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Home  >  Year in Review  >  Utter Failure: Revisiting My 2019 Travel Goals
Year in Review

Utter Failure: Revisiting My 2019 Travel Goals

Matthew Klint Posted onJanuary 1, 2020January 3, 2020 8 Comments

So much for my grand plans for travel in 2019…

I flew over 200,000 miles in 2019 and visited dozens of countries. In that sense, it was another great year of travel.

Great Circle Mapper

But in reviewing two posts I wrote last January, 10 Flights I Look Forward To In 2019 and Five New Countries I Hope To Visit In 2019, I realize how little I actually accomplished my travel goals.

It has been more than two years since I set foot in a new country. For someone who has visited more than 130 countries and was on a tear for a decade and even in the first couple years after I got married, this has been a huge personal setback. And I cannot even blame my commitments as a husband and father…it has been my other work.

One thing that has always, at least historically, set my blog apart, is my adventure travels. Who else flies in first class and stays in five-star hotels, but heads to Cuba, Iran, Iraq, and Afghanistan? That’s a combination that I hope to restart this year.

Last January, I set out to visit these five new countries:

  • Algeria
  • Bhutan
  • Mongolia
  • Nepal
  • Syria

To challenge myself, I’m going to renew this list and set out five additional countries I hope to visit (in a separate post). 10 is hardly a stretch if spaced out wisely and I hope to have more time this year to plan travel in advance.

Last January I also set out to try 10 new premium cabin products. Those included:

  • American Airlines 777-3000ER First Class
  • WestJet 787-9 Business Class
  • Air Canada 787-9 Business Class
  • Korean Airlines A380 + 747-8 First Class
  • Air Algerie A330 Business Class
  • Virgin Australia 777-300ER Business Class
  • Air Italy A330-200 Business Class
  • TAP Portugal A330neo Business Class
  • Singapore Airlines A380 New Suites
  • Air Greenland A330 Business Class

I scored 2/10…I only flew Virgin Australia’s 777 business class and Air Italy A330 business class.

Surely, I can do better than that. It is my sincere hope to add more diversity to my blog content this year.

CONCLUSION

Ultimately, I am writing this “progress report” post to myself and letting y’all look over my shoulder. I publish it to hold myself accountable. But I do welcome your suggestions on how you broke out of your own travel funks or made the time to visit new lands and fly new airlines.

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About Author

Matthew Klint

Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he travels more than 200,000 miles by air and has visited more than 135 countries. Working both in the aviation industry and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in major media outlets around the world and uses his Live and Let's Fly blog to share the latest news in the airline industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs, and detailed reports of his worldwide travel.

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8 Comments

  1. Peter King Reply
    January 1, 2020 at 3:36 pm

    This post is the very definition of “humblebrag”!

    • Matthew Reply
      January 1, 2020 at 4:27 pm

      Lol. That really wasn’t the point.

  2. Dublin Reply
    January 1, 2020 at 3:43 pm

    Swing and a miss! No offense but that’s hysterical in a not so funny way. Amazing how life gets in the way. Clearly you had an amazing year but not on the way you’d hope. Still….a great year for your readers who’ve enjoyed your chronicles!

  3. Tom Reply
    January 1, 2020 at 8:41 pm

    As a Star Alliance loyalist out of IAH, I’ve of enjoyed your UA/LH write-ups, but I agree that diversity of products this last year was pretty weak. Try those other products for us who don’t have the luxury to! I look forward to reading more this year. Thanks for the content

  4. Willem Reply
    January 1, 2020 at 10:56 pm

    Didn’t you fly Air Italy as well for a 2/10 on airline reviews? You also got ANA and China Southern A380 reviews; while not planned for at the start of the year, give yourself some credit there too!

    • Matthew Reply
      January 3, 2020 at 12:46 pm

      Correct! I fixed it. Thanks for catching that.

  5. Paolo Reply
    January 1, 2020 at 11:48 pm

    I managed only one new country in 2019 …Israel, courtesy of the new redemption partnership with QANTAS ( El Al, BKK-TLV-VIE), keeping a promise to my grandmother to visit Jerusalem and Bethlehem, c 1963.
    Politically I’m not a great fan, but I really loved the week there, in every regard.

  6. derek Reply
    January 2, 2020 at 6:29 pm

    I also want to visit Syria but I have crossed it off my list for the 2020 decade. Not a chance. Be glad that you did not go. You could have been kidnapped by militia for money then sold to another militia then given to the Syrian government to be burned alive. That would be the end of Live and Let’s Fly. It would be Live and Let Die. …and you are not 007.

    If I had to give you 10 goals for 2020, it would be:
    Chennai, India
    Singapore
    Hong Kong
    Athens
    Rome
    Mount Pleasant, Falkland Islands
    St. Helena
    Trollhattan, Sweden
    and 2 more, making 10

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