On January 2, 2014 I started my new job working for an airline and set a somewhat crazy goal for myself. I wanted to fly at least once in every month of 2014. I also decided that business trips wouldn’t count. There were so close calls a couple of times but in the end the goal was accomplished! It was an amazing year in many ways but especially so in the travel department. Here’s a recap of the trips I took with an Instagram review of each month. Enjoy!
January – San Francisco
PHX <–> SFO
I’m pretty sure my visit to San Fran ended up coinciding with some of the best weather ever in San Francisco. It was cool but not too cool, there was barely a cloud in the sky, and there was almost no wind. All of the locals were out and about looking ecstatic. Plus I biked across the Golden Gate Bridge!
February – Chicago
PHX –> MDW
The whole plan almost fell apart in month two. Since every Saturday was taken up with getting the highschool kids ready for their national competition I wasn’t able to take any weekend trips in February. But luckily I flew to Chicago on the very last day of February for our national competition. Flight accomplished!
March – Chicago & New Orleans
MDW –> PHX
DFW –> MSY
MSY –> CLT
CLT –> PHX
In March I not only flew back to Phoenix from Chicago (where I experienced my coldest weather of the year!) but I also went on my first business trip with my new company (that’s how I started in Dallas for the flights listed). From that business trip I hopped over to New Orleans to visit my cousin. New Orleans is definitely not on my list of favorite cities but I think that every city deserves at least one visit so I’m glad I was able to cross it off my list.
April – Laguna Beach
PHX <–> SNA
I decided to take a quick one night trip to Laguna Beach to visit the city I was born in because it had been years since I’d seen the Pacific ocean. This was also the trip where I discovered my favorite airport – SNA.
May – San Diego
PHX <–> SAN
My first ever day trip via plane! I flew to San Diego and crossed Petco Park off my list of MLB stadiums and then flew back the same day.
June – Orange County & Baltimore
PHX <–> SNA
PHX <–> BWI
The trip to Cali was originally supposed to be a trip to Kansas City to join up with a friend who was on a baseball trip. Sadly due to bad weather in Missouri and flight loads not looking good at all I ended up backing out of that trip at the last second. =( Since my bags were already packed I decided to hop on a flight to my favorite airport and cross a different stadium (Angel Stadium) off of my list instead.
And then the end of June included flying to Baltimore for a wedding and then quickly flying back to head up to camp a day late. And somewhere in the middle of all this I turned 27!
July – Houston
PHX <–> IAH
Another weekend trip involving a baseball stadium! Downtown Houston ended up being a bit of a disappointment but I did get to spend the weekend with my cousin who drove over from New Orleans. And of course I got to add another MLB stadium to my list and it was a good one.
August – Chicago
PHX –> ORD
Apparently I only squeeze flights in at the end of the month when it involves Chicago – ha! I spent Labor Day weekend exploring the city of Chicago itself since the opportunity to go downtown always alludes me when I’m there with the highschoolers.
September – Chicago & A Road Trip
ORD –> PHX
PHX –> DFW
DFW –> MSY
My flight home from Chicago was the only flight I paid for in 2014 (not counting the Southwest points I used for the trip with the highschoolers to Chicago). Due to it being a holiday weekend I didn’t want to risk it by non-reving. I’ve completely fallen in love with the city of Chicago and look forward to making another weekend trip out there again.
And this month is the one where I oddly ended up in New Orleans again. This time around it was to meet up with a friend who was driving home to Arizona from the east coast. Another one of our friends had already joined her mid trip so the three of us connected in New Orleans and had a great time driving back to AZ. For some reason I never blogged about that so I’ll have to remedy that soon! And another trend is that apparently I only go to New Orleans when I’m coming from a business trip – ha!
October – Santa Barbara
PHX <–> SBA
My second ever day trip and probably the only trip I took all year that was solely for the purpose of reaching my goal of flying in every month of 2014. I spent the day biking along the beach and checking out some of the sights in Santa Barbara but my heart just wasn’t in it that day. I never even ended up writing a blog post about it.
November – Europe!
PHX –> PHL
PHL –> MAN
CDG –> PHL
PHL –> PHX
My big trip of 2014! I flew to England via Philly and spent some time visiting friends in England before hopping over to Wales for a day and then spending two days in London. I finished my trip up with three days in Paris. I landed back on Phoenix on November 30th – one day short of flying in December and completing my goal for that year. Figures, right? ;) I have one post up about the Christmas markets and then a bunch more posts from this trip will be coming in January!
December
PHX <–> JFK
I completed my goal by taking a weekend trip to NYC and I’m so glad that I ended up needing to squeeze this trip in! I’d forgotten how much I love Manhattan, I discovered Brooklyn, and I got to see the city all lit up for Christmas! It was the perfect trip to end the year. You can check it out here.
I’ve already have a few trips planned for 2015 including Washington DC, Indianapolis, Italy and of course more baseball stadiums. Onto another great year!
My full year in review post will be coming next week including all the geeky stats that I love. But for today…I’m co-hosting with Beth from Oak + Oats for her Week’s End link-up! It’s a great opportunity to find some other fun blogs to follow along with! Enjoy!
And let me know what trips you’re planning for 2015 by leaving me a comment below!
LINK UP:
Every Monday I host a link up called Week’s End! It is a place for you to link up your favorite post from the week and meet new bloggers. I love community and think that we can all learn something from each other! This week Mandy of Mandy Living Life is my co-host!
RULES!!!!!
1. Link up ANY POST from last week!
2. Make sure it is a POST and not your BLOG URL. We love your blog but we want you to share a post.
3. Click on one, two, three, or more posts and LEAVE ENCOURAGING COMMENTS. The whole point of this is to find new blogs, make new friends, and all that good stuff! You MUST read the post right before yours and comment.
4. Follow Oak + Oats and Mandy Living Life
