For me, 2022 was the year of travel. In one year, I took 18 flights, spent 85 hours on nearly 20 different trains, and slept onboard the world’s largest cruise ship for seven nights.
The author travels by plane (top), train (right), and cruise ship (bottom) in 2022. Joey Hadden/Insider
I’ve traveled more in 2022 than in any year prior.
I started the year flying back and forth between New York City and Phoenix to visit my partner.
In February, I traveled to and from NYC and Baltimore, Maryland, in Amtrak Acela’s business-and-first-class accommodations.
Two months later, I flew to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to take my first-ever cruise onboard Royal Caribbean’s Wonder of the Seas — the largest cruise ship in the world. During my seven-night cruise, I stopped in Honduras, Mexico, and the Bahamas.
In May, I flew to Austin, Texas, to visit extended family.
Two months later, I took a business-class Amtrak train to Niagara Falls, New York, where I crossed the border into the Canadian province of Ontario. From there, I took coach and business class trains up to Montréal and Québec City in Canada’s Québec province using the country’s Via Rail system.
That same month, I flew to Salt Lake City, Utah, for a wedding.
In October, I flew to Berlin and traveled by train through four European countries over the course of two weeks — Germany, Austria, Italy, and Switzerland — trying out train classes on multiple different lines, including OBB Nightjet, Trenitalia, and InterCity Express, from coach to first class, and two different sleeper cabins.
Finally, in November, I flew back to Arizona to visit family, and before the end of the year, I plan to fly back to Austin once more for the holidays.
But rather than leave me exhausted, all those trips left me invigorated to continue seeing the world as much as I can. And I learned a few surprising things along the way that I’ll keep in mind next year when I hope to travel just as much, if not more.
Travel Surprises by Train, Plane, and Cruise Ship, Lessons Learned
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