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BA to The Western Cape - 3 Towns in 2 Weeks

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Old Jan 10, 2019, 1:00 pm
  #46  
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Originally Posted by bakera
Great trip report as always. I,ve now read all three of your CPT TR’s in preparation for our first trip there in March.
Thank you ... I hope you found them useful. It really is a fairly painless place to visit once you get your head round a glass of wine costing 80-something!

Have a wonderful trip ... we usually do
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Old Jan 11, 2019, 2:00 am
  #47  
 
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Originally Posted by T8191
Thank you ... I hope you found them useful. It really is a fairly painless place to visit once you get your head round a glass of wine costing 80-something!

Have a wonderful trip ... we usually do
I seem to remember you saying on the BA board that you were goignt o try the Wne Tram on this trip, but I've noticed the absence of it in your trip report. Did you decide against it? If so way?
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Old Jan 11, 2019, 2:59 am
  #48  
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Originally Posted by bakera
I seem to remember you saying on the BA board that you were goignt o try the Wne Tram on this trip, but I've noticed the absence of it in your trip report. Did you decide against it? If so way?
Yes, we did reconsider our plans ... not the Tram but a hotel-arranged visit. in the end we were just too bloody lazy, and stayed by the pool instead!!

Why? Well, it was 'something to do' rather than a particular 'desire'. Doing nothing seemed preferable!
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Old Jan 12, 2019, 7:19 am
  #49  
 
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Great TR, thanks. I'm glad you do them every time you travel as they always tickle my travel bugs even when you've previously reviewed a destination.

The 3 destinations all look great and 4 or 5 nights in each certainly make a break seem so much longer. Well done on booking your next CPT trip already. And on QR this time. Have you flown with them before? I don't recall a TR of yours which involved Qatar so I'm looking forward to that. Stopping off in DOH or straight on to CPT?

Thanks again.
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Old Jan 12, 2019, 12:43 pm
  #50  
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How kind, Mr/Mrs Pigeon! It’s a bit tricky when we (boringly) tend to go to the same places! However, some new ones coming in 2019!!

The QR will be a complete novelty. Never used them before, but LGW-DOH-CPT in one run racks up some necessary TPs - 2 QR legs, different flight numbers = BINGO!. The midnight changeover is a bit of a PITA, but that’s what TP-hunting causes! I fear I may have spent too much on the flights, but we shall survive.
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Old Jan 12, 2019, 1:47 pm
  #51  
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Originally Posted by T8191
How kind, Mr/Mrs Pigeon! It’s a bit tricky when we (boringly) tend to go to the same places! However, some new ones coming in 2019!!

The QR will be a complete novelty. Never used them before, but LGW-DOH-CPT in one run racks up some necessary TPs - 2 QR legs, different flight numbers = BINGO!. The midnight changeover is a bit of a PITA, but that’s what TP-hunting causes! I fear I may have spent too much on the flights, but we shall survive.
Hopefully you have a quick changeover at DOH. I once spent more than 7 hours kicking my heels in a lounge there, between a delayed 14-hour run from IAH (in Y) and a 3am connection to JNB. It took several Black Russians and a whole pack of Marlboro to complete my transition from angry bear to semi-reasonable human being.
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Old Jan 12, 2019, 1:51 pm
  #52  
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Yeah, it’s notionally a quickie ... c. 2h each way, Allah willing. Enough time for a ciggie or two before moving on!
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Old Jan 12, 2019, 2:02 pm
  #53  
 
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Load shedding

In practical terms areas of SA are allocated slots lasting I think 2 hours where the electricity supply is basically turned off to reduce demand on the network.

I haven’t noticed it too much but when there are no traffic lights working in an area, it does become an issue.

Most decent accommodation will have backup generators setup that can kick in relatively speedily, but surprisingly a lot of places don’t have much backup.

For instance I went to a shopping centre where there was load shedding in effect, and almost the only things working were the tills and credit card payment devices.
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Old Jan 12, 2019, 2:46 pm
  #54  
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Originally Posted by T8191
Yeah, it’s notionally a quickie ... c. 2h each way, Allah willing. Enough time for a ciggie or two before moving on!
That's enough time. I've done a ca. 60min connection in DOH and it was very rushed, but 2 hours will give you plenty of time to tar up at your leisure.
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Old Mar 4, 2019, 10:06 am
  #55  
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Hi, Uncle T. I just caught up with your CPT18 report. Magnificent stuff! While some was familiar (Hermanus and S'bosch}. much was new, especially Franschhoek and the travel experience.

We're back in a couple of weeks, to Cape Town and Franschhoek. For accommodation, we're using up some of our mountains of hotel points at the Hilton Cape Town and the Protea Franschhoek

I need to book transit from Cape Town to Franschhoek and from Franschhoek to CPT. (From CPT to CT, we'll Uber or taxi.) In your experience, do you think it is something we could request from Adriaan? If so, would you please PM me his contact details? Many thanks.

Franschhoek won't be entirely new for us, we went there on our first SA holiday in the 90s. It certainly looks 21st century now. (Not sure if that's good or bad)

.
Originally Posted by T8191
It is, without any reservations, our favourite destination on so many levels. But of course there are other places we haven’t been yet!
I agree entirely!
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Old Mar 4, 2019, 10:24 am
  #56  
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You have a PM incoming, Roger!

Only caveat is pax + luggage. 2 of each will be OK!
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Old Apr 13, 2019, 11:42 am
  #57  
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As a footnote, we are doing pretty much the same thing in November 2019 ... but with a subtle difference.

We’re going QR for the first time ever ... but only in J, as I’m paying cash!

Couldn’t get a BA 2-4-1, dammit, so a fair few extra ££££ involved ... but we do actually NEED the Tier Points to renew BAEC Gold. Is this therefore the most expensive TP Run ever?

Last edited by T8191; Apr 13, 2019 at 11:48 am
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Old Apr 30, 2019, 3:28 pm
  #58  
 
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Thank you so much for this trip report. We are heading to CT in July with our three (almost) grown sons. Your report has helped so much!
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Old May 1, 2019, 12:06 am
  #59  
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Originally Posted by Saxonjsb
Thank you so much for this trip report. We are heading to CT in July with our three (almost) grown sons. Your report has helped so much!
I’m so pleased! Have a great trip, and I hope their winter weather is kind to you!

Also flattered to be the recipient of your first post on Flyertalk!
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Old Jul 20, 2019, 8:24 pm
  #60  
 
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I just dove through your three CPT reports and I was taken away on such a journey. Can't wait to see it myself (though not sure when it'll be) and thank you for the references.

I don't know if any fellow FTers have enquired about Adriaan's contact info, but I imagine if they did, he could make a generous living out of having FT's business.
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