I'm hoping to get some advice/guidance/input/suggestions on the following:

In Sept/Oct, I'm planning to go to Central Asia. As it stands now, I most want to travel in Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan. I will be buring my *Alliance miles for this. There are two possible scenarios:

--One is that I fly into Almaty, in Kazhkastan (where I have no desire to go, the new Borat film nonewithstanding), buy a relatively expensive visa, and journey overland to get to Taskent. The only reason I need to fly to Almaty is that I can't get anywhere closer to Uzbekistan using miles on Lufthansa, unless I transit though Inchon (Malaysia Air flies to Taskent), but I live on the east coast so that doesn't make much sense....

--The other option is to use miles to fly into Riga, and from there, get an airBaltic flight to Tashkent. And, that means that I could spend a couple of days in Riga, which I hear is lovely, but have a bit of timing hassles.

--airBaltic also appears to fly from Baku back to Riga; Lufthansa has flights from Baku as well....(but, I think, it's considered the Middle East, so more miles than to Riga...)

I've checked whichbudget.com, and can't find any other budget airlines that fly from Europe, including Turkey, to Central Asia. Does anyone out there in FT land know of others? In addition, any other suggestions for budget travel in the region, or any other routing suggestions? I'm obviously in the planning stages now, but since I want to fly on award tickets, I'm going to be trying to book them sometime in the beginning of the year.

Thanks!

We have good info in BT, but this may be better suited for *Alliance Forum.

I can move the thread there if you like (folks who post on FT tend to frown upon cross posting).

EmailKid
Budget Travel Moderator

Thanks....actually, I didn't know where this did belong...I guess it's a little bit of both! I'm actually more concerned, I think, with the budget aspect of this trip, then the *Alliance part.....

Would it work to keep this here, and then maybe later, if/when I have specific questions regarding routing on *Alliance carriers, post there?

Of course, I'm not trying to get around any of the rules here! :)

I note that Air Arabia is flying into Almaty (not to mention Kathmandu!), but you'll have to connect through the UAE (from Istanbul) to get there.

Almaty is a surprisingly nice city imo - it's not the concrete awfulness that is most other Kazakhstan cities, although it doesn't have any Samarkand-style mosques, that's for sure.

Edit: and having said that, how long are you going for? Don't underestimate the distances and (overland) travel hassles. Have you considered doing 2 out of 3 of Georgia/Armenia/Azerbaijan? (Sorry if this is patronizing!)

I don't have a lot of experience with this part of the world, but I will offer one word of caution with Air Baltic - they have an extremely expensive excess baggage policy, which can add huge amounts to the total cost of travel.

Allowance is 20kg, excess charge is almost $10 US per KILO. Allegedly they have a better policy for passengers connecting to Air Baltic from other international carriers, but it doesn't seem to always be applied. I have friends who were basically forced to pay the excess charges if they wanted to get on the plane, and they are now (unsuccessfully) trying to get money back.

Thanks for these replies. Although I'm just started the thinking/planning, I had heard something about Air Baltic's excess baggage costs. I'll look into into it more thoroughly, and will try to consider all options...including packing REALLY light!

Secretbunnyboy: No; you're not being patronizing! Actually, I returned from Georiga (one of the three!) about three weeks ago. I adored it there. And, it's nice to hear that Amaty is a surprisingly nice place. From everything I've read, it seems to be a place to spend about a day, max.

The trip is planned to be about three weeks. It would be Almaty to Tashkent (via Shykent) by fast train or bus....long, I know. (Or directly to Tashkent, if buses ply that route, and hassle with border formalities...) Then fly to Urgench, to visit Khiva (obviously), then overland to Bukhara, then on to Samarkand, then back to Tashkent.

From Tashkent, a flight to Baku.....thinking about a week in Azerbaijan....

I could fly home on a *Allliance flight from Baku, or do the Air Baltic thing from Baku to Riga, and fly home from there. (Or, fly home from Baku. I have some mileage concerns re: Baku, and this way, while it's not quite in the neighborhood, I could visit Riga for a day or two for about $100 on way home....)

So, does this sound at all plausable???

Thanks again everyone!

You know, you might want to check out how much it actually costs to fly between Almaty and Tashkent. Although you won't find anyone cheaper than me, it could be money well spent to avoid a lost day on the bus/train. The road between the two cities is pretty dangerous (road safety wise), too, so I'd be very tempted to take the sleeper train if at all possible.

I haven't been to Uzbekistan for so long that I have no useful advice.

Riga's a nice place for a couple of days, too - if you're going to be in the area, it might be a shame to miss it. A week is definitely enough for Baku, imvho!

Good luck, though, it sounds great. How cold will it be?

oh, the week-10 days is for all of Azerbaijan! I think no more than 2-3 days in Baku.

Will check out flight costs from Almaty to Tashkent...so, this is all immensly doable in 3 weeks, including travel time, right?

I've been on other forums, and someone just said that right now it was about 70F in Bukhara....and, no 'crowds' now! I think Oct will be perfect time. Don't know about Riga, or the mtns in AZ, though....