Round the world - First Class and a camping stove
Jul 13, 2002 | 6:26 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: anywhere but here
Programs: LH au VS au BMI au
Posts: 2,375
Round the world - First Class and a camping stove
My mum is off on her travels again. She is going to Namibia to go trekking before going to Thailand to walk in the Jungles, Bali to enjoy paradise, Malaysia, to see more temples and jungles and then to the land of OZ to a: see the whole country (she there for 2 months) b: to see her boyfriend, a middle age Ozzie who I still cant quite like (nice guy though). Then home after spending some time in Phoneix. Now for you flying junkies I am afraid the details may be a little sparse, but the rest of the travel promises to be superb. Normally, she sends an email a week detailing the people she meets and the things that happen to her. I can assure you know there will be scant reference to FF programs and fancy hotels. The trip she is taking is an ex JNB Virgin Escapade in F. She bought additional miles. and will be flying JNB-SIN-BKK-SIN-DPS-SIN-KUL-SIN-SYD-CHC-AKL-LAX-x-SFO-LHR-JNB.. To get to and from JNB she flew with LH in J using some of my miles. - Anyway, Ill let Sandra take it from here
Jul 15, 2002 | 9:54 am
#2
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Join Date: Jul 2000
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Posts: 2,375
Well, after a short interlude in which FT seems to have goen up and down like a titantic repeat, (the one movie even hollywood could make a sequel out of) here is Sandra's first communique to the world at large.
just to let you know that I arrived safely in Johannesburg. A superb flight and the 12 hour plane journey was much less traumatic than the 2 hour trip to the airport.We should have been at the airport with about an hour and a half to spare if there hadn't been a big accident half way there. Typically, we heard the traffic report about it just five minutes after it was too late to take another route. It was nerve wracking and Jon was making frantic phone calls for me trying to get a telephone check in and also finding out if there were alternative to Frankfurt later to connect with my Jo'burg flight - there weren't! Luckily, we cleared the accident spot by 5.20 with a 6 pm flight and seven miles to go. Jon expressed surprise that he could get 100mph out of my little punto, I expressed surprise that I was allowing him to do so! (I just gritted my teeth and tried to blot out the fear and sound of revving engine, screeching tyres and expletives from Jon when someone wouldn't move over). In the end we made it with minutes to spare and I rushed through Fast Trak to board the plane - so no time to enjoy the benefits of the Business Lounge. That first whiskey and dry ginger was very welcome I can tell you.
After that it was easy, very easy. Not wishing to harp on the subject (well, maybe I'll harp a little bit)Business is wonderful. The flight to Frankfurt was only 1.5 hours, but they managed to serve us a very nice meal AND champagne. I had an interesting conversation with the person next to me, an engineer from England who has lived and worked in Germany for 14 years. He just about managed to convince me that being part of Europe would be a good thing, in fact perhaps the only thing that will prevent us sliding even further down the economic scale.
I had a short time in Frankfurt, half of which I spent travelling from terminal to terminal and lounge to lounge, trying to find the right one - so much for German efficiency when it comes to airport directions!
Although the flight was pretty full, I was lucky enough to have a window seat, with no one in the aisle one. The seats, as you would expect were very comfortable with adjustable foot rest, leg rest, back rest, lumbar support and neck and shoulder rest, so I forewent the movies and had five hours of good sleep. but not until after dinner - and what a dinner. If you've got half an hour to spare, here's the menu
Smoked breast of duck in honey coriander crust served with lentil salad and balsamic vinnaigrette.
A salad of frisee, radicchio, argula and radishes with herbed mustard dressing, bread, rolls and butter. My choice of main course was Pan-fried fillet of cod with bouillabaisse sauce, vegetable julienne and potato balls. The cheese course consisted of Appenzeller, Bavarian blue, Camambert and grapes; and to round it all off there was Red fruit pudding Sylt style with vanilla cream. The finishing touch was a pretty box containing two Lindt chocolates (still got those!) All this was accompanied by fine wines or champagne. Luckily the portions were quite small! I won't tell you about breakfast, but that was excellent as well - and this was merely Business class - First Class should be amazing.
