[turtlemichael]

Turtlemichael and TMSO do the world


After more than a little consideration I’ve decided I’ll do it. I’m going to inflict on family, friends and fellow travel and flight addicts, the nitty gritty of our ramblings around the world over the next 12 months. I take my inspiration from the reports done by others, most notably for me Simongr and Kiwi Flyer. I look forward eagerly to their updates and envy their writing skills. I also devour the many other trip reports here and elsewhere. All up, I think we have a very interesting year of travel ahead.

While this forum is primarily about travel and planning travel, particularly in planes, it of necessity covers other things. – where people sleep, where they eat and what they do when they travel. I’ll try to follow that framework and emphasise the bits to do with flying. However, I do fail the membership test here because I can’t get out of my mind the ridiculous notion that travel is about where you go, the pleasure it gives you and not the process of getting there. No matter how good the meal in J is and how comfortable the almost fully flat bed, it palls for me in comparison with sharing a vaparetto ride with friends on the Grand Canal, eating lunch on the terrace of a 2 star Michelin restaurant overlooking the Dordogne or clambering over Angkor Wat. So if I drift too far from planes I’m sure someone will remind me! If I do it’s always open to the reader to become an ex-reader. “Move along sir, there’s nothing to interest you here”

First, the plan.

Over a period the plan for the year of travel ahead evolved. The SO (hereinafter to be known as TMSO) and I had a number of things we wanted to do. First and foremost we wanted to fulfil a long held desire to tour the Civil War sites in America’s south east. Added in were plans to visit friends, do a Black Sea cruise and complete a couple of business things. Certain ideas were left by the wayside including a desire to see the Australians play the West Indies in the Caribbean in April-May. It was just too much.

So, with the expert advice and assistance of a few from this forum, we decided to do a DONE4 out of Tokyo booked through AA. This will be our second DONE4 and we’ve also had a OW Circle Pacific fare in the last couple of years. Our timing was fortunate. We booked in late June with the basic plan and with the intention of reissuing at some later point. But, with rumours circulating of pending changes to the terms and conditions of the OW fares at the end of June, we got in just in time and paid and ticketed. We thus managed by about 36 hours to avoid the restriction introduced at the end of June redefining the 20 segments to include ground segments. I’ll remain nervous until our tickets are reissued at the end of November when the total plan will include 20 flights and 6 ground segments.

But the DONE4 is now the smaller part of the plan. All up it now includes 20 DONE4 segments, a number of paid flights, “relocating” flights utilising QF and VS points, several award flights, several long distance train trips and car rentals and a cruise. At this point we have 42 flights. I hope the bank manager is not a subscriber! As for the DONE4 we’ll start with a e-ticket but will convert that to a paper ticket when we complete the first few sectors. That will be the test of whether we have met the rules.


Next issue was what to do with the points. Qantas recently came good with early renewal of my WP status even though I will not quite reach the required 1200 SCs by my anniversary. TMSO is independently WP and will be well over the current threshold at renewal time. We both are sitting in the mid-9000 lifetime SCs and this year of travel will see us near 12000. Some early thoughts of more tripping in 2009 would push us past 14000 SC and into the rarefied air of lifetime Gold. That is of course if the rules don’t change and there are very strong rumours that they will soon.

So, with that in mind, the thought is to stick with QF scheme for the time being. If the rules are going to change to make lifetime status a remote possibility then we shall head for the dark side and learn all about the lingo of AA . There are a couple of flights booked as part of the DONE4 including QF107 to JFK which would just about satisfy a platinum challenge if flown on an AA flight number so we shall keep our ears and eyes open.

Even with 9000+ SCs it still might be more sensible to abandon QF now and do the switch? I guess we don’t always make sensible decisions and, for the time being at least, I do feel loyal to them. Pathetic hey!

Our broad itinerary

The milk is cancelled, the plants watered and the socks are darned. We leave Cairns at the end of the week for NRT using QF points. It’s overnight at the HI Narita and then on to Shanghai for 5 days . After that we head to Bangkok for a week or so then a couple of nights in Hong Kong. Finally a few days in Sydney and back to Cairns. All up, we’ll be away 3 weeks.

