2023: My Travel Year in Review
As the New Year approaches, it’s time to review my travel year of 2023 and to look at the highlights and some fun statistics.
2023 Travels
Reflecting on my travel year has become somewhat of a New Year’s tradition for me, so as 2023 draws to a close, it feels like the perfect moment to do so again.
While the travel year of 2023 didn’t quite match the epic levels of 2022, I still managed to have a couple of amazing trips and gathered some wonderful travel memories.
Flight logbook of 2023
Let’s kick off this 2023 travel year review by looking at the flights I’ve taken throughout the year, all of which are mapped below.
I log all the flights I take on myFlightradar24, a useful website previously known as Flightdiary.
The flight map uses orange lines to indicate routes I’ve flown once last year (one-way flights), red lines for routes flown twice (either as two one-ways in the same direction, or as a return flight), while purple lines are routes that I have flown more than two times last year.
Flight statistics
In 2023, I took a total of 46 flights for both leisure and work.
The number has increased by 77% from the 26 flights I took in 2022, but it is comparable to the flight count of 44 in 2021 and 47 in 2020.
Throughout 2023, I took 46 flights – 41 international and 5 domestic – which collectively covered a distance of 74,649 kilometres (46,385 miles) and amounted to 125 hours and 25 minutes of flying time.
Of these 46 flights, 26 were in economy class and 20 in business class.
Fortunately I was again spared a middle seat on my flights throughout 2023, as I managed to get a window seat on 42 flights while ending up with an aisle seat on just 4 flights.
Just like in 2021, Air France was again my top airline, having taken 15 flights with them during the year of 2023.
Wizz Air dropped from its top position in 2022 to second place in 2023, as I only managed to take 4 flights with the Hungarian low-cost airline this year.
Tied for third place are Aegean Airlines, Air Europa, and AnadoluJet, with each airline accounting for 3 flights.
The Airbus A320 was my top aircraft of 2023 with 10 flights in total, followed by 7 on both the Boeing 737 and Airbus A321, and 5 on the Airbus A330.
Just like in 2022, I once again didn’t manage to try out a new aircraft type in 2023.
Airports and airlines
In 2023, I had the opportunity to fly with several airlines I had never used before, namely AeroItalia, Air China, China Eastern, and EVA Airways.
In total, I visited 32 different airports in 2023 (ten more than in 2022).
Of those 32 airports, I’ve visited 6 for the first time ever, namely Treviso (IATA code: TSF), Tunis (TUN), Kythira (KIT), Shanghai Pudong (PVG), London Gatwick (LGW), and Brasov (GHV).
During 2023, I was lucky enough to hold elite status with all three major airline alliances.
My Air France/KLM Flying Blue Platinum status (SkyTeam Elite Plus) requalification date fell on August 31st, and I comfortably met the requirements to extend my platinum status for another year.
I have yet to meet the requalification threshold for my Turkish Airlines gold status (Star Alliance) before it lapses at the end of March in 2024, and achieving this will take some effort.
However, it’s something that I really want to achieve, as it would secure my Star Alliance gold status for an extra two years until 31st March 2026.
I also held Qatar Airways gold status (oneworld Sapphire) during 2023, but this will be downgraded to silver in 2024 as I didn’t manage to requalify before 31st December 2023.
As I earned the status for free in a status match and never intended to retain it as I simply don’t fly often enough with airlines in the oneworld alliance, this isn’t a big deal to me.
Flying highlights
By far the best and most memorable flights this year were those on my trip to Taiwan, as I redeemed Flying Blue miles for an Air France business class ticket to Singapore.
On the same trip, I also used some orphaned Aegean Miles+Bonus miles which I still had for a Singapore Airlines business class flight to Hong Kong and a connecting EVA Air flight to Taipei.
However, even seemingly ordinary flights provided me with wonderful travel moments.
On a flight from Madrid to Santander, I enjoyed excellent views over the lush and wild coastline of northern Spain, while on a flight from Barcelona to Paris, I was treated to the amazing spectacle of a thunderstorm unfolding next to our plane.
Train travels in 2023
During 2023 I also travelled a lot by train, which includes countless long-distance rail journeys as well as many shorter trips by train.
I also took 13 night trains during the year 2023.
