South Africa, Namibia, Victoria Falls, Mauritius & the UAE via Emirates First, Qatar Business (QR J, EK F, BA J, SA J, SW Y)
YVR-LAX-DOH-JNB-CPT (AAdvantage Award)
CPT-WDH-MUB-VFA (paid)
VFA-JNB (BA Avios Award)
JNB-MRU (paid)
MRU-DXB-LAX-SEA (Alaska Mileage Plan Award)
SEA-YVR (paid)
In this report:
American Airlines First Class: Vancouver - Los Angeles
AAdmirals Club: Los Angeles Terminal Four
Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge: Los Angeles Terminal Two
Qatar Airways Business Class: Los Angeles - Doha
The Westin Doha Hotel and Spa, Doha Qatar.
Souq Wahif, Doha Qatar
Qatar Al Mourjan Business Lounge, Doha Hamad International Airport
Qatar Airways Business Class: Doha - Johannesburg
The Slow Lounge: O.R. Tambo International Airport, Domestic, Johannesburg
British Airways Comair Business Class: Johannesburg - Cape Town
Westin Cape Town
Wine Tasting: Paarl
Shark Diving: Gansbaai
Hermanus
Franschoek
Air Namibia Economy Class: Cape Town - Windhoek
Sossus Dune Lodge, Sesriem, Namibia
Sossusvlei, Namibia
Penguin Point Lodge, Walvis Bay, Namibia
Spitskoppe
Hilton Windhoek
Air Namibia Economy Class: Windhoek - Maun - Victoria Falls
The Victoria Falls Hotel
Victoria Falls
British Airways Comair Business Class: Victoria Falls - Johannesburg
The Hyatt Regency Johannesburg
South African Airways International Business Class Lounge: Johannesburg
South African Airways Business Class: Johannesburg - Mauritius
St Regis Mauritius, Le Morne
Air Maurituis Salon Amédée Maingard Lounge
Emirates First Class: Mauritius - Dubai
Grosvenor House, Dubai
Al Ain
Emirates First Class Lounge Terminal "B", Dubai
Emirates First Class: Dubai - Los Angeles
Alaska Airlines Board Room Lounge, Los Angeles
Alaska Airlines First Class: Los Angeles - Seattle
Delta Sky Club Lounge: Seattle South Satellite Terminal
Delta Airlines First Class: Seattle - Vancouver
Links to my previous reports:
Dodging Volcanic Ash: A family trip to Bali / Singapore with my 11 year old (DL J / OZ J / KL J / JL J) July 2015
RTW#3 (J): Vietnam, Maldives, and Tackling India’s Golden Triangle. (AC/OZ/SQ/AI/TK), May 2015
Experiencing flying as a "Non-Rev", Australia Wine and Beaches, (AC J/Y, QF J) November 2014
Alaska Airlines First Class to Las Vegas, and a stay in the Aria Sky Suites “Penthouse” (AS F), August 2014
Family trip to Kenora Lake of the Woods Ontario via Air Canada Business Class (AC J). August 2014
Cathay Pacific First Class to New York, a sombre visit to the 9/11 Memorial Museum & 4 days of eating in NYC. (CX F) May 2014
RTW #2 (J): The Khors of Oman - via Japan, Poland, & the UAE. RTW in Biz (NH J 787, OZ J, TG J, EY J, TK J, LH J). April 2014
South Africa, Safari in Maasai Mara Kenya, & Mauritius (UA J, SA J, XAK, LX J, AC J) Nov 2013
A family trip to Westin Playa Conchal, Liberia Costa Rica, (UA Y) Aug 2013
Buried Treasure: UAE Empty Quarter and Beyond to Huvadhoo Atoll, Maldives (UA Y, EY J/Y, Q2 Y), Nov 2012
RTW #1 (F): The Time Share Presentation, Spain, China, Thailand, (AC J, OZ F, TG F, LH J, LH F, AC Y) May 2012.
A visit to Macchu Picchu and Valle Nevado, Peru and Chile. (AC J, LA Y) Sept 2011
Travel after the Revolution of January 25, 2011. Egypt. (MS Y) May 2011
A Step Back in Time: The Twilight of Burma, a visit to Myanmar (MI Y) Sept 2010
Background:
After being fortunate enough to get 3 Round the World Trips and one Africa Trip out of Aeroplan’s frequent flier program, we started diversifying our point collections. The Emirates First Class award was always on my mind and thanks to a decent amount of seat availability, we were able to lock in and easily plan a trip. We decided to travel westward on Emirates since the flights usually leave for the Americas in the day time. This would allow us to spend more time awake and less time sleeping. The outstation lounges for Emirates didn’t look all too impressive so we decided to travel westward on Emirates and just had to pick the route.
Initially, we had planned to fly eastward on Etihad from the Americas to Abu Dhabi and a separate award down to Cape Town. Before we were ready to book, Etihad pulled its First Class award availability completely to and from the USA. When we added in the fact that Etihad was flying old Jet Airways configured aircraft between Abu Dhabi and Cape Town, compared to Qatar’s brand new Boeing 787’s, it made sense to scrap the Etihad First Class complications or challenges and stick with Qatar on the entire routing. We secured an AAdvantage Business Award from North America to Africa at 75,000 miles per person.
For the return, thanks to Expertflyer and the Alaska Mileage Plan, I found generous award availability at the 5 1/2 month mark departing Mauritius. Emirates services Mauritius with a double daily A380 and there were lots of seats available. First Class availability for 2, to and from South Africa, was almost non existent (with the exception of Harare in Zimbabwe on their old Airbus 340’s) so we opted for another short paid positioning side trip to Mauritius, repeating our 2013 visit experience.
We had both been to Cape Town before and had loved it. It’s particularly beautiful and it was my third trip back there. I had always wanted to visit Namibia and this was our opportunity. Although we could have flown from Cape Town to Windhoek using the BA Avios points through Johannesburg, it was a route that would involve almost double or triple the time. We opted for the shorter non stop direct flights, on Air Namibia.
MrsWT73 had an interest in seeing Victoria Falls after seeing it on the US Version of The Amazing Race Season 27. It seemed like it had grown up since my last visit there in 1998 when it was a simple “back water” town (not intended to be a joke). For this visit, we booked in at the colonial Victoria Falls Hotel, with our return flight to Johannesburg on British Airways Comair using BA Avios.
All up, this trip was a pain to organize with many moving parts. I was relieved when it was all done, which was mid way through the trip.
I hope you’ll enjoy the next segments of our adventures to probably my most favorite continent on earth!