Author Topic: Frankfurt Johannesburg Cape Town via SQ ET MN QR  (Read 12501 times)

Offline Dawie

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Re: Frankfurt Johannesburg Cape Town via SQ ET MN QR
« Reply #20 on: March 02, 2016, 11:00:30 AM »
where did you stay in JNB/Sandton?

Offline Yehoshua

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Re: Frankfurt Johannesburg Cape Town via SQ ET MN QR
« Reply #21 on: March 02, 2016, 12:49:51 PM »
Nice posts. How long were you in Joburg/Sandton for? It seems like just a few hours during the day. Why didn't you want to spend more time there?

Offline hrshl

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Re: Frankfurt Johannesburg Cape Town via SQ ET MN QR
« Reply #22 on: March 02, 2016, 06:53:32 PM »
where did you stay in JNB/Sandton?

I stayed at the Raddison Blu Sandton, not to be confused with the Raddison Blu Gautrain Sandton which is two blocks away and directly opposite the Gautrain station. I actually can't remember why I picked one over the other, maybe award availability? I booked using the +1 night when the Club Carlson card still offered it.

Now, despite it being two blocks from the station, it was a rough walk even with just a carry on bag. Totally shredded half-constructed sidewalks, muddy dirt, and portions where you had to walk in a road with high speed traffic. Pride was the only thing keeping me from getting a cab.

The hotel was pretty much unremarkable and similar to Raddison Blu's I've been to in other parts of the world.

Nice posts. How long were you in Joburg/Sandton for? It seems like just a few hours during the day. Why didn't you want to spend more time there?

Overall the trip wasn't very long due to constraints with how long I can be away from work. I spent two nights in Johannesburg and I'm sure I missed out on a lot of things, and I'd go back given the chance (looking at you, Etihad fare team ;D). I guessed for this trip that I'd have more fun spending relatively more time in Cape Town.

Offline hrshl

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Re: Frankfurt Johannesburg Cape Town via SQ ET MN QR
« Reply #23 on: March 02, 2016, 06:55:39 PM »
Anyone want to walk the plant plank into the cooling tower?

Sorry about the typo, I hate when I do that.  >:(

Offline Yehoshua

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Re: Frankfurt Johannesburg Cape Town via SQ ET MN QR
« Reply #24 on: March 02, 2016, 06:56:12 PM »
I stayed at the Raddison Blu Sandton, not to be confused with the Raddison Blu Gautrain Sandton which is two blocks away and directly opposite the Gautrain station. I actually can't remember why I picked one over the other, maybe award availability? I booked using the +1 night when the Club Carlson card still offered it.

Now, despite it being two blocks from the station, it was a rough walk even with just a carry on bag. Totally shredded half-constructed sidewalks, muddy dirt, and portions where you had to walk in a road with high speed traffic. Pride was the only thing keeping me from getting a cab.

The hotel was pretty much unremarkable and similar to Raddison Blu's I've been to in other parts of the world.

Overall the trip wasn't very long due to constraints with how long I can be away from work. I spent two nights in Johannesburg and I'm sure I missed out on a lot of things, and I'd go back given the chance (looking at you, Etihad fare team ;D). I guessed for this trip that I'd have more fun spending relatively more time in Cape Town.
We also plan on spending more time in CPT than JNB, I was just curious how long your whole stay in JNB was. 2 nights seems about right from my limited research if you're not leaving the city.

Offline AJK

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Re: Frankfurt Johannesburg Cape Town via SQ ET MN QR
« Reply #25 on: March 04, 2016, 09:35:33 AM »
A quick and dirty trip. Not bad.
2015: 116K bkd | 1.6M brnd | F: OZ,NH,AA,EK | J: UA,CA,TK,DL,TN,AF,VA | LIH,NRT,ROR,PEK,CNS,BOB,MEL,TLV & Pacific Hopper

Offline hrshl

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Re: Frankfurt Johannesburg Cape Town via SQ ET MN QR
« Reply #26 on: March 06, 2016, 09:46:19 PM »
Well what can I say? Cape Town is the most beautiful city I have ever been to. I will certainly be going back some day.
I could tell already when I had this view of Table Mountain on the uber from the airport to my hotel:



I used SPG cash & points at 5,000 pts + $75 per night to stay at the Westin, adjacent to the convention center. At checkin, I was pleased to learn that as an SPG Gold I was getting a room upgrade to an executive floor. Now, I’m not actually a Gold, just a mere Preferred Plus, but I wasn’t about to correct them when they told me. ;D The room was very nice and it overlooked the port and cruise terminal:



The hotel was walking distance to V&A Waterfront, but it was not an easy walk as there were very poor provisions for pedestrian access. There was a footbridge over one large road but at several key points I had to run across traffic without crosswalks or signal priority. At the end of the day, I joined a procession of construction workers heading home and ran with a pack of them across some difficult intersections in live traffic.

The waterfront is somewhat touristy. But unlike other waterfront-type destinations I’ve been to, this one really feels alive, with the restaurants and gift shops set amidst shipworkers and dry docks and real commerce:



The next day I was browsing through lists of things to do in Cape Town and the ability to see penguins caught my eye. I hopped in an uber down the cape to a site called Boulders Beach. I found that there were two different entrances, boardwalk and beach. The boardwalk has a higher density of penguins but if you want a better experience, I recommend visiting the beach side- especially at low tide. Because of the tide I was able to walk past the few dozen folks on the beach, climb under and over some boulders, and encounter effectively a different private beach- with penguins!!



Offline hrshl

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Re: Frankfurt Johannesburg Cape Town via SQ ET MN QR
« Reply #27 on: March 06, 2016, 09:51:24 PM »
After my appointment with the penguins I walked to nearby Simons Town, a cute area that’s also the headquarters of the South African Navy:



I took another uber back to Cape Town, directly to the Jewish Museum. I don’t have any photos from there but it was very interesting. The whole compound including two synagogues is a hub of Jewish activity in Cape Town but by no means the only one.

The next day I took the ferry to Robben Island and took the tour of the prison there, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 18 years. The prison tours are led by former political inmates, and they have fascinating stories of what it was like being imprisoned there. I don’t get seasick but the ferries there and back were very bumpy. I guess I’m not used to chop on the open ocean.



View of Cape Town from Robben Island:



On my last full day, I went on a guided hike up Table Mountain. There are several ways to reach the top, including hiking routes of varying difficulty and the cable car. The cable car is most popular but is sometimes closed due to weather. The hike I went was one of the more challenging, called India Venster. Parts of the hike involve scrambling up vertical rocks, though they did install some staples and chains on the most difficult parts. It’s very dangerous without a guide but if you have one they can instruct you on the proper hand and foot positioning.
 


After the hike and walking around the top for a bit, I took the cable car back down.





Next update is the last update for this TR: Qatar 787, 77W and the Airport Hotel in Doha.
Hopefully I can write that up quick, because I’m about to head out on another trip, including F on the Etihad A380 and 789!

Offline Yehoshua

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Re: Frankfurt Johannesburg Cape Town via SQ ET MN QR
« Reply #28 on: March 06, 2016, 10:08:58 PM »
Wow wow. Really nice write up. Looking forward to going myself in July. Where were you for shabbos?

Offline sam28

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Re: Frankfurt Johannesburg Cape Town via SQ ET MN QR
« Reply #29 on: March 06, 2016, 10:50:06 PM »
Thanks for the tr  nice and good

Offline damaxer91

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Re: Frankfurt Johannesburg Cape Town via SQ ET MN QR
« Reply #30 on: March 06, 2016, 11:03:02 PM »
Nice!!!

Offline AJK

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Re: Frankfurt Johannesburg Cape Town via SQ ET MN QR
« Reply #31 on: March 07, 2016, 01:15:42 AM »
Yup. CPT and ZQN compete for prettiest places. Both breathtaking. Especially the drives.
2015: 116K bkd | 1.6M brnd | F: OZ,NH,AA,EK | J: UA,CA,TK,DL,TN,AF,VA | LIH,NRT,ROR,PEK,CNS,BOB,MEL,TLV & Pacific Hopper

Offline hrshl

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Re: Frankfurt Johannesburg Cape Town via SQ ET MN QR
« Reply #32 on: March 08, 2016, 09:32:18 PM »
For the home stretch I had a couple of flights on Qatar, and a long layover in Doha. 75,000 AA miles + $67, using the AAdvantage routing exception allowing North America – Africa via Doha if both legs are on Qatar. Otherwise your only option is through Europe.

