Moomba

After completing my first round the world trip in December 2006 I gradually felt the urge growing stronger to do it all again.

This past year was a relatively quiet one for me on the travel front. It was, for me, the year of redemptions. Award trips to Japan (definitely the highlight of the year), Singapore and Oz (in QF First) during the year, a paid trip to Hong Kong, a fabulous DO in Islay and another redemption trip to Oz for the New Year were the biggest events on my travel calendar.

This quietness all changes in 2008 with a, I like to think, creative use of paid for trips, award trips and an ex Mauritius round the world ticket. I think I might be a tease and not tell you when and where I will be; you’ll have to come back and visit to see what I am up to.

I must have spent tens of hours hovering over schedules, expert flyer and other websites. I have changed my mind dozens of times on the routing of the RTW, booked and cancelled several awards and paid flights, booked hotels, cancelled hotels, searched FT, asked questions on FT and arranged one commercially booked tour to end up with the dates and routing I am about to embark on. As it stands only ¾ of the RTW ticket segments have dates attached. The remaining portions will probably be early in 2009.

For me half the fun was in the planning but the best part if yet to come.

Safe to say though that those of you with a hankering for the detail (on the flight bits anyway) should enjoy the next 8 or so months.

I suppose this will end up more of a blog than a trip report in that I intend to write a little or a lot, on most travel related activities I will be pursuing this year.

As a bit of a teaser I will tell you some of the things I am most looking forward to.

• First visit to Mauritius
• First visit to Alaska
• First visit to Taipei
• Spending my Birthday on CX in F (again)
• Reims DO (and that doesn’t even involve any flying)
• Another Scottish Islands DO – Orkney this time
• Lufthansa First Class Terminal (twice)
• Thai First (first time)
• Singapore Air First (first time on 77W, only SIN-HKG though)
• South African Airways (first flight with them)

It has not started on the best of notes for me personally as I have been suffering from the head cold from hell over the last few days. I hope it will have settled somewhat before my first flight on this adventure tomorrow afternoon.

In the meantime if any of you want a taste of what is about to spew forth from my fingers feel free to click on the links above which are all TRs I have done in the past on FT.

As to the “Passion or Addiction” title of this TR? I am yet to figure out which it is. Perhaps you can help out.

Happy Travels
Moomba

P.S. Embedded Pics or Links? I prefer links for when using slower connections. Anyone else have any opinions on this?


INDEX TO TRIP POSTS
Part 1 Getting to MRU to start the RTW - LH J/F LHR-FRA
Part 2 Still getting to MRU - SA J JNB-MRU
Part 3 Back to Jo'burg and Home to London to work, on the first 2 sectors of RTW - BA J (Comair) & BA F MRU-JNB
Part 4 The middle east for a mileage run - BA F LHR-AUH
Part 5 The MR and home to London to work - BA F AUH-MCT-AUH-LHR
Part 6 To the worlds most beautiful city - BA F LHR-YVR
Part 7 New Cathay F to The Big Apple - CX F YVR-JFK
Part 8 The worlds dreariest mileage run - AA J JFK-SJU-DFW
Part 9 Park the RTW and Home to London - AA F/J DFW-JFK-LHR
Bits and Bobs Part 1 Orkney for the weekend via T5 - BA/Loganair Domestic LHR-EDI-KOI-EDI-LHR
Bits and Bobs Part 2 Reims for the Champagne DO - Eurostar & TGV
Bits and Bobs Part 3 Day 1 Another Nutty Trip to Hong Kong for a day! CX J LHR - HKG
Bits and Bobs Part 3 Day 2 Mileage run to BKK and Back on TG F HKG - BKK - HKG
Bits and Bobs Part 3 Day 3 Back to Sunny England NZ Style NZ J HKG - LHR
Bits and Bobs Part 4 Day 1 "You do things I can only ever dream of" NZ J LHR - HKG and SQ F HKG - SIN
Bits and Bobs Part 4 Day 2 St Regis Singapore - a blow by blow description
Bits and Bobs Part 4 Day 3 A little bit of Heaven SQ F SIN - LHR
Part 10 Back to the US to pick up the RTW AA J LHR - DFW AA F DFW - AUS
Part 11 North To Alaska AA F AUS - DFW - ANC
My Alaskan Adventure - definitely a passion
Part 12 A Sad Goodbye to the Great Frozen North AA F ANC - DFW - JFK AA J JFK - LHR
Bits and Bobs Part 5 Island DO III - Orkney BA/Loganair Domestic LHR-EDI-KOI-ABZ-LHR
Bits and Bobs Part 6 - Mileage Run - LX J LCY - ZRH - IST - ZRH - LHR
Bits and Bobs Part 7 - A weekend in EDI - BD Y LHR - EDI - LHR
Bits and Bobs Part 8 Day 1 - A MR to ORD - AA J LHR - ORD
Bits and Bobs Part 8 Day 2 - A MR to ORD - AA J ORD - LHR
Part 13 Back to JFK to pick up the RTW AA J LHR - JFK
Part 14 In the lap of luxury CX F JFK - HKG
Part 15 Home for my Dad's 80th Birthday celebrations CX J HKG - MEL
Part 16 Back to London to do some work CX J MEL - HKG - LHR
Part 17 A re-jig, another re-jig and a play in the Clubhouse SQ F LHR - SIN
Part 18 More seduction in the hands of the Singapore girls and boys SQ F SIN - HKG
Part 19 On with the AONE to the Land of the Rising Sun CX F HKG - NRT
Part 20 Champagne drinking championships JL F NRT - SIN
Part 21 Didn't you just come from there? CX F HKG - BKK - SIN SQ F SIN - BKK
Part 22 Back to Work I Must Go TG F BKK - LHR
Bits and Bobs Part 9 - A wet weekend in Stockholm BA J LHR - ARN - LHR
Bits and Bobs Part 10 - A week in beautiful BC Day 1 BA J LHR - YVR
Bits and Bobs Part 10 - A week in beautiful BC Days 2-5 Orca Airways Y YVR - YAZ (Tofino)
Bits and Bobs Part 10 - A week in beautiful BC Day 6 Orca Airways Y YAZ - YVR
Bits and Bobs Part 10 - A week in beautiful BC Day 7 BA J YVR - LHR
Bits and Bobs Part 11 New York for a long weekend Day 1 BA F LHR - JFK
Bits and Bobs Part 11 New York for a long weekend Days 2-4 BA F JFK - LHR
Part 23 To SIN to Finish the RTW BA F LHR - HKG CX J HKG - SIN
Part 24 To OZ Again QF F SIN - MEL
Part 25 A shorter than expected trip to NZ QF J MEL - AKL
Part 26 One Last trip to OZ QF J AKL - SYD
Part 27 Home the LONG way round QF F SYD - JNB BA F JNB - LHR


