I’m shamelessly stealing this format for a trip report from Ben at One Mile at a Time, so, I will expect a lawsuit from him, shortly.

Anyway, as a bit of background, back in December, I had been mulling the idea of picking a spring break destination that would challenge the standards of conventional spring break destinations (climbing up greased poles while chugging a beer to win a Corona t-shirt in Cabo San Lucas, or, picking up a fine array of STDs in Miami Beach), and also challenge my previous conceptions and conventions for travel. I had often thought that as currencies inflated to scary levels against the dollar in the past years (pre-world-economic debacle, of course), that traveling to countries that use the Euro, Britain, or Japan had become almost prohibitive, and therefore, as I waited for currencies to fall to more palatable levels against the dollar, I would make a habit of visiting countries where I could stretch the dollar, and not worry myself ill about purchasing items such as food (at least currency-wise. Health standards, however, were/are another story). That goal, plus this bizarre obsession with a line I read in an article, from, I don’t even remember where on airports with the closest proxmitity to the city, praising Tashkent for its easy airport/city connection, somehow sealed in my mind my desire to head to Tashkent for a few days.

Plus, too, the booking seemed fated when I called United to book with miles. As most of us well know, United loves to block seats on its Star Alliance partner carriers (as in, the nice seats), making booking an award ticket a hellish experience that can even reduce that most hardened travelr to tears. When I called to book, however, preparing for a fight, United had first class or business class availability on each flight I requested. I booked an initial reservation, and in the months that followed, made many changes, but ultimately, the award booking comprised the following segments, each of which will be a part of this trip report:

1. Singapore Airlines (SQ) First Class from JFK to Frankfurt (FRA), plus the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse at JFK;

2. Arrival at FRA, Lufthansa Euro Business class FRA – Istanbul (IST);

3. Arrival in Istanbul, Turkish Airlines (TK) business class IST – Tashkent (TAS), plus, early morning arrival in Tashkent;

4. Day 1 in Tashkent;

5. Day 2 in Tashkent;

6. Day 3 in Tashkent, plus the lowdown on Tashkent’s metro system;

7. Turkish Airlines Business Class TAS – IST, IST – Berlin (TXL), plus TK lounge in IST;

8. Berlin, Day 1;

9. Berlin, Day 2;

10. TXL – Zurich (ZRH) – FRA in Swiss Air Euro Business class, plus arrival in FRA; and

11. Lufthansa First Class Terminal and Lufthansa First Class, FRA – JFK.

Yes, it’s going to be a longhaul report, folks. Stay tuned for one or two segments a day, plus, general blog musings. Things here at WAAP, folks, are going to get crazy.