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March 2010

M	T	W	T	F	S	S
« Apr
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
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15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28
29	30	31

Number of visitors

Sophie and Thierry want to congratulate all the participants on their great achievement of circumnavigating South America and thank all those who helped behind the scenes to make this Journey go smoothly. We look forward to seeing you on a future Air Journey Adventure; possibly our upcoming Transatlantic Journey or next year’s Around the World Journey 2010!

We would also like to thank all our Blog viewers who followed us along the way and hope that we will see you soon on one of our adventures!

Air Journey will be at the Sun’n Fun Airshow and would love for you to stop by our booth to say hello! Look for us in Hangar “A” at booth number 068.

We have also recently joined Facebook and Twitter; become a fan of Air Journey on Facebook or follow us on Twitter!

Happy Flying,

Thierry and Sophie Pouille

It’s finally time to head back home but we could not resist the temptation to stop in Providenciales, Turks and Caicos, for a quick bite to eat before heading back to the States. We enjoyed the spectacular Grace Bay Club and took advantage of the sun’s rays and a last swim in the turquoise water of the Caribbean. It was the perfect ending to our wonderful Journey.

After lunch, we took off for KPBI (Palm Beach International) to clear customs. With blue skies above, we had beautiful views of the Caribbean and Bahamas below. The different hues of blue in the ocean below was unreal.

Our landing in Palm Beach marks the end of the Journey. It’s time to say our goodbyes and return home. With no technical problems and good weather in general, we could not have asked for a better Journey.

Flying at a low altitude over the Caribbean is a great way to enjoy the beautiful colors and scenery of the islands below. With perfect weather, we had a wonderful flight and perfect introduction to the Caribbean Islands from above.

The group stopped in Nevis for lunch at the Nisbet Plantation before continuing our flight to Punta Cana. A vacation hot-spot, we encountered a busy airport bustling with people as several charter flights were arriving from all over bringing tourists for their caribbean vacations. For us, Punta Cana is more of a technical stop and allowed for a wonderful flight over the Caribbean.

Staying at the Punta Cana Beach Resort is the convenient option for us as we make our way home. Located near the airport, the Punta Cana Beach Resort, is not at Air Journey’s level of luxury, but perfectly suits our needs.

It is hard to believe that tomorrow marks our last day of the Journey. After 35 days of travel, it is time to say good bye. No one’s in a hurry to head home and we’ve actually decided on an additional stop for a quick bite in Turks & Caicos before heading back to Florida.

I think it safe to say that our stop in Grenada went over well. The delightful boutique style hotel, La Luna, offered the perfect mix of luxury and relaxation that was well deserved after 33 days of our adventure through South America.

After so many days of traveling, you may be wondering about the group dynamics. We have been blessed with a great group of people that have bonded well together and can confidently say will remain friends for a long time to come. So much so, that after 33 days of traveling, with nothing scheduled on the itinerary, some still opted to rent a jeep and explore the island of Grenada together. Beautiful scenery, breathtaking waterfalls, and lush vegetation are just some jewels the island has to offer.

Others chose to enjoy a relaxing day by the beach and to take advantage of the hotel’s spa’s Bali massages.

All in all it was a wonderful stop in Grenada. Everyone enjoyed themselves and the Island in their own way. It was now time to say good bye to Patrick, Brigitte, and Sophie, who were leaving the group tomorrow for a direct flight back to the USA. The rest of us are off for a low altitude flight over the Caribbean to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic.

Our leg from Sao Luis to Grenada is one of the longest of the Journey. Well rested from our relaxing day pool side, we had an early departure from the hotel so that we were wheels up by 9am.

With the weather good and Thierry having prepared our paperwork the day before, our exit from Sau Luis went very smoothly, and we took off on schedule for our refueling stop of Rochembeau in French Guyana. Besides a large amount of clouds, and heavy rainfall while landing in Rochembeau, the flight went well.

As we’ve noticed throughout the Journey, even though we have our fuel release permits pre-arranged, our office has double checked and reconfirmed our request for fuel and certify we have the release permit in hand, it is always a challenge to have the refueling trucks take care of us right away. Sophie and Thierry were able to use their native French in order to make communication easier, yet we’ve come to realize that it takes around 30 minutes before we see the first drop of fuel in our planes. It is very frustrating, but after so many similar experiences, we have found the magic word: CASH. They then quickly find our permits and we settle with our Multiservice Fuel Cards.

After refueling, we took off for the little gem island of Grenada in the West Indies. Nothing is planned on the schedule other then pure relaxation at our hotel, La Luna. This small boutique hotel offers an intimate atmosphere, nice rooms with great views, a private beach, and delicious food. And it is nice to finally hear ENGLISH!! After 34 days of foreign languages, it is a pleasure to hear a language we can fully understand.

Our arrival in Grenada was a bit emotional. We have left South America after spending the last month discovering its fascinating countries, people, and cultures. We leave with experiences of a lifetime, wonderful memories, and great new friends.

After an easy departure from San Salvador, we landed at our last stop in Brazil, Sao Luis. Located on the North Coast of Brazil, it was our first arrival at a Brazilian airport that resulted in no long delays or immense paperwork; quite a nice surprise!