FLIGHTS INDEX

BiziBB

Moomba,
You are a tease.
When is the first instalment? No trip = no report?

I would love to vicariously visit Mauritius, so please make sure you see a lot and try a lot of interesting food, to get us to follow in your tracks.

I hope your Thai F isn't on a kangaroo route (unless you're here before it is canned).

As for photos, liks to an album is the way to go.

chris78cpr

Ahhhh Moomba, i totally agree with Bizi's comment. You are being such a tease with this one. I do love following people's RTW trips, the best sort of reports i think! Well that and Kiwiflyer's insane schedule of flying. The SAA flight is something i'm really looking forward to reading about.

From the sounds of it are you on two rtw's? Or a seperate award tkt? Obviosuly there is some form of *A rtw ticket, but a segment in CX F isn't going to be included!

Anyway, enjoy your flight out to Mauritius, hopefully your not going to endure the zoo that is LHR but i imagine you will have to.

I quite like embedded pics but you are right, viewing them whilst on a slow connection is a nightmare.

Good luck!

Chris

Moomba

Patience. I head out of the joy that is LHR T2 tomorrow afternoon GMT.

I will do my best. Unfortunately time is of the essence and I am only in MRU for 2 days.

Nope it is a redemption from BKK-LHR so hopefully that route is not going to be messed with by TG.

Well the SAA part has a bit of a story around it ending in a, depending on how you look at it, less than ideal introduction to SA.

Originally I had snagged a Business class redemption LHR-JNB-MRU on SAA but got the jitters when I realised I had left no room for error if things went pear shaped. My ex MRU flight was the 16th of Feb and I was due to arrive on the 15th. But if I misconnected there was no other SAA option until the 16th which arrives 10 minutes before my BA (Comair) flight out back to JNB.

As one of the many book, cancel, book scenarios I cancelled the SAA flights and booked a paid for O/W on BA direct into MRU for the 13th of Feb.

After this I was able change my outbound from MRU to the 17th which meant I would have been safe anyway. I changed my outbound from MRU and went back to the drawing board with the how to get there. I didn't particularly want to pay the O/W fare on BA to get there. I then noticed award availability but only on LH in F (oh the torture of it all) but needed to spend a day in JNB in order to connect onwards to MRU.

Which leaves me with the next few days routing. LHR-FRA-JNB (J & F) with a couple of hours to get acquainted with the duckies with the lederhosen in the FCT. Then a day in JNB (probably in bed if this damn cold doesn't get lost soon) and on to MRU on the same flight on SAA I was originally booked on in J on Friday. Confused? I am.

Close but no cigar. It is a Oneworld RTW ticket with lots of BMI cash and mile redemption flights and some paid Oneworld and *A flights in the mix to boot.

Sorry for the tease. I was sitting at home with this rotten cold and bored so I thought I would make a start on this report. Hopefully the first of the real reports will be posted sometime early next week.

