Jan 282013
 

After getting off the plane, the first thing that surprised me was…the jetway! I knew lots had changed in Yangon since my last trip in 2005, but was surprised to see a modern airport with jetways and all. A short walk down the corridor to the arrivals hall led us to a modern facility with huge lines – another flight had obviously arrived just before ours. When I last visited, the entire airport was basically two large room: departures and arrivals, and it looked like one big warehouse. The airport, it turns out, was just going to be the first of many surprises.

I’d gotten my visa at the embassy in Washington DC a couple weeks prior, and had absolutely no trouble with it at immigration. No questions on why I was only staying 14 hours, and I was out in the arrivals hall maybe 10-15 minutes after arriving. Decided I didn’t want to deal with the taxi situation and negotiating, so used one of the vendors in the arrivals hall who quoted me 8,000 kyat or $10 for the ride to the hotel. More than reasonable, and the car turned out to be rather new as well. When I’d last been in Yangon 7 years ago, finding any cars from the last 20 years was nearly impossible and the ones you did find were usually missing windows, or some other miscellaneous non-essential part. Again, major progress.

I’d decided since I was only staying one night to stay at the Traders hotel. It was a bit more expensive than I’d hoped to pay, but I knew this late in the trip I’d want something more comfortable and don’t regret my choice. Quick check-in, paid up front in crisp new US dollars cash, and I was off again for a short taxi ride to vist the Shwedagon Pagoda. I spent about an hour there walking around and just taking it in, but unfortunately all of my pictures turned out pretty blurry. So, instead, I’ll just post one from my prior trip since I wasn’t writing this blog then.

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Taxi back to the hotel, and went in search of convenient food options.  There was a buffet restaurant which was absolutely packed with tourists (never would have seen that before) and also a pub on the second floor.  Both had the same a la carte menu, so opted for the a la carte in the pub since it was also happy hour and had two for one drinks.  This included giant 750ml bottles of Myanmar beer for $2 (yes, that means $1 each) and the happy hour also included bottled water, etc.  Total bill for two large beers, a club sandwich, and two bottles of water?  $16.  Can’t complain about that, and the sandwich was actually relatively tasty as well.

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Decided to call it an early night after this, since I had to be up pretty early the next morning to begin my very long trek home.  Quick review on the hotel beyond the food above:  the staff were all helpful and friendly, though still getting used to dealing with tourists in the way that most western tourists would expect.  This is part of the charm of Myanmar though, and was never a problem.  The room was clean and comfortable, with a minibar, a comfortable bed, and a relatively basic but complete and clean bathroom.  Overall solid three star quality room and certainly one of the nicer options in the city.

Posted in the bathroom, however, were some rather amusing tips should you want to go running:

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So, remember:  don’t run if you feel giddy kids!

Now…unless you read Flyertalk or other travel blogs, you’re probably wondering – why in the world did I get a visa to go somewhere as out of the way as Myanmar and only spend 14 hours?!  Well, around six or so months ago, the Myanmar government decided to allow the currency to freely float, and overnight the market exchange rate plummeted by roughly 100 times.  Thus, plane tickets originating in Myanmar that were priced in Kyat became roughly 1% the price in US$.  So, a one-way business class ticket that was $8000 plus taxes/fees before, was suddenly $80 plus taxes/fees.  Even with add-ons and such, I’d managed to get Myanmar all the way back to Washington DC for approximately $800 in business class.  At the time, there were only about five airlines pricing tickets in Kyat, and it took them several days to realize what had happened.  By that point, thousands of tickets had been sold.

I’m not going to discuss the ethics of this here, other than to say these airlines had a choice to price in dollars (like most airlines did) and chose local currency.  My view is that most large corporations have a large finance complex that is supposed to manage things like foreign exchange risk, and in this case they failed to do it.  Companies don’t give me another chance when I miss a sale, so I don’t feel I need to remind them that they forgot to hedge appropriately – again, my opinion only.

As for why I only stayed 18 hours, that’s another matter.  When this fare was available, I tried to book as many as possible and ended up with three trips.  Unfortunately, my first two where I’d expected a much longer stay so I could see more places, ended up having to be canceled due to other commitments, leaving me with only this one…and by the time I knew that, it was too difficult to re-arrange my schedule to have more time there.  Unfortunate, but I’m sure I’ll be back soon!

