The holidays are upon us and many people take this time to head out of town. Whether you’re lounging on the beach, visiting family or traveling for work, staying healthy and active when traveling can be a challenge.
We explored anonymized data from hundreds of thousands of members of the UP community to find out how the world travels, and patterns in travel behavior.
TURKEY TRAVEL
Last month, Americans celebrated Thanksgiving. For 29% of UP users, this meant traveling at least 100 miles from home for that turkey dinner. Some of the top travel destinations for Thanksgiving were New York, Orlando and Las Vegas. Those travelers averaged 500 more steps and 10 more minutes of sleep over the holiday than those who stayed at home. Compared to other US holidays, Thanksgiving was similar to Memorial Day and Labor Day in terms of percent of UP users traveling. The top holiday for traveling though is Christmas/New Years where last year over 33% of UP users took a trip in 2014.
WHO TRAVELS THE MOST?
Spain holds the title for most days spent traveling in the past year at 14.5 days. United Arab Emirates and Italy are not far behind at 13.5 days off. Japan and China take the least time off at just 9 days of travel for the year.
When you look at the average steps people tend to get on their vacation, however, the front-runner is Kuwait, where people get 3,340 more steps on average than they do at home. In contrast, the United States falls into last place with only 902 more steps on average.
WHAT ARE THE MOST POPULAR TRAVEL DESTINATIONS?
Based on data from the past year, we can rank common travel patterns in order of most to least likely. For example, UP users who live in London are more likely to travel to Amsterdam if going international but Edinburgh if staying domestic. Find your home city or favorite destination below!
| International travel | ||
| # | Home city | Destination city |
| 1 | London | Amsterdam |
| 2 | Singapore | Bangkok |
| 3 | London | Barcelona |
| 4 | London | Berlin |
| 5 | London | Copenhagen |
| 6 | London | Dublin |
| 7 | Singapore | Hong Kong |
| 8 | Singapore | Kuala Lumpur |
| 9 | Shanghai | Kyoto |
| 10 | New York | London |
| 11 | London | Madrid |
| 12 | London | Milan |
| 13 | London | New York |
| 14 | Shanghai | Osaka |
| 15 | London | Paris |
| 16 | London | Rome |
| 17 | London | San Francisco |
| 18 | Shanghai | Seoul |
| 19 | Singapore | Shanghai |
| 20 | Shanghai | Singapore |
| Domestic travel | ||
| # | Home city | Destination city |
| 1 | Shanghai | Beijing |
| 2 | Beijing | Shanghai |
| 3 | Shanghai | Hangzhou |
| 4 | Moscow | Saint Petersburg |
| 5 | Shanghai | Nanjing |
| 6 | Houston | Austin |
| 7 | Beijing | Chengdu |
| 8 | Shanghai | Guangzhou |
| 9 | New York | San Francisco |
| 10 | New York | Washington DC |
| 11 | Washington DC | New York |
| 12 | New York | Chicago |
| 13 | New York | Boston |
| 14 | New York | Los Angeles |
| 15 | Beijing | Xi’an |
| 16 | Austin | Houston |
| 17 | Beijing | Qingdao |
| 18 | Houston | San Antonio |
| 19 | London | Edinburgh |
| 20 | Tokyo | Osaka |
VACATION ACTIVITY
Not every trip is created equal. Adventures in the mountains, sunny beach days, walking tours and sightseeing — activity patterns are a direct reflection of the type of trip you’re on. Take a look at how UP users sleep and step in different vacation styles.
People tend to get more sleep and fewer steps when traveling to beach locations. Sightseeing in cultural destinations, however, ranges from places like Delhi where people get around 7,000 steps to Rome where they get over 15,000 steps on average! Explore for yourself, see how your most recent vacation compares.
Technical Notes: The data for travel from the past year used anonymized data from hundreds of thousands of users. Location information was obtained from the user’s phone upon opening the app if that user enabled location tracking.
