adampenrith

Thinking this situation through, our bags had 6 hours on the ground in LAX and 13 hours on the ground in Doha. I can’t imagine this stuff going missing in LAX and strongly believe that the theft likely occurred in Doha. Ultimately, it soured our Qatar experience quite a bit as most of the work that they put into their product was clearly non existent when it came to addressing any after the fact problems.

Flyers please beware...[/QUOTE]

Its frustrating and annoying.

However I have known other pax to have items taken from bags at LAX - particulary if they check in very early - or have a long transit between flights. I know of someone who checked in at 10am for a 2200 departure to Sydney - and items went missing.

Doha - I dont think is that much of a risk.

1. The punishment for theft is either a public whipping or having a limb like a finger removed. (remember Doha operates under Sharia law)

2. A Qatari would have a reasonable standard of living, and a job with Qatar would be valued.

3. If the baggage workers are a migrant worker - from Africa or Asia - they would not steal, as it would mean they would get punished under Sharia law, lose the job ( the income of which they send home to the families) and deportation.

So sorry - as a white caucasian, I think the chances of light fingers are most likely at LAX, and the trolly or the bags are most likely storied away from CCTV where they can be easily accessed.

Also a Qatari woman would not be able to wear the stunning cocktail dresses that your wife looks so fabulous in, and in the Qatari heat - would be too hot to wear under her black niqab.

Long transits are a concern, we did 19 hrs in each direction going to Europe - our bags were in Singapore - but Singapore being a country with a very low crime rate - we collected our bags an LHR and then at SYD without any mishaps

DanielW

Bugger about the luggage. My significant other is from SA and whenever she goes home she religiously wraps her baggage in plastic wrap before she checks it. Not because it stops them getting in, but because it makes them move on to an easier target. T.I.A.

The shark cage diving looks like quite a experience!

Luckily it wasn't as exciting as this guy earlier this month though:

nequine

Fantastic photos especially of the shark and I wouldn't want to mess with it either!!!

worldtraveller73

Self guided wine tour
Stellenbosch and Franschoek
South Africa.

We took an easy breakfast and headed out to Stellenbosch and Franschoek. We had a bit of a late start as we were finally getting over the jet lag and our short turn around in Doha, and had a 12 hour sleep. The trip to South Africa via the Middle East really knocked us out since it was about 6-7 hours of flying out of the way instead of the usual connection in Europe. Our visits took us to some of the lessor known vineyards that had escaped us on our last visit.

We first visited Jordan winery at the end of Stellenbosch Kloop. It’s tucked up against the hill and was well off the beaten path. This winery is not related to the Californian Jordan winery of the same name. It was a quiet and peaceful place for a tasting overlooking a small reservoir. You can tell looking back at the photographs, there isn't a soul here.

There were some outstanding whites, in particular their Inspector Peringuey Chenin Blanc. We collected a bottle of this for our future travels to Namibia.















We continued a short way down the road to Neethlingshof. The restaurant buildings are traditional Cape Dutch circa the year 1814. To accommodate demand, the tasting center was brand new. There were again some excellent whites of both the Sauvingon Blanc and the Chenin Blanc that received a five star rating from MrsWT73. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find these wines in Canada or the Pacific Northwest of the USA but the whites are highly recommended. It would be pretty special to have this view as your driveway.











The estate room was brand new and very contemporary.









We drove up to Franschoek to our old favorite Haute Caribiere. The setting of this particular winery is set into caves tucked into the side of the mountains in Franschoek. This was our favorite winery visit on our last trip, but it seems as though the quality of the wines are slipping just a bit. The Unwooded Chardonnay and the Pinot Noir were fabulous as always but the rest of the line up was only very good, not excellent like most of the rest of the wines on offer at other wineries. All in all, it’s among the most beautiful settings for wineries in South Africa in my humble opinion and a quiet and beautiful way to close out the tastings for the day as the sun slipped down over the mountains.











There is a tasting menu on offer here and you can of course select what wines are interest to you. MrsWT73 always has her heart set on Cap Classique sparkling, so we started with the two good sparkling wines they have on offer, before moving onto the whites and reds in a nice setting outside on the patio.





Along with a lovely tasting, there were terrific valley views. This is one of the reasons why this is among one of my favorite corners in the world. The sheer beauty of the setting is spectacular.







The visit to Franschoek rounded off a nice second and last day of wine tastings in South Africa.

worldtraveller73

The Test Kitchen
and
Victoria and Alfred Waterfront.
Cape Town.

On our last day in Cape Town, we started off with a massage at the Heavenly Spa at the Westin Cape Town hotel. It was a recently renovated facility with included steam rooms and a sauna with glass windows that overlook the harbor. At a rate of $45USD for 60 minutes for a relaxation massage, why not?

