Seat 2A

Yes folks, it’s time for the final chapter in my trilogy of tales about The Great Spring Trip of 2004. As if I haven’t assaulted your sensibilities enough already with not one but two long winded tales of getting there as opposed to being there, here’s another ten thousand words or so detailing The Journey Home from the sandy dunes of Namibia to the desert paradise of Nevada. Once again I detail boring flights aboard airlines like Air Namibia (Yes, there was a snack service) and even waste a good thousand words describing the service and entertainment options during my twenty five hour train trip aboard Namibian National Railways Train #9966 between Windhoek and Upington, South Africa. Some of you may find the menu transcripts from three flights and 15,000 miles of Cathay Pacific’s First Class service mildly entertaining whilst many others will have long since abandoned this tale in favor of more scintillating fare such as the spirited discussion about the apparent loss of FlyerTalk’s individual reputation feature. (Good riddance, I say!)

In any event, the time has come to turn my haggard face to the east – and a tad north, I suppose – and begin the long journey back to North America. Although most North Americans choose to travel to South Africa via New York or Atlanta on South African Airways, I came here on Cathay Pacific via Hong Kong and Vancouver. As much as I’d love to try out SAA’s Blue Diamond First Class Service before it disappears altogether, I just can’t see flying 7,970 miles nonstop back to New York when I can fly Cathay Pacific 15,460 miles via Hong Kong and Vancouver.

This Trip Report will start from the Atlantic coastal town of Swakopmund, Namibia and finish in Las Vegas, Nevada. From the western fringes of the Namib Desert to the eastern fringes of the Mojave Desert, all in the span of seven days. It will include a long, hot mostly overland journey down to Cape Town, a flight aboard South African Airways’ A340-600 up to Johannesburg, and thirty hours of being wined and dined like an Emperor via Cathay Pacific’s world renowned First Class Service across the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Toss in a brief description of a night spent in a 2.5 star hotel not far from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport and I think we’ve got the makings of a pretty good trip report here. Let’s get started.


** ***** **

I love springtime in North America! It doesn’t matter where – East, North, West or South, from the Yukon to the Yucatan Peninsula – it’s my favorite time of year on my favorite continent. Having been born and raised in Colorado and widely traveled through the Rocky Mountain West, I am particularly partial to that region, though I love the Desert Southwest almost as much.

Because of this, I have never had much problem getting excited about returning home from whatever exotic locale I may be in at the time. I know I can always look forward to just as good a time back in North America. Toss in the anticipation that comes with having a First Class Suite reserved for the long journey back to America and I’m more than ready to load my pack and head for the airport a couple of hours early.

This trip is different, though. After only three weeks in Southern Africa, I don’t want to go home just yet. I knew from the start that my three week stay in Africa was to be little more than an appetizer – a taste of South Africa if you will. Well, my appetite has been whetted and I hunger for more. Much more!

The South Africa I’ve seen and experienced on this trip is a beautiful and diverse country with an exciting future. It alone would be worthy of at least a three or four month stay, with another two or three months thrown in for neighboring Namibia, Botswana and Mozambique. Of course a visit to Victoria Falls up in Zimbabwe would have to be included, along with the compulsory train ride from Victoria Falls down to Bulawayo. And hey! Zambia and Malawi are right there! Maybe another month…

I also knew that this wouldn’t be my only trip to Africa. I have a habit of returning again and again to places I like. Still, that doesn’t make leaving now any easier. The memories of this first visit will linger tantalizingly for many months and will no doubt spur more than a few Autumn Mileage Runs in order that I might once again return to Africa in style. That said, I think the next Trip Report will most certainly focus on being here every bit as much as getting here. There’s just so much to observe, do and comment on!

Seat 2A

April 27, 2004
Swakopmund to Windhoek
Air Namibia 631 Economy Class
Cessna 208B Caravan V5-VAN Seat: Open
430p – 530p Flight time: 1:02

I hadn’t planned to fly the short distance from Swakopmund and Windhoek since the bus would get me there for a fraction of the cost. Still, perhaps I should have expected something out of the ordinary when, while walking down the broad, dusty avenue from my hostel to the bus station in downtown Swakopmund, I experienced my first sandstorm.

The storm came up quickly. The day had been unseasonably warm, courtesy of a hot wind blowing in off the Namib Desert east of Swakopmund. The locals appropriately call this meteorological phenomenon an East Wind and speak of its effect in almost reverent tones. Oh, yes! It going to be very hot for two or three days, maybe longer! Very Hot!

Hot weather notwithstanding, what had once seemed like a steady breeze suddenly became an all out wind. Just east of Swakopmund are major sand dunes, many of them over one hundred feet tall. Earlier in the week I’d spent a morning exploring and climbing these dunes. Their sand is very fine indeed. It took the wind only a couple of minutes to transport a good portion of that sand into, over and around the town of Swakopmund. I had forgotten about the dunes and so was surprised at how quickly the town became enveloped in the fine, gritty sand. Visibility on this sunny day diminished from clear to sandy within about thirty seconds. Without protection, breathing without inhaling sand became impossible so I pulled the neck of my T-shirt up over my mouth, squinted my eyes and struggled on.

Thankfully, when the storm came up I was only about three long Namibian blocks from the bus station. Sand and diminished visibility notwithstanding, there was no mistaking this bus station. It was in a small cinderblock building that was painted in blocks of bright pastel colors. It looked like a playhouse on the set of Sesame Street. A sign painted on the wall above the door indicated you could make long distance phone calls, send faxes or get on the Internet here. There was nothing to indicate that this was also the city bus “terminal”.

“Hi” I announced as I entered in a swirl of sand and wind. “I’m here for the 12:05pm bus”
“Shut the door. Quickly!” said the man standing behind the counter.
“There is no bus today.”
“What?! But the schedule...” I sputtered.
“Schedules change” he said. “The next bus to Windhoek is tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow! I’ve got a train out of Windhoek tonight. Are there any other bus companies?”
“There are a couple of mini-busses that make the trip, but they won’t go if it stays like this.”

Mini-busses are common throughout southern Africa. They are generally twelve to sixteen seat Toyota vans that are anywhere from twenty to fifty percent cheaper than the big busses. Without them, a fair segment of the population could not afford to travel.

I’ve ridden in one minibus and seen many others. While they are cost effective, they are far from comfortable for longer journeys. If the van seats twelve, it’ll often have twelve or more passengers crammed in, along with their luggage. This is tolerable for a ten mile journey but not for the five hour, two hundred and forty mile trip across the desert into Windhoek. Unfortunately, the vast majority of minibus passengers don’t have the luxury of being selective when it comes to transportation options, much less comfort. I do however, and so I headed into town to get a bite to eat and explore alternative travel options.

Air Namibia has a downtown ticket office in Swakopmund. I’d stopped in there earlier in the week to inquire about flying their 747-400 from Windhoek back down to Cape Town. Aside from inter-city flights in South Africa, air travel around Africa is generally a very expensive proposition. The Windhoek to Cape Town service was no exception with a one way flight costing about $300.00 USD compared to about $60.00 by bus. The flight between Swakopmund and Windhoek was much shorter, however. Perhaps it would be more reasonably priced as well.

It was. I got a seat on the once daily 4:30pm departure for just $67.00 USD. Arrival in Windhoek would be one hour later. By comparison, the five hour bus trip would have cost me about $16.00.

By now it was 1:30pm and the sand storm had abated considerably. After a leisurely lunch of grilled and seasoned chicken with Portuguese salad, I returned to the all purpose communications and transportation center to claim my pack and grab a taxi out to the airport. The guy I’d dealt with there was also the owner. The heat had shut down internet connections all over town and since business was slow, he offered to close up shop for a half hour and take me out to the airport himself for just $20.00 Namibian. That’s about $3.00 USD.

** ***** **

Swakopmund’s airport is located about 8 km. out of town. The road leading to it is gravel and the single terminal building is small and spartan. Remote parking is anything more than thirty feet away from the terminal. The tarmac in front of the terminal was asphalt but the taxiway and runway were dirt.

Although I’d been told to arrive an hour prior to flight time, I figured forty five minutes should be sufficient for a domestic flight. It was, and then some. Nobody from Air Namibia had yet arrived to check in passengers. Outside the building, a man sat on a bench against the building’s wall. Ah. The waiting area. I dropped my pack and took a wander about the facility. Out in the lot in front of the terminal, a couple of people sat in their cars, no doubt taking advantage of their air conditioning. Next door was another small building with a sign indicating it was a Flight School. A Coca Cola sign was posted next to the door, so I went over there thinking a cold Coke might take the edge off of the heat. Alas, there was no Coke. Or anything else. School was out, evidently.

