2019 is nearing its end which means it is time for a recap of my travel adventures this year. Although I wasn’t traveling that much as in 2018, I still visited a total of 10 countries, took 27 flights (of which 6 in business class) and stayed 77 nights in hotels. I visited Colombia, Ecuador, New York City, Cappadocia and several places in Europe like Barcelona, Paris, Santorini, Zakynthos and Istanbul. During these trips, I also did a lot of outdoor activities like paragliding, bungie jumping and took a flight in a hot air balloon. See below my recap of best travel experiences in 2019.
New countries in 2019
I visited 2 new countries this year, Colombia and Ecuador. After that trip, my country total is up to 79. In Colombia, I not only visited the two biggest cities, Bogotá and Meddelín, I also took a flight to the wonderful island San Andrés. I stayed at Casa Las Palmas for these 3 days, not far from the most beautiful beach of the island: Playa San Luís.
Later during that trip, I visited Ecuador which turned out such a diverse country with beaches, mountains and several opportunities for outdoor activities. I started my trip in Quito which I found one of the most beautiful cities of South America.
Flights in 2019
I flew 27 segments in 2019, much less than in recent pas years. After these flights, my total number of flight segments is now 347. My mileage total is lower than in past years too, just over 29,000 miles, with over 15,000 miles on Star Alliance flights. 6 of all these flights were booked in business class. I started this year with a 1 month trip to South America flying Iberia’s business class on the A330. I booked these flights using 90,000 avios which I earned during a fantastic points promotion of Iberia last year.
My longest flight was 5,429 miles between Quito and Madrid. I flew a total of 5 new airlines this year: Air Europa, Avianca, Wingo, Volotea and Sky Express. I also flew one new type of aircraft: a Boeing 717-200. Check more of my flight stats on flightrader24.com. Another big trip this year was to New York City with my mom and aunt during Eastern weekend. For this trip, I booked 3 upgradable economy fares on United and used my 6 Global Premier Upgrades, which I received as a Premier 1K member, to fly business class. On our flight back to Europe, we had the chance to fly United’s refurbished Boeing 767-300ER with new Polaris seats.
Hotels in 2019
With significantly less travel this year, I still spent a total of 77 nights in hotels. I ended up with 40 nights in Hilton hotels of which 15 were award stays. While I qualified for Diamond based on the number of stays, I qualified for Gold status based on the nights I spend at Hilton properties this year. One of my best stays was at the Hilton Diagonal Mar Barcelona.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t stay at Hilton properties everywhere was traveling to. Therefore, I spent a total 23 nights in Airbnb properties and an additional 14 nights at non chain properties, mainly booked through Rocketmiles and Hotels Combined. This way I still earned a decent amount of miles which I can use for future travel. Moreover, I was able to book some good deals like Gloria Maris Hotel Suites & Villas at Zaynthos, Greece.
Best places I have visited in 2019
During Eastern weekend, I visited New York City with my mom and aunt. It was their first time to the US and we had a blast! Although it was not my first time to NYC, I did visit some places I didn’t visited before like the 9/11 Memorial Museum. Pic below: me with my mom (right) and aunt (left) on the Brooklyn side with the Manhattan skyline on the background.
This fall, I spent 3 weeks in Greece and Turkey. Until then, Athens was somehow the only place I visited in Greece, apart from Thessaloniki. Greece has so much to offer, especially on the islands. Santorini, with these blue and white houses, was on my bucket list for a while and this time the dream came true. Later, I visited Zakynthos with the well-known Shipwreck Beach.
After spending 5 nights in beautiful Istanbul, I flew from the new airport to the Cappadocia province. This place is undoubtedly well-known for of the hot air balloons. Apart from that, the area is worth a visit anyway because of its history and underground cities. I stayed for 5 nights at the DoubleTree by Hilton Avanos – Cappadocia, a great deal for just 40,000 Hilton points.
New (outdoor) activities in 2019
After my Skydiving experience in New Zealand in 2018, I was ready for more outdoor activities. Baños in Ecuador is a perfect place to do this. Bungie jumping and zip lining were just a few things I did here. But what I liked most was definitely paragliding, a dream that came true!
In Cappadocia, Turkey, another dream of mine came true. After an helicopter flight in Orlando Florida, my skydiving experience in New Zealand and paragliding in Ecuador, I made a flight in a hot air balloon in Cappadocia, Turkey. To me, this is definitely one of the most beautiful ways of flying!
This year was I also the first time for me to visit a big festival. In August, I went to the 30th edition of Mysteryland in Haarlemmermeer, The Netherlands. I’m certainly looking forward to visit more festivals like this in the future.
Happy New Year!
Thanks for reading again this year. My Christmas holidays have mostly been spent at home with family. My next post will likely be in the new year, about my next trip around the world on frequent flyer miles. Safe travels!