Gatwick Alan

No question its an addiction. I did my first RTW thanks to Flyertalk and am doing my fourth next month. I always enjoy your reports. I partly blame you for me becoming addicted in the first place.

chris78cpr

Wow, sounds like a complicated set of flights. Sounds like your going to have a whale of a time. Knowing that little bit more im even more excited about reading the report now! Enjoy your flight tommorrow. I'm off to LHR T3 on saturday! Not a place i enjoy.

Cheers, Chris

serfty

I suggest centred image "Thumbnails" < 10Kb, with embedded links to larger versions.

Syntax:

"[CENTRE][URL=<image url>[IMG]<image thumbnail URL>[/IMG]<new line>
<Image Title/Desc>[/URL][/CENTER]"

e.g.

Kiwi Flyer

Oh good. First a long awaited trip report by Seat 2A and now one by Moomba as well ^^^. Perfect to read on some upcoming flights.

For me, addiction.

Moomba

The Photos

Finally it all begins again and the day has come for me to set off on another adventure in the pointy end of several aircraft.

I started the day by calling in sick to work for the third day in a row as my cold was still kicking around. It had been so bad that I had spent the previous day working out if I could re-book the whole thing for next week. My plans were thwarted by the lack of last minute availability on my awards flights to MRU.

As the day wore on I started to feel a little better but was still pretty tired and drained by the time I walked up to the tube to start my journey to the airport.
A pretty routine, for me now, two tube ride to Paddington and then Heathrow Express to London Heathrow was on the cards. I caught the on time and running to schedule for a change HEX at 15:25.

On arrival I headed to the dingy, low ceiling, abomination that is T2 at LHR.

The LH First desk was busy so I waltzed up to the Business class desk instead. The lass checked me in for my LHR-FRA and FRA-JNB legs confirming my desire for a window seat on both sectors. She asked me to wait for a moment and went a rustled up an escort to take me to the head of the security queue at T2.
There was still a queue of 10 or so people once I had gotten past the queue dragon where my escort had deposited me. After a couple of minutes I realised I had done it again! Yep as with my Japan trip I had failed to collect my travel money airside, so I back tracked and asked one of the staffers to let me out. Travelex was right in front of me so I proceeded to collect my money and then re-joined the now non-existent queue for security again.
I picked the "shoes on" queue and was through in a couple of minutes. I was chosen though to have the latest in terrorist threats, sunscreen, swabbed before being allowed to pass through.

After clearing security I headed straight for the extremely busy LH Business Lounge where I had a couple of glasses of juice and popped a couple of cold and flu tablets.

The lounge itself seemed like a bog standard LH lounge with the usual offerings of sandwiches, nuts, tea, coffee, sprits, wine, beer etc.
I wandered down to the gate lounge around 16:30 where boarding had not yet commenced. I sat in the lounge until most people had boarded and then walked onto the plane.

Flight LH 4733 LHR – FRA Seat 6K
Aircraft: A300-600
Departure time: 17:05

After boarding the captain announced that there would be a 40 minutes ATC delay. No pre flight drinks were offered although some passengers were given a refresher towel and a chocolate. I missed out though for some reason.

Eventually we took off at 17:50 and were in the air just as the day was passing into night. A light meal was served during the flight that consisted of a small serving of smoked salmon, lobster tail with some green stuff of unknown ingredients. To accompany this was a small plate of cheese and an olive. Wine and bread was offered a couple of times during the meal and followed up with coffee or tea service.

The flight was pretty uneventful and we were soon on the ground at FRA. As we did the 3 miles taxi, I was thinking to myself this must be the only time when someone would actually want to park at an outstand. As luck would have it we did indeed pull up at an outstand. As I climbed down the stairs there was a man standing there with a sign with my name and two others on it. He directed me into the awaiting limo van. After the other two joined us he drove us to the terminal building whilst the rest of the plane was still boarding the bus.

I walked straight up to an empty non-EU passport immigrations desk and was on my way to the First class check-in a minute later.

The lovely agent there called the lounge for me to organise a shuttle to collect me. After 10 minutes or so I was escorted out to a van and driven to the First Class Terminal.

On arrival there was no one around but the security staff, one of whom ran inside in search of some of the lounge staff.

Finally through and into the lounge I sat down thinking, just my luck. This is the second time I have been to the FCT at FRA and the both times I been feeling out of sorts. On my first visit last year I had a killer headache and this time the head cold from hell.

I wasn’t in the mood for much food but did accept a glass of Tattinger champagne and some nuts to nibble on.

I and several others were collected at around 22:20 and driven over to the aircraft in a Benz vans.

Flight LH 572 FRA - JNB Seat 83A
Aircraft: B747-400
Departure time: 22:40

On board at last I sat down and my jacket and roll aboard were swiftly dealt with by the crew. A glass of champagne was offered along with some cashews and almonds.

The flight was full upstairs in the First class section.

The captain came on the horn and told us we had a delay as they needed to offload some bags due to a no show. I still don’t understand how people manage to do this.

