Greetings from 35,000 feet above the Gulf of Mexico! The ATX crew is currently en-route to Tulum to ring in the new year. While my travel for 2025 isn’t in the books, the final leg is underway. That means, it’s time for the 2025 Travel Year in Review.
This is a tradition that I first discovered on FlyerTalk and is my favorite post of the year, it’s great getting to recap all of the flying that happened over the last 12 months and the memories that went along with it.
2025 may have been my best travel year since before the pandemic. While work travel is still way down, and will likely continue to be for the foreseeable future, we took a few amazing trips, including my first two trips to Asia. My stats for the year are below and I encourage everyone to share theirs in the comments!
2025 Travel Year in Review Summary
New Countries (4): United Arab Emirates, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Japan
New Airports (4): DXB, ALA, IST, HND
New Airlines (5): Air Astana, Turkish Airlines, FlyDubai, Emirates, Japan Airlines
New Aircraft (0): N/A
Shortest Flight: IAH-AUS, 140 Miles
Longest Flight: DXB-DFW, 8,040 Miles
Total Airports: 17
Total Flights: 40
Total Miles: 59,172 Miles
Domestic Map:
International Map:
2025 Travel Year in Review Highlights
2025 was the year of Asia for us. I had never been to the continent prior to this so I was very excited to see it in person. Our Asia trips weren’t the only highlights for the year though, we had trips to visit family and friends from coast to coast and work got me to New York on multiple occasions.
Sneaking Away to San Francisco
After ATX Jr. was born in 2024, I finally took my paternity leave in early 2025. With Mrs. ATX back at work, we used this opportunity to tag along with her on a business trip to the bay area. We added a couple of extra days to the back end to spend time with family and friends.
A Journey Across Asia
Later in March, we kicked off my first trip to Asia and our first international trip with ATX Jr. While any international trip is special, this one was especially so as it took us to Kazakhstan to see Mrs. ATX’s family.
From an aviation angle, this trip gave me the opportunity to try out three new airlines that have long been on my radar; Emirates, flyDubai, and Turkish Airlines. All of them were great, especially with ATX Jr., which made the trip much more enjoyable.
A Birthday Jaunt Across Japan
We always make it a habit to travel on our birthdays but this year’s was extra special. Mrs. ATX and I had long wanted to make the trip to Japan but Covid and the birth of ATX Jr. delayed things a bit.
This year we were finally able to make it work and even convinced some of our Denver based travel friends to make the trip with us. I was blown away by Tokyo and Osaka has quickly become one of my favorite cities in the world. Fingers crossed that my travels bring me back to the country sooner rather than later.
Looking Ahead to 2026
While all of our travels for 2026 aren’t finalized, including the trips we already know about, it is shaping up to be a pretty good year. We’re starting things off by ringing in the New Year in Tulum. In February, one of my Washington D.C. based travel buddies and I are headed to Serbia and Sweden for a long weekend of flying thanks to some dirt cheap fares and expiring systemwide upgrades.
March will see us make the trip to Park City for a friend’s birthday and I’ll finally to put my rehabbed knee to the test after blowing it out before our trip to Dubai earlier this year.
Past March the only think that we have on the calendar is a trip to Rome in September for the wedding of our New York based friends. I haven’t booked the flights for that yet but we will likely try and add on another city/country as part of that trip.
Summary
As always, thank you for taking the time to read and comment on the site. It is truly a labor of love, I’m certainly not getting paid enough to justify all of the work, and I enjoy being able to share all of my travels with you all.
I’m looking forward to reading about your 2025 Travel Year in review and hearing about your plans for 2026. Happy New Year!