1dream

NBA Star Patrick Beverley joined the 1 Dream Elite Basketball Camp for four days and was an amazing ambassador of the game. Beverley helped teach the game of basketball to coaches and students during his visit and even showed off some of his skills during the 5 on 5 games. Beverley also assisted on an incredible alley oop by St. Joseph star Elihu Cobb which got them both on . Recovering from knee surgery this past season, the 2018-19 NBA season looks to be where Beverley once again cements his place among the leagues top defenders and point guards. They don't call him "Mr. 94 Feet" for nothing!





Elihu Cobb off the assist from Patrick Beverley getting them both on SC Top 10. Apologies to the Chinese hooper getting embarrassed and disrespected by a young man half his age!

1dream

Thai Delivers Again
Thai Airways is one of my unsung heroes of the aviation world. Incredibly friendly flight attendants, tasty meals and a great hard product elevate them to the top of my list. Today’s flight was about 1/2 full in business class which I’m sure the flight attendants love. A quick meal service, top off a few drinks and the next thing they know is that it’s time to land. My kind of flight.





It’s a quick 1:45 flight from Bangkok to Singapore and thus the meal is served from a tray all at once. Pretty impressive that such a short flight has such an extensive meal. The chicken curry was tasty and the crab appetizer sufficed. I wasn’t a huge fan of either dessert but for a mid-afternoon snack I was satisfied.

We departed Bangkok at 4:35p and ascended through a hazy sky to our cruising altitude. We were flying the A350 again and it truly is a passenger friendly plane… at least up in the front of the plane. Seats were comfortable, the entertainment system was quick and responsive with a ton of options, especially for a flight of under two hours.

1dream

There are two JW Marriott’s in Shenzhen. Last year we were fortunate to stay at the JW Bao’oan which is an incredible property and only a few years old. This year, while the rest of the 1 Dream team stayed at the Grande Mercure Oriental Ginza, I was able to stay at the JW Marriott just a mile down the road and a 5-minute (and $1.94) didi ride away.

Staying at any hotel for 16-days can be both a blessing and a curse. You don’t need to make your bed, fold towels or worry about much of anything but the sense of Groundhog Day can certainly set in. The JW Marriott Futian was the first JW in Shenzhen and upon entering the beautiful lobby you get a whiff of a fresh scent which lets you know that you are in a nice spot.


Hotel lobby – What an amazing scent!

Arriving just after midnight and exhausted from a day of travel I was given a suite due to my platinum status. I had stayed at this JW a couple of times in the past and was always impressed by the crisp and clean rooms. Well, the first room they gave me was oddly shaped, dated and with a tiny bathroom. In addition, the TV was nearly impossible to watch from bed, so I made it work for the first night and then switched out the next morning. The new room wasn’t as large but felt much more spacious especially the bathroom.


Pic courtesy of Marriott

Breakfast was outstanding and varied which is essential if you are camping out for more than two weeks at the same spot. With a ton of Chinese options, Western foods galore and a great waffle station, I never went hungry in the morning. I also ate dinner at the buffet one evening and although a bit expensive at $60/person, it also featured a ton of delicious options. The Executive Lounge was also a nice respite as there were a few nights where after a not too delicious Chinese dinner with the crew I returned to the JW for a late evening snack.


View from the lounge – Basketball never stops!

One of my favorite things about the JW is the outdoor pool located on the 4th floor. Although raindrops were constantly dodged, the pool was never over crowded and was a great location for some lap swimming, even though the Chinese requirement of a swim cap is still not understood.


pic courtesy of Marriott

The JW is a 5-star property but probably now rates as my 3rd favorite Marriott property in Shenzhen. The Marriott Nanshan is exquisite and the other JW Bao’an is a phenomenal property as well. However for my two weeks in Shenzhen I was based in Futian so convenience was key. The JW is showing some wear especially in the rooms as I noticed some moldy residue on the ceiling next to the air conditioner and the furniture looks a little past it’s prime. However due to an incredible and attentive staff my stay was quite enjoyable.