The LH pyjamas were handed out along with an amenity kit with a decent toothbrush, toothpaste, clarins moisturiser and the usual other goodies. Something new for this trip was the addition of a pair of slippers to the ensemble.

We eventually pushed back and were hurtling down the runway at 23:13.

After the seat belt signs were switched off the wine list and menu were handed out.

The menu:

Dreamer’s Delight
Use the time on board to get some restful sleep;
In the form of our Dreamer’s Delight a select meal served in one course.

Cold Gourmet Plate
Tandoori fried Prawns and Tuna marinated in Sesame with grilled Vegetables

Or

Hot Specialty
Breast of Guinea Fowl filled with Mushrooms on Sweet Potato Puree

Cheese and Dessert
Morbier, Brie, Comte Cheese garnished with Grapes and Celery
Fresh Fruit

Menu
Choice of Hors d’oeuvres
Caviar with the traditional Garnishes

Lobster-Artichoke Terrine served with Seafood Sauce

Bundnerfleisch, Air-dried Beef Swiss-style and Gouda Flan with green Asparagus

Chicory with Pear Chutney, Roquefort and roasted Pine Nuts

Salad
Curly Endive, Rocket Lettuce, Roman Lettuce and Radicchio with Pumpkin, Bell Peppers and Tomato with your choice of Pumpkin Seed Oil or Orange Mustard Dressing

Choice of Main Courses
Braised Shoulder of Beef with Red Cabbage and Potato Timbale

Poached Monkfish breaded in Curcuma, Pilaw-Basmati Rice with Coconut Milk

Eggplant Gouda Cannelloni with Tomato Confit, Pine Nuts and Coriander Sauce

Veal Chartreuse with Quince Confit and Polenta

Selection of Cheese and Dessert
Fourme d’Ambert, Morbier, Brie Tart, Comte and Ash Goat Cheese with Garnish of Grapes and Celery

Chocolate Moelleux with Bell Pepper-Raspberry Coulis

Granny Smith Champagne Cream with Gold Crumble

Specialty Dessert Wines

Wine List
Champagne
“Rare”, Champagne Piper-Heidsieck

Monthly Proposal
2003 Zweigelt Reserve, Reinisch Johanneshof

Aperitif
Campari
Sherry “La Guita”
Lufthansa Cocktail

White Wine
2006 Homburger Kalimuth, Silvaner Spatlese trockenm Weingut Deppisch
2004 Monterey Chardonnay, Estancia
2006 Weissburgunder Reserve, Burgenland, Weingut Renner

Red Wine
2000 The William Wine, Graham Beck
2001 Chateau Croizet-Bages, Cru Classe, Pauillac
2003 Grand Estates Shiraz, Columbia Crest

Dessert Wine
2006 Piesporter Gunterslay, Riesling Auslese, Weingut Hoffmann-Simon

Monthly Proposal
Henriques & Henriques Madeira Verdelho

With my after take-off glass of champagne I was offered an appetiser of crab meat with a spicy salsa.
The tables were set for dinner, complete with the LH signature rose, soon after and the Hors d’oeuvres trolley was rolled out.
I opted for the caviar and a generous serving was presented before me.

Unlike my previous flight the cart did not do a second round and my plate was whisked away once I was done. The salad plate was then placed on my table which was OK although a little over dressed for my taste. I was drinking the champagne through these first two courses and my glass was topped up a few times.
After the salad plate was taken away my main course beef shoulder came out but the crew didn’t offer me any wine to go with this course until after I was almost done.

Overall the crew were reasonably efficient but certainly not as attentive or personable as my last F flight on LH.

By now it was quite late and drugs and alcohol were taking their effect and I was ready for the land of nod. I proceeded to the bathroom to brush my teeth and on my return the cabin was in darkness with most people curled up for the night.
I did likewise and barely stirred until the lights came on in the morning, only a couple of times waking to take a sip of the bottle of water given out prior to lights out.

Hot towels were handed out once the cabin started to come to life and separate breakfast menus were handed out.

Breakfast
Cold and hot Specialities
Freshly Squeezed Orange Juice

Fresh Fruit

Yogurt, Granola with Apple Sauce and chopped Walnuts, Cornflakes, Milk

Smoked Trout Fillet and graved Salmon, smoked Turkey Breast with Pepper, Serrano Ham and Ham Prague-style, Gouda, Emmental, Cream Cheese with Vegetables

Scrambled Eggs freshly prepared upon your request with your choice of Bacon or Chives

I wasn’t feeling particularly hungry and opted for some fruit and yoghurt only.

After breakfast I changed back into my clothes and waited our descent into the Johannesburg airport.

On arrival it was a short walk to Immigrations and we had just lost the race with another plane load of passengers who were entering from the opposite side. Never the less I joined the queue and was stamped entry to the Republic around 10 minutes later.

Having only carry on baggage I strolled past the hoards waiting by the carousels and exited through customs, stopping to give the agent my declaration card.

