Rapid Travel Chai

The Rapid Traveler departed Sunday for a 3-week business trip. The official routing:

Meetings in Dubai (DXB), Johannesburg (JNB), Durban (DUR), and Mumbai (BOM). Connections in Amsterdam (AMS) and Nairobi (NBO). (The Rapid Traveler is a Delta Diamond, so keeping the main pieces to SkyTeam members Delta, KLM and Kenya Airways.)

But that would be rather pedestrian and a shame to waste the weekends, especially when they start Thursday night in the Gulf States!

Let’s go region by region, blue for business, pink for play.

Weekend in Muscat, Oman (MCT) on the way down to Africa, and a 12-hour layover in Manama, Bahrain (BAH) on the way back up 10 days later, then heading on to Mumbai.

In between Dubai and Mumbai, on the weekend between meetings in Johannesburg and Durban, a quick dart up to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe (VFA), then over to Livingstone, Zambia (LVI) to catch the falls on the other side and fly back.

And the final weekend on the heels of Mumbai, a connection on GoAir through Chennai (MAA) on to Port Blair, Andaman Islands (IXZ). Sherlock Holmes fans will know the Andamans from The Sign of the Four.

Everything about planning the trip was fun except figuring out how to pack for all these seasons and climates. Alas, it is only a venal sin to check luggage.