. Subscribe to get updates via RSS.
Join more than 7,500 followers we have on Twitter and Facebook and get regular updates on Airline Miles, the Airline Industry and other travel related stuff.