Next - the 1500 mile regional jet
just to let you know that I arrived safely in Johannesburg. A superb flight and the 12 hour plane journey was much less traumatic than the 2 hour trip to the airport.We should have been at the airport with about an hour and a half to spare if there hadn't been a big accident half way there. Typically, we heard the traffic report about it just five minutes after it was too late to take another route. It was nerve wracking and Jon was making frantic phone calls for me trying to get a telephone check in and also finding out if there were alternative to Frankfurt later to connect with my Jo'burg flight - there weren't! Luckily, we cleared the accident spot by 5.20 with a 6 pm flight and seven miles to go. Jon expressed surprise that he could get 100mph out of my little punto, I expressed surprise that I was allowing him to do so! (I just gritted my teeth and tried to blot out the fear and sound of revving engine, screeching tyres and expletives from Jon when someone wouldn't move over). In the end we made it with minutes to spare and I rushed through Fast Trak to board the plane - so no time to enjoy the benefits of the Business Lounge. That first whiskey and dry ginger was very welcome I can tell you.
After that it was easy, very easy. Not wishing to harp on the subject (well, maybe I'll harp a little bit)Business is wonderful. The flight to Frankfurt was only 1.5 hours, but they managed to serve us a very nice meal AND champagne. I had an interesting conversation with the person next to me, an engineer from England who has lived and worked in Germany for 14 years. He just about managed to convince me that being part of Europe would be a good thing, in fact perhaps the only thing that will prevent us sliding even further down the economic scale.
I had a short time in Frankfurt, half of which I spent travelling from terminal to terminal and lounge to lounge, trying to find the right one - so much for German efficiency when it comes to airport directions!
Although the flight was pretty full, I was lucky enough to have a window seat, with no one in the aisle one. The seats, as you would expect were very comfortable with adjustable foot rest, leg rest, back rest, lumbar support and neck and shoulder rest, so I forewent the movies and had five hours of good sleep. but not until after dinner - and what a dinner. If you've got half an hour to spare, here's the menu
Smoked breast of duck in honey coriander crust served with lentil salad and balsamic vinnaigrette.
A salad of frisee, radicchio, argula and radishes with herbed mustard dressing, bread, rolls and butter. My choice of main course was Pan-fried fillet of cod with bouillabaisse sauce, vegetable julienne and potato balls. The cheese course consisted of Appenzeller, Bavarian blue, Camambert and grapes; and to round it all off there was Red fruit pudding Sylt style with vanilla cream. The finishing touch was a pretty box containing two Lindt chocolates (still got those!) All this was accompanied by fine wines or champagne. Luckily the portions were quite small! I won't tell you about breakfast, but that was excellent as well - and this was merely Business class - First Class should be amazing.
Next - the 1500 mile regional jet
Jul 15, 2002 | 9:55 am
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: anywhere but here
Programs: LH au VS au BMI au
Posts: 2,375
Amazingly only hours after recieving the first email from her, we recieved another - all is not going accordig to plan
I wasn't intending to start sending my general e-mails so early in the trip,after all I only left England on Wednesday evening, but sometimes things happen that you just have to pass on.
As some of you already know, my son Jon (the taller bane of my life, who tried to make money out of my potential demise from a yak attack last year)treated me to a Business class ticket to Johannesburg to start this trip. The flight was good, the cabin was spacious, the food was delicious and, this is the German airline Lufthansa we're talking about, the flight departed and arrived almost dead on schedule, depositing me at Johannesburg airport at approximately 8am yesterday morning. My flight to Windhoek on SAA Express was at 4.25p,soI tried to get an earlier standby,but when they told me that the earlierflights went to the International Airport, some distance from town,while my flight would take me to the town airport across the road from the hotel I was booked into, I decided to wait and find somewhere to sleep off my jet lag.
3.45 pm came and I made my way to the departure gate. With my fellow passengers I boarded the bus which would take us out to our 50 seater CRJ200(the seating capacity becomes important later), a considerably smaller and older plane than the one I had arrived in that morning. I wrote in my journal that I hoped it was only the interior of the plane that had been neglected. We settled into our seats and prepared for take off. There was a slight delay, then the captain came on to tell us that Civil Aviation Authority wouldn't allow the plane to take off with more than 50 passengers and, since there were two infants, sitting on their mothers' laps, two people would have to volunteer to disembark and would be put on the next flight to Windhoek International Airport!