 

Jan 212013
 

Slept nearly 10 hrs, and woke up feeling even more like death than the night before.  Ugh!

Went to the Sheraton Executive lounge for the breakfast, where there was fresh-squeezed orange juice.  Fantastic.  I think I had 3 or 4 glasses, along with several espressos, and began to feel marginally functional.  Rather than deal with a cab, I decided to take the hotel shuttle to the airport for 10 TND, and be at least marginally more comfortable.

Check-in for Lufthansa at Tunis took an eternity – or at least it felt like that.  Waited in line for at least 15 minutes, and even then they could only check me in for the first segment to Frankfurt…and seats?  It was one of those old 1980s sticker maps where they peeled a sticker off a sheet with your seat assignment.  Once all the stickers were gone, there were no more seats.  Anyone have a clue why Tunis operates SO old school?   It’s as if they’re not connected to any global systems at all!

Through immigration and security, and into the TunisAir lounge which is used by Lufthansa.  First time in ages I’ve seen a lounge where smoking is permitted…ug.  Not what I needed with a horrid cold and congestion already.  Combine that with three or four sick people in the lounge who made me look like I was a rolemodel of health, and it wasn’t the recipe for the best time.  I was ready to get out of there!  The lounge did have a buffet and drinks (I did have one glass of wine…it kills germs, I swear) but I didn’t explore it much so can’t really comment on the quality.

Lufthansa Flight 1323
Tunis, Tunisia (TUN) to Frankfurt, Germany (FRA)
Depart 13:40, Arrive 16:25, Flight Time 2:45
Airbus A319, Registration D-AIQF, Manufactured 1991, Seat 2F

I honestly don’t remember this flight too much.  We boarded just 5 minutes before departure, and ended up leaving nearly 20 minutes late…getting into Frankfurt 20 minutes late.  This brought my connection down to barely an hour….totally doable, but definitely not optimal in Frankfurt.  There was a full meal offered with two meal choices, but I skipped it so can’t comment on it.  Seemed to be the pretty typical Lufthansa meal, nothing overly special.  I spent most of the flight dozing in and out and watching some tv on the iPad…just trying to get through it.

The one big disappointment upon landing in Frankfurt – although we were at a remote bus gate, there was no car transfer waiting for me.  I had to take a bus to the terminal, and use the regular security lines with everyone else.  I’m not complaining, but part of the reason I’d booked a first award was that being sick I wanted the absolute minimum time standing around and waiting, and wanted to be as comfortable as possible.  Waiting in a cold bus, and long hot security lines…not my idea of fun.  Service failure:  Lufthansa.

Got to the lounge in Frankfurt with about five minutes to use it, but that was enough time to get a few glasses of water and freshen up again before heading to the next flight.  The lounge agents were very apologetic, but nothing they could do about the missed transfer request at this point.

Lufthansa Flight 118
Frankfurt, Germany (FRA) to Munich, Germany (MUC)
Depart 18:00, Arrive 19:05, Flight Time 1:05
Airbus A320, Registration D-AIQK, Manufactured 1991, Seat 7F

For some reason, Lufthansa had blocked off nine rows for business on this flight, despite there only being 8 people total in business class.  Economy was pretty full, so no clue what they were thinking.  There was a small snack on this flight, but again, I skipped it and had only water so can’t really comment on it.  We arrived in Munich nearly 20 minutes early, and at an actual gate, so I had plenty of time to unwind in the lounge – over two hours!

The lounge was actually relatively full when I arrived just after 7pm, but it did thin out quite a bit by 9pm.  The lounge attendants couldn’t have been more wonderful.  I was blowing my nose a lot, and she actually brought me two small packs of kleenexes to take with me on the flight – that’s service!  Had several glasses of water, and couldn’t resist a couple glasses of champagne, otherwise just tried to relax and take it easy as much as possible.  Caught up on some stuff online, and before I knew it it was time to head to the gate and board.