Soon, the Air Namibia agent arrived. It was the same woman who had issued my ticket in town. Inside the terminal, she was met by an assistant who’s job it was to write out boarding passes and handle checked baggage. By now most of my fellow passengers – all eight of them – had arrived and we queued up for check-in. A sign behind the counter advised that no weapons were allowed on board the plane. Artistically depicted were a gun, a machete and a bundle of dynamite. My ticket was inspected, my name crossed off a manifest, my pack checked and thrown on a trolley and a boarding pass issued. Open seating. Right. Off to the lounge! (A bench outside in the shade of a palm tree.)

When I’d bought the ticket, I’d inquired as to the aircraft type and was told only that it was a twelve seater. The plane turned out to be a single engine Cessna 208B Caravan, Cessna’s entry into the regional air transport market. A few passengers climbed off, baggage was loaded and then boarding was called. At the door to the airplane, the ticket agent separated our boarding passes and offered us a snack from a large hand basket. A snack! On a Cessna? Indeed! On a pre-wrapped styrofoam tray were a carton of apple juice, a packet of crackers, a small serving of cheese, a little container of butter and a piece of lime candy.

Seating was four rows in a 1-2 arrangement. We were instructed to place hand baggage in a compartment at the rear of the cabin. The Captain introduced himself and his female co-pilot, encouraged us to read the safety cards, then advised that it would be a one hour flight into Windhoek, cruising at 11,500 feet. I found it interesting that he used feet instead of meters.

What can I say about flying in little airplanes? Unless you’re actually flying the airplane, there’s not much you can do but sit and look out the window. It’s not like the seats recline or you can pull out your laptop. I contented myself with admiring the stark desert landscape below and of course watching the take off and landing procedures.

Windhoek (pop. 215,000) is the capitol of Namibia and is served by two airports – one for international flights and one for domestic flights. Eros, the domestic airport, is conveniently located within 3 km of the downtown district. Eros is a real airport in the traditional sense with an attractive glassed in terminal building and even a baggage claim conveyor belt! Of particular interest to me was a beautiful DC-6 painted in the colors of NCA, which I think means Namibian Classic Airlines. I believe this aircraft may still operate an occasional passenger flight or charter and if so, I’d like to fly it on my next visit to Namibia.

The drive into downtown Windhoek was along a broad and well lit boulevard. The central business district is modern and attractive with shiny new hotels and office buildings. It’s a good looking small city that could easily be mistaken for many smaller American cities. My cabbie explained that the international airport is 50 km out of town! Business travelers from Jo’Burg or Cape Town spend more on round trip taxi fare than I’d spent on my ticket from Swakopmund!

The railroad station is located on the edge of the downtown district. It’s a large and attractive building, three stories tall and constructed in the classic British Colonial style. Since the ticket office and waiting room take up only a small portion of the ground floor, I can’t imagine what purpose the rest of the building serves.

Seat 2A

April 27, 2004
Windhoek to Upington
Trans-Namib Railway Business Class
Train 9966 Car 85327 Seat 105
710p-930p

Train travel in Africa is, as in most of the Third World, the slowest means of getting from one place to another. Airplanes are the fastest, followed by busses, then trains and finally horse drawn carts or carriages. The cost of transport is commensurate with the speed of getting there.

For example, between Swakopmund and Windhoek, the plane costs $67.00 USD. It makes the trip in one hour. The bus takes five hours and costs $16.00. The train takes eleven hours and costs $10.00. I was traveling down to the South African border town of Upington, located just across from southern Namibia on the mighty Orange River. Service to Upington operates only twice a week, via Keetmanshoop. At just over 600 miles in length, it is the longest route served by Namibia’s national railway. The journey from Windhoek to Upington will take twenty five hours and my Business Class ticket will cost just $26.00. By contrast, two months ago I paid about the same amount for a roundtrip ticket on the commuter train from Reading into London, a ride of about one and a half hours each way.

Passenger rail services within Namibia are operated by StarLine, a division of Trans-Namib, the national railroad. Business and Economy Class travel are available on all routes. In addition, Economy Sleeper service is available on the Windhoek to Keetmanshoop route.

Interestingly, Economy and a Business Class sections are offered in each car rather than having their own dedicated cars. A service area with a toilet, vending machine and equipment for the TV/video separates the two sections. Seating in Economy Class is in a 2-2 configuration, much like you’d find on a bus. The Business Class section has just twelve seats, also arranged 2-2. Business Class seats are larger and offer greater recline and leg room than those in Economy, but they are only marginally more comfortable.

Economy Sleeper is exactly that. Six bunks in a compartment, three to a side. Passengers must provide their own bedding. From what I could see through the open windows, the bunks looked like narrow, thinly padded platforms. Unlike South African trains, there were no two or four berth cabins available.

The only food available on these Namibian trains is in the mid-car vending machines. The machines offer nothing but soda and junk food. Honestly, it was a dismal selection – chips, candy, cigarettes, biltong (a local jerky) and five different sodas. An LCD readout on the machine indicated the temperature of the sodas: 13 degrees Celsius. Cool, but not cold. The machines accepted only Namibian one dollar coins so it was important to have plenty of change. Better yet, try and bring your own food.

Had I been better prepared, I would have brought fixings for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. None of those ingredients need to be refrigerated. With a twenty five hour trip ahead of me and no means of keeping food cold, my primary concern was the possibility of food spoilage or, more specifically, salmonella poisoning.

Outside the station, a man was selling a variety of hot sausages from a large covered wagon. He had bratwurst, Russian and Polish sausages. I ordered a Russian sausage sandwich and received a large spicy sausage in a bun with sautéed onions. Four or five different sauces were available, including French mustard. This was quite a nice surprise in light of the other food options available to me. A small takeaway place a couple of blocks from the Windhoek station sold broiled chicken quarters along with egg and chicken salad sandwiches. I bought four bottles of purified water and a bag of peanuts.

Although departure time was listed as 7:10pm, the train was available for boarding from 6:00pm onward. When I boarded at about 6:45pm, there was already a movie playing on the big 19” television mounted at the front of the Business Class cabin. No checked baggage is available although the shelves above the seats provide plenty of room for most everything from bales of hay to small animals to big backpacks like mine. I was the only person in Business Class.

The service down to Keetmanshoop and Upington is operated as a “Mixed Freight”. In front of the three passenger cars were five or six box cars. Behind them were a number of flatbed cars, most of which were carrying what looked to be pipes. Everything was covered by tarps.

The 7:10pm departure time came and went. We still weren’t even connected to an engine yet. When the engine finally did show up, it arrived with a bang. Literally. It didn’t connect to the train so much as run into it. I was sitting there watching some lamentably poor Chinese action movie when suddenly there was a mighty jolt. If I’d had a bottle of soda on the seat back table, it most certainly would have tipped over or fallen off! We then went forward a couple of hundred yards, then reversed and run into or coupled with a couple of more cars. It was hard to tell. By the time we finally did get under way, it was almost 8:00pm.

Seat 2A

Nobody would ever confuse a trip on Starline train #9966 with a ride on a “name train” like The Canadian. Average speed is decidedly non-zephyr like 35 mph. There’s no lounge car or dining car and since it was dark when we departed Windhoek, there was no scenery either. The train “conductor” was a roly poly little guy with dirty pants and a wrinkled shirt with a Trans-Namib patch sewn over the breast pocket. Paramount amongst his duties was making sure that passengers were “entertained” with a seemingly inexhaustible supply of low budget action videos. The one exception was the British film “Enigma” about the British efforts to break the Nazi U-boat communications codes during World War II. Headphones? Natch!! Sound was piped through over the main speakers so even if you weren’t watching the movie, you were nonetheless serenaded by an endless cacophony of screams, cursing and explosions.

The service down to Keetmanshoop included two coaches and one sleeper. I took a walk down to the next coach back when the vending machine in my car refused to part with an orange soda despite my having inserted the requisite amount of coinage. Prominently posted was a sign requesting that passengers please not hit or kick the vending machine.

Because the train was only about forty percent full, there was plenty of room back in Economy. Most passengers had spread out and, after pushing the seatback in front of them all the way forward, had a very nice ottoman. Coupled with the recline of their own seats, this arrangement looked a lot more comfortable than my wider but less maneuverable Business Class seating.

With no dining car, no lounge car, no daylight and lots of bad movies, I spent most of the night reading before finally falling asleep about midnight – shortly after the last video had ended. Using my sleeping bag for a blanket and my towel for a pillow, I slept fairly well with the exception of a couple of good jolts during the night.

I awoke as we were pulling into Keetmanshoop, a town of about 5,000. The sun was just starting to rise and the air was still pleasantly cool. Although the station was about 1 km from the downtown, I could see a couple of nice looking church steeples and a lot of trees. A little oasis in the middle of desert scrub.

