Ben's Air Blog

When Singapore Airlines discontinues their ultra long-haul (ULH) flights between Singapore (SIN) and Newark (EWR) and Los Angeles (LAX), it will mark the end of an era of ULH flights flown with the Airbus A340-500 (A345).

I took a most unexpected flight while in South Africa. I got to fly in a Douglas DC-4 Skymaster - the last one ever built - and one of only two remaining in the world carrying passengers. It was an exciting highlight in my aviation enthusiast career!

Here is a final rundown of my Round the World trip.

My African Safari took place at Balule Nature Reserve, a private game reserve about 270 miles northeast of Johannesburg (a six-hour shuttle van ride away).  Balule’s border with Kruger National Park is unfenced, which allows animals to move freely in between the lands.  The advantage of taking a safari at a private reserve is they have the ability to take vehicles off road straight to the animals, whereas at Kruger, everyone must stay on the road.

This is my last update on the road as I will be flying back home tomorrow morning.  Spending six-weeks on the road overseas is tiring; I am ready to sleep in my own bed and go back to work to resume normalcy in my life.

With only one country and one week remaining,  my trip around the world is almost complete.  I am only four time zones away from home!

Whenever one goes on a safari, the goal is to see the "big five", named for the five most difficult and dangerous games to hunt in Africa.

If you are a geography buff, then you will find the Bosphorus Strait fascinating as did I.

My trip is now more than half way over and the first countries are a distant memory (I was in Australia?).

If there was a place (so far on this trip, anyway) where I wished I could have shared it with someone, Phuket, Thailand would have been it.