The last two weeks have been great–I’ve caught up on a lot of work and spent quality time with friends and family. But I haven’t traveled outside of California, and I am getting restless. With 2012 upon us, though, it is time to to start replenishing the “EQM coffers” and my travel resumes tomorrow.
My original thought was to spend the week in Asia–I am anxious to take a DMZ/Panmunjom tour while still available, in case Kim Jong Un’s transition to power does not go as smoothly as many are predicting. I also have never been to Taiwan and Singapore and have the time this week to visit both places before connecting to Hong Kong to fly back to Los Angeles on Turkish Airlines.
But then I noticed A380 first class award availability from Beijing to Frankfurt on Lufthansa. Add to that a bit of “homesickness” for my work, friends, and colleagues in Germany and first class availability back to Hong Kong via Bangkok on Thai Airways and it now looks like I’ll be back in Germany this week after a couple days in Seoul.
I am still trying to work out the logistics (with a 0600 departure in the morning), but it looks like I’ll be doing a lot of flying this week.
Which leads me to my travel plans for 2012–a lot is still under planning, but if all goes according to plan I’ll hit the following this year:
- North Korea
- Saudi Arabia
- Abu Dhabi
- Kyrgyzstan
- Kazakhstan
- Bermuda
- Cuba
- Singapore
- Maldives
- The Balkans
- Georgia
- Armenia
- Azerbaijan
- Iceland
And I’m sure there will be a few more…
I wish you all the best in 2012–it is going to be a great year!
As only a few can do, your plans this week and this year look great. I look forward to the reports.
Enjoy the DMZ tour! I took one on Friday, organized through the Park Hyatt, and had a really good time.
Sounds like another great trip, Matthew. I’m curious. Are you earning or burning on this trip?
Your plan looks so ambitiuos but so great at the same time! I can state that I envy you a lot!! Enjoy your journeys around the world!!
You may not want to make public that you are going to Cuba…
do not take a dmz tour through a commercial 3rd party. do the DMZ / JSA tour thru the USO in Seoul. Only one of two tours that actually takes you to the JSA (where you get to step into N.Korea briefly for a second!) highlight of my trip last week….
@MelisAA: I did a tour through one of the “commercial 3rd party” groups that you refer to, and we did everything the USO would have done, including the visit to the JSA and stepping into North Korea.
@Nic: I will be traveling legally to Cuba under a Treasury Department general license. I will be getting my passport stamp and declaring my visit to Cuba when I return to the USA.
@MelisAA: I concur with FriendlySkies–the USO tour time did not work for me so I took the early tour that included a visit to the JSA and stepping into North Korea. I may not have been stamped into North Korea, but I wasn’t in South Korea so I will be adding North Korea to my list.
@FriendlySkies: I’d imagine our trip reports are going to look pretty similar! Hope you were able to score more than a standard room at the Park Hyatt Seoul!