Here comes my next trip report, which covers some travels I had earlier in the month. I’m actually on one very long, continuous journey, but I’ll be breaking this up into a few different trip reports (once this report is complete, I’ll have reviews of business class on Lufthansa, Meridiana, and Azores).
Continue reading: Introduction: A Quick Jaunt On Saudia, Jet, And Tunisair
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Thanks for doing these -- I find them really informative!
Question though: how come DXB-BOM-LHR is legal on AA? Isn't that Middle East to Indian Subcontinent to Europe, this violating the No-Transiting-a-Third-Region rule?
3 rows of 1-2-1 F suites in a 777 just looks weird! I wonder if they’ve ever even had 8 of the seats booked in that cabin. Unless you have the worlds best F class there is no need for 12 seats.
Ben, very interested to hear about Tunis. I’ve been wanting to visit there as it seems a logical side trip from Morocco but the UK government advises that you should not visit Tunisia except for essential travel (including Tunis) as there is a state of emergency there and the threat of terrorism is considered ‘very likely’. https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/tunisia
Did you feel safe there?
Agree with @James K. Additionally, you going eastwards (dxb-bom) and then westwards (bom-lhr), isnt that forbidden? Seems like a good deal nonetheless
"you can stay almost anywhere for cheap"
You should've stayed at the Burj Al Arab... 😛
Will the past two trip reports be added to the trip report index? It makes it much easier to refer back to them.
Tunisia is an intriguing country, with lots of ancient sites if that's of interest to you (from the ruined Roman town of Sbeitla to the staggering coliseum of El Djem, via the enigmatic ruins of Carthage). The national museum has some of the world's finest Roman mosaics (ha! And you thought *you* were a geek?!), while Tunisia is traditionally one of the most liberal of Muslim countries - gender equality is as good as any, alcohol is freely available. It also emerged from the Arab Spring as the most democratic Arabic country.
Tunis is a strange city, with wonderful French colonial suburbs (Gammarth, full of villas and some nice small local hotels), and the tourist trap of Sidi Bou Said - the place with the beautiful Medieval cafe that features on all the tourist posters. The extraordinary souk goes on forever.
And then there's the Sahel and the Sahara, Berber culture, and delightful offshore islands.
Did you stay overnight in YUL or the city between your flights or just connect?
Wow - you get around. I am looking forward to reading the reviews. I like the way you have incorporated both short(er) haul and long haul flights of the same airline: such as the long Saudia flight from Los Angeles to Riyadh then the shorter Riyadh to Dubai (as you had previously flown the short/long hauls of Ukrainian International, Air Astana, etc). It is fun to follow your adventures
Happy and safe travels
Ben, glad you went to Tunis. We enjoyed Tunis very much when we went months after their spring...we never felt safer by the way. Check out Hammamet and their airport Enfidha....flights from TunisAir and Eurowings.
@ Ted -- I spent a night near the airport, so the next trip report will pick up the journey from there, on Lufthansa and Meridiana. 🙂
Ben
I have been several times to tunis, just be careful.
Its not the safest place and their is obvious hostility by some locals towards foreigners.
Given your only there for a morning my recommendation is head over to the unesco listed medina and enjoy walking amongst the traders who are doing it tough from the terrorists attacks on foreigners.
There is a famous antique shop within the medina thats definitely worth checking out.
Within the medina is an amazing mosque which is definitely worth checking out.
Hey Lucky!
Curious about your AAdvantage redemption as I was trying to do something similar and I called AA and they said it would cost substantially more miles than you spent. What gives?