- Joined
- Nov 12, 2012
- Posts
- 27,989
- Qantas
- Platinum
- Virgin
- Platinum
- Star Alliance
- Silver
This trip has been in the works for about 4 years. Initially planned as a month long drive circling around Frankfurt taking in the former Soviet states as far as Ukraine, it got displaced for several years as friends and I did other long journeys (SE Asia and Baltics / Russia) and finally it changed into an almost exclusive flying trip around eastern Europe, with some of the west included too. After a fantastic visit to Russia last year, I’ve tacked on another 5 days there at the end of this trip. That meant taking Ukraine off the schedule (well, it sort of took itself off) and Belgium, where I haven’t visited and longed to have mussels at Bruges, also got cut. Again.
It’s one of the most complicated itineraries I have ever done, and has taken a huge amount of work by my TA, who I hope against hope got some decent commissions out of it! It’s probably a sign of age that I’m taking some day tours where previously I would have arranged myself. Simply can’t be bothered with those ‘catch a bus to catch a train then another bus type’ of day trips. My final communications with my TA were some flowers and a bottle of wine as thanks (and a nice note to her boss).
Now if you are going to fly around central and eastern Europe, it’s gotta be Star Alliance (LH, OS, LX, LO) to get ‘Airpass’ type intra-European fares that in turn dictated the long haul carriers. I really wanted to try Turkish, but the best J fare by quite a way was with Lufthansa. I’m no fan of LH, having suffered with their cancelled flights and brick wall reaction to getting compo under the EU rules and also their angled flat beds are nothing to write home about. But it was a good fare and it included a round trip intra-Europe in J (well, Euro-J anyway), AND it included SQ J for MEL-SIN-MEL so Lufty long haul it will be. Of course the catch was that it was Lufty’s ‘P’ class fare, which often comes up as ‘Economy’ in various engines and will earn only 50% miles under Aeroplan. But I was assured it was in fact business!
The round-Europe bit will be via a *A Europe Airpass, only available in whY; I have *A Gold, so at least there will be extra baggage allowance and lounges!
So here’s the deal:
HBA-MEL in QF J
MEL-SIN-FRA-KRK in SQ then LH J
KRK-VIE in OS Y
Vienna-western Hungary-Bratislava by hire car
VIE-SBZ in OS Y
Three day private car tour of Transylvania (Romania)
SBZ-VIE-VCE in OS Y
Venice to Florence by train
Florence to Naples by train
One day tour of Pompeii
Naples to Rome by train
Tours of Vatican City & its gardens
FCO-ZRH-AMS in LX Y
AMS-LHR in BA Y
LHR-FRA-LED in LH Y
Private day your of Pushkin & Pavlovsk palaces outside St Petersburg
St Petersburg to Moscow by high speed train
DME-FRA-SIN by LH J
SIN-MEL by SQ J
That’s 9 countries, 15 sectors and 4 trains in 32 days :shock:!
It’s one of the most complicated itineraries I have ever done, and has taken a huge amount of work by my TA, who I hope against hope got some decent commissions out of it! It’s probably a sign of age that I’m taking some day tours where previously I would have arranged myself. Simply can’t be bothered with those ‘catch a bus to catch a train then another bus type’ of day trips. My final communications with my TA were some flowers and a bottle of wine as thanks (and a nice note to her boss).
Now if you are going to fly around central and eastern Europe, it’s gotta be Star Alliance (LH, OS, LX, LO) to get ‘Airpass’ type intra-European fares that in turn dictated the long haul carriers. I really wanted to try Turkish, but the best J fare by quite a way was with Lufthansa. I’m no fan of LH, having suffered with their cancelled flights and brick wall reaction to getting compo under the EU rules and also their angled flat beds are nothing to write home about. But it was a good fare and it included a round trip intra-Europe in J (well, Euro-J anyway), AND it included SQ J for MEL-SIN-MEL so Lufty long haul it will be. Of course the catch was that it was Lufty’s ‘P’ class fare, which often comes up as ‘Economy’ in various engines and will earn only 50% miles under Aeroplan. But I was assured it was in fact business!
The round-Europe bit will be via a *A Europe Airpass, only available in whY; I have *A Gold, so at least there will be extra baggage allowance and lounges!
So here’s the deal:
HBA-MEL in QF J
MEL-SIN-FRA-KRK in SQ then LH J
KRK-VIE in OS Y
Vienna-western Hungary-Bratislava by hire car
VIE-SBZ in OS Y
Three day private car tour of Transylvania (Romania)
SBZ-VIE-VCE in OS Y
Venice to Florence by train
Florence to Naples by train
One day tour of Pompeii
Naples to Rome by train
Tours of Vatican City & its gardens
FCO-ZRH-AMS in LX Y
AMS-LHR in BA Y
LHR-FRA-LED in LH Y
Private day your of Pushkin & Pavlovsk palaces outside St Petersburg
St Petersburg to Moscow by high speed train
DME-FRA-SIN by LH J
SIN-MEL by SQ J
That’s 9 countries, 15 sectors and 4 trains in 32 days :shock:!