CPT is very high on my list, but it seems to be pretty difficult to grab reward seats as not many partners fly past JNB.

SGN was interesting for 1 or 2 days max

That's where I want to retire. We'll probably end up in the Hill Country:rolleyes:, but I'd love it be Australia.

Don't book anything yet. It looks like CO and Bill Me Later may have conspired to throw a wrench into my plans to visit Stuttgart. :rolleyes:

It usually lasts me about the 30 minute drive to the Sheraton. Then I'm over it.

I loved NRT , but the prices for everything were outrageous.

Nevermind. My reservation now shows "Ticketed and Confirmed" ^

Were you there before the new terminal at the airport was built , the current one is pretty nice , I was expecting something much much different.

I had the following trip set to go in August of 2006.

JFK - ZRH (award)
ZRH - NBO (award) 4 day layover in Kenya for safari

NBO - SEZ (out of pocket) 6 days in SEZ
SEZ - NBO (return, out of pocket)

NBO - CPT (award) 4 days in CPT
CPT - GRU (award) 1 night in GRU
GRU - JFK (award)

It got torpedoed when Varig went belly-up and the flights via GRU were canceled. This is a recurring theme with me. :mad:

HKG is truly amazing and everytime I go there I love it. Unfortunately most of my trips have been short. One of these days i'll do a full week there. The gf is interested, so that may help the matter.

Tokyo was also amazing. I've only been in the winter and would love to go when it's a little warmer.

Have yet to get to BKK and the only time I was in SGN was on a connection from HKG->SGN->NRT. The folks at the SGN airport were some of the friendliest I've ever met.

CPT is amazing, and I can't wait to get back. I'd like to take a week (whenever the Significant Otter gets some vacation time in 2010 - Yeah, right :rolleyes:) and see CPT again, the area around Hermanus (where there's a Westin Spa Resort), and Walvis Bay/Swakopmund, Namibia.

Ever since ALCO mentioned penguins at a mini-DO in Houston with the S/O present she has been on a mission to go somewhere with the little penguins in the wild.

Now I'm going to have to search her before we come back from wherever we go to make sure she didn't steal one.

Thanks. :rolleyes:

:p

2010 FIFA world cup is in South Africa which may throw a small :rolleyes: into flight availability.

After 5 years working at Sea World of Ohio, I can tell you those cute little things have a nasty streak when they do not get their way. Plus, their excrement is freakin' nasty.

That being said, a photo safari to a penguin colony would be spectacular.

I saw what I believe is the new one in 2006. It was very nice, but not worth planning a visit to the country over.
Agreed. And we had some phenomenal street food there (pho, among other things). The beaches we saw were OK, but not all that much better than others I've also seen and not worth dealing with the "hassle" of the people there harassing the tourists.

I had a great time on Whale Island (truly isolated, thatched huts, etc.), but Mrs. sbm12 got sick while we were there and the lack of air conditioning made that a bit hard to bear.

I found BKK to be just as friendly with comparable food options in the city and better tourist facilities with fewer hassles. I'd like to see more of Thailand still as we never got out of the city.

And I loved HKG for the 5 days I was there. There are a couple things I didn't see last time (like the peak :eek:) that I would definitely go back for at some point. But overall I found it very easy to get around, even as a gringo, and I even managed to find a few bargains (relatively) to keep my all-in price for a week under $2K, including air and hotel. Hard to complain about that.