Background:
Picking up where I last left off, I'm making steady progress toward my goal of visiting every country. This trip came about because I had an inbound portion of a JNB-BOS-JNB ticket to use. Initially, I was planning to make a run North from JNB and knock out a bunch of countries in West Africa. However, the flight planning was a bit challenging and I couldn't settle on a satisfactory itinerary that minimized backtracking and red eyes.
As such, I decided to finish off Southern African (excluding Madagascar and Comoros). Coming back, I couldn't find any reasonably priced Africa to US itineraries, so I decided to add a stop in Brazil to catch some F1 racing before heading home. As a bonus, the stop in Brazil would allow me to begin earning *G status with OZ.
Despite some hiccups near the end, the trip went very smoothly overall. The planning was very challenging, primarily because I wanted to finish off Southern Africa with a minimum of backtracking (through JNB). I'm mostly happy with how I planned out the trip, though I'd have preferred to have a bit more time in Lesotho.
The biggest challenge for this trip was the luggage. I wanted to bring a DSLR and telephoto lens (weighs 1.5kg alone) for some wildlife photos and my carry-on luggage allowance in Zambia was only 5kg (I don't check bags). Ultimately, I made it work, but it was tough.
Overall Routing:
Africa Routing:
Stats:- Countries Visited: 10
- Miles Flown: 26,000
- Classes of Service: Economy and Business
- New Airlines Flown: 5
- New Countries Visited: 9
- Updated Country Count: 78
- Total Packed Weight: 4.9kg
In this report:
British Airways Business Class: Boston - London
British Airways Business Class: London - Johannesburg
Airlink Economy Class: Johannesburg - Maseru
Avani Maseru Hotel
Airlink Economy Class: Maseru - Johannesburg
Airlink Economy Class: Johannesburg - Kasane
Chobe Marina Lodge
Chobe National Park (Day 1)
Chobe National Park (Day 2 - AM)
Impalila Island
Chobe National Park (Day 2 - PM)
Chobe National Park (Day 3)
Victoria Falls
Tongabezi Lodge
Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park
Proflight Zambia Economy Class: Livingstone - Lusaka
Proflight Zambia Economy Class: Lusaka - Lilongwe
Latitude 13
Lilongwe, Malawi
Malawian Airlines Business Class: Lilongwe - Johannesburg
Driving: Johannesburg to Piggs Peak
Phophonyane Falls Ecolodge
Driving: Piggs Peak to Maputo (via Malelane)
Maputo, Mozambique
Radisson Blu Hotel & Residence, Maputo
TAP Air Portugal Business Class: Maputo - Lisbon
NH Collection Lisboa Liberdade
Lisbon, Portugal
TAP Air Portugal Business Class: Lisbon - Rio de Janeiro
LATAM Airlines Economy Class: Rio de Janeiro - Sao Paulo
Hotel ibis Sao Paulo Paulista
Sao Paulo, Brazil
LATAM Airlines Business Class: Sao Paulo - Boston
Previous Trip Reports:
10 Countries in 9 Days (CX, KE, QR, TG, KL, BI)
Former SSRs: the Baltics, Belarus and Back
Bangladesh, Burma and Beijing the Long Way (with stops in Laos, Singapore and Tokyo)
A Passage to India with stops in Qatar, Sri Lanka and Scandinavia (AA, QR, UL in J)
An Engagement to Remember: BOS to ZQN (with a few stops along the way)
RTW in J: Cairo, Papua New Guinea, East Timor, Bali and Nepal
Touring the Five Stans
A Quick Trip to Brussels and Montreal
Steppe, Beaches and Rainforest: Mongolia and East Africa
Our Honeymoon in Morocco and Spain