Gallivanting the globe 2019 - RTW and then some

[JohnM]

Another day, another with my bum in 1A...

(Hyuk, hyuk - just call me Wordsworth, peeps. .)

Another trundle on JL - phwoar!

Currently somewhere approaching the coast of China over the E China Sea. WiFi is very slow, though. I’ll be over Mongolia by the time I hit ‘Post Reply’ - if I’m lucky, I reckon.

There are a few idiosyncrasies about JL that I don’t especially like, but they are completely overwhelmed by the service from the lovely FAs and the exceptional F&B.

There is no PDB offering. When they do come around after TO, they take your drink and food order. Pre-meal drink and a simple pack of rice crackers appears - but is far too quickly followed by the meal. Just too quick for my liking - especially as we are in no hurry on a 9h flight.

But when the food comes... phwoar, just phwoar!

Again, I chose the Japanese menu - but it was a toss-up, as they both looked good.







I just loved that. Amazing stuff.

Again, the Pinot Blanc was my go-to wine choice and it matched perfectly. I had to try the Chardonnay - good but a touch on the sweet side and just didn’t quite rock with the food like the PB.

 

[JohnM]

The main.

Today was the secondary red wine choice, so no tasting notes on the menu.

It was good, but I preferred the Malbec. I’d defy even @Daver6 to pick it as a Shiraz. Just so unlike any Australian version.

 

[Daver6]

It was good, but I preferred the Malbec. I’d defy even @Daver6 to pick it as a Shiraz. Just so unlike any Australian version.

No doubt you used your charm to grab a bottle to bring home and serve to me blind....

 

[juddles]

One day I hope to have saved enough money to be able to travel like that.
Your strategy sounds similar to mine for my RTW later this year, in that I built it around a particular key thing (which has since been cancelled, alas) but no where near as grand a scale as this trip! I look forward to following along

Drakecula, I have travelled a bit in my time, but JohnM has certainly set a goalpost for me in the coming years. He has a style, a method, that is just brilliant. He pulls off the most outstanding, crazy, yet sane, most interesting travels. And he does it on a sane budget, something in reach if you plan. In my understanding he manages it in a brilliant way - doing a huge (maxxed out SC/points) paid for DONEx each year, then a secondary yearly trip to burn the points thus gained. Admittedly he has an advantage over most people - he lives in perth so there is nothing else to do for the months that he is not travelling - so ample time to ponder and plan and plan and plan.....

 

[RooFlyer]

And he does it on a sane budget, something in reach if you plan.

Jeez, not some of the tours he's shown me!

 

[juddles]

Jeez, not some of the tours he's shown me!

Careful, he may be the absolute master player - he extracted from me a bottle of wine that cost me about $8k to deliver.....

 

[JohnM]

Drakecula, I have travelled a bit in my time, but JohnM has certainly set a goalpost for me in the coming years. He has a style, a method, that is just brilliant. He pulls off the most outstanding, crazy, yet sane, most interesting travels. And he does it on a sane budget, something in reach if you plan. In my understanding he manages it in a brilliant way - doing a huge (maxxed out SC/points) paid for DONEx each year, then a secondary yearly trip to burn the points thus gained. Admittedly he has an advantage over most people - he lives in perth so there is nothing else to do for the months that he is not travelling - so ample time to ponder and plan and plan and plan.....

And you were playing to the script - until the last sentence....

 

[JohnM]

Jeez, not some of the tours he's shown me!

But I don’t stay in palatial multi-room suites at the Ritz...

 

[juddles]

And you were playing to the script - until the last sentence....

JohnM, I am still trying to get the hang of this AFF thing. What I delight in is that I can be scolded for casting aspersions on my gay and lesbian friends, but nothing seems to protect the true sufferers, those that reside in Perth.

Faaark, my nightly dose of rum may yet again get me into trouble...

 

[Drakecula]

Next time you're over this side of the country @JohnM, tell me your secrets, I'll take notes!

 

[JohnM]

Next time you're over this side of the country @JohnM, tell me your secrets, I'll take notes!

No secrets, just lots of ideas and a liking for planning travel.

As it happens, I intend to be in CBR in about the last week of April next year for a few days stopover to visit friends at the beginning of next year’s DONEx .

I’ll be aiming to catch up with some local AFFers while there. Hopefully you can join in. I’ll keep you posted.

 

[Drakecula]

No secrets, just lots of ideas and a liking for planning travel.

As it happens, I intend to be in CBR in about the last week of April next year for a few days stopover to visit friends at the beginning of next year’s DONEx .

I’ll be aiming to catch up with some local AFFers while there. Hopefully you can join in. I’ll keep you posted.

Planning is half the fun! I plan well in advance myself. I shall plan to be around in April

 

[JohnM]

After three weeks crossing the 5 Stans from Turkmenistan in the west to Kazakhstan in the east, a great trip came to an end in Almaty. @RooFlyer has been covering that in detail in his TR while we’ve been on the road. Again, as is my wont, I will do my full TR after my return home in mid-October and sorting through the pics from my camera.

Yesterday it was up at sparrow’s, slightly dusty after a late final night with the tour group and finally getting some good local wine, to head back to India for the next three weeks.

