I did the same thing in January 2025 as January 2024—I visited Vancouver for a weekend to reconnect with family and friends. Facebook memories reminded me of the 2023 travel summary I posted last year, so I decided to do it again this year. 2024 was also the first calendar year I had spent at the same employer in my first permanent role, hence I also had less time for vacation.
The remote nature of my job helped me make Friday afternoon flights. I visited all three Canadian territories, five Canadian provinces, seven U.S. states, and four other countries. This was also the first year I bought long-haul business class tickets with cash, and I have been upgraded many times. I’ve earned more in 2024 than 2023 and spent more on travel, too; about $20,000 compared to $15,000.
After meeting up with family, a family friend, and my former high school principal in Vancouver in January, I left for Florida in February to drive a British light tank. Florida was also the state where the criminally accused gained the right to state-appointed lawyers and the battleground for the Supreme Court’s Bush v. Gore vote counting case in the 2000 U.S. election.
In March, I flew to Kansas and drove to the middle of nowhere to see the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site, where the Supreme Court ruled for racial integration in U.S. schools. I also got to see the famous house featured in the American Gothic painting in Iowa and the landscape that the Wizard of Oz was based on.
Ontario was in the path of totality for the April solar eclipse, so I took a day off and observed the celestial event from a military base with friends on an officer’s invitation. Later that month, I attended a work conference and met former International Space Station commander Chris Hadfield, who signed a book for me.
Before three of my old friends moved out of New York City at the end of May to East Asia for business opportunities, I flew down to have dinner with them, saved big on a hotel room, and rode a helicopter over Manhattan with no doors. It also happened to be one of my friends’ birthday, so we celebrated with hot pot and ice cream. Late that month, I went to Texas to eat barbecue and visit the Johnson Space Center.
Around the June summer solstice, I made my way to Yukon to sleep under the midnight sun. I had wanted to drive north to Dawson City, but my plans were interrupted by a menacing forest fire, so I made my way to Alaska and Northwestern B.C. instead.
I worked hard in July to earn a long summer break in August in Luxembourg and the Saarland to learn about French and German influences on the Rhine. I got a ground tour of Frankfurt International Airport’s operations, and hopped onwards to Singapore and Hong Kong, all in deeply discounted business class.
Shortly after I returned to North America in September, I saw some family friends in Chicago. I also spent time in Michigan skydiving from 14,000 feet for the first time and learned how to drive a mainline diesel locomotive on a gradient and in reverse.
I returned to Alaska in October to take in the stunning vistas and majestic mountains of the last American frontier. I rode a dog sled and followed a trainer to see how new dogs were trained together with experienced dogs during low season.
On the way to a wedding in Edmonton in November, I took the Arctic Capital Express by Canadian North, which departed Ottawa with stops in Iqaluit, Rankin Inlet and Yellowknife before arriving in Edmonton. It was worth taking the day off for the 14-hour flight. I had never had four airplane meals in one day.
In December, I went to Philadelphia (again) to see all the museums I missed on my first visit. I also found time to walk around Princeton University’s venerated colonial campus.
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