2008 travel round up

Life is fairly busy at the moment, so posts are sparse.

But some late seasonal rounds up should appear over coming days, starting with the annual travel round-up.

Back in October 2007, I saw a marked change in my normal frantic travel pattern. Stopping working for a London-based team dramatically cut my flights. Since then, there has continued to be a general slow down in travel with a near travel ban in work for the past few months.

• In total, I sped down a runway and took off 32 times in 2008.
  (2007 = 83; 2006 = 82; 2005 = 100)
  
• I spent 18 nights in 9 different hotels, but only 9 nights for work.
  (2007 = 65 nights in 10 hotels; 2006 = 51 nights in 18 hotels; 2005 = 64 nights)
  
• I’ve spent 31 days outside Northern Ireland, 18 of those days for work.
  (2007 = 101; 2006 = 85; 2005 = 114)
  

Unbelievably, I haven’t been in an airplane since the end of August ... which would explain the lack of travel rants in 2008!

Locally, Belfast City Airport was given the go ahead to increase its passenger and plane capacity, was sold off by Ferrovial for £132.5m, and finally submitted its application to extend the runway.