I followed the signs to the Intercontinental Hotel and was at the check-in desk by 10:40.
I went up to my room and popped a couple more tablets and had a shower and took a kip.

Next up JNB-MRU on SAA.

The Photos

Seat 2A

Nice to ride along with you via another of your excellent trip reports. If only Alaska's FFP might get me a seat in Lufthans's First Class .
When will you be coming through Alaska?

Moomba

Yes the joys of BMI's great FF programme have served me well in the last year or so.

I will be in Alaska from June 9 through 17.

Moomba

The Photos

The IC at JNB airport was quite comfortable and my bog standard room had a separate shower and tub which is always a nice thing.

I had previously queried FT to ask for ideas on what I could do during my 23 hour stay in JNB. However as I was still feeling sick and seriously lacking in energy I opted to spend a lazy day in my room reading and watching the idiot box.

After noon a staff member came and dropped off a bowl of fruit and a letter from the management thanking me, as a valuable Priority Club Rewards member (blue!), for staying with them. Also she left a gift of a teaspoon with an African themed head on it.

Later in the day the turn down ladies came along, refreshed the towels and did the turn down and left a long stemmed rose as well. It was Valentines Day.

The next morning I awoke and after the usual morning stuff checked out of the hotel and headed back across the street to the airport.

On following the overhead signs to departures I ended up in a construction zone with a sign pointing to a wall and not an escalator as I was hoping for. I made may way out onto the forecourt again and walked further along where I eventually did find an non-operating escalator.

I was quite breathless (the cold – not being unfit thank you) by the time I got to the top. I searched around for the SAA desks and read that they were all the way at the other end of the building. Terrific. If anyone is looking for the SAA desks they are at the far right of the check-in area (well they are for now who knows where they will be once all the construction has finished) and the premium check-in desks are the ones in the right most positions. Prior to joining the queue a staff member takes your name and marks you off a list and also weighs and labels any checked bags.

After queuing for a moment or two I was called forward and issued with my BP for my next flight. There is a separate security area and immigrations check for the premium passengers behind the check-in area. Security was swift but there was some backlog in getting through immigrations which took around 10 minutes and the queues were quite disorganised.

Once through I made my way to the Baobab lounge which is one level below the departures area.
In the lounge there was a manned bar that served various alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages and some light snack foods. I grabbed a muffin and some juice and later partook of a lovely freshly made espresso coffee.
The time soon past in the lounge and I made my way to the gate area. I soon realised that this section of the airport was a bus gate area.
Around 35 minutes prior to our departure time they started the boarding process with no priority boarding and just one person manning the BP readers.
Once the old clapped out excuse of a bus was full we headed off for a long ride around the airport building perimeter and finally over to where our plane was sitting.


Flight SA0190 JNB – MRU Seat 4A
Aircraft: 737-800
Departure time: 09:40

Once on board I found my seat and a crew member came along and gave me a Delsey amenity kit and took my jacket. The kit contained AG SAA branded lip balm, moisturiser, facial spray, mouthwash, toothpaste and toothbrush, a comb, shades etc.
The captain made an announcement that we were ready to go but they were waiting on a couple of special meals to be delivered to the aircraft. Orange Juice, Water and Sparkling wine were offered prior to take off in the business class cabin. The cabin only had around 6 seats empty including the one next to me.
At 09:50 the doors were closed and we pushed back a few minutes later. The safety demo on SAA has some quite odd looking comic characters and was played on the way out to the runway. We took off at around 10:05 and I waved good bye to Johannesburg for a couple of days.

A menu was handed out and a drinks and nuts service was made after the seat belt signs had been switched off.

The menu:

Starter
Marinated Roast Duck wrapped in a pancake, served with dried fig chutney and balsamic cream

Main Course

Veal Carbonade accompanied with dauphinoise potatoes, chunky vegetables and mustard cream sauce

Thai Chicken Green Curry served with steamed basmati rice and Asian Vegetables

Linguini Pasta with roasted butternut, zucchini and a tomato relish

Cheese and Crackers

Dessert

Cheese Cake served with Raspberry Topping

After the crew had finished with the drinks service they came straight out with the lunch service. The starter was presented on the tray along with the bread plate and butter. As one crew member dealt with the trays another followed up offering drinks and rolls although she was rather sloppy and did not offer me any bread at all.

Once I had dispensed with the starter the trolley was rolled out again with the mains. Again the two crew members worked in tandem one dished out the main and then followed up with more drinks from her team mate. I had the veal which was quite nice although not overly substantial in quantity.
After the mains were finished the trays were taken away and the crew came and asked if we would like Coffee / Tea and dessert or cheese.
I opted for the cheese along with a coffee. The coffee came in a cardboard cup and was served up with a couple of chocolates.

The BEE Movie was being played on the overhead screens throughout the flight although I did not bother to listen to it and spent most of the flight looking out the window.
There were no other offers of drinks or any service unless asked for during the remainder of the four hour flight.
Of note on the flight were the occupants of 1C and 2C who were, I thought, dead heading flight crew for the flight back perhaps? More on that later.