Eventually two young men left the plane and we once again settled down, expecting to take off shortly. The ensuing delay I assumed was while they removed the volunteer's luggage from the hold. It probably was, and was perhaps fortunate that this hiccup occurred because otherwise, they might not have discovered until we reached Windhoek Eros(town) airport, that they had loaded the wrong luggage onto the plane! This explained why the two 'volunteers' were still sitting disconsolate and bemused in the bus,while several people (including pilot) were having a animated conversation outside.
There was then a further announcement when the pilot explained about the wrong luggage being loaded onto our plane, but he assured us that that had now been rectified. Unfortunately, the delay meant that we would now arrive in Windhoek after dark and so couldn't land at Eros, but would have to fly to Windhoek International. Moreover,this was further and so would necessitate us taking on extra fuel. This extra fuel would, however, increase the weight of the aircraft and so a further 8 or 9 people would have to disembark and take the next plane!!!!!
By now about 48 passengers (+2 infants) were queuing down the aisle to volunteer! This time however, they wanted those who had hand luggage only. I was, perhaps, one of the few people who wasn't climbing the walls with frustration at this time.I didn't have a pressing reason to get to Windhoek early and knew I'd got my first e-mail bulletin. We eventually landed at Windhoek International about two hours late, still needing to travel about 40km to Eros. They did lay on a coach to take us, but, and this is the honest truth I just couldn't make this story up if I tried, we had another delay of about 40 minutes because one passenger's suitcase was missing!!
The real irony is, I suppose, that I could have got a plane to Windhoek at 11am, but then I would have missed all the fun and you wouldn't have received this e-mail!! (ok, so some of you think that would have been a blessing!!)
So far I have been in Africa for 28 hours.Eight of them were spent in Johannesburg airport, six of them on a plane/bus for a journey that should have taken 2 hours, nine sleeping in a hotel bed - very well thankyou! And the last two in this internet cafe where there is an extremely slow connection and the space key on my keyboard doesnt work properly so that I have totypeasentencethengobackandputinthespaces - see!. I believe Windhoek to be a lovely city, someone described it as a first world city in a third world country, but I will haveto see that for myself when I have a day here at the end of my camping safari, because the last shuttle leaves for the hotel in half an hour. (It's Saturday and, apparently, the city closes at 1pm)
I wasn't intending to start sending my general e-mails so early in the trip,after all I only left England on Wednesday evening, but sometimes things happen that you just have to pass on.
As some of you already know, my son Jon (the taller bane of my life, who tried to make money out of my potential demise from a yak attack last year)treated me to a Business class ticket to Johannesburg to start this trip. The flight was good, the cabin was spacious, the food was delicious and, this is the German airline Lufthansa we're talking about, the flight departed and arrived almost dead on schedule, depositing me at Johannesburg airport at approximately 8am yesterday morning. My flight to Windhoek on SAA Express was at 4.25p,soI tried to get an earlier standby,but when they told me that the earlierflights went to the International Airport, some distance from town,while my flight would take me to the town airport across the road from the hotel I was booked into, I decided to wait and find somewhere to sleep off my jet lag.
3.45 pm came and I made my way to the departure gate. With my fellow passengers I boarded the bus which would take us out to our 50 seater CRJ200(the seating capacity becomes important later), a considerably smaller and older plane than the one I had arrived in that morning. I wrote in my journal that I hoped it was only the interior of the plane that had been neglected. We settled into our seats and prepared for take off. There was a slight delay, then the captain came on to tell us that Civil Aviation Authority wouldn't allow the plane to take off with more than 50 passengers and, since there were two infants, sitting on their mothers' laps, two people would have to volunteer to disembark and would be put on the next flight to Windhoek International Airport!
Eventually two young men left the plane and we once again settled down, expecting to take off shortly. The ensuing delay I assumed was while they removed the volunteer's luggage from the hold. It probably was, and was perhaps fortunate that this hiccup occurred because otherwise, they might not have discovered until we reached Windhoek Eros(town) airport, that they had loaded the wrong luggage onto the plane! This explained why the two 'volunteers' were still sitting disconsolate and bemused in the bus,while several people (including pilot) were having a animated conversation outside.
There was then a further announcement when the pilot explained about the wrong luggage being loaded onto our plane, but he assured us that that had now been rectified. Unfortunately, the delay meant that we would now arrive in Windhoek after dark and so couldn't land at Eros, but would have to fly to Windhoek International. Moreover,this was further and so would necessitate us taking on extra fuel. This extra fuel would, however, increase the weight of the aircraft and so a further 8 or 9 people would have to disembark and take the next plane!!!!!
