ironmanjt

...and then there were two.

After my recent trip to Mali and Mauritania that left me with just two countries to visit on the list of 193 UN Members + 3 countries most of the world agrees are countries. This was to be a simple trip to go to Turkmenistan, since the last time I tried to visit I had some challenges getting the visa.

But, as with most trips I plan, things are never that simple. First monkeywrench was FlyIgglesFly's fault. "Hey, let's go to Crimea after Turkmenistan?" I mean, really, you expect me to be able to resist an offer like that?

Then, I had to get back from Crimea. Lots of really cheap fares ex-Russia at the time, and I was thinking...maybe I'll go to St Petersberg and fly back via Helsinki. Wait, if I'm going to get a Russian visa anyways...I should see more of Russia.

I know...I'll go to Novosibirsk. See, Novosibirsk is a special place for me. Back in high school, when my world was limited to the US and Canada I wanted to travel abroad...somewhere big and interesting. School study trip to the USSR was offered...in a small town near Novosibirsk called Akademgorodok. That was in 1988. Where better to go right before Iceland than the town where it all began? It was settled...I was going to Novosibirsk after Crimea.

Then...I was thinking. If I'm that far east, I should keep going. I explored going to Vladivostok, to Magadan, to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk...and while I wanted to do it, I felt that it would take more time to do it justice than I had. So, I scrapped that.

It was FlyIgglesFly to the rescue with a great fare...but that meant I had to get to Malaysia. I started looking how to do that...pieced together some stuff, and suddenly I was going from Novosibirsk to Malaysia via Kazakhstan, Abu Dhabi, and Bangkok...naturally.

If that wasn't enough, some last minute changes ensured this trip will have outrageous first class flights on Lufthansa, Etihad, and Hong Kong. I'm going to pack gym clothes, because there's going to be lots of champagne and caviar...because...penultimate country and I'm doing it right!

The route should be set now, insh'allah:



With that, in just a couple days, I'm off. I'm hoping to do this report in more or less real time...I'm gonna force myself to do it.

Planned installments:

1. DC to Dubai with Lufthansa in First Class, Overnight Dubai *updated* and replaced by:
1a. DC to Vegas in United First, overnight Vegas
1b. Vegas to Dubai in Lufthansa First, overnight Dubai
2. Dubai to Ashgabad with FlyDubai in Business Class, First night in Turkmenistan
3. Ashgabad and Overnight at the Darvaza Crater
4. Visits to Mary and Merv
5. Ashgabad to Crimea with S7, first day in Yalta
6. Exploring Crimea
7. Simferopol to Novosibirsk in S7 Business Class, exploring Novosibirsk
8. Novosibirsk to Almaty with S7 in Business Class, Ritz Carlton Almaty
9. Almaty to Abu Dhabi in Etihad Regional Business, overnight Abu Dhabi
10. Abu Dhabi to Bangkok in Etihad First, overnight Bangkok
11. Bangkok to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysian Business, overnight KL
12. KL to Penang in Malaysian Business, overnight Penang
13. Penang back to KL in Malaysian Business, overnight KL
14. KL to Hong Kong in Cathay Pacific Business, HKG Lounges
15. Hong Kong to JFK in Cathay Pacific First
16. New York to DC - likely involving an overnight in New York TBD

EDIT: that's not even remotely what happened...I'm taking it segment by segment and enjoying the mystery! Updates as I get there...

1. DC to Las Vegas with United First...the unexpected way
2. Las Vegas to Frankfurt with Delta and Lufthansa First
3. Lufthansa First Class Terminal and Frankfurt to Dubai in Lufthansa first
4. Overnight in Dubai, Dubai to Ashgabat with FlyDubai, and first night in Turkmenistan
5. Ashgabat city tour and Darvaza Gas Crater
6. More Ashgabat touring and flight to Mary
7. Touring Mary and Merv
8. Return to Ashgabat, Underwater Lake, flight with S7 Airlines to Moscow
9. Overnight in Moscow, flight with S7 to Novosibirsk
10. Two nights in Novosibirsk
11. Flight with S7 to Almaty, overnight at the Ritz Carlton
12. Flight to Abu Dhabi, two nights at the Aloft Abu Dhabi
13. Flight to Mumbai in Etihad Apartments, two nights in Mumbai
14. JetAirways to Bangkok, One Night in Bangkok
15. Malaysia Airlines to Kuala Lumpur, overnight in KL
16. Roundtrip to Penang, Malaysia, and another night in KL
17. Cathay Pacific Business to Hong Kong
18. Cathay Pacific First Hong Kong to JFK and home on Delta

Previous trip reports:

I. London to Iran and Afghanistan in a mix of C, F, and LCCs
II. Above the Arctic Circle with UA/CO/LH and SK in whY, C, and F
III. Around the World in 40 Days for 40 Years
IV. 8 Places People Who Are Right in the Head Do Not Spend New Years
V. 12 Countries, 10 Airlines, 4 Islands, 27,080 miles, 11 Days
VI. 6 Countries in 6 Days - Caribbean Island Hopping and first AA Experience
VII. Guyana, Suriname, and French Guyana with an unexpected sidetrip to Caracas!
VIII. To Haïti - for vacation and a milage run!
IX. Around Senegal and West Africa
X. 4th Annual New Years in Dangerous Places - Libya Edition
XI. Kosovo and FYR Macedonia - Milage Run in United Business + TK/LH
XII. Washington to Peru and Machu Picchu on COPA and TACA
XIII. To Johannesburg...for 36 hours!
XIV. Here a Stan, there a Stan, everwhere a Stan Stan....
XV. Air Burkina, Air Cote d'Ivoire and 7 countries in West Africa
XVI. Turkey for Thanksgiving....with a side of Tajikistan, Serbia, Montenegro, and Moscow
XVII. Into the Heart of Darkness... Congo, Angola, Gabon, OH MY!
XVIII. HI! Four Islands, Lots of Planes, Beaches, and Convertibles
XIX. Plenty of Salt, Not Enough Oxygen...a Trip to Boliva, Colombia, and Ecuador
XX. Learning to Relax - Long Weekend in St Christopher and Nevis
XXI. You're spending New Years WHERE? IRAQ? (2009-2010)
XXII. Pineapples, croissants, and neon OH MY! A trip to Hawaii, Paris, Andorra, and Vegas
XXIII. South Pacific, Israel, Lebanon - 6 weeks - 71,500 miles - 24 countries
XXIV. Sundae bloody Sundaes...a 2014 United Year in Review
XXV. Lakes, Lemurs, and Lithuania: Horton Hears a Houthi!
XXVI. First Americans tour to North Korea 2005 - Arirang Mass Games
XXVII. Doing the Needful - Lufthansa Business US to Chennai
XXVII. C-ing things: Canada, Curry, Cameroon, CAR, Chad, Camels, Chengis Khan and China!
XXVIII. Learning my ABCs: Algeria, Bahama, Cuba and the Cubana IL-96
XXIX. Exploring ZMapp of West Africa...or how I got detained by the CDC
XXX. Transatlantic to Bangkok with United, Austrian, Air Canada, and Thai
XXXI. Being Lazy in Belize
XXXII. Quick Trip to Cape Town with United, SWISS, South African, and Lufthansa
XXXII. FUNny thing happened going to and from Tuvalu...Cathay F, Etihad Apts, Fiji Biz
XXXIII. Achievement Unlocked: AFRICA! Visiting Mali, Mauritania, and Senegal

Fasten your seatbelts, comrades, we're in for a wild ride!

FlyIgglesFly

Don't blame me for your lack of self control.

stu1985

Oh wow - this looks like it's going to be a good one!

DFW_CK

Jason - how the heck do you get so much time off from work? Envious beyond belief. Also, I am originally from Bangladesh. Do you have trip report on your visit there? Love your posts.

mad_atta

You, sir, are a certifiable nutcase. This should be good!

daKav

Subscribed!

+1.

I have an option to work remote. Having done that a few times, I've come to realize that it doesn't help much when I am constantly on the move. Having followed your trip reports I am guessing, working while you are travelling isn't a possibility.

ironmanjt

Combo of factors. I do get the occasional day of work done on the road...it's a benefit of having offices everywhere. Combine that with european benefits, comp time and flex time it comes out to a decent chunk

That said, this year I've stretched it to the max with the race to Iceland. After September, the next 12 months will be much much quieter as I rebuild the bank.

daKav

Ah makes sense! I wish I had European benefits. I work in tech and comp time off is almost never heard off. Anyway, safe travels!

ironmanjt

It's all about tradeoffs. One thing I want to blog about when I finish Iceland is finding balance in life, and working to live, not living to work. I feel I've made lots of mistakes on this front, but also have a lot of good lessons to share.

Biggest lesson: life is short, don't spend it on the couch

daKav

I agree about the trade offs and work to live comment. In may, I traded a 2 week family vacation in South East Asia for 22 days backpacking trip across Central and Eastern Europe in 10 countries. Best decision ever.

roadwarrier

Oh wow!! Looking forward to this. Safe travels and enjoy!!^^

wrp96

Instead of blame, the rest of us say thank you!

ironmanjt

See, I've been wanting a flight on the Lufthansa A380. I got one once from Miami to Frankfurt on Christmas Day a few years ago, but I've been dying ever since to do it again. Lufthansa is probably my favourite first product, and doing it on the A380 is as close to perfection as it comes.

Once I decided to splurge the miles for a first award to Dubai to start my Turkmenistan trip, there was no question - I wanted the longest flight possible. Lufthansa generally doesn't open up first awards until 14 days out, so booking United and changing to Lufthansa at 14 days is the best you can hope for. I did that, and at 12 days, lots of options opened up. Grabbing the Frankfurt to Dubai was a piece of cake. Question then was, how to get to Frankfurt.

DC to Frankfurt is a short flight, and wasn't available anyways. Chicago to Frankfurt was, and surprisingly DCA to Chicago with United was there too. Put it on hold while I looked for something better. There was Houston to Frankfurt on the A380, but getting to Houston appeared to be a giant pain - and in the meantime the availability was gone. A week went by, and it looked like I was going via Chicago. Until this morning.

The longest Lufthansa flight from the US opened up this morning - LAX to Frankfurt! I grabbed it, not even thinking about how I might get to LAX. 11 hours on the A380 with Lufthansa in first was like a dream.

I'm seriously short this year of re-qualifying with United in terms of miles. I'm only at around 50,000 booked so far, so am looking for United options whenever they come up. Found a shockingly good first fare from DCA to Las Vegas the night before, and I was set! No, this wasn't how I expected this trip to go down, but, we have a new routing for the trip:



So, plans change, and the only reason I could even consider this is due to elite status. So, bring on one night in Vegas.....and then LA inshallah. See, I'm not sure how I'll get from LAS to LAX yet...but there's lots of options. UA leaves too bloody early so that's a no-go, but between non-rev as an option on Delta, and paid flights on AA or WN, something should work....inshallah...

daKav

Happy to help, http://us.megabus.com/LA-to-Vegas-bus.aspx

ironmanjt

I'd sooner walk over a pile of broken glass than take a bus....