I can’t recall the time we arrived at MRU but we deplaned quickly and headed for immigrations which had some queues due to a Malev flight that had arrived before us.

It took around 10 minutes to reach the front of the queue where the agent wanted to see my tickets showing my flight out of the island paradise. Perhaps too many people found the place irresistible in the past?

Again having no baggage I was able to stroll past the carousels and out into the terminal arrivals area.
I quickly noticed my pre-arranged driver and he took me to his car and then the hour long drive to the other side of the island.

Mauritius reminded me a lot of the more urban areas of Malaysia with similar architecture of flat roofed two or three story buildings all white washed complete with stains from the rain. Speaking of which it was raining on and off throughout the drive and was very overcast.
The island has a ridge of very craggy mountains through it and for some reason the shapes of these reminded me of Bali Hi from the movie The South Pacific. Although with the low cloud that seemed to constantly be hanging around I was not able to see these peaks in all their glory.
There was a cyclone off to the west of the island which was the cause of the miserable weather. That plus the fact that I chose the rainy season to visit this place.

On arrival at the Le Meridien I was greeted and escorted to a bar area where my details were taken. A welcome fruit drink was placed before me to enjoy whilst waiting.
I was then taken through what was included in my B&B package. I had booked the cheapest rate I could find on spg.com. I was then escorted to my room by a bell boy. We entered the room and I was floored. It was huge and consisted of two floors. Downstairs was a lounge are with enormous flat screen TV and surround sound system, a dining table and chairs, a wet bar and a toilet. There was a balcony that ran across the front of the entire double width suite with views out over the ocean. Upstairs on a mezzanine area was a king size bed, a Jacuzzi bath and separate shower, toilet and wash basins. It was a little dated in furnishings but was huge, clean and comfortable. On reading the welcome letter I was found out that I had access to the exclusive Nirvana area of the resort and could eat breakfast in my room or at either the restaurant in the Nirvana area or the main restaurant.

I settled in and did a bit of reconnaissance and then proceeded to watch the sunset from my balcony.
I had a shower and went to the restaurant for dinner and on returning to my room was greeted with yet another welcome letter, a huge bowl of fruit, a large bottle of mineral water and a bottle of champagne. Sometimes it is good to be the King!

Next up Home again Home again…

The Photos

Moomba

The Photos

I didn’t really get out and about much, partly due to my health and partly because of the miserable weather. I did catch a taxi down to Port Louis to visit the BA office where I collected my AONE RTW ticket.

The office is in quite a nice area on the water front and there are several shopping malls located in the area. I pottered a bit in these and managed to find an optician who repaired my glasses that earlier in the day had seen the lens go flying across the bathroom when I picked them up.
With the repair job done I walked back over to where my taxi was waiting for me.

The taxi situation around the Le Meridien was quite interesting. There was a taxi stand just down the road that had fixed price fares to various destinations on the island. All prices were quoted in Euro. The fare to Port Louis was cheaper as a round trip and included up to 3 hours when the driver would wait for you. It was around a half hour drive to get there.

I spent most of my time just chilling out reading in my room or on the balcony.

On the Sunday I ate a late breakfast and went back to my room to shower and get ready to leave. I checked out and was waiting for my driver in the lobby area when I noticed a familiar face taking advantage of the free wifi in the lobby. Sure enough it was fellow flyertalker yyzlhr who was working in MRU. The people you meet!

My driver showed up at the appointed time and we headed out in the rain towards the airport on the far side of the island. It was little quicker getting back as the traffic was lighter.

He dropped me off at the Premium entrance to the terminal which is to the left of the main entrance. I am not sure who can officially use this entrance as there was no check to see if I was entitled or not. On entry you need to pass all your bags through an x-ray machine similar to what they do at NRT and some Middle East airports.

After collecting my bags again I went in search of the BA desks which were at the other end of the terminal. At this point I noticed the main entrance area and a long queue of people waiting to have their bags x-rayed.

I approached the Business Class desk and dropped the wad of tickets on the desk along with my passport. I received the first of no doubt many comments about the number of flights on the booking. After confirming my window seats the agent printed the boarding cards for MRU-JNB and JNB-LHR. She also wrote out an invitation to the VIP airport lounge. She wished me luck on my trip and sent me over to immigrations and security.

There was no wait at either and I was through and into the lounge in a few minutes. The lounge is downstairs from the departures area and has views out over the tarmac.
It is invite only and several BA Gold card holders attempted to gain access but were tossed out unless they were willing to pay the 30 EUR fee.

Let me digress a little back to the Le Meridien. I noted that the taxi prices were in Euro, well so were some of the prices at the hotel. It was a very confusing mix. Mini Bar – Mauritian Rupee, Room Service Menu – Euro, Restaurant Menu – Euro, Bill in Restaurant – Mauritian Rupee.

