My 2023 looked quite similar to the previous year with only two more flights than 2022 and only 8,000 miles more. We took a couple vacations to Europe including a two-week tour of many spots in Italy and I visited the Middle East for the first time with trip to Dubai for a class I took.
Travel seemed much smoother in 2023 compared to the previous year - I experienced very few travel issues except for my luggage not making the connection to Italy. But, it was put on the next flight and was in my hotel room when I came back from dinner on our first night.
The only big issue I saw in 2023 was the unbelievable amount of people with top-tier airline status. I was regularly number 15 or lower on the upgrade list and on many occassions it seemed half the plane was pre-boarding as 1Ks. With the increased requirements to achieve status in 2023, my hope is that this will thin out.
2023 flights courtesy of MyFlightRadar24
Porto
Ponte Luís I
We kicked off 2023 with a long weekend trip to Porto with some friends. We wanted a place that was close enough that we could go just for 4 days but also that none of us had been to before, with the goal of eating a lot of good food (my favorite!).
The weather was much warmer than Chicago in January although a bit rainy and the prices were very cheap. We were able to get Economy tickets one-way to Porto for only 15,000 Citi Thank You points and stay at the Intercontinental for under $200 per night
Italy
Capri
We had been trying to plan a trip to Italy with a group of friends for a couple years and in 2023 we finally were able to make it happen. Since our friends had never been before, we visited a number of cities and only stayed a couple days in each.
Starting in Venice we took the train to Rome, then to Naples where we got the ferry to Capri. After a few days on the island of Capri, we moved to Amalfi before wrapping the trip up with a couple days in Naples and then a couple days in London on the way home.
We made sure to eat a ton of pizza and pasta and also had the opportunity to dine at La Pergola in Rome.
Dubai
The Palace Dubai
I had the opportunity to take a class in Dubai which was my first time traveling to the Middle East. I arrived a day early to check out some of the sites and was able to see some of the main attractions between classes.
Vienna
Belvedere Palace Vienna
To wrap up the year, I stopped in Vienna on my way back home from Dubai where Gwen met me and we spent a few days going to many Christmas markets.
In Summary
Travel operations seemed much smoother to me in 2023.
Everyone had status this year from the reduced COVID requirements, making top-tier status fairly worthless in my opinion.
I added Austria and the United Arab Emirates to the list of countries I have visited.