We had a one hour layover in Keetmanshoop during which the train was dismantled and put back together again. Had it not been 6:45 am, I might have headed into town to see if I could find anything decent to eat. However, recent experiences in the region had taught me that the printed schedule doesn’t always correspond with the actual service, so it would probably be wisest to stick around. I watched as the yard engine separated my car from the rest of the train, parked it on an adjoining track, then went and dropped off a couple of the box cars before reattaching my car and heading off to pick up a few more trailers and a couple of hoppers. The final consist down to Upington included about a dozen different freight cars and the one passenger car right in the middle of it all, fourth from the front.

Thankfully, a small shop at one end of the station opened at about 8:00am. It offered three different types of sausages, some cheese sandwiches on hoagie type rolls, and a fair selection of candy and chips. All the major food groups for Namibian train travelers! In a refrigerator behind the counter were perhaps a dozen different bottles of soda. Also for sale were a few packs of batteries, some kind of lotion, three packs of cigarettes and a couple pairs of children’s shoes. I bought a big bottle of refreshingly cold Coca Cola and a freshly cooked sausage which I put in a cheese sandwich. Breakfast of champions? I bought another cheese sandwich for later in the trip. By the time we pulled out of Keetmanshoop, it was 8:30am.

With only thirteen more hours to go until our arrival in Upington, I alternated between reading and watching the scenery. For the first couple of hours, the landscape reminded me a lot of central Utah along the I-70 corridor. There was a long line of book cliffs that went on for many miles. The cliffs in Utah stretch for over 300 miles. By early afternoon we’d left the cliffs and buttes behind and the landscape became a lot more like that of western New Mexico – low, scrub desert. I’ve always enjoyed the attractive desolation of the wide open spaces so I found this aspect of the journey quite pleasant. The only drawback was the incessant soundtrack from the videos. Lots of screams, cursing and explosions…

Seat 2A

A little after noon, we pulled into a dusty little town where the train was immediately stormed by about a dozen youths who moved through the cabin like a hurricane while grabbing any empty soda bottles and pausing occasionally to bum change. Although a Namibian dollar is only worth about fifteen cents in US dollars, it and a Rand or two are a welcome and appreciated donation amongst beggars. I have mixed feelings about supporting via spare change the more youthful street people in the US, but in consideration of the incredible unemployment rate in this part of the world (over 30% in South Africa) I’m inclined to believe the beggars when they say they’re hungry.

There were two or three towns along the route where the train stopped for five to ten minutes. I’ve ridden many trains in Mexico where during the longer stops three or four of the locals were allowed to come through the train with baskets of local foods, sandwiches and candy. Prices were very affordable, too. I remember once buying a bag of three big tamales for the equivalent of about $1.00 USD. It was a nice service for the passengers and a little extra income for the locals.

About three o’clock I became hungry and headed back to the vending machine for a candy bar. As I deposited three coins and perused the selection in search of something that looked like it contained chocolate and peanuts, I was serenaded by a chorus of “Excuse me, sir?” from the front of the Economy cabin. Three people were calling to me and, once they had my attention, started addressing me in something other than English. Or maybe it was English so heavily accented that it sounded like something else. I shrugged my shoulders and raised my eyebrows in what I hoped was the universal gesture of not understanding their language. They responded with the universal gesture for a handout. They must have seen me giving money to the kids from a couple of hours earlier. Lots of other eyes were upon me as well. I was the only white person on the train and the only person in Business Class. The assumption was likely that I had lots of money compared to them. While that would be true, the vending machine took only Namibian dollars of which I had $7.00 in coins left so there was no way I could shout a round of candy for everyone.

I still question whether I handled this very well, but I left my three coins in the machine, gestured to it as in “Help yourself” and returned to my seat. It seemed awkward and ultimately somewhat unfair for me to sit up there all alone in Business Class chowing down while they went hungry in the back. And, as I only had enough coinage for two candy bars, it would have been equally awkward if I’d bought one bar for myself and one for everyone else. Basically, I decided that if they can’t eat, I won’t eat.

Now the obvious question that arises is how do I feel about this whilst sitting in my First Class suite dining on caviar and salmon while the folks back in Economy must make do with comparatively meager tray meals and long waits for the beverage cart? I have no problem whatsoever with that disparity because it’s nowhere near the same level of deprivation. Most of the people on this train will never see the inside of an airplane in their lifetimes. Many of those passengers flying in Economy will likely enjoy far greater creature comforts than I once they get off the airplane.

After two brief stops for Namibian and South African custom and immigration formalities, we arrived in Upington at 11:00pm, an hour and a half late. The station was closed, though from what I could see it wouldn’t have made much difference if it were open. There was nothing there but a small ticket office and a waiting room. My immediate needs were a phone and a taxi. Pay phones are incredibly rare commodities in the local train stations. In all but the vary largest cities (Jo’Burg or Cape Town) if there are any phones at all, there are no more than one or two. A man out on the platform asked me if I needed any assistance and I indicated a taxi would be nice. Thankfully there was one of those, albeit a totally unmarked and rather road weary Toyota. I threw my pack in the back and the driver was nice enough to stop at a card phone while I called and booked a bed at Yebo Backpackers, one of two hostels in the city.

Yebo Backpackers set me up in an amazing room for only $100.00 Rand or about $15.00 USD per night. I had a big double bed in a spacious and attractive room and the attached bathroom was larger than some regular rooms I’ve stayed in. It included a huge bathtub set amidst attractive stonework along with an ornate sink and cabinet. Two dogs named Sasha and Hitler provided friendly companionship. The latter appeared to be an interesting mix between a Jack Russell Terrier and a Dachshund and was much friendlier than her rather infamous namesake. I slept quite comfortably on the large double bed and in the morning enjoyed a hot shower and a cup of strong coffee before heading into town for a bit of exploring.

My bus from Upington to Cape Town did not leave until 6:00pm that evening so I had most of the day to check out the town. The hostel was located about a fifteen minute walk from the town center. In terms of size, climate and surrounding topography, Upington reminded me of a lot of Grand Junction, Colorado. The downtown area was quite clean and orderly, sporting plenty of shops and restaurants and even a mall with a movie theater. The nearby Orange River is quite broad and attractive and the town is the gateway for visiting the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park and Augrabies Falls National Park. I’ll definitely be back here for a longer visit!

Seat 2A

May 02, 2004
Cape Town to Johannesburg
South African 352 Economy Class
A340-600 ZS-SNF Seat: 39A
410p – 610p Flight time: 1:45

Like Australia, South Africa has suffered from years of inordinately high domestic airfares. The arrival of competition, chiefly from Nationwide Airlines and Kulula.com, has made air travel around this big broad country a lot more affordable.

Although this new competition has forced South African Airways to lower its airfares, I found its fares were still more expensive than either of the low fare carriers. Between Cape Town and Jo’Burg, both Kulula and Nationwide offered fares about $200.00 Rand ($29.00 USD) cheaper than SAA. Nonetheless, I purchased a ticket on South African because I wanted to fly their new A340-600. Since the aircraft is not flown domestically in North America, this would be my best chance to fly it without having to dole out the big bucks or miles for an international ticket. My one way ticket to Johannesburg cost me $117.00 USD.

I rode the Backpacker Bus out to Cape Town International Airport. They will pick you up anywhere in the city and the cost, at only $100.00 Rand, was a fraction of what the average business traveler would pay for a taxi. The well marked van arrived within minutes of my call. I was the only passenger and we sped out to the airport in about twenty minutes.

The domestic terminal at Cape Town International appears to have been built in the 1960s or earlier. The interior is old and cluttered, its atmosphere mildly claustrophobic. With the debatable exception of South African and British Airways, all of the airline check in areas resembled car rental counters. This airport is definitely in need of a facelift because the city seems to have outgrown it.

Despite the lack of orderly lines, my wait at the Economy Class check-in counter was not too long and I was on my way through security just a few minutes later. The departure lounge is long and narrow and really no more spacious than the ticketing and check-in area. It does however feature excellent ground level views of the aircraft parked just outside the big floor to ceiling windows. In town today and parked in the following order were my South African A340-600, an Air Namibia 747-400, a British Airways 747-400 and a South African 747-400. In the distance sat a Nationwide 737-200, a South African 737-200 and a Kulula DC-9-80. The gates were numbered doorways and in lieu of jetways, passengers were bussed to their planes on big red busses. At one end of the room was a full service restaurant and bar called the Sports Café. Along the wall opposite the gates were a collection of small souvenir shops selling expensive touristy stuff. There was also a small coffee bar where I purchased a cappuccino and put in some work on this report.

Boarding was called about thirty minutes prior to departure. Although we could have easily walked the short distance out to our aircraft, we were nonetheless loaded onto the large red busses and deposited at its nose. Mobile stairways were positioned at the first two doors and I headed right up the first one so that I could check out the Business Class cabin.

Wow! The Business Class cabin on this airplane was huge! There were forty eight seats arranged 2-2-2, each of them dark blue with leather trim. The legroom was impressive as well. I would estimate the seat pitch to be at least 60”. I oughta be up here!