I gather there are quite a few European tourists that visit the island. Strangely enough the official language is English but everyone speaks French in their day to day lives. The ethnic mix includes a lot of Central Asians – every taxi driver I met was from that part of the world.

Anyway, back to the airport where for the first time in my entire time on the island, the sun came out. The lounge has some snack foods, wine, beer, some sprits and mixers. It was a pleasant enough place to while away the hour or so I had to wait.

I was able to see my aircraft land only 3 minutes after its expected arrival time. Obviously Comair who run the service as a BA franchise have not learnt from their big brother how to be late all the time.

It pulled up at a gate that I could see from the lounge and I noted that there were not that many people disembarking from the flight and up the jet bridge. It was quite a contrast to the very full SA plane I had arrived on 2 days before.

I went up to the departure gate and boarding commenced a few minutes later at 15:50 with no priority boarding for Business or OW Elites.

Flight BA6398 MRU – JNB Seat 2A
Aircraft: 737-300
Departure time: 16:00

Once on board my jacket was swiftly dealt with and I settled into my seat. The cabin is the same seat and layout as the Club Europe cabin from the UK. The only difference was that the seat covering was cloth and not leather.

OJ, water and champagne were offered as pre take off drinks. I took champagne of course. It did not take long to board the plane and it was lightly loaded again for this return journey. There were 8 passengers in the 4 rows of Club. The seat next to mine remained empty.

I mentioned that there was some dead heading flight crew on my outbound SA flight; well it was quite a surprise to see the captain of this flight was one of them.

Once again we were sprayed with insecticide prior to pushing back.

We pushed back at 16:04 and taxied out to the far end of the runway passing an Air Force One which was sitting in the tarmac close to the terminal.

There was no IFE on board the aircraft so no entertainment for the passengers on a long flight which is not all that good. The crew did hand out BA branded Sudoku puzzle booklets which came with a BA pencil and eraser.

After the seat belt signs went off the crew came around with hot towels and the drinks trolley to offer a pre lunch drink. I opted for a G&T which was Tanqueray Gin. The captain announced it might be a little bumpy for a while as we had to fly around the cyclone that was about to ravish Madagascar.

The lunch service began next with the trays being handed out with a plated salad some vinaigrette dressing and some blue cheese & crackers. I was offered my choice of two white and two red wines they had on board. I opted for a very nice Brampton Cabernet.

After the salad plate was removed one of the crew came around with a tray showing the three main courses they had on offer. There was a vegetable lasagne, a chicken breast dish and a mixed seafood plate. It was nice to be able to see what was on offer before having to make the choice.
I went for the lasagne which was very tasty and much more filling than the SA flight meal on the way out.
After finishing the main a dessert of a citrus tart was offered and accepted. I asked for more of the red but they had run out as the pax on the way out had drunk most of it. I switched over to a very nice sauvignon blanc for the remainder of the meal.
Coffee and tea were offered after this, in real china. After I had devoured the meal and they had removed the tray the crew came around again with an offer of a small Magnum Ice Cream bar which was very nice!

After this there was no real service unless you asked for it until we landed at 18:15 local time in Johannesburg.
We pulled up to a stand with an air bridge but had to walk down the stairs of the bridge and get on a bus to be taken to the terminal.

I followed the transfers signs and cleared security before climbing a couple of flights of stairs and popping out on the departures level of the terminal. I went down to the Terraces lounge and waited out the hour before my flight was due to board for London.

The terraces was much like most of the non UK based terraces I had been in. There was minimal food, wine, spirits etc. It was quite warm in there and the AC was either not working or hopelessly inefficient. It was also very crowded and I was soon sick of the place and went back out into the terminal to wander down to the gate.

I made it to the gate at the time my boarding pass had the Gate Closes time which was 19:30. Of course they hadn’t started boarding the flight. After a couple of minutes waiting they did just gesture people forward and didn’t even make any announcement. I had my ticket swiped and the coupon collected from my wad and headed onto the plane.


Flight BA56 JNB – LHR Seat 1A
Aircraft: 747-400
Departure time: 20:15

The CSD greeted me at the door and pointed me to the left. Once I got to my seat I was quickly attended to by the delightful Dawn who introduced herself and took my jacket.
I stowed my bag in the closet and sat down at my seat. Dawn came back and asked if I would like some PJs and I asked for Medium and surprise, surprise they had some! Wonders will never cease. Were BA going to redeem themselves in my eyes on this flight?

I was asked by the purser if I would like a drink and I of course asked for champagne. This was delivered soon after along with a bowl of macadamia nuts. The menu cards were handed out and a post takeoff drinks order was taken.

We were again sprayed with insecticide prior to push back which was at 20:26.

After the belts sign was switched off I got up and changed into my PJs. When I got back to my seat my Johnny Blue was waiting for me along with some appetizers that consisted of a chicken on a skewer arrangement, a mini spring roll and what could only be described as prawn wrapped in prosciutto on a skewer.

