Time: 5 days, 7 hours and 55 minutes
I have spent a lot of time in the air in 2018. Do I fly a lot? What is my air travel experience? Let’s put this in perspective with a crew member who flies an average of 900 hours per year. In this comparison, my 128 hours do not look so impressive. However, considering that I am not a crew member, I conclude that I am spending quite a lot of time in the air.
My air travel experience. Statistics 2018 in numbers
- distance – how many kilometres I have travelled by plane – almost 65’900 km
- how the distance I flew can be compared to a flight around the earth – I circled it over 1.6 times
- how the distance I flew can be compared to the distance from Earth to the moon – 0.1171. (Well, there is still a long way ahead of me).
- shortest flight: in Turkey on the route Istanbul – Izmir (322 km)
- longest flight: on the route from Munich in Germany to Porto in Portugal (1791 km)
- The northernmost airport: Moscow Sheremetyevo, Russia
- The southernmost airport: Izmir, Turkey
My air travel experience. Where did I fly?
Countries I visited during this time (number of visits in brackets):
- Belgium (15)
- Turkey (7)
- Germany (5)
- Hungary (3)
- Czech Republic (1)
- United Kingdom (1)
- Greece (1)
- Portugal (1)
- Romania (1)
- Russia (1)
My air travel experience. Top aircraft types
The list of aeroplanes I flew most often (in brackets, the number of flights).
- Boeing 737-800 (13)
- Embraer 195 (13)
- Dash 8 Q400 (7)
- Embraer ERJ 175 (6)
- Boeing 737 MAX 8 (6)
I will add one comment from my side. Despite many delays in departures and arrivals, frequent and exhausting turbulence, and long hours spent at airports, I still love to fly and will never get bored with it.
My air travel experience. Through the plane window
Why is an aeroplane flying so exciting? Although the final destination can give you a fantastic experience, the journey can be amazing. Please see how my “world” looks through the aeroplane window as proof of my theory.
Frequent flyer program – Miles & More
Where did all this data come from? A few years ago, I joined the Miles & More program as a frequent flyer, collecting miles for all my air travel. Miles & More is the largest traveller loyalty program in Europe, and LOT, Brussels Airlines, and Lufthansa (those airlines I use the most frequently) are all part of it. The awarded miles can be exchanged later for rewards. You can also exchange them for air tickets, hotel reservations or car rentals.
You can read more about the Miles & More program directly on the website. However, this post is not about airline frequent flyer programs, so I will no longer continue this topic. I will add that I like to analyse my travel statistics (maybe, because I like numbers and statistics 😊), so I am thrilled that my Miles & More program keeps collecting them and making them available for review.
My air travel experience through my photographs
My travel statistics can help me understand the number of photos I uploaded to social media at that time (over 250 posts). Interestingly, despite many foreign trips I took at that time (10 countries), from my highest-rated photos in 2018, 8 out of 9 were taken in ….. Warsaw is my hometown. What does it mean? This proves that you do not have to travel to the other side of the world to make an interesting picture. Sometimes you need to leave your house and look around you. Your inspiration for creating an interesting photo can be everywhere.
This doesn’t mean, however, that I will not travel further in 2019. On the contrary! This year, I have already planned a faraway journey (!!!), about which I will write more soon.
Let’s stay in touch!