After a lot of work, the plans for the full trip are now complete. They were completed today as I had to force United to book the last itinerary because it hadn't booked after a week. It took some time on the phone but it's all done now. The hotels are what's left.
Here's the full trip as far as the flights are concerned....
9/02 JFK JNB SA0204
9/03 JNB CPT SA0323
9/05 CPT JNB SA 0306
9/05 JNB LVI SA0048
9/06 LVI JNB SA0049
9/06 JNB CPT SA0357
9/07 CPT JNB SA0314
9/07 JNB HDS SA1227
9/10 HDS JNB SA1226
9/10 JNB GBE SA1765
9/11 GBE JNB SA1766
9/11 JNB ADD ET0808
9/11 ADD DAR ET0827
9/12 DAR ADD ET0804
9/12 ADD DXB ET0600
9/13 DXB DOH UA0976
9/14 DOH SEZ QR0702
9/14 SEZ ADD ET0878
9/15 ADD CAI ET0452
9/16 CAI ADD ET0453
9/16 ADD JNB ET0809
9/16 JNB JFK SA0203
JFK = John F. Kennedy, New York, NY
JNB = Johannesburg, South Africa
CPT = Cape Town, South Africa
LVI = Livingstone, Zambia
HDS = Hoedspruit, South Africa
GBE = Gaborone, Botswana
ADD = Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
DAR = Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania
DXB = Dubai, United Arab Emirates
DOH = Doha, Qatar
SEZ = Victoria, Seychelles
CAI = Cairo, Egypt
With the way this trip is set up, I will get to see Table Mountain, Victoria Falls, a Safari, Zanzibar, Burj al-Arab/Burj Dubai, and the Pyramids with the whole trip. I'll wind up adding 11 new airports and 8 new countries to my list. That will get me halfway to the century mark. I'll also be flying a fair amount of business class plus the Boeing 787!
Now... I just have to arrange the additional hotels. Hopefully, I'll have as good luck with my Hilton points (except in Livingstone and Gaborone) as I had with my United miles.
Friday, June 29, 2012
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Decisions, Decisions, and More Decisions
I've spent a good part of my spare time running thoughts and ideas through my head to see how much I can fit into the second week of the trip to Africa. As expected, everything has me not staying in too many places for a long period.
I realized a few weeks ago that the possibility of getting award flights on Qatar Airways using my United MileagePlus miles came up. Of course, about the time I discover this an announcement is made that the partnership is ending in September. Fortunately, it's after the period where I'd be traveling.
The biggest issue that I had to resolve is that I wanted to visit the Seychelles but not spend a ton of time there. There are only three days in my week where I can fly in early in the morning, spend the day there, then fly out late in the afternoon. The destination after the origination flight was the problem because it meant making a late night connection on Ethiopian Airlines in Addis Ababa. The Ethiopian website was useless for research.
Imagine my surprise when I discover through playing with locations that I can make it to Egypt and potentially visit the pyramids. Really?? A two week trip covering a safari, Robben Island, Victoria Falls, and the Pyramids? Really?? Well, it looks like that's the plan. Unfortunately, that also means that I have to drop either Botswana or Namibia. Due to the flight schedule, it's Namibia that goes by the wayside.
The second week of the trip looks like the itinerary below:
9/10 JNB GBE SA1765
9/11 GBE JNB SA1766
9/11 JNB ADD ET0808
9/11 ADD DAR ET0827
9/12 DAR ADD ET0804
9/12 ADD DXB ET0600
9/13 DXB DOH UA0976
9/14 DOH SEZ QR0702
9/14 SEZ ADD ET0878
9/15 ADD CAI ET0452
9/16 CAI ADD ET0453
9/16 ADD JNB ET0809
JNB = Johannesburg, South Africa
GBE = Gaborone, Botswana
ADD = Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
DAR = Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania
DXB = Dubai, United Arab Emirates
DOH = Doha, Qatar
SEZ = Victoria, Seychelles
CAI = Cairo, Egypt
That's a lot of flying. At this time, it's all in Economy which would cost me a total of 82,500 miles and $148 in taxes. I've tried checking for Business class flights and there is not a single Ethiopian flight available in Business on the United website.
I'd be staying overnight in Gaborone and Cairo. I'd be getting essentially day rooms in Dar Es Salaam, Dubai, the Seychelles, and Johannesburg before flying home on 9/16.
Am I nuts? You bet! Will I love the trip? You bet!
Now all that's left is making the booking....
I realized a few weeks ago that the possibility of getting award flights on Qatar Airways using my United MileagePlus miles came up. Of course, about the time I discover this an announcement is made that the partnership is ending in September. Fortunately, it's after the period where I'd be traveling.
The biggest issue that I had to resolve is that I wanted to visit the Seychelles but not spend a ton of time there. There are only three days in my week where I can fly in early in the morning, spend the day there, then fly out late in the afternoon. The destination after the origination flight was the problem because it meant making a late night connection on Ethiopian Airlines in Addis Ababa. The Ethiopian website was useless for research.
Imagine my surprise when I discover through playing with locations that I can make it to Egypt and potentially visit the pyramids. Really?? A two week trip covering a safari, Robben Island, Victoria Falls, and the Pyramids? Really?? Well, it looks like that's the plan. Unfortunately, that also means that I have to drop either Botswana or Namibia. Due to the flight schedule, it's Namibia that goes by the wayside.
The second week of the trip looks like the itinerary below:
9/10 JNB GBE SA1765
9/11 GBE JNB SA1766
9/11 JNB ADD ET0808
9/11 ADD DAR ET0827
9/12 DAR ADD ET0804
9/12 ADD DXB ET0600
9/13 DXB DOH UA0976
9/14 DOH SEZ QR0702
9/14 SEZ ADD ET0878
9/15 ADD CAI ET0452
9/16 CAI ADD ET0453
9/16 ADD JNB ET0809
JNB = Johannesburg, South Africa
GBE = Gaborone, Botswana
ADD = Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
DAR = Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania
DXB = Dubai, United Arab Emirates
DOH = Doha, Qatar
SEZ = Victoria, Seychelles
CAI = Cairo, Egypt
That's a lot of flying. At this time, it's all in Economy which would cost me a total of 82,500 miles and $148 in taxes. I've tried checking for Business class flights and there is not a single Ethiopian flight available in Business on the United website.
I'd be staying overnight in Gaborone and Cairo. I'd be getting essentially day rooms in Dar Es Salaam, Dubai, the Seychelles, and Johannesburg before flying home on 9/16.
Am I nuts? You bet! Will I love the trip? You bet!
Now all that's left is making the booking....
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