Alas, my lot was back beyond the curtain with the huddled masses so I continued on through the substantial galley to my seat at 39A, fourth row from the front of the Economy cabin. The Economy Class cabin was also upholstered in dark blue and I got to thinking: How many major airlines can you think of that don’t upholster their cabins in predominantly blue, gray or a combination of the two?

Remember the seventies? Interiors were right out of the Yellow Submarine with interior designs by Peter Maxx. Intricately patterned seat fabrics were all the rage and many airlines had colorful theme “rooms” on their wide bodied aircraft. That was the nature of the seventies though – for better and/or worse a different and way more fun time in our history. Times are comparatively more serious and businesslike now and airline interiors certainly reflect that. Not terribly creative but very cost effective. That said, I still think this South African A340 was a handsome airplane both inside and out.

Economy Class seating was reasonably comfortable for a domestic flight. Seat pitch was about 31 inches. The recline was minimal however and I’m quite certain I wouldn’t care to fly in Economy aboard this aircraft for any long intercontinental flights.

In each seatback was a huge TV screen – huge by Economy Class standards at least. The screen easily measured 10” diagonally. While there was no video programming offered on the short flight up to Cape Town, there was constant footage shown from a tail mounted camera looking forward over the top of the fuselage. This was interesting to a point, especially during take off and landing. Overall however, I thought the view out my window was nicer.

Take off roll was only 29 seconds and I was thankful for my window seat on the left side because I enjoyed superb views of the coastline followed by a low level pass over the precipitous Sederberg Mountains as we climbed away from Cape Town towards our cruising altitude of 36,000 feet.

Service commenced within twenty minutes of takeoff. The beverage cart came first, followed soon after by the snack cart. Without any prior explanation of the contents, we were offered a choice of chicken or vegetable and handed a dark blue carton that contained the following:

· A Chicken Salad or Tomato, Cheese and Lettuce Sandwich
· A bag of Fruit and Chutney flavored Corn Puffs
· A plastic knife and napkin

The sandwich was of good size – not like those mini-hoagie roll sandwiches you get in American’s Bistro Bags. The fruit and chutney flavored chips… what can I say? They’re an acquired taste that I’m working on. Slowly.

After the cartons and other assorted detritus from the meal were cleared away, there was another pass with the beverage cart before the crew closed up shop and we began our descent into Johannesburg International Airport.

I’ve noticed in reading over a couple of my latest trip reports that I often commented on the smooth landings on practically all of my flights. Wait a minute! They can’t all be smooth! Ah well, if you’re sitting way up in First Class on a succession of 747s and A340s, landings can certainly feel a lot smoother, even if they might seem a bit rough to the folks sitting back over the wing. Tonight’s landing was quite nicely executed however. It seemed as if both main landing gears touched down very evenly. After a noisy reverse thrust (I was right beside the engines), we spent the next twelve minutes taxiing into our remote gate.

Once again, we were loaded into busses and driven over to the main terminal. Along the way we passed within thirty feet of 747s from Qantas, Air France, Lufthansa and South African and an MD-11 from Swiss. I could see up through the forward windows into a bit of the First Class cabins and was filled with envy. I could clearly make out the unique First Class seats used by Swiss and South African, awarded the most comfortable First Class suites by the judges at Skytrax. It was 6:10pm and most of these planes would soon be flying off to Europe. Ah.. a nice dinner hour departure, a comfy chair, a delicious meal, a comfortable siesta and awake to breakfast over the Pyrynees. Civilized travel at its finest.

I was met at baggage claim by Trooper from the Africa Center. I’d splurged and reserved myself a deluxe ensuite single room, a decision which turned out to be most fortuitous. The dorm was filled with a noisy young soccer team down from Zimbabwe to compete in a local tournament. My room was very quiet and nicer than those of many hotels I’ve stayed in. It cost just $43.00.

After getting settled in, I headed down to the bar for a beer and a snack. I ended up drinking several whilst chatting with two Aussies, a Dutchman and an Englishman about their travels through Zambia and mine through Namibia, followed by Australian politics, American and English football and good blues bands. At least, those are the topics I can remember before the bar closed and we had to go to bed. It was a great way to spend my final night in South Africa.

Seat 2A

May 03, 2004
Johannesburg to Hong Kong
Cathay Pacific 748 First Class
A340-300 B-HXO Seat: 2K
1250p – 710a Flight time: 12:08

Pictures can be found HERE

I arrived at Johannesburg International at 10:30am. The check-in counters for Cathay Pacific were down at the far end of the terminal building and when I reached the counter area – but not the counter itself– I was hailed by a group of four gentlemen who asked to see my ticket and passport. They were clad in official looking black uniforms but did not appear to work directly for Cathay Pacific. In any event, once they were satisfied that I was a genuine passenger, they made a big show of appending two First Class Priority Baggage tags to my daypack and backpack before directing me to the First Class check in counter.

There was really nothing they did that could not have been done by the counter agents, but then in a country with 30% unemployment, perhaps its just as well they had any paying job – regardless off how menial or insignificant.

I had my backpack tagged through to JFK. In the process, the agent removed the recently appended Priority Baggage tag and replaced it with another one, properly placed within my baggage tag. I was then issued two Lounge Passes – one for Johannesburg and one for Hong Kong.

Cathay Pacific has a code share agreement with South African Airways on its service into Hong Kong. Unfortunately, this agreement does not allow Cathay’s passengers the use of SAA’s fabulous Cycad Lounge. Instead, I was directed to the British Airways lounge, located downstairs from the main departures level. On the wall above the stairway, a banner from Virgin Atlantic proclaimed that its lounge, like its service, was on a higher level. Hmm…

The BA Lounge in Johannesburg serves all BA and CX Premium passengers, in addition to those from BA’s subsidiary Comair. Although there was no separate First Class side, the lounge was pleasant enough – modeled after the Terraces design with the pastel colored furniture. The food service area included pre-wrapped sandwiches, yogurt, breads and a big selection of potato chips and cookies. Oh Boy. I grabbed a salmon roll and a coke and retired to one of three work stations to fire off some last minute postcards.

Boarding was called at noon, fifty minutes before scheduled departure time. I took my time finishing up and was on my way out of the lounge ten minutes later. Imagine my surprise upon reaching the top of the stairway to hear an “urgent and final call” for those passengers traveling on CX 748. Whaaat?! It’s still forty minutes before departure! I hurried on down to the gate lounge and found three people still in line to board. Wow! I guess they weren’t kidding! Either the load was very light or I really was one of, if not the last people to board.

Five out of eight First Class seats were occupied on this flight. The man in front of me was apparently well known to at least one member of the crew who greeted him by name with a hug and a kiss. Meanwhile, I stepped out of my shoes and proceeded to organize myself for the twelve hour flight into Hong Kong.

Although my favorite aircraft for First Class travel will always be the 747 because of its quieter and more intimate cabin, I must say I prefer the actual suites on Cathay’s A340s. The reason for this is the large storage lockers between the seats and the windows. Not only do they have plenty of space for carry-on items but they also provide a great additional flat storage area for books, magazines, a laptop or even snacks while you’re using the main pull out table for your meal or work.

I was greeted by Sharon, as friendly and capable a person as you could ever wish for amongst your cabin crew. She was gracious and charming and in short order had me feeling like the Lord of the Manor as I settled into my suite with a tall flute of Krug and a tasty vegie canapé.
Sleep Suits and amenity kits were distributed in short order, the doors were shut, the emergency briefing dispensed with and we were on our way out to the runway – ten minutes prior to scheduled departure time! No wonder we had the early boarding!

As we taxied out to the runway, I took particular notice of two ex-Midwest Express DC-9-30s parked amongst a slew of elderly 727s. I wonder who they’ll fly for next? Also in town were 747s from Cargolux and Martinair along with an A340 from Iberia.

Our route of flight took us due east over Mozambique and across southern Madagascar before assuming a slightly more northeasterly heading over the Indian Ocean that took us directly over Port Louis, Mauritius. From there, it was open ocean for the next three thousand miles until we hit land over Indonesia. This was a more southerly course than was flown on my outbound flight and I was drawn to the remoteness of the route. Very few aircraft, commercial or otherwise, fly out over this section of the Indian Ocean.

Cabin Service Director Angel stopped by to introduce herself and mentioned that I was listed as a Korean passenger on Cathay’s manifest. We both agreed I didn’t look very Korean, nor had I ever visited the Land of The Morning Calm. She said she’d get this straightened out with Cathay and wished me a pleasant flight. Yet another gracious and competent – not to mention beautiful – person in the employ of Cathay Pacific. I’ve yet to encounter my first Prison Matron amongst any of Cathay’s staff – either on the ground or in the air.