We then went onto the Test Kitchen for our lunch via Uber. This was our second visit to the restaurant, having had our first visit in 2013. The Test Kitchen is frequently on the San Pellingrino Top 50 Restaurants in the world and is rated as the number one restaurant in Africa. I had attempted, once again, to get reservation for an evening dinner setting here but they must go immediately within the reservation window opening (60 days out). We had to settle for a lunch. We wait listed for dinner cancellations for dates during our trip but there weren’t any available or any calls to check either.









For those that aren’t familiar, the Test Kitchen offers a fixed tasting menu for a set price with wine pairings. At 525 / 825 ZAR ($37 / 59 USD) with wine pairing for the lunch offer, I find it to be a fairly good value for a 5 course, 5 wine meal. It's less than $12 USD per course including wine. I had recently been promoted at work so this was taken as our celebratory lunch. It was certainly a spectacular event.

Fresh assorted breads to start, along with “The Test Kitchen Appetizers”









Home smoked salmon with beetroot, crčme fraiche, parsley jellies, saffron pickled onions, buttermilk crčme paired with Neil Ellis Amica Sauvingnon Blanc 2013.



Scallop with naturalist bacon, cauliflower salad, black garlic, caper and pine nut salad, and cauliflower cheese foam with Fable Bird Jackal Mountain 2014.



Light curry glazed kingklip, carrot and cashew puree with carrot beurre noisette Lammershoek Chenin Blanc. It was presented in a smoked stone container and presented with precision after it’s cooking process. It tasted absolutely fabulous and perfectly cooked.





Springbok, chargrilled loin, ember roasted red cabbage, almond cream, red cabbage emulsion, pine oil paired with Joubert Traudaw Syrah 2011.



Beer barley and figs, poached fresh figs, smoked milk ice cream, beer barley fudge and fig leaf granata, peared with Jordan Mellifera 2013. A strange combination but it went together really well and was super satisfying.



And a final dessert item compliments of the chef.



As always, the food product was absolutely sensational. We had the opportunity to have a brief casual discussion with the chef Luke Dale Roberts. Service was a little bit lacking as I think they are more accustomed to completing orders in a line assembly manner in sequence. MrsWT73 ordered individual wines off the list, which seemed to throw the waiter a bit. In closing, it was as enjoyable the second time around and I would easily make time to return on our next trip through Cape Town.

After lunch, we headed onward to the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront. It was a bit of a grey day today but it’s still a nice area to people watch and pick up some souvenirs.















After an afternoon outside in the cooler temperatures, and an afternoon drink in the Irish pub at the roadside drop off by the entrance, we returned for dinner at the hotel in Lobby restaurant at the Westin Cape Town. We applied our 300R credit for missing out on our SPG Platinum upgrade and it was all taken care of.

As always, Cape Town is a lovely city to visit and remains among my most highly recommended places to be when discussing travel with others.

worldtraveller73

Air Namibia
Economy Class
CPT-WDH (Cape Town International – Windhoek International Airport)
SW700
April 21, 2016
Booked: Airbus 320
Flown: Airbus 319
Departure: 6:35 AM
Arrival: 7:45 AM

As I mentioned at the start of the story, we had the option of taking SAA or Comair from Cape Town to Namibia via Johannesburg. This would have taken us about 6 hours at the quickest. The alternate was to take the non stop flight on Air Namibia in a third of the time from Cape Town taking less than 2 hours. I happened to find a fairly cheap fare including our trip to Victoria Falls so we booked a one way Cape Town to Victoria Falls ticket with a stopover in Windhoek for about $315 USD per passenger, including all bag fees and seat assignments. Unfortunately, Air Nambia is not part of any frequent flier reward alliances, so we got no frequent flier points for this flight.

We had another dreadful 3:15 AM wake up for this flight. We checked out of the Westin Cape Town and we were on our way down to the Cape Town International Airport by 4 AM on a self drive basis. We returned the car to Hertz and after attending to the counter inside, I was able to get my $7,000 deposit refund processed immediately (on view) and a final invoice printed off and emailed.

We located the Air Namibia counters. There were only 3 of them open today with 1 being a business line but without any lines at 4:30 AM, we were checked in quickly. MrsWT73 opted for baggage wrap at 70 R after the Qatar theft fiasco. Air Namibia wasn’t too worried about us being a few pounds over the 50 lbs bag economy baggage allowance weight. Truth be told, the bags were stuffed full of wine that we had purchased on our visits to the various wineries.





