{"id":163944,"date":"2016-12-26T15:00:23","date_gmt":"2016-12-26T14:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/turkeyalwan.net\/?p=163944"},"modified":"2017-01-04T15:25:43","modified_gmt":"2017-01-04T14:25:43","slug":"top-10-my-most-phenomenal-travel-experiences-of-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/turkeyalwan.net\/2016\/12\/26\/top-10-my-most-phenomenal-travel-experiences-of-2016\/","title":{"rendered":"Top 10: my most phenomenal travel experiences of 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

Monday newsletters<\/a>\u00a0always feature\u00a0top 10 travel lists<\/a>\u00a0to inspire.<\/p>\n

Today (December 26, 2016):\u00a0my 10 most memorable travel experiences of\u00a02016.<\/strong><\/h5>\n

It\u2019s that time of the year again: time to look back at everything that happened \u2013 the good, the bad, and everything in between \u2013 during\u00a0the past 12 months. At first sight,\u00a02016 seems to have been dominated by depressing headlines: bizarre political outcomes, deaths of some our most beloved stars, horrific terror attacks, the never-ending refugee crisis, rising tensions between the West and Russia, political turmoil in Turkey,\u00a0and\u00a0continuation of wars and conflicts in the Middle East and Africa. We tend to forget that an overwhelming lot of good things happened as well in the past year, and that never before, the world was so safe.\u00a0Giant pandas are no longer endangered, a woman (!) ran for president in the USA,\u00a0NASA\u2019s spacecraft entered Jupiter\u2019s orbit, the tiger population increased, and scientists made considerable progress in the fight against cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and ALS.<\/p>\n

It was also a big year for travelers, with the introduction\u00a0of new travel markets (e.g. Cuba, Iran), giant hotel and airline mergers,\u00a0exciting hotel openings<\/a>,\u00a0devaluation of loyalty programs, and horrific events that painfully made clear\u00a0that traveling is not always safe (e.g. the Columbia plane crash and – among others – the attacks in Brussels, Turkey, Berlin and Nice).\u00a0Still, this won\u2019t stop us from traveling since traveling is the spice of life.\u00a0It\u00a0is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness (Mark Twain) and the best way to understand the ever-changing world we live in.\u00a0Since this is a luxury travel blog that tries to give you a daily moment of travel inspiration with a focus on my personal stories, I hereby share with you my travel highlights\u00a0of 2016 (which seem to involve a lot of A380 flights).<\/p>\n

There is more information (with trip reports & Youtube clips) below the slideshow. You can share your own 2016 travel highlights in the\u00a0comments section<\/strong>\u00a0below!<\/p>\n

This slideshow requires JavaScript.<\/p>

<\/div>\n

*** Follow me on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>,\u00a0Instagram<\/a>\u00a0and Facebook<\/a>\u00a0for a daily <\/em>moment of travel inspiration ***<\/em><\/p>\n

\n
10. FLYING BUSINESS CLASS IN A BRITISH AIRWAYS A380<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Last August,\u00a0I flew Business Class\u00a0in an Airbus A380\u00a0of\u00a0British Airways<\/a>\u00a0from London to Vanvouver. The world\u2019s largest passenger aircraft entered into service for British Airways in 2013, and the UK\u2019s national carrier has currently 12 of these massive aircraft in its fleet, deploying them on routes from London to Hong\u00a0Kong, Johannesburg, Los\u00a0Angeles, San Francisco, Miami (seasonal), Vancouver (seasonal), Singapore and Washington. While I am still impressed by the A380 (and feel honored every time I can fly in one), I was disappointed in the Business Class service provided by British Airways (so it’s kind of a memorable travel experience, but not in a good way). The airline has introduced several service cuts this year, which do affect the overall experience and will make me think twice flying them again. As I published in\u00a0my trip report<\/a>, there\u00a0was no choice of a starter anymore (only a compulsory and very cheap looking mozzarella salad), food was terrible (fastfood quality), the selection of snacks in the onboard bar was drastically reduced, and several seats were broken. On a positive note, the return flight from Calgary to London in a British Airways\u00a0Dreamliner was a much better experience (you can read my trip report\u00a0here<\/a>).<\/p>\n