Trip Report: - RTW with ONE WORLD

Bernie P · #1 20th August 2009, 02:06 PM

One World RTW Trip Report
Part1 SYD to SCL via AKL
23 July 2009
LAN800/QF321(CC-CQA A340-300)
Seat 38A
Award Miles 7063 + Bonus 7063 Double Points Promotion!

Arrived YSSY airport in plenty of time to check-in, grab some breakfast and head through immigration etc… Inbound aircraft had a very impressive 80th Special Livery (decal) on the rear. Boarding was also quick and very efficient. People were actually listening to the boarding calls be sections and waiting, which made the whole process a lot easier.

Flight time to Auckland was a brief 2.35 minutes, and upon arrival, was very quickly back through the transit immigration and walking through the terminal. EK A380 was nearby, as I noticed from the windows near the lounge area.
Flight time to Santiago was scheduled to be around 12.5 hours long, and went by fairly quickly indeed! Grahame mentioned that the inbound view into Santiago was awesome, and he was SO right! Being seated in 38A, meant I missed out on most of the Andes, but when we turned to the right, they were then in my view. It is like you’re flying through a valley, quite low, for a fair period of time. Landing was smooth, and taxi to the arrival gates was very quick. Spotted a LAN 763 with the new blended winglets which look amazing and are HUGE! Clearing immigration was by far better than my other Australians onboard this flight. I hold both AU & EU passports and as I was travelling on my EU one, I did not have to pay the $62 Visa fee as Chile does not charge EU holders. They have a great system where they only charge the same fee that any country charges a Chilean National visiting their country!

Approaching SCL

Rear of Economy

Business Class

23/7-1/8 Santiago 11th International Turfgrass Research Conference
As a member of the International Turf Society, we hold our research conferences every four years. It is also a good time to catch up with colleagues from all over the world. Format was Sunday (Welcome Reception), Monday & Tuesday (Research Presentations), Wednesday Conference Tours (I went Skiing and it was GREAT! Best snow), Thursday (1/2 day Student Papers and then the Conference Banquet) & Friday was 2013 (Beijing) Update, 2017 presentations from applicants wanting to host and Board Meeting.

My hotel Room, 15th Floor overlooking the snow covered ANDES, was a great hotel, and an easy 10 min walk to the Conference hotel.

Conference Tour

Second Highest Run: - Valle Nevado (3600m)

Grand Hyatt: - Santiago

Hazy Santiago, but see how close it is to the snow!

Bernie P · #2 20th August 2009, 02:10 PM

One World RTW Trip Report
Part1 SYD to SCL via AKL
1 August 2009
IB 6830 SCL > MAD (EC-JCZ A340-600)
Seat 36L

Award Miles: 6651

Getting to the airport was easy, I had a personal driver thanks to the conference organisers! Upon arrival, I headed for the Iberia Gates and checked-in with minimal effort. Clearing immigration was easier than YSSY, and the whole process took no more than 10 minutes! Once through, Santiago airside is quite large. Lots of restaurants, cafes and shops. There is also a very large viewing are onto the aprons. The trouble I was having was though, I found Santiago to be very hazy and thus making photography very difficult, especially when shooting through glass! There was no problem with doing it, as in security issues as there are in some Middle Eastern airports, jus so hazy it is not worthwhile! Aircraft was at a very hard gate to take a decent shot at anyway, so I gave up!

Flight time to Madrid would be approx 13 hours, and boarding commenced on time, and the crush was huge! I do not know if people could not understand Spanish/English, but just as the announcement was being made, the entire flight stood up! Thus resulting in a very slow boarding time… I simply waited until just about the last person to board, and not having to stand for to long. All up, boarding took around 60 mins! Aircraft appeared to be old and tired inside and out (large oil stains from vertical stabiliser over rear cone area), and the flight attendants had as much personality as a gnat! Average age of the crew would have been upwards of 60, making UA seem like spring chickens! One thing I did notice on the flight was that when Juice and Water were being offered, one ‘trolley dolly’ simply poured and swung it into your face!! Horrid!

