Cebu - Phuket 03.06.2010
We have crossed the Pacific !!!!!
What an increadible odyssey ! Picture number 3 below summarizes well what it means, a tiny aircraft and water, a tiny aircraft and a lot of water ! 15'877 kilometers of water to be precise, crossed in 76 hours and 5 sectors.
In every project there are highs and lows, moments of doubt, frustration and uncertainty. The few days spent in Cebu definitely belong to the second category ! Nothing drastic in itself, just a combination of tiredness, problems to solve and never ending negotiations with people not necessarly dishonest but applying to the letter directive from a system that, i think, is. How to explain we must pay 400$ per day to park our moskitos on a doubtful airport ramp ? How to explain we have to pay 800$ for a stamp in a passport and a "nothing to declare" ? How to explain that despite a proper application and clear explanation on the nature of the flight a civilised country can refuse us to overfly its airspace for military security reasons ? We have met charming and welcoming people in Philipines and it would have been the same in Vietnam, those incidents won’t change anything.
What a relief this landing in Phuket, this was a capital flight but extremly restricting on all aspects. At each moment a detail could have ruined our work and we knew that another takeoff in gross overweight, 16 hours of flight and a night arrival all in an unfavorable weather would not be piece of cake. Big joy when the time of decision to continue or divert to Hat Yai in southern Thailand comes and Christian from Privatair Operations informs us via sat phone that the thunderstorm cells over Phuket are dissipating, 2 flight hours and the most difficult should be, we hope, behind us !
We are happy, we are in Thailand !
One last word : Thank you ! a very big thank you from Francisco and I for all your guest book messages (more than 450 since departure). We don’t miss a single one. A lot of emotions to read you, we navigate from tears to laugh !
Yannick
