Our next flight takes us across Greenland to Iceland’s capitol city, Reykjavik – the second over water flight in our crossing. The weather was overcast with some misting and rain.

Everyday we continue to lose hours as we try to adjust to the time changes. Although minimal, only two hours at a time, its has an exhausting effect on long flying days when we are wheels up by 9am. Luckily, after the crossing, our time changes are very gradual and we won’t be as effected until we reach Russia in mid July.

Arriving in Reykjavik, we headed to our hotel, the Holt Hotel, to drop off our belongings before heading to the Blue Lagoon for some fun in the geothermal spa. These steamy waters are part of a lava formation and have become one of the most visited attractions in Iceland. Throwing on our swimsuits we quickly ran through the 40 degree temperatures outside and stepped into the geothermal bath. Katy, our youngest participant,

was not thrilled on having to wear floaties! All children under 8 must, but as a child from the Virgin Islands – she was not one bit pleased. After a quick stop at the swim-up bar, we were set to soak in the 102+ water. They have some white “mud” that supposedly helps heal and rejuvenate the skin – we quickly lathered ourselves up to reap the benefits.

Kangerlussuaq is pretty barrin with not much of a town – our hotel, the Kangerlussuaq hotel, was located just across the runway. With our change in itinerary, our one night stop had turned into two nights so we organized a tour for the following day. A tour of what? you may be wondering – with only 3 hours and 15 minutes distancing us from the North Pole – we enjoyed a tour of the glacier, of course! On our way we came across some caribou by the side of the road.

We enjoyed a nice traditional dinner of Muskoxen and Reindeer before retiring to our room for the night. Tomorrow we set off our our second leg of the crossing – to Reykjavik, Iceland!

After having lost their plane in the 2011 Tsunami, Tanabe-san and his wife are using this Journey as a scenic “Ferry” flight to bring their Citation Mustang back to their homeland – Japan. We also have a family from the US Virgin Islands traveling with their children to show them the world like few can say they have, as well as, a couple from Wyoming who are excited to finally be taking the trip of a lifetime they have been wanting to do for years. The French TBM will be joining the group in Granada, do the entirety of the Journey, and continue their circumnavigation of the globe with a Transatlantic crossing after Oshkosh Airventure.

We all arrived in Quebec City two days prior to our departure in order to have a private visit of Quebec’s Parliament Building and a meet and greet with the Minister of Transport before enjoying a nice lunch at Le Parliamental restaurant located in the Parliament building. It was a great start to our exciting Journey.

That evening the group met for their detailed pre-departure briefing for our first Transatlantic flight. The route determined was Quebec City to Kuujjuaq, Canada to Kangerlussuaq, Greenland.

The weather was not looking great for our departure from Quebec City – fog and misting rain filled the skies above us and there were reports of light snow in Kuujjuaq. We decided to amend our original routing and head straigh to Kangerlussuaq with a technical stop in Kuujjuaq. As we departed one by one, scattering between different altitudes, we soared above the IFR conditions and our flights remained uneventful. We quickly refueled in Kuujjuaq and were back in the sky in no time for our next leg to Kangerlussuaq, Greenland.

One can call this Around the World Journey – the year of the Mustangs – as we have 3 Citation Mustangs joining us, as well as, one Phenom100 and two TBM 700s.

New additions to this years itinerary include a stop in Prague, Czech Republic; Granada, Spain; Cappadocia, Turkey; Rhodes, Greece; Petra, Jordan; Langkawi, Malaysia; and Shanghai, China; among others.

We invite you, friends and family, to follow along as we detail our everyday happenings as these adventurous pilots complete a once in a lifetime Journey Around the World!

Congratulations to the participants of our 1st Africa Journey. You did it!! What an adventure including amazing sites, breathtaking scenary and a flying experience you will remember for the rest of your lives!

However, the approach into Madeira is quite an experience. With a visual approach, and singular approach, we came in to land on this impressive runway. In 2000, Madeira rebuilt its former runway, known for its short length, which, surrounded by high mountains and the ocean, made it a tricky landing for even the most experienced of pilots, to double in size. And how did they do this? Why over the ocean, of course! Instead of using landfill, the extension was built on a series of 180 columns! – making it one of the most extreme airports in the world.

After our exciting arrival into Madeira, the group transferred to Reid’s Palace, our hotel for the next 2 nights. This historical property offered beautiful views of the Atlantic Ocean below and was one of Winston Churchill’s favorite places to relax.

We set out on our tour to Porto Moniz, located in the northwest corner of the island of Madeira and famous for its natural pools and rough seas. On our way, we were very impressed with Madeira, specifically it’s cleanliness. Also the number of tunnels on the island, it seemed as we were driving that we passed through tunnel after tunnel. The tour later brought us through the Madeira’s downtown area, as well as a fisherman village and the islands valley.

We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Madeira and all agreed that we would be back!

Tomorrow its off to main land Portugal for Lisbon…

Our next stop was Tenerife in the Canary Islands. Located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, these 12 islands, that make up the Canaries, are recognized as a nationality of Spain and are the outermost region of the European Union.

We flew into Tenerife, the largest island of the Canaries and yet again were greeted with open arms. We breezed through refueling and immigration and were on our way to our hotel in no time! Our home for the next 3 nights was the Gran Hotel Bahia del Duque, where pure relaxation was on the itinerary!

With the weather not as sunny as we had hoped, Tenerife offered the perfect down time to catch up on some emails.

The following day, we rented a car to tour the island. We had hoped to take the cable car to the top of the Teide Volcano but due to rain and wind, the cable cars weren’t open. We did however see the snow from where we were! After our quick volcano visit, we headed back to the hotel.

Our only regret in the Canaries was the weather. Unfortunately it was rainy or overcast our whole visit in Tenerife but on the upside we were able to take it easy and catch up won our emails and work.

Our stop in Ghana was very short, more of a technical stop, in continuation to the Canary Islands.

Upon our arrival, we transferred to the Labadi Beach Hotel. We took some time to relax and soak up the sun before setting out to discover what Ghana had to offer. We arrived at a busy beach and watched the locals frolicking in the ocean. The beach was sprawling with people and liveliness – it was a pleasure to see.

While at Oshkosh in July, we met a couple that mentioned the work they have been doing with Medicine On the Move (www.medicineonthemove.com) in Ghana. Their mission is to provide healthcare education and regular medical services to rural communities in Ghana by training local Ghanaian people. Medicine on the Move takes it one step further, in that, they teach Ghanaians how to fly as well as, educate them on proper healthcare, so that they may return to their villages and spread the knowledge to the locals, in hopes of making a long term change to rural Ghana.

During our stay, we met up with Jonathon, the owner and visionary of Medicine on the Move, and heard all the incredible work they have been doing there. Seeing the potential and need for general aviation in West Africa, and hoping to make a long term change, Jonathon and his family moved to Ghana 17 years ago with their light-sport aircraft, a Zenith CH701 and the idea of making a long term difference.

They focus mainly on educating women because women are more likely to remain in Ghana and will therefore be more likely to pass on what they’ve learned.

It was a treat meeting with Jonathon and hearing all the incredible work he and his family have done – it is truly inspirational.

With over 1,225 nautical miles scheduled for our flight, we had expected to land in Pointe Noire, Congo to refuel before continuing on to Sao Tome. But luckily the wind gods were with us that day and we were able to fly direct from Odangwa, Namibia to Sao Tome.