Our 2014 Travel Year in Review

2014 was a good year for the Jones, travel wise.

Here’s a recap of our travel highlights of the year:

We visited five new countries:

• Haiti
• Malaysia
• Myanmar (Burma)
• San Marino
• Sri Lanka

Mrs. Jones also added two more countries to her collection that Mr. Jones had previously visited:

• India
• Japan

We haven’t considered ourselves “country collectors” before, but when some travel friends and clients asked us about the Traveler’s Century Club, we investigated.  Since the Traveler Century Club (TCC) counts countries, territories and islands with distinct different cultures, the organization has a list of 324 destinations to visit. As of the end of 2014, Mr. Jones has visited 98 of them, while Mrs. Jones has traveled to 99 destinations. You can view our list here.

One of our favorite ways to explore the world is via cruise ships.

We sailed on five different ships on four different cruise lines in 2014:

• To celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary, we took an 11-day segment of the 2014 Seabourn World Cruise, sailing from Singapore to Mumbai on the Seabourn Sojourn. It was a fabulous trip.
• In a very different kind of experience, Mrs. Jones took her 12-year old niece on Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas. It was a week filled with zip-lining, flow-riding, fantastic front-row entertainment, and fun.
• Feeling bad that Mr. Jones was left out, we spent the 4th of July on the sister ship the Allure of the Seas (the world’s largest cruise ship measuring 3 inches longer than the Oasis.) For this cruise we tested the fine dining options and the Premium Beverage Package, and made use of Royal Caribbean’s superior Wi-Fi on this ship (and the Oasis) to continue working while at sea.
• In October, while Mr. Jones was working on an extended project in London, Mrs. Jones booked herself solo on  Princess Cruises’ Star Princess sailing out of the brand new Pier 27 cruise port in San Francisco. The California Coastal itinerary is fantastic for a quick get-a-way with port calls in Ensenada, Mexico, and in Long Beach, San Diego and Santa Barbara in California.
• We are still in the midst of our last cruise of the year, the 14-day Asian Holiday cruise on Holland America’s Volendam. The attraction for this cruise was spending 2-nights and 3-days in Myanmar (Burma) which did not disappoint. We are also loving the various ports on the west coast of Malaysia, and a Christmas day call in Phuket, Thailand where I got up close with some young tigers.

We (especially Mr. Jones) spent many nights in hotels.

Here were some of our favorites of 2014:

• A Look Inside the Hilton Beijing Capital Airport Hotel
• The Conrad Centennial Singapore Hotel (2 fantastic stays)
• A Look Inside the JW Marriott Hotel Mumbai, India
• A Peek Inside the Renaissance Las Vegas Hotel

As for airlines, we both continued to fly significant amounts for work during 2014, contributing to us maintaining our airline status for 2015.

Some of our best airline experiences of our lives occurred during 2014:

• Experiencing Air China’s “˜Forbidden Pavilion’ First Class Flight Service
• Experiencing Lufthansa First Class Mumbai to Frankfurt (747-400 with a separate flatbed by the seat)
• A Look Inside Lufthansa First Class Frankfurt to Chicago (747-8 with chocolate bunny gifts)
  
• Mumbai’s New Terminal T2 at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport
• 11 Hours in Beijing, China with the 72-Hour Visa-Free Stay Program

Many of our miles (and hotel points) that fund our more exotic trips come from our heavy use of credit cards with mileage reward benefits.

Some of our favorite cards this year included:

• Chase Ink Bold
• Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards^® Premier Card
• Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards^® Premier Business Card
• Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards^® Premier Business Card
• Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (with chip and sign)
• Marriott Rewards Premier Credit Card (with chip and sign)

We traveled together or met up for Weekend Adventures in these cities during 2014.

• Chicago (3 trips)
• Honolulu, Hawaii
• Las Vegas / Henderson, Nevada
• Milwaukee, Wisconsin
• New York City
• Portland, Oregon
• Rochester, Minnesota / Decorah, Iowa
• San Diego
• Seattle
• St Petersburg, Florida
• Washington, DC

Food & Wine

We ate two memorable meals at outstanding restaurants:

• A Romantic Dinner on Honolulu’s Waikiki Beach at Azure
• Dining at Ristorante Guido in Rimini, Italy  (a Michelin-starred small seafood restaurant on the beach where we celebrated U.S. Thanksgiving)

We also made delicious discoveries in the non-fancy-but-delightful-dining-and-drinking category:

• Northern Thai in a Las Vegas Strip mall (thanks Anthony Bourdain)
• Mee Sum Dim Sum in Honolulu (thanks, Yelp)
• Delicious Dumplings at Din Tai Fung in Singapore
• Fabulous Thin Crust Pizza in Chicago (thanks, Yelp!)
• Oklahoma Joe’s /now Joe’s Kansas City Bar-B-Que (We’d never made it past the long line before at this world famous barbecue joint in a gas station in our home town HINT show up Monday at 11 am in the fall, there’s still a line but its fast and the wait on the concrete/blacktop is bearable in the fall weather.)
• Great food and wine at the tiny Wine Escape in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood of New York City (thanks, yelp!)
• We had a Tiger beer rather than the infamous Singapore Sling, but the Long Bar at the historic Raffles Hotel was a huge disappointment.

Tours: Food, Cruise Ship Shore Excursions and Aircraft Carriers

We explored food and culture in four cities on food tours:

• Eating Italy’s Best During Our Milan Food Tour
• In Search of Milwaukee’s Best Pizza on Milwaukee’s Pizza Bus Tour
• Heritage on a Plate Food Tour in Penang, Malaysia
• Eating Our Way Through Chinatown with Food Tour Singapore

Other favorite tours of 2014 involved beer, culture, money and a former president:

• Touring the Tiger Brewery in Singapore
• A Little Walk Through Little India with The Original Singapore Walks
• A Visit to The Money Museum at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City
• Harry S. Truman Library and Museum

Cruise Ship Shore Excursions:

• Thai Gastronomy at the Blue Elephant Cooking School in Phuket, Part 1; Part 2; Part 3
• The Dragon’s Breath Flight Line on Royal Caribbean’s Private Resort of Labadee in Haiti 
• Touring the 1700’s Great House and Sugar Plantation on a Shore Excursion from Falmouth, Jamaica
• Snorkeling and Dunn’s River Falls from Falmouth, Jamaica with a 12-Year Old
• Experiencing the Life and Lore of Colombo, Sri Lanka

Favorite Tours in Cruise Ports on Our Own

• Langkawi, Malaysia by Taxi and the World’s Steepest Cable Car
• Para-sailing in Cozumel, Mexico
• Touring Goa, India by Taxi
• Exploring San Diego’s USS Midway Museum

And we loved learning about new destinations and attractions at The New York Times Travel Show, and a few new tricks at the Frequent Traveler University.

As we look back, 2014 was one of our best years of travel to date. We experienced new cultures, made new friends, tried new things outside of our comfort zone, and realized many times just how lucky we are to live in the United States and be among the three percent of all of the people in the world that even have the opportunity to leave their home country and see a broader world.

So, if you want to travel more in 2015 and beyond, don’t wait.  Start by making your destination wish list and then take little steps to figure out how you can get there.

What were some of the highlights of your travels in 2014?  We’d really like to hear.  Please share in comments below.

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