Menus were distributed and I eagerly perused the selections:


Johannesburg to Hong Kong

LUNCHEON

Caviar and Balik Salmon Delight
Oscietra Caviar and Balik Salmon “Tsar Nicolaj”
Served with Warm New Potatoes and Crème Fraiche

Soup
Sweet Corn Cream Soup

Salad
Seasonal Salad with Crispy Bacon, Grilled Zucchini, Leek and Shaved Parmesan
Served with Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinaigrette

Bread Basket
Assorted Bread and Rolls

MAIN COURSES

Braised Lamb Shank with Rosemary Sauce
Parsley Mashed Potato, Glazed Onion and Buttered Broccoli

Steamed Butterfish with Black Pepper Sauce
Steamed Rice and Stir-Fried Vegetables

Chicken Breast filled with Sun-dried Tomatoes and Basil
Roast Potatoes and Grilled Vegetables

Tortellini filled with Spinach and Ricotta
Topped with Herb Cream Sauce

** ***** **

Cheeseboard
A Selection of Fine International Cheeses
Served with the Traditional Accompaniments

Dessert Selection
Chocolate Pudding
Apple and Cinnamon Flan
Espresso Praline Ice Cream with Guava Coulis, Toasted Almond and Flake

Tea and Coffee
Pralines and Cookies

WINE LIST

Champagne
Krug Grande Cuvée Champagne

White Wines
Olivier Leflaive Puligny Montrachet 1998
Willow Creek Vineyard Unoaked Chardonnay 2001

Red Wines
Chateau Lynch Bages 1995
Simonsig Cabernet Sauvignon 2000
Triganello 2000

Port
Ramos Pinto Quinta de Ervamoira 10 Year Old Tawny Port

Seat 2A

Cocktails and almonds were served over Swaziland, followed by Salmon and Caviar over the Mozambique Channel. By the time the main course was presented, we were just passing over the west coast of Madagascar. For exotic locales, this certainly beats salad over Syracuse or luncheon over Lincoln, Nebraska. Add to this a beautiful afternoon at 36,000 feet and I couldn’t imagine a restaurant with a better view anywhere on the planet!

For my main course, I chose the stuffed chicken breast. Although I was expecting an entire breast, what I received was three slices of chicken stuffed Wellington fashion. The portion wasn’t very large, but then after the appetizers, soup and salad it didn’t need to be. Most importantly, it was actually pretty good, especially with the flavorful sauce.

I passed on the cheese course in favor of my first ice cream dessert since I started this Around The World extravaganza back in early March. The ice cream was described as praline but what I liked best about it was the piquant guava sauce and the toasted almond flakes. I’m going to have to try that at home sometime!

After lunch, with almost ten hours left in the flight, I decided to check out this month’s movies on Studio CX. As expected, it was an impressive selection:

Cold Mountain
Lord Of The Rings – The Return Of The King
Calendar Girls
Along Came Polly
House of Sand and Fog
Mona Lisa Smile
Mystic River
Welcome to Mooseport
In The Line of Fire
Rocky
Octopussy
The Butterfly Effect
Touching The Void

This is only a small listing of thirteen movies out of well over thirty choices, including many Asian and children’s movies. There was something for everybody! I selected Touching The Void and spent the next couple of hours watching one of the most gripping mountaineering stories I’ve ever seen. Great movie!

If you haven’t experienced Cathay Pacific’s Studio CX, you have only to look forward the finest inflight entertainment system I have ever experienced. It alone would be worth paying a little bit extra to fly Cathay Pacific on a longer flight!

Flying eastbound at over 600 mph, we lost our daylight very quickly. Despite taking off out of Jo’Burg at about 12:50pm, darkness set just three hours into the flight. It was weird because in consideration of our morning arrival in Hong Kong, we had almost an entire cycle of daylight and darkness compressed into one twelve hour flight. As such, by the time the movie had ended, it made sense to try and get some sleep despite the fact that it was only 6:00pm local time in Johannesburg.

I popped a Melatonin and considered that yesterday at this time I was descending into Jo’Burg on SAA’s A340-600. A week ago I was climbing sand dunes in Namibia. A month ago today I was flying British Airways’ 747 from Singapore to London to Los Angeles. Two months ago I was flying Alaska from Fairbanks to Seattle. A year ago today I was riding the Santa Clause Express from Rovaniemi to Helsinki. On May 3rd, 2002, I was driving from Grand Junction, Colorado to Las Vegas, Nevada. Before I could figure out where I was in May of 2001, I was asleep.

I awoke about 200 miles southeast of Sri Lanka, speeding towards Hong Kong at 588 mph. Although I’d only slept for about five hours, it had seemed enough. That is to say that since I wasn’t easily falling back to sleep, I decided to bag it and check out the refreshment options:


REFRESHMENT

Noodles in Soup with Shredded Beef and Prawns
Artichoke Pizza


Hmm… those Asian soups are SO good! I ordered a bowl of the soup and a bottle of water. Then, I pulled out my laptop with Targus power port connector and set to work on this report. I don’t know about you all, but very rarely do I ever have the luxury of writing about my travels as they happen. As a result, if I am going to be writing a trip report, something I never did until two years ago, I take a lot of notes about what I feel might be some of the more salient points of the flight. In that way I can refer back to them some three or four days later when I get around to writing about the actual journey. On this flight, I was writing about my train trip from Windhoek to Upington.

Time flies when you’re having fun, and before long we were just a little over an hour away from landing at Hong Kong. If I were going to have anything more than a continental breakfast, it would have to be soon. I put the laptop away and once again looked over the menu:


BREAKFAST

Juice Selection

Appetizer
Fresh Seasonal Fruits

Yogurt Selection
Natural or Low Fat Fruit Flavored Yogurt

Cereals
Corn Flakes, Muesli or Rice Krispies

Main Courses
Eggs ~ Freshly Scrambled, Fried or Boiled
Braised Udon Noodles with Beef and Chinese Vegetables

Accompaniments
Grilled Back Bacon and Beef Sausage
Hash Brown Potatoes, Grilled Tomato and Broiled Mushrooms

Bread Basket
Assorted Bread, Rolls and Fresh Toast
Served with Preserves, Honey and Butter

Tea and Coffee

Seat 2A

I seem to recall reading recently that due to possible health problems resulting from undercooked eggs (read: due to the possibility of lawsuits from people who might try and blame their e-coli on the over easy eggs they requested on their recent CX flight) Cathay was set to discontinue freshly cooked eggs aboard all of its flights. If true, that policy has yet to be implemented. Even so, I decided to go for a change of pace and try the Udon Noodles with beef and vegetables.

Had I been raised on noodle based entrees for breakfast, I might have considered this an excellent meal. Until today however, I had never eaten noodles for breakfast and have no real desire to do so again. It’s not that the noodles were bad but rather that I simply prefer eggs or cereal for my morning meal.

The skies around Hong Kong were overcast with low clouds and occasional light rain. As a result, I was deprived of any memorable views from the approach into Chep Lap Kok. Prior to this trip, I’d only flown into Hong Kong once before, back when the airport was located at Kai Tak. The approach at that airport was legendary for the scenery and the close proximity of the large buildings to the main runway that extended out into the harbor.

Landing was routine and we taxied without delay straight to our assigned gate, number 68, located way down at the far end of the Northwest Concourse. I spent some time chatting with Sharon and Angel before thanking them for another memorable flight and heading off the aircraft. After passing a temperature check, I was free to wander the airport for the next seven hours. What I really wanted was a shower and some rest, so I was thrilled to discover that Cathay’s other airport lounge, The Pier, was conveniently located right between gates 61-65. Unfortunately, it was located downstairs, meaning artificial lighting and no views of the tarmac.

Although The Pier is substantially smaller than its more famous and award winning counterpart The Wing, it offers essentially the same services. At one end was a very nice looking restaurant. Like its counterpart in The Wing, it is also called The Haven. It was brightly lit with nicely set tables featuring linen table cloths, gleaming silverware and sparkling glasses. Although the foods offered were via a buffet, there were waiters on hand to seat you and bring you drinks. In the middle of the lounge were nice seating areas decorated in wood and earth tone colored fabrics. Or maybe it was leather. The lighting was subdued and this section of the lounge looked quiet and comfortable. At the far end were about twenty individual work areas. Each of them featured a large desk complete with an Internet capable computer and a phone. Copy and fax facilities were available via reception. Business travelers could hardly ask for more.

Also available were showers and Day Rest rooms. Although I never checked these rooms out, I understand they offer something akin to a large recliner chair with an ottoman and a variety of audio and video functions. As it was, I seemed to have gotten my second wind shortly after arriving in the lounge and so never felt the need to use these rooms.

Overall, I quite enjoyed this lounge. Though it didn’t have the spacious ambience of The Wing, nor the Long or Short Bars, it was a stylish and comfortable place to while away the next five hours. I put in a lot of time on the Internet, including ordering a couple of books that I’d seen in Cape Town but was able to purchase for substantially less at Amazon.com. I also had a hot shower and a nice lunch in The Haven restaurant before heading off to the other side of the airport and a quick visit to The Wing.