Lufthansa Flight 730
Munich, Germany (MUC) to Hong Kong (HKG)
Depart 21:55, Arrive 16:05 Next Day, Flight Time 11:10
Airbus A340-600, Registration D-AIHU, Manufactured 2008, Seat 2K

This flight was absolutely wonderful.  That’s the only word I have for it.  First was only booked to 5 of 8 seats, including a mother and approx 8yo son in the first row…but he was perfectly behaved.  The minute I was seated, the pre-departure treats arrived!  Mmmm macadamia nuts and champagne.

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Jan 192013
 

Woke up the next morning, feeling like I’d been hit by a small truck. Full-on nasty cold…great…just what I need in the middle of a round the world trip. Guide insisted I needed to be at the airport three hours before my flight, but finally agreed with me that two hours would be sufficient but “I’m taking a risk.” The hotel was once again super helpful – when I told them I needed to get going early, they had the whole breakfast buffet out at 630am for me. Fantastic!

Guide showed up to say goodbye, and sent me on my way to the airport with the driver. Supposedly the driver was supposed to get me checked in for the flight because it’s “very complicated” but there was nowhere to park so I was on my own…and it was a total nonevent. Took all of two minutes to check-in, but boarding passes were handwritten and changing seats? Forget it. “No, that’s your seat!” Uhhhh, ok then!

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Through security which was a bit on the confusing side, through immigration where I got no questions at all, and into the common waiting hall.  There was a lounge, but apparently it was the wrong lounge for TunisAir.  For that, I had to take the lift up to the next floor – ok, that works.  The lounge was pretty big, and had maybe a dozen people total in it and a decent selection of food and drink…nonalcoholic of course.  A few diet cokes helped with the cold, and the WiFi was pretty fast so overall a decent place to wait and there was a really good view of the planes coming and going.

Each gate had its own holding area, and I got down maybe 10 minutes before boarding…just enough time to hang around.  The most interesting first observation was the number of women wearing headcoverings of various sorts on the flight.  I saw hardly any women covered in Libya, but it appeared that in Tunisia that was more or less the norm.

TunisAir Flight 512
Tripoli, Libya (TIP) to Tunis, Tunisia (TUN)
Depart 10:15, Arrive 11:30, Flight Time 1:15
Airbus A320, Registration TS-IME, Manufactured 1990, Seat 5A

Seat 2D, which I’d been informed was where I was sitting was an aisle, but 2F was occupied (the plane was in the european config where business was the same as economy, with the middle seats blocked) and rows 5 and 6 were completely empty so after asking the flight attendant if I could move I went back to 5A to get a window and a whole row.  The crew was a bit odd, in that when addressed in French (not just by me, but others as well) they responded in English.  Arabic, no problem, they spoke Arabic back…but they seemed to not want to speak French.  However, after continuing in French long enough they’d eventually switch.  It was strange.  Took me about 3-4 interactions before they’d speak French…odd.

Anyways, shortly after takeoff, the crew came around with table coverings…high class for those of us used to flying in the US.  They were paper, but still…it was Espace Privlège!

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…but PLIEZ, fold the airsickness bag when you’re done, LOL!

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Jan 192013
 

On day three, we once again got a not-too-early start at 9am for the drive to what was promised to be the highlight of the trip: the ruins of Leptis Magna. Leptis Magna is located around 130 km to the east of Tripoli, and the road is in pretty good shape the whole way. The drive took nearly two hours, but that is because the suburbs of Tripoli just sprawl and sprawl, and it was a good while before we were able to get any decent speed going.

Leptis Magna was initially founded somewhere around 1100 BC by the Phonecians, and really finally grew under Carthage around 400 BC. Around 200 BC it was conquered by the Romans in the Punic Wars, and that’s when it really began to thrive, and it’s that period that most of the ruins seem to be from, although some go back to the times of Carthage as well. Around 400 AD the Vandals conquered Leptis Magna, and it declined relatively quickly.

Approaching the ruins, the first ruin we came across was the Arch of Septimus Severus, built in the year 203 AD. It is restored, and thought to be a gift from the Emperor when he returned to Leptis Magna as a gift.

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Continuing past the arch, the next area was the Plastra, a 3rd century courtyard for several different sports.  It was in front of the Hadrian Baths, built under Emperor Hadrian between 126-127 AD.