1dream

The Capital Pearls - Umhlanga
The Capital Hotel group has recently built some outstanding properties in South Africa. Umhlanga is a northern suburb of Durban known for its safety, outstanding beach, great restaurants and relaxed vibe. Springing up less than a block than the beach is the Pearls of Umhlanga mall of which The Capital Pearls is located within. The Capital Pearls is a large mixed-use project with both a hotel and condominiums and looks to be a profitable venture.



Located a 15-minute drive from King Shaka International Airport, I arrived at the airport from Johannesburg about 9:30pm and I was cruising in a rental car enjoying the manual transmission and driving on the wrong side of the road. Although manual transmissions are a little tough to come by in the United States, I learned how to drive using one and although I hadn’t sat behind the wheel in 3+ years it was just like riding a bike. I do still get a little confused what side of the road I should be on, especially within the city streets and when there aren’t other cars around to guide me. Parking is free to hotel guests and located on the 4th floor. I parked, locked and headed to the elevator to head up to the 5th floor hotel lobby.



Registration was a nightmare. I arrived at the lobby at 10pm and the desk agent had no record of my registration. Done using hotels.com, I later would find out that the hotel is sometimes not receiving timely information from them and I’m not the first person to not have my booking in the system. The poor gentlemen was trying to be nice, but his incompetency was too much for me to deal with after a long day of travel (I started the day in Singapore). He asked to see my booking about 5 times, asked me for my contact info which he transcribed 80% incorrectly and finally after about 30 minutes he gave me my room key and showed me to the elevator.

Frustrated but happy to finally get to my room soon changed to frustrated and I need to change rooms. I arrived at the room that he gave me and saw that it wasn’t “ocean view” as I had reserved and paid for. So I trudged back down to the lobby and asked for a different room. Once again the man was operating on Africa time and after about 7 minutes he found a room and actually went upstairs to make sure it was ready. I nice touch but at 10:40pm I was ready to just shower and sleep, keep in mind that I am still on SE Asia time which is 6-hours ahead, so it’s 4:40am on my internal body clock. The front desk agent returned after a few minutes and declared the room fit for occupancy. He gave me the key and wanted to personally escort me to the room which I declined. Forty-four minutes with this man was enough for me.



After the initial incident The Capital Pearls was outstanding. The room was a two- room suite which spacious and had a great view. I did ask management why the bedroom did not have a TV and they informed me that the room wasn’t set up to accommodate a TV, which probably should lead to blame with the architect. What percent of 4-star hotel rooms in the world don’t have TV’s in the bedroom?



Not having a TV was just fine though as I spent most of my time outside of the hotel on the beautiful beach. If I could walk for miles in either direction in 75 degree weather every day I would get rid of all of my TV’s.. maybe not, but you get the point.



Breakfast was included in the room rate and featured a great spread of hot, cold and cooked to order options. Special shout out to the flapjacks which were amazing.

The pool area was also very spacious and well thought out. However, the water was freezing and a little difficult to swim laps in without a wetsuit, which I think would have looked a bit strange.



All in all, The Capital Pearls stepped it up after a slow start. The hotel is still a work in progress as there was daily construction going on in rooms above and below me and with a circular central opening from lobby to the top floor the sound really carried.



I also noticed that the hotel was really missing some cosmetic details. There were areas that looked like they didn’t get a second coat of pain and other spots within the hotel that looked like they were hastily done. I would definitely return in the future and hopefully the minor issues that I encountered, which are often found in new hotels, will be rectified.

1dream

Umzolozolo - 5 Star Safari just 3 hours from Durban

Umzolozolo is located in the Nambiti private game reserve about 3 hours from Durban/Umhlanga. It’s an easy drive on the highway with the final 20 miles or so on 2-lane roads travelling through local villages. The entire trip is on real (tar) roads with the final 4 miles or so on gravel roads which leads to a slow going at times avoiding bumps, ruts and pot holes.

Arriving at the gate house at 12:45pm, the normal protocol is for the gate keeper to call your respective lodge (there are 10 lodges at Nambiti) and they will send a vehicle to pick you up to drive you the 10-15 minutes to the lodge. Today this did not happen. I would later find out the radios weren’t working around the time of my arrival so after parking my car and waiting 30 minutes for a pick up I called the lodge. They felt terrible that they’d left me hanging and soon thereafter my guide Raymond arrived. We saw a few animals on the way to the lodge including this lonely ostrich.