Interestingly, my connecting flight to New York was scheduled to depart from gate 3. From The Pier, there is no farther connecting distance possible than the journey to Gate 3. Signs in the terminal advise that it’s a good twenty minute walk. I set my stopwatch and managed it in fourteen – walking briskly and aided by numerous moving sidewalks.

Seat 2A

May 04, 2004
Hong Kong to Vancouver
Cathay Pacific 888 First Class
747-400 B-HUD Seat: 2A
300p – 1101a Flight time: 11:26

One thing I’ve very much appreciated about all of my flights with Cathay Pacific is that they offer a dedicated First and Business Class entrance at the boarding gate. It’s absolutely amazing to me that some airlines – a couple of them considered world class – don’t always do this. One of the great perks in flying First Class is not having to wait in line, or, if you must, not having to wait very long.

Despite an absolute horde of Economy Class passengers patiently waiting to board the big 747-400, I was able to walk right up to the podium, present my boarding pass, and stroll unimpeded down the jetway and on to the aircraft. A more civilized way to board an aircraft there is not.

Greeting me in the First Class cabin was Dilnawaz, an attractive young lady from India with a friendly open smile and the most beautiful lilting accent. Within moments my shoes were off, my carry-ons stowed and I was comfortably sat in Suite 2A with a tall glass of Perrier and a plate of almonds. The canapé was a slice of cranberry topped with a dollop of cream and a walnut half. Not what I’d expected, but tasty enough. Once again, a most civilized beginning to a flight.

Meanwhile, back in Economy, one can only imagine the mayhem! People milling about trying to find seats while others attempt to squeeze bulky and occasionally oversized carry on items into bins or under seats. Small babies screaming at the intensity of it all while Flight Attendants scurry to and fro dealing with the miasma of issues related to getting a couple of hundred passengers and their gear safely stowed away and settled in. Ah, the vicissitudes of Economy Class travel!

Truth be known, I’ve been there all too many times to ever be condescending or dismissive of the people or the scene behind the curtain. Despite having logged well over one million miles in First Class aboard everyone from Swissair to Singapore and Aerolineas Argentinas to Ansett, I’ve never found the craziness of Economy Class travel to be all that bad. I’m there because I chose to be, either by design or by budget and when traveling in the back, I’m generally thankful at the good fare I scored rather than resentful at the comparative lack of service vis a vis the front of the plane.

Today however, I am in First Class. Economy Class travel is little more than an abstract concept as I slip into the top half of my soft Shanghai Tang Sleep Suit and peruse the dinner offerings from the menu that’s just been presented:


Hong Kong to Vancouver

DINNER

Caviar and Balik Salmon Delight
Oscietra Caviar and Balik Salmon “Tsar Nicolaj”
Served with Warm New Potatoes and Crème Fraiche

Soup
Potato Cream Soup
Served with mini Garlic Baguette

Salad
Nicoise Salad
Served with Herb Vinaigrette

Bread Basket
Assorted Bread and Rolls

MAIN COURSES

Stir-fried Chicken with Black Beans and Shallots
Egg Fried Rice and Stir-fried Pak Choy

Grilled Marinated Lamb Chops with Roasted Garlic Cloves
Potatoes with Olive Oil, Roasted Pumpkin with Herbs and Green Beans

Steamed Seabass with Preserved Vegetables
Steamed Rice and Stir-fried Pak Choy

Mushroom Ravioli
Topped with Tomato Basil Sauce

** ***** **

Cheeseboard
A Selection of Fine International Cheeses
Served with the Traditional Accompaniments

Dessert Selection
Crème Brule
Caramel Ice Cream with Cinnamon Orange Compote
Valrhana Chocolate Tart

Tea and Coffee
Pralines and Cookies

** ***** **

WINE LIST

Champagne
Krug Grande Cuvée Champagne

White Wines
Hogue Genesis Columbia Valley Chardonnay 2001
Olivier Leflaive Puligny Montrachet 1998

Red Wines
Gevrey Chambertin La Justice 1995
St. Supery Meritage Napa Valley Red 1998
Chateau Lynch Bages 1995

Port
Ramos Pinto Quinta de Ervamoira 10 Year Old Tawny Port

Seat 2A

First Class checked in full for this mid-afternoon departure. According to one of the cabin crew, only three of us are continuing on to New York. Push back was slightly delayed as the ground crew was forced to offload the baggage from someone who’d checked in but subsequently decided not to go. When finally we did get underway, the Captain informed us that with a slight tailwind and a planned flying time of only eleven hours and twenty five minutes, we could still expect to arrive in Vancouver within ten minutes of our scheduled time.

Take off for this fully laden 747 took 45 seconds. The moment the landing gear locked into its compartments, I reclined my seat and caught a short nap. When I woke almost a half hour later, the sky map showed we were just leveling off at our initial cruising altitude of 29,000 feet. The gloomy gray of Hong Kong’s weather had been replaced with bright sunshine and blue skies and the cabin crew were busy taking the dinner orders.

Although I’d only had about five hours of sleep in the past twenty four hours, my plan for this flight was to enjoy a nice dinner, then sleep for a few hours before awaking hopefully in time to see what - if anything - there might be to see of Alaska as we flew by it.

Since I’d only eaten a very light lunch during my layover in Hong Kong, I was looking forward to a classic Cathay Pacific feast on this flight and so ordered accordingly. The Caviar and Salmon service is from the trolley, so orders are not taken for that. Otherwise, I went for the Full Monte as it were, starting with the Potato Soup, then the Nicoise Salad, followed by the Grilled Marinated Lamb Chops with Roasted Garlic Cloves. Medium rare on those lamb chops, please.

My half hour nap was a huge help because when I boarded I was feeling more than a bit tired and so decided against the traditional pre-flight glass of champagne for fear it would exacerbate my growing lethargy. Now that I was feeling a tad more energetic, I accompanied my caviar and salmon with a flute of Krug. After all, when this trip’s over, it could be a good long while before I get to drink Champagne this fine again.

Though any gourmand worth their salt would be instantly familiar with a Nicoise Salad, I’d never heard of it. What I received was basically a large mixed green salad with lots of vegetables and a decent amount of tuna fish. The herb vinaigrette dressing was delightfully tangy and overall, I’d have to say this was one of the nicer salads I’ve ever had aloft. Well done, Cathay!

Though my lamb chops were quite tasty as well, I thought the portion was pretty small. I received only two small chops that amounted to six little bites of lamb once I’d removed the bones. I briefly considered making a public display of gnawing on the bones to further illustrate my point but ultimately decided against it when Dilnawaz appeared and asked if I’d be interested in any cheese or dessert.

Suddenly it dawned on me that I still had room for cheese or dessert. Good thing there were only two lamb chops on that plate! I passed on the cheese but opted for a slice of the decadent Valrhana Chocolate Tart. Accompanied by a pot of Cathay’s fine decaffeinated cappuccino, this made for a most delicious ending to another memorable inflight repast.

After dinner, I reclined my seat and watched an episode of The Simpsons. Aside from planning my day around Denver Broncos games on Sundays, I’m not a big watcher of television. That’s not to say I don’t enjoy TV, just that I don’t get around to watching it very often. As it is, I can’t even pick up the FOX network from where I live outside of Fairbanks, so it was fun, if not a bit of a novelty to watch Bart and Homer and the gang.

Bedtime followed the show. Interestingly, about half the passengers had already knocked off for the evening, this despite local Hong Kong time being only 7:30pm. Before going to bed, I checked our location on the Airshow map. We were about two hundred miles east-southeast of Tokyo, cruising serenely at 35,000 feet. Sleep came easily.

Perhaps it was the turbulence. Lord knows there was enough of it along our route this evening. Whatever it was, I awoke for good just south of the midway point along the Aleutian Islands chain. It was clear we were somewhere between Adak and Dutch Harbor. Unfortunately, Cathay’s Airshow map is nowhere near as detailed as those on British Airways or United. For example, British Airways’ map even showed little farming towns in eastern Colorado like Kit Carson or Eads. Granted, most passengers could probably care less and are probably satisfied with just a general idea of their location. Still, for those of us that are more familiar with the geography of the planet, the extra precision is appreciated.

It occurred to me that just twenty four hours ago I was flying past the east coast of Madagascar. Twenty four hours from now I’d be on final approach into Dallas. Talk about globe trotting!

The Airshow map did provide a precise accounting of speed and altitude however – 609 mph cruising at 31,000 feet. Arrival time in Vancouver was projected to be three hours and fifty two minutes away. Time for a snack. Here’s the transcript from the menu:


REFRESHMENT

Noodles in Soup
With Shrimp Wontons

Asparagus and Artichoke Quiche
Salad with Balsamic Vinegar Dressing

Congee with Minced Pork and Carrots
Served with Pan-fried Egg Custard with Minced Pork and Cucumber

Hot Pot Rice and Soup
Steamed Pork Patties and Conpoy

Boiled Sliced Chicken Soup
With Ceylon Spinach

Haagen Dazs Ice Cream


I was looking for something small since I didn’t want to miss out on breakfast prior to our arrival in Vancouver. I’d never had the Hot Pot Rice and Soup before and was told that it was possible to have just a half order. I decided to go with that along with a pot of industrial strength coffee!