Anyways, I digress… We departed to the south, and turned left to head toward Buenos Aeries. The Captain came over the mic and informed us that for those to the left of the plane, we were now flying over Buenos Aeries… Thanks mate, I am on the right! It took a good 2.5 – 3 hours before the seatbelt sign was off, and I later found out, and also thanks to turbulence, we had flown from EZE over towards Rio and on a similar tracking to that of the ill-fated AF flight. A lot of this flight had the familiar ‘BING’ followed by the dual announcement of back to your seats and belts on, please! Not conducive for sleep! I did not get any pics onboard this flight, as I think the dragon ladies may have thrown me off, but with camera in the overhead, and a sleepy student next to me (and I was sleepy as well…) I did not get the opportunity! Approach into Madrid was smooth enough for a morning approach, and we rolled all the way through to the end of the runway, turned left and a quick right, and we were at the gate! Madrid has a few runways of different configurations. Having an EU Passport came in very handy again and I was through immigration in about 15 mins after disembarking. All immigration staff was pleasant and offered better service than on IB! So here are some pics from Madrid…

Check-in Hall

Airside concourse OVER the baggage Hall.

At the Departure Gates

Paella, YUMM!

My hotel in Madrid (5th Bungalow to the right!

Parque del Retiro Lake Mto. Alfonso Xii

Atocha Train Station Garden (Site of the bombings in March 2004)

For more, go to the Madrid set on Flickr.

Grahame Hutchison · #3 21st August 2009, 10:18 AM

Good to hear that the approach into Santiago lived up to expectations, the Andes look great in you photograph against the flat coastal plains. Thank you for the trip report, it brought back great memories of my trip to Rio.

Bernie P · #4 21st August 2009, 12:13 PM

Hey Graham,

Thanks for that! It certainly DID live up to the expectations you gave about it! I am still doing the Madrid > London & London > Singapore > Sydney ones, so bare with me... Filthy Miagrain atm... Going back to bed!

Also, I hope I didn't bore you all TOO much, combining both Aviation, Horticulture and photography hobbies all together... And I wont even GO to my passions for grass! (turf type OF course

)

Scott S · #5 21st August 2009, 10:48 PM

Very good trip report, really enjoy reading it. Happy to see all aspects of the trip including the flowers, grass type and food, very intersting. The only disappointment was pictures on Flickr are too small, wish they are all in the same size as pictures in the post.

Thanks for sharing!

Bernie P · #6 22nd August 2009, 03:56 PM

Hey Scott,

Thanks for your comments... The ones on Flickr are the FULL SIZE and all were taken with my Canon 400D... If you are a user of FLICKR, add me as a contact and then I think you can see the full size versions!

If there is something in particular you like, I can send it to you...

Joe Frampton · #7 27th August 2009, 10:40 AM

That is an awesome trip report - don't you love Madrid Airport? Makes some of our airports over here look positively unimaginative doesn't it...

Giving me the taste of travel - I'm off to Alaska in less than 3 weeks and I can't wait!

Joe.

Bernie P · #8 27th August 2009, 03:10 PM

Hi Joe!

Yeah it is a lovely airport indeed! Bright, lots of free flowing areas, and a stack of places to sit and look out over the ramp etc...

BTW, I am nearly finished doing sectors 3 & 4 (BA: MAD> LHR B752 & QF: LHR>SIN>SYD A380)... Should have it finished by the weekend!

Matt_L · #9 27th August 2009, 08:37 PM

Great TR Bernie!

Agreed,

Madrid airport is really nice and spotter friendly!

I'd have to say though Spain as a whole is really good for spotting

lovely weather etc.

Barcelona I found to be one of the most spotter friendly airports in the world- for those who don't know the local council just built a 10-15 metre high deck on the equivalent of what would be Qantas Drive there for spotters to take photos of arriving/departing planes and angles are excellent. Also they built these towers near the beach which makes for a good afternoon whether you are an aircraft photographer or just enthusiast