Arriving to the lodge to a warm towel, refreshing drink and the staff singing to me erased all of my frustration about the arrival. The Umzolozolo staff was absolutely amazing and I was called by name by each and every staff member for the duration of my stay. I thought I was back at a Ritz Carlton!

My room for my 22 hours was a chalet featuring an outside deck and plunge pool overlooking the valley below. It was very impressive and the furnishings within the room were high end, comfortable and yes, there was a TV in the room! Mix in an outdoor shower, electric blankets and an extremely comfortable bed and I was a happy camper.







Lunch was served on the deck overlooking the valley below. The infinity pool is the star of the outdoor area and led to a waterfall below. During my stay at the 10-room property, only four of the rooms were occupied so it was almost like you were at a private retreat.



The first game drive begins at 3pm and lasts for about 3 hours. A sundowner drink (Castle Lager) and snacks (biltong, dried fruit, chocolate covered sunflower seeds) is always an amazing experience as you are out in the bush, with the sounds of nature around you with a cold beer in your hands. It doesn’t get much better than that.



Returning to the lodge just after 6pm, the guests convened in the lobby for a pre-dinner drink and some much-needed time next to the fire as the temperatures dropped to about 50 degrees once the sun went down. Although the number of guests wasn’t huge in numbers during my visit, the quality of guests was outstanding. I lucked into having a great family on my vehicle (father and daughter from the UK and his parents from South Africa). I ended up joining them for dinner and they were full of good conversation and humorous times.

Retiring to my chalet around 8pm, it’s a 50-meter walk from the lodge on a lit path. Yes, there have been lions roaming the property before and other potentially dangerous animals, so I was at high alert. As I get about 10 meters from my door there is a huge female kudu standing in my way right on the path in front of me. My iPhone flashlight was on, and I shined it in her face and we made eye contact. All I could think of was the David Spade / Chris Farley movie “Tommy Boy” when they ran into the deer. I wasn’t going to challenge a 500-pound animal and so I returned to the lodge, albeit with a brisker pace to find my ranger. I was then escorted to my room and my ranger yelled and shouted at the kudu to scatter and eventually she did, and I was off to bed. Heart racing a bit, but part of the adventure. A shower to wash away the smoke and I was ready for a great night of sleep.





The next morning’s game drive began at 6:30am. Coffee, tea and snacks was served at 6am so I loaded up on some delicious biscuits, a hot tea and was ready. The temperature was 43 degrees when we left the lodge. We were given a warm water bottle which helped immensely, but when that vehicle gets moving the wind chill really takes a bite out of you. Having been travelling for over a month in Asia where the temperature never was below 80 degrees, I didn’t have many warm clothes in my carry-on suitcase, so I struggled a bit for the first hour or so until the sun came up. An unbelievable sunrise evolved right before our eyes and as we woke up so did the animals.





After three hours in the bush, we returned to the lodge for breakfast, avocado toast was a hit, and after spending an hour at my private pool I was ready for check out and transportation to my next lodge, Nambiti Hills.





Umzolozolo is an undeniably great place with a staff that really works hard to get to know each guest. The food is delightful, the accommodations five star and the sheer beauty of the surroundings makes this a place that I highly recommend.

1dream

Arriving from Singapore on my favorite flight ever I had a quick 90-minute layover in Johannesburg prior to my 1-hour flight to Durban. We were stalled at the gate upon landing and now my 90 minutes had shifted to 65 minutes. Would I have to channel my O.J. Simpson airport sprinting skills? It all depended on immigration. I've been stuck at Joburg immigration for up to an hour in previous trips and my fingers were crossed as I descended the escalator and saw... No one in line! I had won the immigration battle and after 5 minutes I was through and was able to walk to my gate for the domestic flight to Durban.