In January and February we’ll do some domestic travel then in April we head to the US for a few days in NYC and 3-4 weeks touring from Atlanta to Charleston then Richmond up to Philadelphia. The jaunt is completed with a visit to Palm Springs to see friends and then home in mid May via San Francisco, Auckland and Sydney using VS points on NZ.

In late July we head back to SFO using QF points to resume the DONE4. A week in Mexico City for a conference is followed by a few days in Vancouver, two weeks in the UK visiting friends in London and Leeds and a couple of days at the Edinburgh Festival. Two nights in Athens precede a 10 day cruise of the Black Sea ending in Istanbul. Then it is a week in Turkey including a visit to Gallipoli, a few days in Amsterdam and a week in Japan including visiting Hiroshima.

I’m not sure yet how we’ll get home in October from the end of the DONE4 in NRT. It could be using QF points, using VS points from HKG or it may even be the start of a new DONE4 (sadly with land segments included!)

I hope this is of interest and that I can keep up the postings from next week. Any comments and feedback as we go along will be appreciated.

[QF009]

Whoa another massive DONE4 TR. Nice start - looking forward to more.

I don't mind the non-plane/hotel bits as I extract tips from them for my own holidays, like where to find independent coffee shops in NYC, the best chocolate cafe in Brussels and so on. This is meant to be a travel forum after all like you said.

[drron]

I fully agree with QF009.I am glad to read reports from fellow travellers.I to get bored sitting on planes and although I am glad to get the advice on maximising the bennies in the end it is the whole experience that is important.have a great series of trips.Particularly hope you enjoy the Civil War trail as much as I have done over the years.Just remember though that although the North won the South hasnt lost yet.

[simongr]

Really looking forward to this - although a lot of my trips are about the journey it is because I travel mostly for work so what I do when I get there is pretty confined to working.You have some fascinating stops on this journey and am I looking forward to peeking over the fence to see what you are up to

[Ikara]

Turtlemichael,

You just keep your Confederate dollars 'cos tha South's gunna riiiiiiiiiiiiise agin!

Love Richmond, great friends there, visit regularly. Make sure you visit the new Tredegar Iron Works Museum down by the James River. Love the Battlefields, love the history. Can't wait for the trip report.

Enjoy!

JB

[drron]

I just thought I might add a little advice for anyone thinking of a driving tour in the good ole USA.Most of the state tourism organisations will send you a book with attractions,accommodation,festivals,maps etc.You just sign up on the net and within 6 weeks you should have your book.
So for the South and Civil war some of the sites are-
Georgia-www.georgiaonmymind.org
Virginia-www.virginia.org
S.Carolina-www.discoversouthcarolina.com
Maryland-www.visitmaryland.org
Pennsylvannia-www.visitpa.com
Tennessee-www.tnvacation.com
And seeing NYC is so popular you can get the current NYC guide by ordering on-www.visitnyc.com
We have had all of these posted free to Australia.
Hope you may get something out of that Turtlemichael.

[turtlemichael]

Originally Posted by drron

Hope you may get something out of that Turtlemichael.

Thanks drron! We already have the Virginia one and I'll get a couple of the others. Good maps and info.

[turtlemichael]

Here we go. A year of travel. The plan for the next three weeks is to get to NRT to start the DONE4, spend some time in Shanghai, Bangkok, Hong Kong and Sydney and then return to Cairns

QF69 CNS-NRT 1320-2000 4J/4K on time

After a rushed morning, the kindly next door neighbour drove us to CNS. It was the usual painless CNS experience checking in and the agent offered us the choice of the business class cabin. She said it wasn’t too busy unlike the back of the plane which was filled with Japanese school kids loaded with bags of Australiana. The JQ check-in queue at the other end of the desk brought back bad memories.

