Turbulence: great commotion or agitation; departure from a smooth flow.
2017 was a turbulent year for me. But in a good way. It was time for a change and boy did this year usher in changes in my life.
Late last year I moved my blog from UPGRD to Boarding Area and vowed to breathe new life into it: I called it the Great Leap Forward.
A bit over a year later I am pleased to report that the program is working. This blog is growing rapidly and I remain ever grateful to every reader for making this possible. I love blogging and look forward to what 2018 will bring (we’ll discuss that tomorrow).
Special thanks to Carly and Kyle Stewart for contributing to this blog every Sunday, giving me one day off to spend with my family. I have enjoyed their content immensely.
Every year I look back in late December at the year in travel and chuckle. I always end up traveling more than I figured…this year was certainly no exception. I won’t even list all the places I’ve been. I’m also not even going to count up how many miles I flew, since I don’t do a great job of tracking mileage when I’m burning miles.
But I’ve done fairly well in keeping up with trip reports this year and been all over the world. Admit it: the guy who used to publish trip reports three years late is at least making progress.
A few highlights:
1. My son Augustine’s first airplane trip (he ended up going to Europe three times this year)
2. A trip to the -stans with Ben from One Mile at a Time
3. An Italian wedding and Italian village
There’s so much more, but figure over 300,000 miles this year and 85 hotel nights. That’s quite a feat.
New Countries in 2017
- Ethiopia
- Laos
- Tajikistan
- Uzbekistan
Only four new countries this year. That’s pretty pathetic…I hope to increase that count in 2018.
With a new project that requires frequent travel, look for even more travel in 2018…but not too much. Life is always about balancing priorities. I’m ever grateful to my precious wife for fully supporting my rather unconventional career trajectory.
This year instead of one omnibus post I’ve published a series of “top-10” posts recounting travel highlights of 2017. You can check those out here:
- My 10 Best Flights of 2017
- My 10 Worst Flights of 2017
- My 10 Best Airline Meals of 2017
- My Top 10 Lounges in 2017
- My Top 10 Hotels Stays in 2017
This will become a new annual feature on Live and Let’s Fly.
CONCLUSION
This blog would not be possible without you. I humbly thank each of you — even the trolls — for taking the time to read what I have to say and offering colorful commentary. It is my goal to make the blog more readable, relevant, and engaging in 2018.
Happy New Year! Looking forward to reading the blog in this new year. Do you know what new countries you are interested in visiting in 2018 yet?
Hope to visit Mongolia this year as well as Nepal and Bhutan.
A few years ago you took part in a contest organized by Lucky from OMAAT. Now you are a mature blogger, on par with Ben to say the least.
The content you bring to us is much more varied than Ben’s (since you bring more content especially appealing to all us based in Europe) so it’s nice to follow both of you and enjoy the read.
How about going now a step further organizing your own competition for your readers? 😉
Jimmy,
Thanks for your kind comments.
I think you may be confusing me with Andrew, who won Ben’s contest and now is a contributor on One Mile at a Time (and also a friend of mine and hilarious writer).
Nevertheless, I look forward to another year of writing and who knows..maybe there will be a competition this year! 😉
Yup, you’re right, sorry for the mistake. 😉
What website did you use to create the map above for your flights?
gcmap.com