After being catered to and pampered for the past 11 hours I knew that my next hour in the sky would be totally different. I did score seat 1A so I enjoyed the bulkhead although my seat space was also shared by the woman sitting next to me. I wonder why?

I did notice a strong smell of body odor emanating from someone near me. I knew it wasn't me and I was pretty sure it wasn't the girl next to me and about half way through the quick flight the man sitting in the aisle seat got up to use the restroom. My seat mate immediately apologized for leaning in my direction and I interrupted her and said, "He stinks, right?" It looked like she had a quick vomit in her mouth and she nodded her head in agreement. Luckily we only had about 30 minutes until landing and I reassured her that she could make it!

Not much else happened during this quick up and down. For an hour long flight I can handle almost anything, luckily I had a buffer between the body odor.

1dream

How I Missed My Flight


I had checked and double checked my itinerary several times. I was schedule to arrive into Johannesburg from Durban at 1:30pm and then my connection to Accra was scheduled at 6:30pm… or so I thought.

With a 6-hour layover my two options were to stay at the airport, relax in the lounge and just chill or take the Gautrain to Sandton and explore Nelson Mandela square over a great lunch. I chose the latter. I took my bags to the bag check and for about $9 I didn’t have to worry about lugging them around for the next 4 hours.

Paying just over $20 for the 20-minute train ride I was soon in one of Joburg’s most happening (and safe) areas. Very crowded with Saturday afternoon shoppers I was soon seated at The Butcher Shop one of my favorite restaurants. Yes I have exploited South Africa’s deliciously cheap beef by eating it for 5 straight nights for dinner, but knowing that this was my final meal before departure, why not have a huge T-Bone for lunch as well. Enjoying a pleasurably lunch overlooking Nelson Mandela Square my goal was to get back on the train by 4:30 so I’d arrive at the airport just before 5pm, a solid 1.5 hours prior to departure which is more than sufficient with no bags to check and quick security lines in Johannesburg.



It was about 4pm when my lunch was completed and I began my 5 minute walk back to the station, stopping by a Krispy Kreme on the way to get my sugar fix.



I boarded the train for the 4:27 departure confident that my arrival to OR Tambo International Airport at 4:45 would perfectly fit into my timeline. While on the train I noticed my iPhone battery down to 10% but I knew that I’d be in an airport lounge to recharge in no time. I did hop online to check my flight status and that is when my heart stopped. I typed in SA 209, my presumed flight number and nothing popped up. I went to Kayak and searched for JNB-ACC flights for today and they only thing that popped up was SA 52 which departed at 5:15pm. I was confused as to why this was the only option. Under further investigation I pulled up this the JNB-ACC flight schedule. Oh .... I thought, it was Saturday and the only flight is now departing in 30 minutes. I don’t have my bags as they are in storage and I might be in trouble on this one!

My original plan was to fly to Accra on a Sunday (hence the 6:35pm that was on my TRIPIT app). At some point and I don’t remember exactly when, months ago though I switched to Saturday and just assumed that it would be the same flight. Maybe the phone agent didn’t tell me the time was changed, but it’s 100% my mistake that I should have checked.

Regardless, the train finally got to the station at 4:45pm and I sprinted to the check in counter. One positive of this was that my previously broken ankle responded great to the demands of the sprint and no ill effects were felt! I reached the counter and cut in front of 6 other people and asked if there was any chance to board. A shake of the head sideways was her answer and now I was sweating and in crises mode.

I knew that I had to contact All Nippon Airlines (I used their miles for this trip) and I had to contact them before my scheduled flight got into the air. Remember my phone battery… well now it was at 2%. I needed to find reliable free WiFi , as ANA is notorious for long hold times and I didn’t want to spend a fortune to call them , and I needed to find a power outlet. First things first I needed to go get my bags as that is where my charger was. Continuing at my brisk pace I picked up my backpack and roller bag and ran/walked to the Intercontinental Hotel which is adjacent to the airport.

I must have looked like a frustrated and disheveled traveler as the concierge was unbelievable accommodating. She set me up with a power cord, WiFi password and a chair at her desk as I called ANA. She even asked me how I was staying so calm and I told her that getting angry doesn’t help anything. I was in flight crises mode and that’s when I thrive!