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Jan 182013
 

We decided to head out at 9am again on the second day, since once again it would involve quite a bit of driving. The plan was to take the airport road south out of Tripoli, stopping by the ruins of the Qadaffi compound on the way, and then heading to the Nafusa mountains and the town of Garyan.

The former Qadaffi compound (known as the Bab Al-Aziza) sits on a roundabout on the airport road on the south side of Tripoli, right before you leave the main part of the city on the way to the airport. It used to sit on several square city blocks, taking up a huge amount of real estate. NATO airstrikes did quite a number on this place, but ever defiant, one of Qadaffi’s sons sneaked out through its network of underground tunnels and actually gave a press conference at a hotel on the other side of the roundabout. Eventually, near the end when Tripoli fell, revolutionaries burst through the gates and pretty much took anything that wasn’t bolted down. Now, the entire site is a huge heap of rubble more or less.

The remains of the main headquarters building:

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Jan 172013
 

I had arranged with my guide the night before to pick me up at the (very quiet) hotel at 9 the next morning, and we had a decently long drive planned to see a couple of sights before returning to Tripoli for a short walking tour of the old city. As I mentioned, I was the only guest in the hotel but that didn’t stop them from setting out the whole breakfast buffet just for me. Fresh orange juice, breads, jams, cheeses, and instant coffee….argh. Somehow, I managed to survive on instant coffee for four days, which was a minor miracle in itself!

Our first stop for the day was the town of Zawiyah, located around 50km to the west of Tripoli. Between March 6 and 8, 2011 there were large-scale protests in Zawiyah, and rebels/protesters took the town. After some very nasty fighting Qadaffi troops took it back on March 10. Protests picked up again in a few days, and continued through August when Qadaffi troops were finally forced to abandon the city on their retreat towards Tripoli. All around the main town centre were buildings that had been heavily damaged by the fighting. A government building:

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Jan 152013
 

Airport was a quick taxi ride, and check-in with Air Malta was very quick as well.  Perhaps the most unusual thing about the airport was the giant manger scene set up out front – at least one country still celebrates Christmas instead of all this overly-PC “Happy Holidays” stuff.

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Through immigration and security in probably 10 minutes tops, and ended up with nearly two hours to kill in the lounge. The Air Malta lounge was nothing special, but had a decent selection of beverages (serve yourself) along with more of the same red wine. I’m pretty convinced there might only be one vineyard in Malta that supplies the entire country. Plenty of seats in the lounge, plenty of outlets, pretty much ticked all the boxes for “good for meeting your basic needs, but not worth getting to the airport early to experience.”

Air Malta flight 696
Malta (MLA) to Tripoli, Libya (TIP)
Depart 17:00, Arrive 18:00, Flight Time 1:00
Airbus A320, Registration 9H-AEQ, Manufactured 2007, Seat 5A Continue reading »

Jan 122013
 

So I landed in Malta just after noon, and decided to take the shared shuttle to the hotel. All in all not a bad deal – had to wait about 15 minutes for it, and it was 8 euros as opposed to the 22 euros I paid for a taxi back the next day. Only made a couple stops, so unless you have lots of baggage I’d recommend it as a good option. Got to the hotel around 2, and had enough time for a short walk around, dinner, and then another half day or so of exploring before a late afternoon flight the next day. My plan was to get a quick sense of the place the first afternoon, so I had a better idea what I wanted to see the next day.  Warning, this is going to be a very picture-intensive post!

Upgraded to a junior suite at the Le Meridian, and a couple great views of Balluta Bay from the balcony of my room:

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Jan 102013
 

When planning this trip, Malta was a pretty obvious starting point.  It was close to Libya, I hadn’t been, and it seemed most logical to combine it with Libya and Tunisia since flight schedules were good.  Plus, it would keep my award as a US to Europe award, instead of the extra miles required for a north Africa award.  Initially, I’d booked my award from home in DC, routing DCA-YYZ-FRA-MLA and I was excited to try Air Canada business class transatlantic for the first time.  Later on, MSP-ORD-YYZ opened up, and I was able to change the award to depart directly from Minneapolis after visiting family.  One thing I didn’t think of at the time…the departure from MSP was at 8am.  Ug.

