Day Trip to Albuquerque, Albuquerque, New Mexico

A couple of months ago, I posted a poll on both Instagram and X (formerly known as Twitter) asking where I should go for my next day trip. It was a tight race between Chicago and Albuquerque and the latter won by a single vote!

In Summer 2023, I took a day trip to Denver to complete some flight requirements to achieve a special Southwest Airlines A-list Preferred perk being offered through my job. Once I sign up for the program, I have 90 days to complete 6 total flights either as 3 round-trip flights or 6 one-way flights. For me, this meant taking another day trip! I mentioned taking a day trip to either Albuquerque or Philadelphia in my 2024 Travel Preview at the beginning of the year. However, I've since identified a longer list of locations I would like to consider taking day trips to in the future and opted to let my followers vote on social media. It seems the people really like Albuquerque! I think it's because people kept thinking of High School Musical which was set in Albuquerque even though movies were filmed in Utah.

Southwest did not have a direct flight early in the morning to Albuquerque, so I had to fly to Dallas and then to Albuquerque after an hour layover. However, my return flight did allow for a direct flight to Austin. The only downside to the return flight was that it was a bit earlier in the day than I had hoped for. That limited my time for activities in Albuquerque and I had just a few hours to see and do as much as I could. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).