I anticipated being on hold but I prayed that they’d pick up the phone before the 5:15 deadline… time was ticking and the damn ANA hold music was still playing. Finally they picked up at 5:30pm, my flight had already departed and I feared for the worse.

What’s the worse case scenario? Based on the ticketing rules, if you miss a flight than they can cancel the remaining flights on your reservation. Thus I could potentially lose the JNB-ACC flight and the ACC-IAD (Washington DC) a few days later. This could potentially cost me a couple thousand dollars to re-book. Finally the agent picked up and she wasn’t too optimistic about finding availability or keeping things within the rules. After putting me on hold for 10 minutes she returned with great news. She could re-book me to tomorrow’s flight, no charge and still in business class. I was a lucky man!

The next step was to cancel my hotel in Accra, Marriott Accra which I booked with points … done after several attempts due to some technical issue.



Next up was changing my flight from Accra to Kumasi from 9am to 7pm. You never know what you are going to get with African customer service. Shockingly my new best friend Mabel at Africa World Airlines helped make this change happen as well at no charge. The travel gods were with me.

I hopped back on my Marriott app and booked the Protea Hotel OR Tambo using my points so another “free” move in my big chess match today.

Stressed, sweaty but without a dollar leaving my wallet I survived a missed flight and am thankful to all who helped!

nequine

Sounds like you had everything on your side for that dilemma!

1dream

Located within the Nambiti Private Game Reserve and just a stone's throw away from my previous stop, Umzolozolo, the Nambiti Hills Lodge is another exquisite property with a chef named Faith who can really cook up some delectable dishes.

After departing Umzolozolo, a 10-minute drive to Nambiti Hills offered another mini-safari experience as I saw several varieties of animals during our quick trip. Upon arrival I did not receive the warm towel or serenade of Umzolozolo but I did receive a nice welcome drink and a million dollar view.



Check in was quick and efficient and I was shown my room which was located furthermost from the lodge. Not to worry though as the lodges were all electric fenced to keep "most" of the animals out, although they have found a leopard roaming the grounds before.





I arrived at my room about 1pm and the game drive began at 3pm. Afternoon tea and snacks was at 2:30pm so I had about 90 minutes to spare and I decided to enjoy some pool time in the African bush and with temperatures hovering about 80 degrees the weather was perfect. On the website, the pool is advertised as "heated" however it felt like a winter dip in the Pacific Ocean and after about a minute I had to return to the warm of my lounge chair. The pool area is an amazing spot, with views over the valley and on this day there was a "tower of giraffe" grazing just a couple hundred meters below us.



After a good hour at the pool, I returned to the room and what an impressive room it is. Although lacking a TV, aka The Capital Pearls, there's really no need while on safari. A huge, comfortable bed with the requisite electric blankets, a bathtub alcove and a large and comfortable bathroom all helped make this room warm and cozy.







It was now 2:30pm and time for snacks and tea. The included meal plan at Nambiti Hills includes a brunch (served after the morning game drive about 10am), afternoon tea and snacks (served at 2:30pm) and dinner (served following the afternoon game drive about 7pm). All of these are included with the room rate, however if you were still hungry they had lunch available for a small fee.

Afternoon tea and snacks was delightful. Set up on the lodge deck, a selection of mini pizzas, croissant sandwiches and chicken wings was more than enough to tide me over through the duration of the game drive. Chef Faith took our dinner orders and soon we were on board our safari vehicle for an afternoon in the bush.



I was joined by two ladies who are travel agents. They live in Cape Town with one hailing from Zimbabwe originally while the other was a local South African. These gals were a lot of fun as they were in the process of a 10-day discovery trip where they visited 14 different safari properties throughout South Africa. They'd been on a ton of game drives, were very knowledgeable about the animals and had some terrific jokes...or so they thought!