By now about 48 passengers (+2 infants) were queuing down the aisle to volunteer! This time however, they wanted those who had hand luggage only. I was, perhaps, one of the few people who wasn't climbing the walls with frustration at this time.I didn't have a pressing reason to get to Windhoek early and knew I'd got my first e-mail bulletin. We eventually landed at Windhoek International about two hours late, still needing to travel about 40km to Eros. They did lay on a coach to take us, but, and this is the honest truth I just couldn't make this story up if I tried, we had another delay of about 40 minutes because one passenger's suitcase was missing!!
The real irony is, I suppose, that I could have got a plane to Windhoek at 11am, but then I would have missed all the fun and you wouldn't have received this e-mail!! (ok, so some of you think that would have been a blessing!!)
So far I have been in Africa for 28 hours.Eight of them were spent in Johannesburg airport, six of them on a plane/bus for a journey that should have taken 2 hours, nine sleeping in a hotel bed - very well thankyou! And the last two in this internet cafe where there is an extremely slow connection and the space key on my keyboard doesnt work properly so that I have totypeasentencethengobackandputinthespaces - see!. I believe Windhoek to be a lovely city, someone described it as a first world city in a third world country, but I will haveto see that for myself when I have a day here at the end of my camping safari, because the last shuttle leaves for the hotel in half an hour. (It's Saturday and, apparently, the city closes at 1pm)
Jul 15, 2002 | 11:38 am
#5
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: anywhere but here
Programs: LH au VS au BMI au
Posts: 2,375
She went to Nepal 4 years ago, (it was her 50th birthday, but you didnt hear that from me) and a Yak charged her, and she nearly became part of a large and deep ravine (a mear 1800 ft drop. When she went again last year, I organised a sweepstake on the name and colour of the Yak that would get her this time. Any caring son would do the same surely
Jon
Jon
Jul 15, 2002 | 5:42 pm
#6
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: SYD
Programs: Mid-tiers with no tears: OZ*G, AC*G, NZ*S, VA Silver, QF Gold, HH Gold, Bonvoy Gold
Posts: 5,441
Fantastic trip report so far - and making me nostalgic for Namibia, one of my favourite countries in all the world.
Does Sandra know you're sharing her travelogues with FT? Anyway, I'm looking forward impatiently to the next instalment...
Does Sandra know you're sharing her travelogues with FT? Anyway, I'm looking forward impatiently to the next instalment...
Aug 23, 2002 | 10:08 am
#13
Community Director Emerita
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Anywhere warm
Posts: 35,597
jongar, I was sad to read of your mother's father's death. Were you successful in tracking her down in Thailand? Was she able to return in timely fashion? Does she have the heart to return to the original trip, or will family matters keep her at home for a time?
Aug 23, 2002 | 6:11 pm
#14
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Join Date: Jul 2000
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Yep, it took 3 days to find her, but she came back to MAN. We had the funeral this past Monday. It was a lovely service. She will be retuning to SIN and continuing her trip - SIN-KUL-SIN-DPS-SIN-SYD-CHC-AKL-LAX-SFO-LHR-JNB on Monday next week, using SQ317 to kick things back off
It isnt cold, there was so much love between us all, there has been very little grieving required.
Jon
It isnt cold, there was so much love between us all, there has been very little grieving required.
Jon
Aug 23, 2002 | 6:28 pm
#15
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Brooklyn, NY, US
Posts: 2,311
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by jongar:
Yep, it took 3 days to find her, but she came back to MAN. We had the funeral this past Monday. It was a lovely service. She will be retuning to SIN and continuing her trip - SIN-KUL-SIN-DPS-SIN-SYD-CHC-AKL-LAX-SFO-LHR-JNB on Monday next week, using SQ317 to kick things back off
Jon</font>
Yep, it took 3 days to find her, but she came back to MAN. We had the funeral this past Monday. It was a lovely service. She will be retuning to SIN and continuing her trip - SIN-KUL-SIN-DPS-SIN-SYD-CHC-AKL-LAX-SFO-LHR-JNB on Monday next week, using SQ317 to kick things back off
Jon</font>
Sorry for your loss, but glad it sounds like life moves along....
[This message has been edited by landspeed (edited 08-23-2002).]