Weather was also not looking good on the 24th.  There was a major storm headed towards the east coast, and it was unclear if it would be snow, ice, or some slushy nasty combo of the two.  I played around for two days, and eventually settled on a MSP-PHL-FRA-MLA routing on US Airways.  FRA-MLA had been sold out for over a month, so I was shocked how willing agents were to retain the segment and just change the start.  Plus, this left MSP at 11:00 which would allow a bit of a lay-in and time for breakfast before heading out.  Also, I’d never flown US transatlantic, so it would be a chance for a new experience…albeit with VERY low expectations.  I knew US had refreshed the seats on their A330s, but I figured service would still be more miss than hit.

Check-in was a piece of cake at MSP, and I had time to grab some unhealthy kibble at the Red Carpet Club in the MSP E Terminal before boarding.

US Airways flight 1834
Minneapolis/St Paul (MSP) to Philadelphia (PHL)
Depart 11:00, Arrive 14:31, Flight Time 2:31
Embraer ERJ-190, Registration N947UW, Manufactured 2007, Seat 1D

One thing I found unusual is that US Airways operations their ERJ 190s with mainline crew.  I’d taken the ERJ 175s several times which were operated by Republic, but with just a few more setas the 190s were mainline.  Flight itself was remarkably unremarkable.  Snack basket, drinks, and about 45 minutes of circling around PHL waiting to land due to storm-related congestion.  In the end, no real big deal…except for the fact I’d had a friend call United when I was in the air, and see about changing my routing to PHL-DTW-FRA in order to fly Lufthansa first…and it seems the United agent had booked it!

One problem…while I was in the air PHL-DTW canceled, leaving US to try and rebook me PHL-CLT-FRA instead.  What a mess!  Fortunately PHL-FRA wasn’t heavily booked, and it was easy to get it back.  Spent about 30 minutes in the lounge at PHL, where I got one coupon for a “premium drink” for flying business.  Premium drink?  Wines that they sell for $7 a glass are premium?  I shudder at what the free wines must be!  The bartender WAS nice enough to say “if you want another glass, just go ask for another coupon, they’re meaningless and you can get as many as you want.”  LOL.

US Airways flight 700
Philadelphia (PHL) to Frankfurt (FRA)
Depart 16:30, Arrive 06:15 + 1 Flight Time 7:45
Airbus A330-300, Registration N274AY, Manufactured 2000, Seat 6H

My first impression after boarding was just how IKEA the cabin looked.  Light woods, bright, and overall very pleasant feeling.  Initial impressions were pretty good!

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A glass of champagne wass offered (they insisted it was Champagne, despite being some California bubbly thing), which was followed by a second.  So far so good – you can see just how gross it was outside, and the reason for the delays in PHL:

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Jan 082013
 

It all started back in 2009 – I decided I was bored with New Years in general, so decided to spice it up by taking a trip somewhere a little unusual….Iraq! It became a bit of an annual tradition, doing New Years 2011 in Afghanistan and Iran, and then last year 2012 visiting Somalia.

How to top that in 2013? Easy enough…Libya was soon planned, booked and I was ready to go. Of course, then that whole little Benghazi incident happened, and I was a little nervous about it, but still decided to go through with it. I guess this means it’s time to start searching for 2014 – Syria perhaps?

I’ll be breaking the trip report into roughly the following parts (subject to change as I get writing):

I. Minneapolis to Malta on US Airways and Lufthansa
II. Exploring Malta, and the Sheraton Malta
III. Malta to Tripoli, Libya on Air Malta, and Libya hotel
IV. Day 1 in Libya: Zawiyah and Sabrata
V. Day 2 in Libya: Tripoli and Garyan
VI. Day 3 in Libya: Leptis Magna
VII. Libya to Tunis on TunisAir, and Sheraton Tunis, Bardo Museum
VIII. Tunis to Yangon via Hong Kong on Lufthansa First + Thai A380 and the W Hong Kong
IX. Quick transit in Yangon…and why am I here?!
XII. Yangon to Washington DC via Singapore