Our guide for the journey was a bit arrogant. He casually mentioned on several occasions how he doesn't really get along with the other 25 guides within the Nambiti Reserve and I think that cost us some valuable viewings. The usual protocol for guides is to call in their sightings over the CB radio and then all of the guests can enjoy. Two vehicles are allowed at a sighting at any given time, but being on standby is normal and accepted. Our guide instead chose to stay silent for the most part on the radio. If we saw something, he didn't bother to broadcast it however he occasionally would privately call one of his buddy guides. Nambiti has strict rules about going off-road and he didn't really seem to follow the rules (and he told us not to report him) even though he pointed out one of the female guides who had previously narc'd on him and took pictures of him off-road and reported him. Some pettiness among the guides for sure.



Enough about him, the animals were tough to find on this afternoon but spending 3 hours in nature is tough to beat and although it was a little chilly on the drive back to the lodge the provided ponchos helped immensely.

We arrived back at the lodge about 6:30pm and this time we did get a warm towel... my favorite part of safari I think! I was taken to my "table for 1" and proceeded to enjoy an amazing dinner from Chef Faith and his team. Shrimp appetizer, warm bread just out of the oven, a fillet that was perfectly cooked and a warm malva pudding that I could have eaten 5 of. Truly delicious.



Retiring to the room and drawing a hot bath my day was successful and finished.



The next morning we had the 6:30am departure. We all enjoyed our pre-departure tea and biscuits and it was time to board the Land Cruiser. Once again, our guide was individual in his pursuit of wildlife and it was a quiet morning. The temperature at departure was about 45 degrees so we were bundled up and quite cold until the sun came up.



We returned to the lodge about 9:30am and Chef Faith had prepared another top notch dish with french toast and crispy bacon... and if you've ever been to South Africa you know how tough it is to get crispy bacon! I checked out about 10:30am and was driven by my favorite guide back to the gate house where my car was parked.

A 3-hour drive back to Umhlanga ensued and upon getting to the gatehouse, the guard asked me if I'd mind driving two woman to the tar road about 15 miles away. No problem at all and the next thing I knew I was a Bush Taxi Driver with two lovely ladies who didn't speak much English. After about 25 minutes we reached our destination, they told me "God Bless You" and I gave them 200 Rand (about $15) and you would have thought I gave them a blank check. They squealed in excitement and hopefully they had a nice meal or two because of it.

Nambiti Hills is very nice property. The lodge is beautiful and the pool area is among the best that I've ever seen. However the staff was a bit cold, some a bit arrogant and I just didn't vibe with them except for Chef Faith who called me by name and was an amazingly nice man.

1dream

Johannesburg to Accra on South African



After missing my flight the previous day, I was re-booked on South African Airways flight #56 departing JNB at 1:10pm and scheduled to arrive to Accra 5 hours later (5:10pm local time). Extra cautious as to not miss my flight in consecutive days, I arrived at OR Tambo via the Protea shuttle about 10:00am. Using the kiosk to check-in, I was through security by 10:15am and was 100% NOT going to miss this flight.

I grabbed a not so delicious chicken sandwich and a very delicious kit-kat milk shake at one of terminal restaurants. I had about 90 minutes to kill so I did some serious shopping, spending about $20 which is more than I had spent on shopping on my previous 36 days of this trip. I also managed to get a 20-minute massage and it was nearly time to board. I was pretty proud that I didn’t even venture into one of the lounges for this trip.

Boarding of the A330-200 commenced about 12:30 and wow the plane was warm upon boarding. Luckily it cooled off quickly and I found my seat and there was nobody close to me!

I have mixed feelings about this seat. Although I do love the privacy, the comfort and the color scheme is striking I do have a couple huge pet peeves.



The main issue is the seat adjustments aren’t very responsive and are located in a tough position. Either you have to reach all the way across your side table or you have to push buttons that are located near your left hip which is a tough angle for most peoples arms and hands to contort to. In addition, while in the recline position, the TV screen gets very dark as it does not tilt downward so your resolution is severely compromised. Not all was bad though as the pillow, blanket and seat pad were all outstanding so once I did get settled in a comfortable position I was quite content for my 5-hours in the air.