As is so often the case, I was the only First Class passenger who wasn’t sleeping. Granted, local time in Hong Kong was 2:00am. Even so, despite the flat, full length sleeper suite available to me, I’m a light sleeper on these First Class flights. It’s not that I can’t sleep but rather it’s because I hate to miss out on the overall experience of passenger flight at its very finest. I can catch my full beauty rest most anytime. I only get to enjoy a quality First Class inflight experience like Cathay Pacific’s only about six out of three hundred and sixty five days per year.

No doubt, more than a few of you business travelers who fly regularly are shaking your heads in dismay and wonderment, having long since relegated me to the looney fringe element of FlyerTalk. For sure, if I flew as regularly as some of you and had to work rather than play at my destination, I’d give a proper rest a higher priority. As for caring enough about the overall inflight service to bother to write a Trip Report focusing on it rather than my hotel and experiences at my destination, I’d probably be so jaded by now that I wouldn’t even take the time, much less have the time to write or even read such reports.

The bottom line is I love to fly and International caliber First Class aboard world class airlines like Cathay Pacific represents the finest possible way to experience that. I’ll be darned if I’m going to sleep through any more of it than I have to.

Outside the airplane, the brilliant blue Pacific glittered brightly in the early morning sunlight. I sure hope all those sleepers are having dreams even half as beautiful as the view outside my window! Alas, the window had to remain closed. Even half way open would flood the cabin with daylight not unlike that scene from Close Encounters Of The Third Kind. If only Cathay had an inflight camera that would show views like this on an Airshow type channel.

About 100 miles west of Dutch Harbor, we assumed a more southeasterly heading. I was mildly disappointed because we’d now be so far out over the Pacific that no decent view of Alaska’s rugged coastal ranges would be possible. Oh well. I’ll be there in person in only five days!

Seat 2A

Cathay will serve its First Class passengers a full breakfast up to forty five minutes prior to arrival. The girls had worked hard over this twelve hour flight and as much as I would have liked to put off breakfast until the last minute, it didn’t seem fair to throw this extra burden upon them what with all their other duties related to preparing the cabin for arrival. As such, I requested a light breakfast of fruit and a quiche to be served an hour out. Here is the transcript from the menu:


BRUNCH

Juice Selection

Appetizer
Fresh Seasonal Fruits

MAIN COURSES
Spanish Omelette
Mini Glutinous Rice Dumpling and Assorted Dim Sum
Leek Quiche

Accompaniments
Grilled Breakfast Steak and Veal Sausages, Lyonnaise Potatoes,
Vine Ripened Tomato and Sautéed Fresh Mushrooms

Bread Basket
Assorted Bread, Rolls and Fresh Toast
Served with Preserves, Honey and Butter

Tea and Coffee


Even Carfield, that noted chronicler of flights and aficionado of fruit plates would have been impressed with the quality of the appetizer which I received. It contained a big slice of watermelon accompanied by honeydew melon, a couple of grapes, kiwifruit, two slices of orange and one section of grapefruit. For me it was the highlight of the meal because the leek quiche didn’t taste all that good. Perhaps if it had included some bacon. And no leeks…

The Airshow indicated that we were zipping into Vancouver at 611 mph. Too fast! As always, I found myself wishing that this flight could be just a bit longer! Our approach took us in a big loop to the south around the airport before straightening out and landing to the west. The skies were partly cloudy but as we made our final approach I got a nice view of Mt. Baker’s snowy summit across the border in Washington. Another nice landing was followed by a strong application of the brakes. As we made our way into the gate, I spotted three colorful Air Canada ZIP 737s along with an attractive AC JAZZ Dash 8.

Seat 2A

Vancouver to New York
Cathay Pacific 888 First Class
747-400 B-HUD Seat: 2A
130p – 930p Flight time: 4:22

During the hour and a half layover in Vancouver, all passengers had to disembark and wait in a transit lounge. This was essentially the gate lounge, but it was specially sealed off so that we couldn’t escape and wreak havoc about the Vancouver Airport. There were no special facilities for First Class passengers, so I was forced to mingle with the masses from Economy and Business Class. This was, of course, a good experience as I met a couple folks from New Hampshire who had just spent the past three months traveling around Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and even Burma. They had some great stories to tell! A coffee urn and some vending machines were available, and along the far wall were eight or nine phones. I mused that this was probably more phones than in all the train stations in South Africa combined!

The call to board came at 12:45pm. Based upon the crowd gathered, it looked as if we’d be flying into JFK with about half the seats filled. Upon entering the aircraft, I bid farewell to my New Hampshire friends and was escorted to the First Class cabin where I was handed off to – surprise! – a male flight attendant! Though I’d heard rumors of their existence, I’d never seen one of these on Cathay before! In any event, his name was Johnny and over the course of the flight into JFK, he proved to be every bit as gracious and capable as his female counterparts.

Interestingly, because we were flying into America, we were advised that passengers would not be allowed to congregate around the lavatories. What a typically stupid over-response to the current threat of inflight terrorism. Especially since I’ve seen this directive ignored on countless domestic flights.

Flight time across North America to New York was planned for four hours and seventeen minutes. Cocktails would be served, followed by luncheon. Let’s check out that menu!


Vancouver to New York

LUNCH

Antipasto Buffet
Portobello Mushroom
Sicilian Seafood Salad
Coppa and Pancetta Salami
Oven-roasted Peppers Calabrese Style

Soup
Mushroom Cream Soup

Salad
Californian Salad with Chilli Prawns
Served with Thai Herb and Chilli Dressing

MAIN COURSES

Lamb Fillet with Grain Mustard Sauce
Served with Mashed Red Potatoes and Fresh Seasonal Vegetables

Steamed Seabass with Black Mushrooms and Chinese Ham
Accompanied by Steamed Rice and Seasonal Vegetables

Giant Ravioli Filled with Spinach, Ricotta Cheese and Mushroom
Served with Tomato Sauce

** ***** **

Cheeseboard
A Selection of Fine International Cheeses
Served with the Traditional Accompaniments

Dessert Selection
Green Tea Ice Cream Log served with Mixed Berry Compote

Tea and Coffee
Pralines and Cookies


Having just eaten breakfast only three hours earlier, I requested that my luncheon be served a bit later in the flight. I did however agree to a plate of appetizers from the trolley at whatever time it made its appearance in the cabin.

Cathay Pacific scores high marks amongst First Class travelers for its caviar and salmon service. To be sure, it’s a unique and stylish presentation that adds a nice touch of class to the meal service. For this comparatively short flight into New York, the caviar and salmon had been replaced by the Antipasto Buffet. Based upon the foods offered on today’s flight, I prefer the Antipasto Buffet. No doubt, part of this is due to the fact that I’m not overly enamored with caviar, especially the fairly mild Oscietra caviar that Cathay serves. More to the point, I really liked the variety of foods offered from the trolley, especially the Sicilian Seafood Salad which included a large prawn, an oyster and a small amount of pasta. Also worthy of merit were the Portobello mushroom and the salami.

I accompanied the hors d’oeuvres with a nicely chilled glass of Hogue Genesis Columbia Valley Chardonnay while watching The Calendar Girls, an excellent film based upon the true story of a women’s council in a small English town that decides to pose topless for their yearly calendar in order to raise money for a local hospital. Since their annual calendar had traditionally featured pictures of exciting things like locally grown vegetables, the new improved version garnered considerably more interest, not to mention sales. Whether you’re flying Cathay this month or renting videos at home, I highly recommend this movie!

By the time the movie ended, we were over western Minnesota. Okay then, time for lunch! Although I would have liked to try one more Chinese entrée, I’d had sea bass before and did not care to repeat the experience. I wasn’t really in a pasta mood, so I chose the Western meal option. Lamb again. It’s a good thing I like lamb, but a juicy fillet mignon would be nice now and then. Regardless, the lamb was superbly cooked and presented, pink in the middle and accompanied by a delicious sauce.

The highlight of the meal may well have been the salad! Three plump prawns sat atop a collection of greens and vegetables that on volume alone could have been a meal on most other airlines. As for flavor, the Thai Herb and Chilli Dressing was spicy and delicious.

Although attractive in presentation, the green tea ice cream log didn’t have a lot of flavor, so the fruit compote was appreciated. Coffee and a small glass of port closed out the meal and I spent the next hour watching a Discovery Channel special on Atlantis: The Ultimate Resort. This is that big resort out in the Bahamas. It looked pretty fancy but if I’m going to vacation in an island paradise, I think I’d prefer a small thatched roof bungalow under some palm trees.

