Zach Griff's 2023 travel highlights, elite status earned and trip stats

24.12.2023 - 19:13 / thepointsguy.com / Zach Griff

Toward the end of each year, I love opening my camera roll and reflecting on all the pictures and videos I took during the year.

It might not surprise you that most of my pictures and videos are taken during my travels, so it's a great way for me to recap my top experiences and relive the monumental moments from each year.

I just did this exercise and can assuredly say that 2023 was a blockbuster year for me and my adventures. From a travel perspective, it was the first year since 2020 that felt decidedly back to normal since the onset of the pandemic. Thanks to the elimination of nearly all COVID-related travel restrictions and the resumption of key airline routes, I was able to reach some far-flung destinations, such as Kenya, Taiwan and Brazil.

From a personal perspective, I also started an MBA program at Wharton in Philadelphia. I not only moved from New York, but I've also traded many airplane trips for train rides back and forth from New York City. In fact, this is my first year ever earning Amtrak status.

There were many other travel-focused highlights this year, so I'll recap some of them below and share what's on the horizon for 2024.

Total miles flown: 191,271 (2022: 185,780; 2021: 152,033; 2020: 133,796 miles; 2019: 205,985 miles)

Longest flight: Newark to Dubai (6,844 miles)

Shortest flight: Nairobi Wilson to Masai Mara (109 miles)

Unique airlines: 26

Unique airports: 51

Elite status earned: 7 (Amtrak Select Plus, American AAdvantage Executive Platinum, United Premier 1K, JetBlue Mosaic, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Platinum, World of Hyatt Globalist)

Flying a major U.S. carrier to the United Arab Emirates wouldn't have necessarily been on my 2023 bingo card.

That's because United Airlines, along with "Big Three" U.S. rivals Delta Air Lines and American Airlines, spent much of the mid-to-late 2010s unified in protests against the Middle East (ME3) carriers: Emirates, Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways. They alleged that these fast-growing Middle Eastern airlines took subsidies from their respective governments, which enabled the airlines to provide superior service at a competitive price on long-haul routes to the U.S.

However, this year, United reentered the Dubai market with a new daily nonstop from Newark as part of a once-unthinkable partnership with Emirates. I was on the inaugural flight, and like many of United's first flights, it made for 12 hours that I won't forget anytime soon.

Until this year, the world's largest hotel chain didn't operate a luxury safari property. That changed with the opening of the brand-new JW Marriott Masai Mara in Kenya, a luxe 20-tent lodge in one of the world's most famous game reserves.

I was one of the first travelers to make a redemption at the property