Another issue (albeit quite minor) and I have no idea if it’s an airline policy or aviation policy is the fact that the entertainment system isn’t turned on until we are in the air for about 15 minutes. With the 30 minutes of boarding plus those 15 minutes I could have been halfway through a movie couple this with the fact that they turn off the entertainment system about 15 minutes prior to landing there’s a lot of dead time. At least Mandela was waiving at me most of the time!



I really do love the South African flight attendants as their accents and overall attitudes toward service are consistently amazing. Today was no different as the attendant assigned to my seat was incredibly friendly, loved my shoes and just had a great personality.

As the food menu was presented I decided to take a break from meat (I’d had steak 5 straight dinners!) and instead chose the tortellini pasta option.



Preceded by a trio of canapes which were pretty average, the red pepper soup was the highlight of this meal service. With a little kick too it and some creme fraiche to smooth it out, the soup was really tasty.



Dessert was a nicely baked cheesecake with a nice crunchy chocolate on top. The cheesecake was quite tasty and went down without much resistance.



Accompanying my meal were two signature South African drinks which I couldn’t believe I had forgot about and hadn’t had a sip of yet during my previous 5 days in South Africa, Grapetiser and Appletiser… basically sparkling juice.



A five hour flight is a piece of cake. Two movies, some tasty food and a wonderful flight attendant had my yearning for a few more hours. Three days from now I’ll get that opportunity as I take South Africa Airways again, this time from Accra to Washington DC. Until then, Totsiens.

1dream

Africa World Airlines - Impressive!Africa World Airlines, based in Accra, Ghana began flying in 2012. Currently operating a very modest fleet of 6 Embraer ERJ – 145LI eight destinations in West Africa are lucky to be served by AWA. Domestically within Ghana, AWA can be found in Accra, Kumasi, Takoradi and Tamale while internationally AWA flies to Lagos (Nigeria), Abuja (Nigeria), Freetown (Sierra Leone) and Monrovia (Liberia). Like most airlines in Africa, routes come and go and I’m sure their list of destinations will change over the next few months.



I booked a round trip from Accra to Kumasi. This 30 minute flight costs about $190 round trip, which is an outstanding bargain in my opinion when the other options in making the 125 mile trip is a 4+ hour car or bus trip. Expectations weren’t huge but I was very impressed by AWA.

Arriving in Accra from Johannesburg I had about 90 minutes between arrival and departure. Accra has two separate terminals for domestic and international and after breezing through security I made it to the domestic hall about 80 minutes prior to departure. Check in was quick and efficient and I had still had over an hour before departure and 30 minutes prior to boarding. I had a few items to pick up for some friends in Kumasi so I made a quick 1/2 mile walk to the adjacent mall to pick up some cheese and lotion at the market. Luckily the temperature was only about 80 degrees with a great breeze so I didn’t sweat too much and I was back at the terminal ready to board with 5 minutes to spare.

Boarding is done via a bus transport and one busload filled the airplane. We were soon airborne and given a juice and a bag of plantain chips. It’s a very up and down flight as by the time we reached our cruising altitude we immediately began our descent.



The seats are comfortable, the flight attendants are very friendly and who doesn’t like a 30 minute flight. I returned to Accra a few days later and this flight was equally as enjoyable. The only issue was upon landing in Accra the baggage belt was broken and so the luggage retrieval was a bit of a cluster. One Ghanaian even posted a Facebook Live session yelling and screaming his embarrassment and frustration that the baggage claim area was inoperable for 3 weeks now. He was going crazy and most passengers were just laughing (on the inside) at his display. There are more important things for all of us to worry about than a broken baggage belt, but hopefully someone was watching and can help make this man happy again.

offerendum

Something on my list, thank you!

farbster

Very nice report! What a trip!!

1dream

Flying from King Shaka International Airport (aka Durban) to Johannesburg is a quick 60-minute up and down flight covering about 300 miles. With 21 flights per day, the options are plentiful and I took British Airways (Comair) flight #6220 and it was an enjoyable journey. Not much to report on other than the flight was on time, seats were decently comfortable (I was given an exit row seat!) and the flight attendants were very friendly. I landed in Joburg and things got a little bit interesting....

Seat 2A

Looks like a great way to spend the summer! Thanks for the report, 1dream!