We were one of the few headed over to the international departure lounge gates at this hour. Most of the other flights departing this hour were on the domestic side. We were stamped out of South Africa. There was only a coffee bar open at this hour in terms of eating and many of the shops were just opening for the day. There was a sole souvenir shop that gave us a last browse of Cape Town nik naks.





When it came time to board, it was a scramble all at once – no priority boarding was announced. I took this photo of the business class seats on the walk by. We didn’t bother to pay for the up charge for business class today at a $400 premium per person for a 1.5 hour flight. No lounge was available by the looks of it and with no priority board or line up at check in, this was likely money well saved.



We settled into a typical Airbus 319 economy configuration of 3-3.





There was plenty of bin space for the rollies as many people traveling were not carrying rolling suitcases.



We had a quick departure out of Cape Town and a very friendly announcement from both the in flight stewards and the captian on the flight deck. The service orientation of Air Namibia seemed much greater than the usual legacy carriers and the new upstarts of the Middle East "3".

We had a full hot meal offered in economy class, consisting of a breakfast quiche, sausage and baked mushrooms and tomatoes. It was accompanied with a cello wrapped roll and a strawberry yogurt. This was followed by a tea / coffee service.



There are no individual entertainment screens on this aircraft. General entertainment promoting Namibian tourism and Air Namibia were displayed

I was looking out the window on the descent and the scenery just looked awesome. I was really looking forward to getting out and exploring on our self drive holiday and the views were really interesting.







We arrived to a non gate position, and walked down the open jet bridges. All the aircraft here park on the apron. There was also a Condor Airlines and a Air Namibia A330 sitting on the apron. I enjoyed taking the photographs but I again got yelled at by security agencies at the airport for taking pictures of the planes. The last photo is of the Airbus 330 that serves their sole long haul route to Frankfurt, Germany.











All in all the Air Namibia flight was a great first impression to Namibia. It was clean and professional and all we could have asked for on our short hop up to Namibia.

worldtraveller73

Adampenrith, you raise some excellent points that, frankly, make a whole lot of sense! It would also explain why the TSA lock wasn't completely broken. Although they keys are supposed to be secure, I am sure that there are copies out there somewhere in the wrong hands. I will initiate the search party to the apron area of LAX Terminal Two the next time we are through there.

Thanks DanielW. I happened to see that video on the news when it came out and I had to set the PVR to show the wife. I don't think I would have been anywhere near as "composed" as the driver was.

Thanks nequine. We share the same sense of security! (Laughing).

krazykanuck

I mean, ... would they think you'd be bringing in? My next trip to SA I'm buying one of those wine bottle suitcases that are regulation sized and fit a case.

nequine

Fantastic views for your wine tastings! I would want to just sit there sipping wine and watching the world go by.

Can I ask how you found the safety aspect of being in SA? Its a place I would love to visit but tales from a relatives in-laws doesn't paint a great picture especially if you are doing the touring yourself and not as part of an organised tour.

farbster

Did you see the recent video of the shark that attacked the cage and won. The shark ended up inside the busted up cage with the diver. It all ended up ok and the guy even dove again the next day. I'm not sure I'd want to do a shark dive after seeing that.

Great TR! Thanks for documenting another great trip.

MilesDependent

Great report. Looking forward to reading more. Qatar business looks fantastic.

Chancensam

Having recently tried both Burj Al Arab (Skyview Bar) and tea at At.mosphere in Burj Khalifa ... please do not regret missing the Al Arab tea, but do regret missing tea at At.mosphere. IMO there is no comparison and the price point is much lower for tea at At.mosphere!

worldtraveller73

The wine case is a great idea krazykanuck, although I suppose many people could be bringing in massive amounts of camping gear or other provisioning supplies I suppose. In this case, the wine supply from South Africa was much greater than what we found internally within Namibia.

I've been fortunate enough nequine not to have any incidents in South Africa. Based on perception, I find things safer in Cape Town than I do up in Johannesburg. We generally exercise compound living after dark; we don't walk around the streets (aimlessly or with purpose) after the sun goes down, we leave all jewellery and watches at home and the big camera gets tucked into my coat. My distant uncles in Meyerton, SA have gated grills in their house that they use to barracade themselves in the bedroom area of the house at night, but we didn't find anything that extreme in the Cape Town area. In short, it could be worse but you still need to take some precautions.

Thanks farbster. I did see that video and it was both timely AND entertaining.

Thank you MilesDependent. Qatar Business was pretty good, although I think with the bag issue it will be a while before I can convince MrsWT73 to give it another go.

