April, 2013 | Jason Around the World

Here a Stan, there a Stan, everywhere a Stan Stan….

Austria, Bosnia and Central Asia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Germany, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey, Uzbekistan No Responses »

Apr 262013

No sooner had I gotten back from Johannesburg than I found out that the new job I took starting the day I returned had a trip planned for me. I expected it would maybe be one new country, but as planning has evolved it’s now planned for nearly three weeks and four new countries! Score! The downside is not getting to really play tourist too much, but you can’t complain about getting to go to four relatively out of the way countries without it costing any vacation time or out of pocket expense! Things are pretty much lined up now, and the the route looks like:

Plan is to visit four new countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan. Assuming the visas show up in time, all systems should be go for this trip! Lots of long segments on Lufthansa…perhaps in First if upgrades clear, along with a couple long segments on dreaded Turkish 737s from Sarajevo to Istanbul to Bishkek. Also, two new airlines: Uzbekistan Airlines and Air Astana, one on an A320 and the other on an ERJ-190. This assumes, again, that everything happens as planned…

Not sure how many sights I’ll get a chance to see, but I’ll definitely make an attempt to review the flights, check out the local restaurants, and use my evenings wisely to at least try and see some sights around town! Plus, I should have a full weekend day in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, so that should be a chance to see a fair bit!

More to come soon!

Johannesburg, South Africa to Washington, DC, the very very long way

Airports, Belgium, Flights, Germany, South Africa, South Africa Milage Run 2013 2 Responses »

Apr 232013

I’m going to be a bit briefer on this entry than the trip down, mostly because many of the flights were relatively similar…just in reverse. That said, there were quite a few differences so I’ll go into a bit more detail about them.

Check-in at Johannesburg was a piece of cake despite the fully loaded A380, and we had our boarding passes within 10 minutes of getting off the Gautrain. Past the ticketing counters, on the way to security, we saw this interesting gem:

I’m going to guess that enough people flying out of JNB have weapons to check that not only do they need a special place for it, but they need a giant sign to let you know where to do it. I guess this makes you feel a little safer? Maybe?

No wait for security, but the wait for immigration was close to 20 minutes. With A380s of Lufthansa and Air France departing, as well as a couple long-haul South African and BA flights it was no big surprise, and can’t really complain about it too much. We did a bit of duty free shopping, and maybe a couple things worth mentioning: if you want Africa-themed souvenirs, you can find just about anything you want at JNB. There are several shops selling just about every sort of mask, statue, necklace, and trinket you could imagine. If you want to buy South African wine…not so much. There’s one shop, with a small selection, and they do NOT package or ship. Sort of disappointing, but saved me a good deal of money I guess.

Shopping done, it was time to spend a bit of time in the South African business lounge. Plentiful drinks served by bartenders, a bit of pre-packaged food that was so unappetizing I didn’t touch any of it, and internet that was about as fast as Oscar Pistorius…no wait, too soon. It was slow. Almost unusable slow. So slow I used data roaming on my iPhone slow. Oh, and if you want to plug in your device….you best forget it. I think the whole lounge had about 10-15 outlets all of which were in use. Womp womp.

Boarding for the A380 was total chaos due to it being a completely full flight.

Lufthansa flight 573
Johannesburg, South Africa (JNB) to Frankfurt, Germany (FRA)
Depart 19:05, Arrive 5:45 next day, Flight Time 10:40
Airbus A380, Registration D-AIMC, Manufactured 2010, Seat 27K

This flight was nearly identical to the way down there. I’m not going to post too much, because honestly…not much is different. Pre-departure juice, water, or champagne (one glass, and one glass only), quick and efficient meal service from a very friendly crew, and I managed to sleep a solid 8 hours on the way to Frankfurt. I can’t ask for too much more. The menu:

I had the chicken thai coconut stew, and it was pretty tasty, but a pretty small portion. I did get a second helping of cheese after the desert course (hey, I’m a growing boy) and with a few glasses of wine got an incredibly solid sleep as mentioned above.

When we deplaned in Frankfurt, there were German immigration officers just outside the jetbridge checking passports. I’m not certain how this works, but I guess they want to catch people who ditched their passports in flight (hoping for asylum?) coming off the plane before they mix in with other flights so they can at least tell where they came from? Anyone know more about why they do this? I flashed mine, and we were off. Quick re-do of security, and we were in the A/Schengen-gates senator lounge where a nice shower awaited:

Showered and happy, grabbed a lite breakfast including lots of coffee, and some of the brightest and most festive easter eggs I’d ever seen. But come on Lufthansa, you’re a couple days late…easter was a couple days ago!