I was asked what I wanted for dinner and when I would like it. I made my choices and said as soon as it was ready was fine with me.

The menu:

Starters:
Balsamic-roasted salmon served with Mexican salsa

Roast pepper with tomato, anchovies and garlic

Green pea and avocado soup

Fresh salad leaves with your choice of balsamic vinaigrette or lemon and ranch dressing

Main:
Grilled fillet of beef with honey-roasted potato wedges, roast vegetables and green peppercorn sauce

Masala stuffed breast of chicken with roast red pepper sauce

Seafood au gratin served with roast vegetables and herb butter

Warm lamb kofta served on a fresh tabouleh salad with lemon and mint

Dessert:
Warm chocolate coffee fondant

Blackberry ripple cheese cake

Cheese Plate:
A selection of cheese

A basket of fresh fruit

Snacks:
Bacon roll served with tomato ketchup

Fresh pasta with your choice of tomato and olive or blue cheese sauce

Duchy of Cornwall biscuits

A selection of cheese and fruit


Wine List:

Champagne:
Lanson Nobel Cuvee Blanc de Blancs 1999

White:
Meursault Clos des Meix Chavaux 2005, Jean Latour-Labille & Fils

Soave Classico Vigneti di Foscarino 2006, Azienda Agricola Inama

Mulderbosch Sauvignon Blanc 2007, Western Cape

Red:
Chateau Batailley 1996, Grand Cru Classe Pauillac

Barbaresco 2005, Bruno Rocca

Thelma Shiraz 2004, Stellenbosch

Dessert:
Saussignac Cuvee Flavie, Chateau des Eyssards 2005

Warre’s 1988 Colheita Port


My table was made up by the lovely Dawn, who by the way, never failed to use my name throughout the entire flight. My salmon starter was quite nice although a touch dry, but nice none the less. Next up the salad which as usual was over dressed for my liking.

The main course was a disappointment but I am used to being disappointed in the food offerings from BA in their First class cabin. The meat was over cooked and tasted a little funky. The green peppercorn sauce I think somehow missed out having the vital ingredient added.

The crew made up for this with a very attentive service, filling my wine and water glasses several times during the meal. After I was done with the main I was asked if I wanted dessert and I said I would hold off for a while until I had finished my glass of red.

A while later one of the crew came back and asked me if I wanted dessert and I said the chocolate thingy sounded nice. He said there was one with my name on it in the oven.
Dessert was then presented before me and I asked if I could try some of the dessert wine.
The chocolate cake type pudding was not what I was expecting from the menu description but went down well with the dessert wine. After I finished the purser asked me if I would like more of the wine. I had noticed that I was the only one drinking it as it had been freshly opened for me. I said since no one else is drinking it I should have some more, otherwise it would be a waste. Needless to say the crew picked up on this and that was not the only refill I was offered that evening.

I decided I should get some sleep on the flight and declined yet another glass of wine. I started to set the seat down into a bed and Dawn came rushing over to offer to make the bed up for me. I declined and said I don’t like the under blanket things as I get too hot. A bottle of water was given to me and I tucked in for a good 6 hours sleep.

At around 90 minutes out of London breakfast was served but I had a lie in for another 45 minutes or so before getting changed back into my clothes. I was asked if I wanted some breakfast but declined and opted for a cup of peppermint tea instead.

Breakfast:

Starters:
Chilled fruit jiuce

An energising fruit smoothie

A selection of yoghurts

A selection of cereals

Fresh seasonal fruit plate

Bakery:
A wide selection of breakfast pastries and rolls

Main:
Scrambled eggs, mushrooms, bacon, sausage and tomato

Roast pepper frittata

Bacon club sandwich

We over flew Heathrow and came in to land from the West and taxied to our gate where we had to wait a minute or so before the guidance system was switched on.
Then a few more minutes until someone bothered to push out the ramp.

I was off quickly and walked a million miles, past travelators that were not working, and reached the immigrations area. I walked down to the far end and miracle of miracles the IRIS machine was working. Again the luxury of no checked bags allowed me to exit customs and head up to the arrivals lounge and be in the shower within maybe 15 minutes of walking out of the plane.

A lovely warm shower, a light breakfast and juice and I was on my way to the HEX station. The train came along just as I walked onto the platform. Fifteen minutes later I was at Paddington and ready to catch my two tube rides home.

The first part of the journey has ended on a high note. Of all the flights this final BA First was by far the most memorable, in the most part because of the fabulous crew. I never did get to speak to the CSD, the food was so so, but all in all the brilliant crew saved the day.

Well there you have it. Why take two direct flights when you can take five instead? Addiction or Passion?


I feel my style is a little dry in these first few reports. Hopefully I will get back into form next time.

See you soon and happy travels to you all

The Photos

27R

Mate, don't worry. Very, very readable, and like all the best TRs, jealousy-inducing....

Happy and safe onward travels!

deepbluesky

I am really enjoying this. Keep it up.