South Africa | Jason Around the World

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!

Continue reading »

Swaziland to Mozambique

Mozambique, Restaurants, RTW 40th Birthday Trip, South Africa, Swaziland No Responses »

Nov 102011

First off apologies that this will be mainly a text post. I don’t know why I didn’t take more pictures on this leg…but just didn’t.

Got up pretty early to catch an early breakfast at the hotel in Swaziland, which was fascinating on its own. The buffet area was small – a dozen tables or so at the Mountain Inn – and most will filled with large South African tour groups. Regardless, we got a good breakfast, and got ready to head on our way. We’d planned to head out of Swaziland on the northern side via Pigg’s Peak, but there was very very thick fog, and the front desk advised us this route would not only be dangerous, but we were unlikely to see anything at all. Oh well – can’t control the weather!

Headed out via the west, and it was still very foggy. We had to get to Nelspruit, South Africa where we were due to catch a Greyhound bus to Mozambique. The drive was slow and quite foggy, but we still made it in plenty of time. Dropped off the car at the airport, and caught a way overpriced taxi back to the bus terminal. No problems at all – which in and of itself was quite surprising. Bus was even on time!

The bus was half full at most (and a double decker) and in less than two hours we were at the Mozambique border. We had purchased our visas in advance, so the border was a complete nonevent. We even had time for a couple pictures:

Ladysmith, South Africa to Swaziland

Restaurants, RTW 40th Birthday Trip, South Africa, Swaziland, Trips No Responses »

Nov 082011

Up early to explore Ladysmith before the long drive to Swaziland. Breakfast at the hotel was pretty uninspired, but given the location and what we’d seen of the hotel the night before that was perfectly fine. It was clean, sufficient, and we were on our way. First stop was the Ladysmith Town Hall to see the museum. Ladysmith was a key focal point in the Anglo-Boer wars in the early 20th century, and had an interesting museum to show for it. Unfortunately, it felt like the town never quite recovered all the way. A couple shots of the Town Hall / Museum:

Lesotho and Ladysmith, South Africa

Lesotho, Restaurants, RTW 40th Birthday Trip, South Africa No Responses »

Nov 072011

Slept in just a little, and woke up and drove up to the lodge for breakfast. It was just far enough that you didn’t want to walk it on a very very chilly morning. Breakfast was on the deck, and it was an amazing setting. I really want to come back here for a bit longer to do some hiking. The area is gorgeous.

After breakfast, we took a slow trip back to the room to pack up…a view of the five individual rooms at the resort: Continue reading »

Victoria Falls to Lesotho…the long way!

Flights, Lesotho, RTW 40th Birthday Trip, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe 2 Responses »

Nov 052011

So, there’s no easy way from Victoria Falls to Lesotho. One of our missions for our trip to South Africa was to check-off the two small countries surrounded by South Africa: Lesotho and Swaziland. Since some of our best vacation memories have been driving around the countryside, we decided to get a car and see if we could pull this off. Lots of friends, especially South African friends, said they would never do such a trip. Too dangerous, too boring, etc. Of course, that only encouraged us more.

Up early for another game drive, and this was the winner. Early in the drive, our guide got a call on the radio that there was a fresh kill…and we sped towards it just in time. We got there right after the kill, and were treated to this!

Don’t you DARE steal my food:

Manila, Philippines to Livingstone, Zambia

Flights, Germany, Philippines, RTW 40th Birthday Trip, South Africa, Zambia No Responses »

Oct 232011

So, this is probably not the most commonly flown route in the world – Philippines to Zambia? It was odd enough there were several stops along the way where agents had to look up three digit airport codes to figure out where it was, lol.

Checked in in Manila at oh-dark-thirty minus an hour, and no trouble. Once again, the airport improvement tax is not included in the ticket, but you can pay in any combination of currencies you want at the ticket window. Got rid of my leftover pesos, spent a few US dollars, and we were through to the Cathay Pacific Lounge. Perhaps the most depressing lounge on the planet. But, it was quiet, and we didn’t have to wait in a gate full of hundreds of people (ok, so we did have to sit with a dozen or more self-important types, but…) but there was Diet Coke, and all was right with the world.

Boarding was right on time, and the crew was pleasant. Not too much more you can ask for on a two hour regional flight!

Manila, Philippines to Hong Kong
Cathay Pacific flight 904
Depart 6:20, Arrive 8:20, Flight Time: 2 hours
Airbus A330-300, Registration B-HLH, Manufactured 1995
Seats 15H, 15K

Not much to say on this flight. Breakfast was served with two hot options, the eggs were almost edible, and before we knew it we were landing in Hong Kong. I forgot to say this flight had perhaps the best character we’ve ever seen He was walking with a “pimp cane” with a giant fake diamond on the top of it, and complaining loudly to everyone in site that he was not sitting next to his wife. Two people in a row declined to switch with them, and he only got more obnoxious, waving his cane in the air. It was something out of Las Vegas meets Bollywood meets a Trailer Park…eventually they got to sit together, and he was quiet the rest of the flight.

Immigration in Hong Kong was a bit of a nightmare, and we ended up waiting well over 30 minutes to get through. We hadn’t planned on clearing it, but there were no Lufthansa agents anywhere on the transfers side and we wanted to request the upgrade as soon as possible, so we went to the check-in desk. Quick stop for Starbucks, up to the check-in desks…and SCORE! They upgraded us on the spot. Life was good!

Back through immigration, and first stop was the Singapore lounge. It was adequate (despite there being no washroom in the lounge) but nothing great, so we headed to the Thai lounge, which had a dedicated first class side. Much better, drinks were provided by a waiter, and it was a much better (and lighter) place to wait. The Singapore lounge is in the basement of the terminal, while the Thai lounge is on the top level with a glass roof. Much better! Soon it was time to board…and pray.

See, Matt doesn’t have the best luck with Lufthansa First Class. On two different occasions, he’s had a disaster:

First, flying Dubai to Munich the aircraft went tits up with some sort of mechanical malfunction, and a 3+ hour delay…which would have meant missing connections back to the States. Now, this wasn’t all bad, since due to a bit of quick thinking we begged to be rebooked on Emirates…and did. On the A380. In first. Nonstop to London. Arriving over 30 minutes earlier! That said, Lufthansa was jinxed.

Next, flying London City to Frankfurt to connect to Frankfurt-Baku the incoming flight struck a swan. Well, they said it was a swan, but it was probably just some other sort of large fowl. Regardless, flight canceled, no way to get to Frankfurt in time, and a resulting downgrade to “business’ on Turkish via Istanbul and a nearly 18 hour delay. Fantastic. Something was SURE to go wrong again…right?

Hong Kong to Frankfurt, Germany
Lufthansa flight 739
Depart 12:45, Arrive 18:55, Flight Time: 12:10
Boeing 747-400, Registration D-ABVF, Manufactured 1990
Seats 83A, 83K

Well, everything went fine up until departure and after a couple of glasses of champagne we were airborne. Of course, this meant that we were sure to divert to Kraplakistan or something on the way. Hopefully to a country I hadn’t ticked off the list yet! 😉

Soon after we took off, the crew sprang into service, and soon it was time to set the table and deliver the amuse bouche.

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