Darkness fell quickly as we crossed over Lake Erie and Western New York before beginning our descent into John F. Kennedy International Airport. As a kid, I remember flying out of JFK when it was called Idylwild. We’d flown in from Denver on a United DC-8, complete with a First Class lounge. From New York, we continued on up to Providence aboard an American DC-6 and were even served a hot meal on the one hour flight.

I will forever more remember the view out my window as we positioned for our final approach into JFK. A full moon was rising in the eastern sky and it cast a gorgeous golden reflection over Jamaica Bay as we flew past Long Island and then made a big turn out over the water to line up for our landing. What a beautiful ending to my Cathay Pacific odyssey!

** ***** **

In summary, my First Class experience aboard Cathay Pacific was everything I’d hoped it would be. Elegant and refined, with state of the art facilities and a well trained and dedicated cabin crew who understand and anticipate the needs of their passengers. Over the course of six flights and 30,920 miles, I found the seats, the food and the service to be of the highest standard. In particular, the crew consistently demonstrated excellent attention to detail, thereby making what might otherwise have been a very good flight into an extraordinary flight.

Cathay Pacific’s First Class service really defines the genre. For those of you who appreciate a quality inflight experience, I highly recommend the expenditure of money or miles to experience it for yourselves!

** ***** **

JFK is not a very a very good airport to sleep in. Unfortunately, the nearby airport hotels are amongst the most expensive in the nation. I shelled out $76.00 via Priceline for a room at Best Western’s 2.5 star JFK property. The hotel was located in a bleak looking neighborhood, but then all of Queens looks pretty bleak to me. I was given a really small downstairs room, i.e. in the basement. It had a little window that allowed a partial upward view into the parking lot. Still, it was late and all I wanted was a few hours of good sleep. This I got. The bed was comfortable and the bathroom was well stocked with all the usual hotel amenities. After a hot shower and a cup of coffee I was on my way back to JFK aboard the 6:00am shuttle.

Seat 2A

May 05, 2004
New York to Dallas
American 1295 Economy Class
DC-9-80 N248AA Seat: 20A
810a – 1101a Flight time: 3:15

After being spoiled rotten by Cathay Pacific’s First Class service, I wasn’t particularly anxious to rejoin the masses for Economy Class travel on American Airlines. I especially dreaded the potentially long wait at the check in counter. Nonetheless, check-in via the E-Ticket kiosks was accomplished quickly and efficiently and I even scored exit row window seats for my flights into Dallas and on to Las Vegas.

I was originally booked to travel to Las Vegas via Los Angeles but a schedule change resulted in my arriving in LAS too late to keep a dinner appointment with friends in Zion. Thankfully, American was only too happy to reroute me onto a pair of MD-80s through Dallas at no extra charge. Although I lost out on a couple thousand additional miles to my Mileage Plan account, I was nonetheless excited because I’d now get to log my 150th flight aboard the DC-9-80. It seems like only yesterday that I boarded my very first DC-9-80 in the service of Hawaiian Air between Honolulu and Kahului. The year was 1982. Since then, I have flown 127,160 miles aboard this aircraft type.

I purchased a fruit plate at the airport café before heading down to Gate 49. There I also picked up a cup of Starbucks and a Bistro Bag before heading down the jetway onto my shiny Super 80. The day was bright and sunny and I was downright thrilled to be getting away from dreary Long Island and heading out to the wide open spaces of the American West!!

This flight was almost completely full but the crew did an excellent job of getting everyone their coffee and juice early on in the flight. The lady in front of me had ordered a special meal and was handed a bag that appeared to have considerably more bulk than my Bistro Bag. My guess is she ordered a vegetarian meal and probably got a piece of fruit thrown in. I’ll have to remember to try that on my next breakfast hour flight. As it was, my Bistro Bag would have suited most any vegetarian because it contained a granola bar, a bag of raisins and a serving of Blueberry yogurt.

Flight time was 3 hours and 20 minutes, cruising thousands of feet above the American heartland. Although the skies were sunny, there was a lot of hazy humidity blown in off the Gulf of Mexico and so the viewing wasn’t all that great. Nonetheless, after glancing out my window and spotting the Ohio River, it was fun to follow its course, spot Cincinnati, and then guess with my seatmate how long it would take before we’d meet up with the Mississippi River. Twenty seven minutes.

We landed in Dallas about fifteen minutes early and as we taxied in to our gate, I counted twenty five of American’s MD-80s at the gates – far more than any other aircraft type present. Not that I should have been overly surprised. American is, after all, the world’s largest operator of the MD-80. Still, it was an impressive sight for any fans of McDonnell Douglas’ best selling jetliner and particularly relevant to me, what with my 150th flight on the type coming up.


Dallas to Las Vegas
American 1505 Economy Class
DC-9-80 N246AA Seat: 21A
122p – 225p Flight time: 2:14

It’s a lively and happy crowd that boards flights out to Las Vegas. And why not? Before they step into that casino, they’re all winners, at least in their fantasies. By contrast, I should imagine those long flights home, particularly the midnight ones, are considerably more subdued. In any event, it was a very chatty crowd that boarded the aircraft this afternoon and the conversation stayed lively all the way out to Las Vegas.

Flight time was projected at 2 hours and 17 minutes with current conditions in Las Vegas reporting sunny and 87 degrees. This elicited a small cheer from a group somewhere behind me. I don’t know why because the weather map in today’s paper showed pretty nice weather all over the country.

After a take off roll of just 26 seconds, we climbed into that clear Texas sky and, after banking slightly to the southwest, headed straight for Las Vegas. I reclined my seat and chatted with my seatmate – a nice fellow long since retired from the auto industry who now lived in Parker, Arizona, just down the road from Las Vegas. He was heading home after visiting his sister in Ohio. Despite my roomy exit row seat, I already missed my electronically controlled recliner of the past few days, particularly the leg rest.

The skies remained clear across most of the route and those of us on the left side of the aircraft were subjected to the monotony of West Texas scrub land and New Mexico’s Chihuahua Desert before the scenery improved somewhat and presented us with Flagstaff, Arizona and a nice view of Lake Mead as we descended into Las Vegas. The right side of the plane was treated to distant views of the southern Rocky Mountains and finally – the Grand Canyon.

We made a textbook landing in Las Vegas – I know because I was sitting right on top of the landing gear – and taxied briskly into the gate. America West’s brightly colored 757 “Ohio” was parked over at the old terminal, while in the distance an ancient DC-10 sat stored in a remote section of the airport.

Unlike most of my fellow passengers, I have no interest in gambling or sitting through the lounge acts and big stage productions for which Las Vegas is famous. I need good, natural daylight and wide open spaces. I’ve always loved flying into Las Vegas because it means I get to play in some of the most beautiful yet desolate lands in North America. My plan for this trip is to drive across Northern Arizona to Kayenta, head up into Utah’s magnificent Monument Valley, then proceed over to Durango where I have a reservation on the first train of the season up the Animas River Canyon to Silverton, Colorado. From there I’ll head up through the heart of the San Juan Mountains along the Million Dollar Highway to Grand Junction before turning west on I-70 and heading into Utah’s Canyonlands. Two days later, it’s back to Las Vegas and on to Alaska where another season of work awaits me in Denali National Park.

After claiming my pack, I headed over to Dollar Rent A Car and picked up a beautiful Mitsubishi Diamante. After turning right on Paradise Road, I made my way out to that broad expanse of concrete called Interstate 15 and sped off into the desert.


EPILOGUE

After five days of bliss in the great American West, I flew Alaska Airlines back to Fairbanks, thus bringing my Spring Trip for 2004 to an end. All told, between March 3rd and April 9th I visited six countries and flew thirty seven flights aboard nine different airlines for a total of 84,090 miles. Seventeen of those flights were in First Class for a total of 67,620 miles. Total flying time amounted to 165 hours and 40 minutes. Add to this 3,590 miles traveled on trains, 3,530 miles on buses and another 1,740 miles by car and the grand total traveled comes to 92,950 miles.

In Southern Africa I’ve found a new destination that will fuel many adventures in years to come. For sure my next trip will have to be longer than just three weeks. And of course there’s plenty more of South America to explore as well. Then there’s Sri Lanka and Iceland and The Marquesas Islands and Romania! I’d like to drive along the entire Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. And there’s still six counties west of the Rockies that I’ve not yet visited. I’d best get to daydreaming about the next trip. That’s the first step in making it reality.

Thanks to all of you who’ve read and commented upon the three trip reports that have detailed the travel portions of this journey. I trust you’ve enjoyed the ride almost as much as I have. Hopefully some of you may be inspired to give a try at writing your own Trip Reports someday. You’ll always have an eager audience here in FlyerTalk’s Trip Report Forum, not to mention at my computer.

Kiwi Flyer

Seat2A - Let me be the first (of many I'm sure) to thank you for such a fine report, yet again. ^ ^ ^ ^ ^