Most of these night train journeys were inside Romania or between Romania and Hungary, although they also included fun sleeper train rides in Kazakhstan, Italy and the Czech Republic.
I didn’t count the total distance travelled by train – I guess this is something I really should start doing in 2024 as I’m curious how many miles it totals.
Train highlights
There were quite a number of train travel highlights in 2023, with my ride on the Alishan Forest Railway through Taiwan’s stunning forested mountain interior being the best of all rail trips.
Although less remarkable scenery-wise, I also really liked my 4,000-kilometre train trip through Kazakhstan in the middle of winter.
It was a challenging trip as I felt sick most of the time and the temperatures of -25 degrees Celsius weren’t helping much either, but it certainly was a great adventure and the Kazakh trains gave me some great insights into the country.
It was also a memorable moment to be back on some Ukrainian trains after my trip to Mariupol in 2022, although I think bittersweet sums up the experience best given the ongoing human suffering in Ukraine by the hands of the Russian invaders.
Although compared to other years I travelled relatively little in my adopted home country of Romania, I did enjoy my regular commutes on the Brasov to Budapest ‘Corona’ night train and on the Miercurea Ciuc-Adjud railway line.
Destinations
In 2023, I had the opportunity to visit two new countries: Taiwan and Tunisia.
Both destinations were absolutely amazing, and I’m eager to return to explore more of what they have to offer.
In countries I had visited multiple times before, I had the chance to explore new places, including Treviso and Trieste in Italy, Semey, Petropavl, and Astana in Kazakhstan, Pécs in Hungary, Osijek in Croatia, and Mukachevo in Ukraine.
I also revisited some old favourites, including Lisbon, Tirana, Istanbul, Singapore, Bratislava, Prague and Budapest.
Travel highlights
If I had to pick three travel highlights from all my trips throughout the year of 2023, I would choose my trip to Italy and Tunisia, a visit to the Greek island of Kythira, and above all, my awesome trip to Taiwan.
During my trip to Italy and Tunisia, I enjoyed some great food, saw a couple of incredible sights like the ancient ruins of Carthage, and had some highly enjoyable travel experiences, most notably on the Salerno-Tunis ferry.
Sailing along the Amalfi Coast, calling at the Port of Palermo at midnight, and arriving the following afternoon in the Gulf of Tunis while passing the ruins of Carthage reminded me how much I love to travel by conventional passenger ferries.
I also really loved my trip to Kythira, which boasts some stunning scenery and amazing abandoned towns and castles to explore, all without the tourist crowds that plague islands like Santorini.
Several of my most memorable travel memories of 2023 were centred around activities, such as ice skating at the famous Medeu ice rink situated 1,691 metres (5,548 feet) above sea level in Kazakhstan.
Taiwan was an incredible destination overall, and one of the highlights for me was biking around the picturesque Sun Moon Lake, enjoying the scenic views and beautiful temples.
However, some of the best travel memories were rather simple moments, such as enjoying a delicious glass of white wine on a beautiful sunny afternoon in March while overlooking the Bay of Santander, or taking in the picturesque views of the rural Romanian landscape.
Sometimes you don’t need much, nor need to travel far, to experience some fantastic moments!
What will 2024 bring?
Not being someone who likes booking far in advance, I have many vague travel ideas, but very little which is firmly planned or set in stone.
Among the destinations which I will visit at one point in 2024 are the High Tatras in Slovakia, the Baltics and Bulgaria.
I have one short trip coming up in January to another country that’s not your typical travel destination, but apart from that I have nothing booked.
It’s highly likely that I will book a long-haul flight with a Star Alliance airline in February or March, as I need to earn some additional miles to meet the requalification criteria for Turkish Airlines gold status.
That means another cool trip will likely come up soon – although the destination will depend on whatever flight deal appears that is cheap enough to book, but will still give me enough frequent flyer miles!
Apart from that, I do want to make some more epic long-distance train trips.
Let’s wait and see what else the travel year of 2024 will bring – so stay tuned!
Happy New Year!
Reading your blog this past year had brought me lots of joy, memories, and inspiration for my own travels. Wish you the best in 2024.
Best,
New York Kevin
Thanks for the kind words Kevin! Wishing you all the best as well for 2024.