Iraq, Macedonia, and Kosovo on Swiss First, UA First, Austrian Business! (Long, pics)
 

Hey, folks,

Just returned from a magnificent trip to Iraq, Macedonia, and Kosovo, and, oh yeah, the trip reports are following! I'll try my damnedest to have one section each day, but sometimes, dear school gets in the way. It's a long one, folks - the trip was perhaps the most profound and finest of my all my travels. Hope you enjoy, and please, e-mail me, comment, or reply with any suggestions, questions, or corrections.

(Oh, and if you're really bored, you can have a look or even reread my previous trip report to Uzbekistan and Berlin, here!)

Follow the links below to each section of the report.

Part 1/2: Prologue

Part 1: New York LaGuardia (LGA) to Washington National on US Airways

Part 2: Washington Dulles (IAD) to Frankfurt (FRA) on United

Part 3: FRA – Vienna (VIE) – Skopje (SKP) on Austrian

Part 4: Arrival in Skopje, and Day 1 in Skopje

Part 5: Day 2 in Skopje

Part 6: A bit more Skopje

Part 7: Daytrip to Pristina, Kosovo

Part 8: SKP – Zagreb (ZAG) – VIE on Croatian Airlines

Part 9: VIE – Erbil, Iraq (EBL) on Austrian

Part 10: Erbil, Iraq (Part II, for now, posted)

----> The Erbil, Iraq section of the report has been updated on 03/01/10! Click the above link to access the newly-updated section, and click here for my newly-updated procedure on how I will finally finish this trip report! :D

Part 11: EBL – VIE on Austrian

Part 12: Hilton Vienna Stadtpark

Part 13: VIE – Zurich (ZRH) – JFK on Swiss

Can't wait to read the report!

Does Iraq issue tourist visas?

Most of the country does not issue tourist visas - but, for the Kurdish region, where I was, American citizens do not need visas at all for travel. Just show up. Very convenient, and saved me an always-joyous trip to a consulate.

When I visited (see my axis of evil trip report) you got a 10 day visa on arrival, but the airline made sure before boarding that you had a passport on the list of valid countries (which seemed to be fluid but mostly western ones). You can get a visa extension once you're there if need longer than 10 days.

Looking forward to the report.

Part I
 

Is live, folks! Click here, or see the OP!

Hope you enjoy, and let me know of any questions, comments, or criticisms.

Excellent writing, sir.

I enjoyed your last report and im looking forward to this one.

I'm glad you are over your stomach complaint, theres nothing worse when you are travelling.

Thanks for the comments, folks! Part Two will be live tomorrow.

@Gatwick Alan: Many thanks. You're certainly right. It made what should've been a very pleasant flight a really miserable experience. Oh, well - I'll add it to the list of times that hardens you as a traveler. :p

Nice report so far.

The idea of shuttle flights intrigues me as well. The only thing similar in my region was the old MH/SQ shuttle between SIN-KUL but that's gone the way of the dinosaur now.

Nice report thus far.
That pic of LGA wasn't just dingy, it looked like a county jail!

Great stuff! Looking forward to more!

Now I wish my LGA-DCA flight was in the day... and by a window!

Ah well.

Nice pics there PamHam

Thanks for all the comments, folks! Most appreciated.

And, oh yeah - here is Part 2. I might've gotten a bit carried away, but I'm sure fellow plane nerds won't mind reading it :D.

Enjoy.

PanHam - Great trip report. I will look forward to subsequent parts. Probably wise for you to travel now, as regretably you may find medical school admission deleterious to your frequent flier elite status. :eek: Do you recall, what was the champagne offered at the UA IFL at IAD? I wouldn't complain too much about the food offerings, as they certainly beat those at the RCC. Do they have any computers available for use? I also agree it seems to take a long time, after takeoff, for the UA FAs to take initial drink orders, and you were in F with only 2 other pax.

Dulles sounds like a 60s wonderland. A picture of the mobile lounges, which s you know were still the height of modern technology in 2003, would have been cool.

Keep em coming!