With_more than 30 days of travel under our belts, the group was a bit tired of touring. Instead of visiting the colonial city of Sau Luis, an Unesco Heritage site, the group opted to relax by the pool. It may have been a mistake, but we all needed to rest up for our long flight to Grenada tomorrow.

On the schedule for today was a 3 hour walking tour of the historical part of Salvador de Bahia. We met our great tour guide Simone who filled us in on the history of this beautiful colonial city. Formerly, the first capital of Brazil, Salvador de Bahia offers unique architecture, history, and people. The strong African heritage visible here allows us to better understand the roots behind Brazil; this is one stop when visiting Brazil you don’t want to miss!

On the tour we visited one of the most beautiful churches in the world, the San Francisco Church. When walking in, your breath-taken by its beauty and can only think WOW!

With our approach to the Equator, the heat and humidity was at a high today making it extremely hot.We had planned for a dinner in a courtyard but with the heat we opted to change our reservation for the Trapiche Adelaide in the lower city. The restaurant faces the bay and most importantly is fully air conditioned!

John, Greg, and Diane are arriving in the Cheyenne today. We heard that they had had a tough time leaving Rio but are on their way and should be arriving soon. Thierry spent another day at the airport ensuring that we have an easy departure tomorrow.

Tomorrow brings us to Sao Luis….

John, Greg, and Diane chose to stay an extra night in Rio de Janeiro while the group continued on to Salvador de Bahia. All of Thierry’s hard work and time at the airport Sunday paid off so that we had an easy departure to our next destination.

By 4pm, only 5 hours after leaving the hotel in Rio, we were checking into our hotel the Convento di Carmo. Located in the center of the colonial city, it is ideally located for visiting the historical section of Salvador de Bahia. We were quite surprised to arrive in a big town with over 3 million inhabitants.The city itself is seperated into two parts, the modern city with all of the business is down by the bay while the colonial city sits on at the top of a hill.

We arrived to our historic hotel, the Convento di Carmo. A Leading Hotel of the World, the Convento is an ancient convent full of charm.

Our tour of Rio had us leaving the Copacabana Palace at 10am. Under cloudy skies, we headed to Sugar Loaf. It was unfortunate the weather was not sunny but in between some rain showers, we were able to see a glimpse of the view Sugar Loaf would have offered on a sunny day. Following our visit of Sugar Loaf, we took the tran ride to the Corcovado, where Christ the Redentor, the famous statue, appears and disappears under the clouds. Unfortunately, we did not have the ideal weather for the tour, but our wonderful tour guide Paulo, gave us a great presentation of Rio and Brazil. However, we were quite surprised on how little english is spoken in Rio.

The evening was free for everyone to enjoy the numerous restaurants and the city on our own. Some of us choose the Marius, a typical meat restaurant.

Tomorrow the group is on to Salvador de Bahia. We are all a bit nervous on the fact that we will be flying out from the International airport but are hoping that Thierry having spent the previous day pre-arranging our departure and refueling the planes will make everything go smoothly.

We will keep you posted!

The group opted for a couple more hours at the falls before heading to the airport. After seeing Iguazu from the lower platforms, we headed for a tour of the upper platforms to experience the “Devil’s Throat,” the strongest portion of the falls. A short train ride and a 30 minute walk brought us to the border of the strongest falls. Unbelievable! It was a wonderful way to finish our visit of Iguazu Falls.

We had a short transfer to the airport before recieving what seemed like over 48 stamps to clear customs in Argentina. Now we were off to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil!

It wasn’t until the 28th day of our Journey did we have our first big set back. The itinerary had been changed from previous years in order to longer enjoy the easy procedures of Argentina and instead of clearing customs in Iguazu Falls (where the airport is just across the river from the Argentina side) we would clear customs in Rio de Janeiro at the smaller airport of Dumont.

We were using new Handlers, smaller companies that we felt would provide better service with the added bonus of saving money on saving money on landing fees and handling costs. Yet, we did not get very far! After flying over 2 hours, we were informed that Dumont Airport did not have customs, therefore we were forced to land at Rio’s International airport. Upon our landing, it was clear that they were unfamiliar with small aircraft and did not appreciate our unannounced arrival. We can thank our handlers for that! Thirty minutes of chaos finally got us parked and into the main terminal for customs. Customs wasn’t bad and we got through pretty quickly. The women decided to head to the hotel, while the men dealt with the paperwork at the airport.

7 hours later, the men finally arrived at the hotel! They had spent the entire time at the airport positioning the planes as requested, negociating, and everything else for our mere 2 night stay! It was ridiculous!

Behn and Rita, in the Cirrus, had a different itinerary due to the lack of avgas in Iguazu Falls and therefore maintained our original itinerary from past years. They landed in Foz de Iguazu, cleared customs for Brazil, and then proceeded to Dumont Airport in Rio de Janeiro with no such issues; how lucky!

At our hotel, the Copacabana Palace, the group welcomed Greg and Diane, who will be joining John and the rest of the group for the remainder of the Journey. The women, Greg, and Diane enjoyed a wonderful dinner at the Cipriani, the hotel’s gourmet restaurant, while the men were at the airport dealing with the paperwork.

Not the welcome we had hoped into Brazil!

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