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It’s officially 2026. Happy New Year! This means that just about every loyalty program (except American Airlines) has reset their counters and everyone is sitting back at the starting line with zero miles, points, dollars, nights, or segments. It’s always jarring to see the counters at zero, but this also gets me ready to start planning my 2026 travel.
I’m starting the year in Hong Kong. In both 2024 and 2025, I wanted to get back to Asia. It had been since 2019. I’m thrilled to be back and can’t wait to visit the Philippines next week.
As I outlined in my last status recap (more here), I finished the year at the following status levels:
- American Executive Platinum®
- Delta Diamond Medallion®
- United Premier 1K®
- Hyatt Globalist
- Marriott Titanium Elite
- Hilton Gold
This lineup will have me covered throughout the year and if travel is like 2025, I’ll maintain these levels into 2027.
Where to Next?
I know that I’ll be headed to Paris with my mom and London (to go to Wimbledon) with my hubby for his 50th birthday. Other than that, I just have a few business trips booked to date in January. Here is where I’d like to go in 2026:
- Back to Italy (ideally Sicily, but Calabria is also calling my name)
- Head to the St. Regis Cap Cana Resort. I rebooked 2025 flights on Arajet to February and I’m hoping we can make it then.
- Add one other new European country to my list. I have been to most, but I still need to check out Ukraine, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moldova, North Macedonia, and Andorra. A few of these have been on my list for some time.
- Asia once again, but I’d like to see Kuala Lumpur and Laos. As those are also new destinations.
This list will evolve and change as the year progresses.
Anthony’s Take: Wherever I go, I’ll be reporting back on the flights, hotels, lounges, and my thoughts. Stay tuned for more travel news, reviews, and everything related that I find interesting. Thank you for joining me once again this year. Here’s to a great 2026!
(Image Credits: smnzhu via Unsplash, miglagoa via iStock.)
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Advertiser & Editorial Disclosure: The Bulkhead Seat earns an affiliate commission for anyone approved through the links above This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. We work to provide the best publicly available offers to our readers. We frequently update them, but this site does not include all available offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities.