The Cairns international lounge is I think one of the worst in the network in Australia. It’s very dated, but a lot more spacious than the domestic lounge. There is usually not a problem to find parking space here. The food is always very tired. The booze selection however is ok. I guess we are lucky to have a lounge at all and I am not sure how much longer we will have one. QF69 left the gate a few minutes early with TMSO and me and one other as the business class occupants. As we were using points it was not to be a profitable day for Qantas from the front end. Service was friendly, professional and efficient – it’s hard to get it wrong with three passengers in the 25 seat cabin. I’ve had a number of CNS-NRT-CNS flights and the front cabin has never been more than 25% occupied. Fun chatting to the crew too. The CSM was on temporary placement out of Cairns and had nothing but high praise for the ex-Australian Airlines crew based there.

Lunch arrived quickly and for me was Green Spinach Soup and Chicken with Tarragon Cream and Roast Vegetables. We happily stuck with a Coriole Sangiovese and eventually Morris Liqueur Muscat. As the only one drinking it I didn’t feel it would be right to leave too much in the bottle. TMSO had the beef which was fine. Just prior to arrival we had some sushi. Movies were nothing to arouse a lot of interest but I enjoyed parts of the audio program.

We were a few minutes early to the gate and were outside the terminal, waiting for the hotel bus, only 15 minutes later.

We overnighted at Holiday Inn Tobu Narita. Its 5 minutes from NRT with a free shuttle run to and from the airport. We had a West Wing room which was spacious and quiet. There is no reason to spend more than the odd night here.

[turtlemichael]

Next morning it was back to the airport to start the DONE4. There is always a moment of apprehension when starting a long series of flights for me that the bit of paper I have in my hand, which looks nothing like a ticket, will actually get me on to the plane. This was the more so because it was actually an AA e-ticket rather than a good old Qantas one.
After finding the check in lane and having the hold luggage screened, it was somewhat disconcerting to have the JL CSO actually running towards us from behind her desk. She grabbed the bag from us and wheeled it the 15 or so metres to her station, loaded it on the scales and proceeded with our check-in. If this was how JL treated its business class customers what do they do for their First? Is there another person who runs along sweeping the floor in front of you dropping rose petals for you to walk over? Suddenly, I again had thoughts about JQ. Note to self: I must suppress the tendency to compare absolutely everything with JQ.

Check–in was painless and friendly and then it was off to the, for us, new Sakura First class lounge. It appears a vast improvement over the one it replaced. Breakfast was on offer when we arrived and it was a buffet at about the standard of a good hotel club lounge. Booze was plentiful and the bar was marked as self service until 3.00pm. The lounge at one end has good tarmac views and at the other a small business centre and a smoking room. It also has 4 or 5 massage chairs which give you a great pre-flight pummeling. Just don’t leave your keys in your pocket or it may give you a serious body puncture.

JL619 NRT-PVG 1120-1345 2A/2C Departed 5 minutes early arrived 15 minutes early

The flight was again not very full in J. It was a dated looking 767-300 and 13 out of the 30 seats were occupied. No pre-flight drink was offered. The lunch order was taken promptly and I chose the sushi gozen menu. The dainomono was fillet of rockling in sweet soy. As with the western menu there was no choice of main (filet of beef on the western menu). The food was fine but the wine, a miniature of either red or white French non-descript, was disappointing. I’ll have to start drinking champagne as at least there was a proper bottle of that.

On the regional service seats are old style (maybe someone can better describe them) with very little recline. There is plenty of pitch however and was easy to get past the one in front when reclined. Didn’t watch the video but the camera under the fuselage is fun.

All up, an ok flight with disappointing wine. Still it was early to land which is always a good thing.

Two flights down, at least 40 to go.

[turtlemichael]

We decided to take the Maglev train from PVG to the city. Sadly, it seems to have some of the elements of a white elephant. First, it’s not overly well sign-posted at the airport. And it’s a good hike, particularly with luggage and particularly when the single line of travelators is going the wrong way. Well, the right way for those departing, but not for us. It’s well organized once you do get to the platform and a real thrill to watch the display tell you that you are traveling at 430kph even if you do not have such an impression of speed. It takes just 8 minutes to cover the 30 kilometres to the fringes of Shanghai at Longyang Road station.