33 Hours in South Africa

Attractions, hotels, Restaurants, South Africa, South Africa Milage Run 2013 1 Response »

Apr 192013

We landed at 10am, and immigration was quick without bags, and we were spared the odd questions about why we’d come to Johannesburg for just 33 hours. Fortunate.

I’ve been to South Africa dozens of times, but haven’t actually visited Johannesburg in over 15 years. I flew into JNB two years ago during my round the world 40th birthday trip, but immediately got in a rental car and headed to Lesotho, so I hadn’t properly visited the city in a long time. I was excited to get a small preview of how things had changed.

Actually, that’s not entirely true. I did do a similar milage run about 5 years ago, when Lufthansa published a DC to Helsinki fare that allowed Johannesburg in the routing rules. So, yes, I did go DC – Frankfurt – Johannesburg – Frankfurt – Helsinki. It was legal, and only like an extra $10 in taxes, but as it was a connection I only had about 8 hours in Johannesburg. I did manage to get down to Sandton for lunch, but had to take a giant share taxi which was a bit of a pain in the butt.

Why am I going on about this? Because everyone I knew from there had told me how nice the Gautrain was. JNB to Sandton and Rosebank in about 15 minutes. Clean, fast, efficient, and relatively affordable. I was sold! We only had to wait about 10 minutes for a train, and it was actually rather nice!

Short train ride later, we were at the Sandton station, which was located conveniently across the street from our hotel, the Radisson Blu Sandton Gautrain. Check-in was quick and pleasant, and we were “upgraded” to a business floor room. Nothing special about the room, except that Radisson Blu’s business class rooms seem to all have Nespresso machines in them. I was a happy caffeine addict. Perhaps the strangest part was the picture on the wall outside our room:

Yes, that’s the Farragut West metro station in Washington, DC, the same station I get out at most every day to go to the office. Halfway around the world. Go figure. It was if the hotel was taunting us! We took advantage of the Nespresso machine in the room to refuel, and since it was almost noon at this point we headed across the street to Nelson Mandela Square to get some lunch.

We settled on Baglios, mainly because they had a table on the lanai where I could sit and enjoy the 23C sun since it was still cold back in DC. But first, to start lunch off on the right note, I introduced Phil to Savanna Dry cider!

Washington DC to Johannesburg, South Africa…the long way!

Airports, Flights, Germany, South Africa, South Africa Milage Run 2013 8 Responses »

Apr 182013

A couple months ago, people were posting about a fare from DC to Johannesburg, mentioning that while it was a great fare in business class, it wasn’t really cheap enough to be considered a “milage run.” Well, I like to be comfortable, and with business fares earning 1.5 times the elite miles it was a no brainer for me. I tend to think if I can buy a business fare for less than 10 cents per elite mile I’m doing well, and with the limited time off I have it made this a no-brainer. The kicker was that my friend Dewon was already headed back to South Africa to renew a visa, and I could fly the outbound with him. A few days after booking, my friend Phil wanted to join me for the crazy milage run from DC, and we had the makings of an adventure!

Of course, since this was largely for the miles I devised the most insane routing I could to maximize the miles, and it went off without a hitch! All told, it would be around 33,000 elite miles earned, at the cost of only one day of leave…can’t complain too much! Soon, the day of the trip was here and it was time to go. I’m going to break this into three parts…. (1) the trip to South Africa aka this post, (2) our 1.5 days in South Africa, and (3) the trip back from South Africa. Warning, this part of the post will be extremely picture heavy!

Got to National Airport, check-in was fairly efficient, TSA was a non-event due to TSA Pre-Check, and soon we were in the United Club. I love the historic club at National Airport, not to mention the awesome bartender who makes the most amazing spicy bloody mary…perfect start to a big adventure!

United (operated by Shuttle America) flight 3523
Washington DC, National (DCA) to Chicago O’Hare (ORD)
Depart 10:35, Arrive 11:44, Flight Time 2:09
Embraer E-170, Registration N638RW, Manufactured 2004, Seat 2F

Not too much to say about this flight…it was a pretty generic express flight. One more drink, some “gourmet snack mix,” some crossword puzzles, and soon we were in Chicago.

Whenever I have time, it’s become an O’Hare ritual for me to swing by Chilis for some Tex Mex Eggrolls and a Platinum Presidente Margarita…couldn’t resist this time either. We had plenty of time, and the other option was to sit in a crowded United Club, so the choice was obvious!

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