Thanks for the travel tip Chancensam. I missed the Burj Al Arab on my first trip to Dubai, but caught it on the second time around. It's funny the travel things that you miss out on. Thankfully we were able to get back and take care of those missed opportunities. I will have to try Atmosphere the next time around because the view from floor 146 of the Burj Khalifa is pretty spectacular as well. I could only imagine it towards sunset.

nequine

Thanks for your comments.

worldtraveller73

Road trip
Windhoek to Sesriem, Namibia
Distance Travelled: 340 km.

We picked our rental car at Hertz at the international airport. Despite being Hertz Gold Counter, the whole process took well over a full hour. First there were two people ahead of us dealing with some problem, then it was another staffer that didn’t know how to operate the Hertz rental printout system. I had booked a Toyota RAV4 small sport utility vehicle but they had upgraded us to a Toyota Hilux Diesel pickup. We went through the whole outrageous credit card charge process again, this time with a 127,241 NAD$ ($8,946.36 USD) First Amount Payable deposit charged to our Amex card because we declined the Hertz Collision Damage Waivers.

We then self led ourselves out to the truck with the keys where another Hertz staffer didn’t like that I loaded the suitcases into the back bed of the trunk on the bed liner. He actually unloaded them for us, and wouldn’t let us leave until he had placed them into the back seats of the truck, citing that there couldn’t be any “scratches”. MrsWT73 almost lost her marbles at him, given what we had gone through with the 3:15 AM wake ups and the 45 minute wait at the Hertz Counter. She managed to recover somehow though . . .

At around 9 AM, we departed off headed for the Sossus Dune Lodge at Sesriem. We had hoped to stop for some breakfast along the way at a restaurant where we could park and see the car with all our luggage (and laptops) in it. Unfortunately, Windhoek was not kind to us in that regard and we ended up settling for Pick and Pay (grocery store) pre-wrapped sandwiches to eat on the road while one of us guarded the car. Google Maps shows Windhoek to Sesriem it at about a 4.5 hour drive and it took us approximately 5 hours of driving without including the breaks. What the maps didn’t tell us is that the shortest route, via B1, C24 (D1261, D1275) and C19, was not paved for most of the way. I had thankfully purchased a proper Namibia $10 highway map at a book store in the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront in Cape Town that had proper distance and relief marking which was the best marital therapy decision I could have made for this portion of the trip.





This route included some really rural and fairly rugged truck terrain on C24. I was happy to have had the upgraded truck as I would have felt that the RAV4’s tires may have gotten shredded on some of the rocks seen on the roads. Most of the travel was at a bumpy 80 km/h on the gravel roads, with some parts of it as low as 50 km/h on rough wash-boarded gravel. The route was isolated and far from any amenities, gas, washrooms or restaurants. We were committed once we had started so we powered through and thankfully made it without any issues. I only saw about 5 cars the entire 2 hour period, which shows how isolated it was in this particular area. Here are some brief photos of the rest stop I took at the intersection of C24 and D1264. I didn’t even have to pull the truck off the road, there was that little traffic.











Continuing onward southbound in the D1261 and D1275 sections, the roads got substantially rougher and slower. It was still scenic and very much an adventure.













We ended up taking a break at Solitare; a sort of a nowhere down that happened to cater to a lot of tourists on their way through from Sesriem to Walvis Bay. We loaded up on diesel fuel, keeping our tank more than half full and stopped into the restaurant for a Windhoek Lager. We had a surprisingly good late lunch snack here at the Cafe Van Der Lee as we weren’t expecting to find anything in this area catering to tourists. Sorry - there is no web site or web page to link to here. We're way beyond that in the land of the as yet web undiscovered.







Temperatures here were running about 30 degrees today. There was even a chalk board indicating that the desert of Solitare typically received only 86 mm of rain all year. In terms of comparison, we sometimes get 20 mm of rain a night on the mountains of the North Shore in North Vancouver.





From Solitare, it was an easy 71 kilometers to Sesriem. There were more mountains surrounded by basins and plateaus and a complete absence of any one around. No cars, people or pedestrians in this postal code.





The town of Sesriem itself is sort of an ugly round up of campsites, hotels and dusty entrance ways. It is the entrance to the Sossusvlei park and we picked up our government issued two day entrance fee for 2 adults + car for 340N ($28 USD). These are available to purchase on the spot without any reservations. A quick 10 minute drive up the road and 6 km and we arrived to Sossus Dune Lodge inside the Sossusvlei park gates.

All in all it was a pretty adventurous drive. I most certainly would not have attempted it at night, and was glad that we had the proper type of car to handle the rugged outback of the Namib desert. I would probably take the easier but longer paved route next time, although it was neat to see the middle of nowhere. We had no problems getting diesel fuel and the only advice I can make is to book the car well in advance for a truck and be prepared for some mild sticker shock if you decline the insurance.