The Maglev does not link into the rest of the transport system as the metro is several hundred metres away. Again, strange planning but I’m sure someone will be able to explain why. As well, the system does not go where most people will want to go - maybe why the carriages were really empty. We were staying at Holiday Inn Vista in Jingan which was another 30 minutes by taxi and indeed, any hotel will be a taxi ride away.

I should say that we planned on staying 2 nights at the Holiday Inn and 3 at the InterContinental. This hotel move, and a few more later in this part of the trip, proves that I am a points slut. I am not as bad (or good, depending on your point of view) as some, but according to TMSO who does not understand such things as mattress and mileage runs, I am bad enough. Maybe I am just a person of ill repute, rather than a fully qualified whore?

The hotel change is to take advantage of the current Priority Club promotion and will earn us enough for an extra night at an InterContinental somewhere or almost two nights at a Holiday Inn. Some may think that the reward is not worth the effort but I disagree after our experiences here. The Vista is not particularly well located for tourists as it's in the north west of the city well away from the centre. After traveling around this mammoth city I think it is entirely debatable whether it does have a centre, it seems like many cities in one.

At the HI we had booked an executive suite which carried club benefits. That’s what we got. It was very large, well furnished and with a very comfortable bed. The club is small but with a good breakfast and happy hour. In my opinion, this is one of the best HI’s I’ve stayed in and I’d recommend it strongly. It’s streets ahead of any HI in Australia – a very attentive and attractive refurbishment of a fairly ordinary building. We moved to the InterContinental Pudong for the last few days and I also rate that very highly. We booked a business suite and were upgraded to a club suite. The club suite is large, with a big bathroom but a small bath, and furnished in pseudo-Chinese style and colours. Again, an excellent bed and a very good club. I'll do some reports with pix on the InterContinental page of FT when I get home.

The club breakfast is as good as that in the Bangkok IC. Evening happy hour (actually 3 hours) had some good Australian and Kiwi wines and a reasonable array of snacks. Afternoon tea included a great selection of chocolates and cakes. The club has views over the city towards the Bund with a mini-Hong Kong type light show to watch at night.

Two restaurants we tried are worth mentioning. At the unusually named Purple Mountain Hotel, near the IC, there is a restaurant called Quan Ju De. It’s apparently part of a chain or franchise. What it lacks in atmosphere, it makes up for with the best Peking Duck I’ve tasted. In fact, the restaurant looks like everyone’s local Chinese but the duck is unique. Further, when you pay the equivalent of less than AUD35.00 for the duck and a couple of large beers for two people, and struggle to eat all the duck, you know you’ve done well.

At the other end of the scale we also ate at the top of the Hyatt in Pudong. There are several restaurants there (Italian, Japanese and Steakhouse) and all are pricey. If you are suffering Aussie steak deprivation you can have one here for about AUD80.00 and up. The wine is similarly priced. But the spectacular views make up for sticker shock. Well, maybe they don’t make up entirely but just marginally compensate!

In Shanghai we loved the excellent Shanghai Museum with wonderful Chinese bronzes amongst other things, fascinating Jing’an temple, the market and gardens at Yu Yuan, walking along the Bund and looking in the buildings, taking the kitsch tourist subway under the river, wandering around the French Concession, and watching the elderly gentlemen early in the morning writing Chinese characters in water on the pavements. TMSO thinks this is a metaphor for the transient nature of life. That is too deep for me. All up, we will come back to Shanghai.

I should also mention that we managed to avoid the famous Chinese ancient tea ceremony scam. Approached by several young students wanting to practice their English in People’s Square, quite a lng period of time was spent on us demonstrating our international bonhomie. Eventually we were invited to join them for the venerable and ancient tea ceremony. By luck, and wanting to get to the Shanghai museum, we declined. After a couple more approaches as we walked to the Museum from similarly enthusiastic young people wanting to practice their English, we realized that the invitations to tea were more than coincidence. Eeek, these nice girls were scam artists? I guess there is not much doubt. Consider yourself warned.

On to Bangkok tomorrow.