The first flight was an easy daytime flight on their 787-8. It may not have had all the polish and privacy of SQ F earlier, but it was a very comfortable and I daresay fun flight. If you’re at all a fan of soccer, you’d appreciate their safety video. The funky lighting and lower cabin altitude was appreciated. The plane:



The seats:



My layover in Doha was over nine hours- normally I’d try to see something, but this was from 11pm-8am so there wouldn’t have been anything open. I did have to take the obligatory photo of the teddy bear with a lamp stuck in its head:



Instead I opted to book an 8 hour rate at the hotel in the terminal, The Airport Hotel. It was pretty expensive at $200 for just that partial day (a few bucks less once I declined DCC and convinced them to charge in Riyal). You can get an 8 hour rate by booking a full day on the website and then emailing the hotel to change it. I heard people being quoted $400 at walk up. Yikes.



The room was nice, quiet and very peaceful, though. You can’t tell at all that you’re in an airport unless you open the shutters for an overview of the terminal. As it turns out, I was a bit ill at this stage so having the ability to lie down and rest during the layover was a huge plus. Otherwise, I’m not sure if I would’ve thought it was worth it. I used Arrival points to cover the booking.

The last flight from DOH-IAD was on Qatar’s 777-300ER, with a generic standard 2-2-2 layout. Service was good but ultra-long-haul of that distance is a slog no matter what. I’ll certainly be flying Qatar again in the future, especially with their helpful routing exceptions with AA. If I had thought ahead perhaps I would’ve tried to get on the A350 to PHL, but there’s always next time…




Thanks for reading the TR! I’m off on an Etihad adventure imminently. I’ll be sure to write that up too when I get a chance :D

Offline Yehoshua

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Re: Frankfurt Johannesburg Cape Town via SQ ET MN QR
« Reply #33 on: March 08, 2016, 10:07:26 PM »
Nice conclusion. We're also on that QR flight, but plan on spending the night in Al Safwa thanks to our connecting QR F flight to AUH. Thanks for sharing!

Offline zow

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Re: Frankfurt Johannesburg Cape Town via SQ ET MN QR
« Reply #34 on: March 08, 2016, 11:52:53 PM »
Enjoyed your TR. thanks for writing.

Offline efflpetzel

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Re: Frankfurt Johannesburg Cape Town via SQ ET MN QR
« Reply #35 on: March 09, 2016, 12:46:46 AM »
Loved the barca safety video, classic!

Offline benjie1305

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Re: Frankfurt Johannesburg Cape Town via SQ ET MN QR
« Reply #36 on: March 09, 2016, 07:12:37 AM »
"Mes que un club"

Nice TR!
Work hard, Play harder!

Offline AJK

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Re: Frankfurt Johannesburg Cape Town via SQ ET MN QR
« Reply #37 on: March 09, 2016, 08:12:53 AM »
Well done.
2015: 116K bkd | 1.6M brnd | F: OZ,NH,AA,EK | J: UA,CA,TK,DL,TN,AF,VA | LIH,NRT,ROR,PEK,CNS,BOB,MEL,TLV & Pacific Hopper

Offline Joe4007

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Re: Frankfurt Johannesburg Cape Town via SQ ET MN QR
« Reply #38 on: March 14, 2016, 11:23:49 AM »
Great TR! Gotta get there 1 day.

Yup. CPT and ZQN compete for prettiest places. Both breathtaking. Especially the drives.
*Waiting for Dan to mention GIG...*

Offline estherliba

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Re: Frankfurt Johannesburg Cape Town via SQ ET MN QR
« Reply #39 on: May 12, 2016, 03:52:30 PM »
Breathtaking photos. Since you mentioned Qatar, I want to ask (on behalf of my 20-year-old daughter): if you were to have a LONG layover in Doha, what would you do to pass the time? Would you leave the airport?