Kenya, My First Trip To Africa: The Plan and Qatar Airways First Class
It all started when cousin Julia decided to spend a year in Kenya.
Julia got a Fulbright Fellowship to live in Eldoret, Kenya for a year. She would be working with AMPATH to study and improve diagnosis of tuberculosis in third world countries. It was a great opportunity to learn and advance global health and I am super proud of her for the work she does! But of course we could not leave her in Kenya for a year by herself! Last April, she finally convinced me to visit her and share my first Africa experience with her. Anna, another cousin of ours who lives in New York, decided she would visit Julia as well so we planned a cousin-bonding African cultural/safari/beach adventure! We thought the last week of May would be the perfect time to go.
Anna was busy with work over the weekend and Julia could only take a few days off so our schedules worked out for me an Anna to arrive in Nairobi on a Tuesday.
I get a free stopover on an international round trip itinerary on United. I decided to visit my mathematical brother in Copenhagen the weekend before along the way. You see, in mathematical terms, your doctoral advisor becomes your father and any other students of his that complete a doctorate under him are your siblings. All family trees are officially documented in the Math Genealogy Database. It spans across generations and nations and continents. As we trace through my ancestors and go back several generations, we can actually see my great great great great great great great great (and I did count the number of greats!) is none other than Carl Friedrich Gauss. But I digress… back to Copenhagen and Kenya.
The Trip Plan
The flights:
Friday, May 25: Direct flight to Copenhagen in United BusinessFirst
Monday, May 28: Copenhagen-Frankfurt on Lufthansa, Frankfurt-Doha-Nairobi on Qatar Airways First
Sunday, June 2: Nairobi-Brussels-New York on Brussels Airlines BusinessFirst
I redeemed 120,000 United Mileage Plus miles for the trip. According to the United Airlines Interactive Award Chart, a Business Class ticket from North America to Africa costs 120,000 miles. I am allowed a stopover and two open jaws on the ticket and I used my one stopover in Copenhagen.
Although I redeemed United miles for Business class, all my flights were two cabin planes and I got to fly first class all the way. In general, first class in a two cabin plane beats Business Class in a three cabin plane, but it’s not as amazing as some of the first class amenities on the true first class seats. Regardless, as you’ll see later in my post, I was still highly impressed by Qatar Airways, even with it being a two cabin plane.
My schedule for the trip was pretty packed:
Later in the trip report, I will go over the costs of our trip and how we chose our national parks and safari. For now, this was our plan:
Arrive Tuesday in Nairobi, sleep, wait for Anna
Overnight at Intercontinental Nairobi
Wednesday: A driver picks us up in Nairobi and drives us to meet Julia in Lake Nakuru National Park, who will be coming from Eldoret. Spend the day in Nakuru.
Overnight at Sarova Lion Hill Game Lodge
Thursday: After a short game drive throuh Nakuru, visit Lake Naivasha before heading back to Nairobi
Overnight at Intercontinental Nairobi
Friday: Head to Mombasa, beach, city, forts, until Sunday
Friday to Sunday at Voyager Beach Resort
Sunday I would be returning to New York
Stopping in Copenhagen
This was my second visit to Copenhagen. The first was in 2009 with Samba for Miles when she visited Europe with me for two weeks while I was working in Germany.
My flight to Copenhagen was one of United’s new flat-bed business class seats. You can’t beat flying a direct flat-bed seat. I arrived in Copenhagen Saturday morning well-rested and had a nice day walking around Tivoli Gardens and checking out the tea house. The next day, we visited Amalienborg and walked around Nyhavn, one of my favorite spots in Copenhagen! Dinner was in Nyhavn by the harbor, a lovely location for an evening meal.
Flying Qatar Airways First Class
On Monday, it was off to Nairobi. After a short hop to Frankfurt on Lufthansa, I boarded my flight to Qatar on Qatar Airways first class. I was truly impressed. The flight starts with a case of Salvatore Ferragamo toiletries and pajamas.
Continues with a multiple course elegant meal service…
Landing at 4 am on the gulf…
Doha’s airport is quite far aways from the air field. They actually have separate areas of the airport for economy and business/first passengers. Your boarding pass is color-coded according to which area of the airport you go to. Mine was dark red. When you are picked up from the plane and driven to the airport, the business and first class passengers are dropped off first. So I didn’t get to see the economy class airport area.
The Qatar Airways First Class lounge is so far the nicest lounge I’ve seen to date.
Qatar really knows how to welcome business and first class visitors with its classy lounges. Windows from every angle, beds to sleep in.
And they drive you back to your next flight in what I refer to as velvet thrones…
There’s a big expansion coming to the airport. The Economist’s travel blogger Gulliver about the $15.5 billion new Hamad International Airport in Qatar and writes:
To make this ambition a reality, airport authorities have striven to create an attractive place for long-haul passengers to make a stopover. There will be more than 40,000 square metres of retail space, with anchor tenants rumoured to include the Harrods department store. Hotels, kindergartens, health spas, a mosque and a bowling alley will appear later, together with a stand-alone royal terminal… Terminal 1B, which Gulliver visited, is studded with palm trees and miniature oases.
I was sad to leave the airport in Qatar, but was excited to start our adventure in Kenya!
When I arrived in Nairobi, the driver Julia had arranged was waiting for me. He took me to my room at the Intercontinental Nairobi, which we got for $35 a night using the Priority Club Point Breaks list cash and points trick.
Rates at the Intercontinental Nairobi usually go for $200+ a night and my driver told me it’s the nicest hotel in Nairobi where all the diplomats stay. I was super tired by that point so all I did was sleep… at some point Anna showed up… and she slept too…
The next day, it was off to Nakuru. Julia had arranged a driver to come pick us up at the Intercontinental Nairobi and drive us to Nakuru National Park to begin our Kenyan safari!
Stay tuned!
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I am really enjoying your website! I am an avid traveler, but new to the mileage game. I started just a few months ago with the goal of earning enough points for a RT ticket to Nairobi. But I have already gotten side tracked with the recent Southwest deal. Who doesn’t want a Southwest Companion pass? :) Anyway, we plan to travel to Nairobi July of 2014. So I am very excited to see this post! I would love to hear your logic in picking United. Why do you feel it was the best carrier to use for this itinerary? I am really trying to get a better understanding of fuel charges, open jaws and stopover policies. I can’t wait to read your future posts on this trip. Thanks for all the awesome information!
I am looking to fly from New York to Male (maldives) for my honeymoon and Qatar offers the best service and flight. How did you book an award flight on Qatar through United since I looked on United’s website and they do not seem to be award partners. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks
I took the trip in May 2012. Qatar was a member of Star Alliance at the time, but exited shortly after. I was pretty sad about that! It is now planning to join oneworld at the end of 2013/early 2014. While American Airlines has begun codeshares with Qatar, they haven’t gotten to the point where you can redeem miles on Qatar flights. Their personal frequent flyer program, QMiles, is a transfer partner of Starwood where you get 25k Qmiles for each 20k Starwood points. Their award chart includes region-based pricing by segment and the following calculator can be used to figure out how many miles you’ll need: http://www.qatarairways.com/PrivilegeClub/QM_Redeem_Calc.page