I flew whY on Air Astana ALA-DEL and then whY on Air India DEL-BOM. Just bus rides to get there (3h and 2h flights, respectively).

Air Astana was very good and there was a very light load (maybe 20% tops) on the A320. There was nobody in the two seats next to me. They even hand out amenity kits, containing socks, a blow-up neck pillow, pen, mask, ear plugs in whY for such a short flight. The AI flight was full and the A321NEO had the thin seats tightly jammed in. I had the lunch and snoozed.



Taxiing out at ALA and en route. The track swung west and went over eastern Pakistan, before swinging in to DEL.







Coming into DEL and BOM. It’s monsoon season.

 

[JohnM]

Waiting in The Wing F lounge for the final sector HKG-PER of this little 17-week odyssey. And I was just getting used to living out of my case...



I’ll have six weeks to get into the rewind on this TR before shooting through to the Southern Ocean for the first two weeks of December.

 

[JohnM]

View enhanced . And leaving from gate 1 - just below. Too easy...

 

[Antoallison]

Just curious - how much would you pack for a lengthy stay like that ?
You certainly experienced different weather, countries and activities.

 

[JohnM]

Just curious - how much would you pack for a lengthy stay like that ?
You certainly experienced different weather, countries and activities.

Bag weight was about 22 Kg. I use a large Osprey wheeled duffel which has a low tare weight, but is tough and drags well across rough ground because of its large wheels. I could have taken a good 1-2 Kg less - eg. I took some long-sleeved shirts, an item of clothing that I essentially never wear - just in case they were needed in the more conservative countries. They weren't needed anywhere. Trousers frequently were.

I have quite a lot of Columbia lightweight, quick-drying shirts, shorts and trousers that are easily hand-washed and dry quickly in just about any situation. Again, I could have taken fewer and washed a little more often. It's a weight/convenience balance.

For the Arctic, I had a long and sleeveless (the latter not really needed) fleece, a windproof North Face hooded jacket and lightweight waterproof jacket and trousers. It was summer, so not bitterly cold. It got a bit wet at times on the Zodiacs. Generally, I run hot and don't feel the cold, so I don't need thermal gear.

I have an aversion to wasting my life shopping, so I essentially don't buy stuff and add to the weight while travelling. Weight is not a problem on the DONEx, but the limitation comes on the el-cheapo whY internal flights, so I operate to the lowest common denominator, sticking at <23 Kg. Interestingly, Air India has a 25 Kg checked bag limit, rather than the common 23 Kg.

 

[Antoallison]

Bag weight was about 22 Kg. I use a large Osprey wheeled duffel which has a low tare weight, but is tough and drags well across rough ground because of its large wheels. I could have taken a good 1-2 Kg less - eg. I took some long-sleeved shirts, an item of clothing that I essentially never wear - just in case they were needed in the more conservative countries. They weren't needed anywhere. Trousers frequently were.

I have quite a lot of Columbia lightweight, quick-drying shirts, shorts and trousers that are easily hand-washed and dry quickly in just about any situation. Again, I could have taken fewer and washed a little more often. It's a weight/convenience balance.

For the Arctic, I had a long and sleeveless (the latter not really needed) fleece, a windproof North Face hooded jacket and lightweight waterproof jacket and trousers. It was summer, so not bitterly cold. It got a bit wet at times on the Zodiacs. Generally, I run hot and don't feel the cold, so I don't need thermal gear.

I have an aversion to wasting my life shopping, so I essentially don't buy stuff and add to the weight while travelling. Weight is not a problem on the DONEx, but the limitation comes on the el-cheapo whY internal flights, so I operate to the lowest common denominator, sticking at <23 Kg. Interestingly, Air India has a 25 Kg checked bag limit, rather than the common 23 Kg.

I am always reading about people who go on holidays with just carry on .. how do they do it ?

I took 15kgs in medium sized suitcase plus about a 6kg cabin bag for 3 months away. The allowance with Qatar is 30kg, but there is no way I would want to trundle through Europe with that much luggage.

 

[JohnM]

I am always reading about people who go on holidays with just carry on .. how do they do it ?

I took 15kgs in medium sized suitcase plus about a 6kg cabin bag for 3 months away. The allowance with Qatar is 30kg, but there is no way I would want to trundle through Europe with that much luggage.

HLO, with hiking boots and some wet/cold weather gear, plus a laptop/iPad/even pocket camera and electronic bits is impossible - weight and volume.

You did well. A guy, with bigger shoes etc., will necessarily be proportionally heavier. My future aim for any long/variable weather trip is to leave home at 20 Kg.

Certainly I never want to go near the J weight limits because I don't want to lug that much weight. That said, however, I brought back CMB-HKG-PER some of my son's gear and some purchases made in Sri Lanka, on CX where the J/WP individual bag limit is 32 Kg - just because I could and it was easy on those last two sectors and because he was going whY UL/QF via SIN and wanted to do some shopping there.

 

[RooFlyer]

I am always reading about people who go on holidays with just carry on .. how do they do it ?

i reckon they spend a good deal of time on their holiday over the basin in the bathroom washing clothes, which is ok, because they can’t do many things because they don’t have the clothes/footwear etc for them!