I bless the rains down in Africa...

Well, everybody enjoyed a great stay at Athens. Now it's time to leave Europe and move to Africa. As I am rather new using XPlane software, we will just use the default Jumbo that comes bundled with the software. It doesn't look half bad, as you will see.

Anyways, the small army got inside the plane and there we went!

What can I say? Everybody is talking about the adventures on our trip. Angie, being the newest addition, listened carefully. Murray, Elgo and I embarked in a long discussion about ancient Greece and its relevance in the developement of western culture. That is, until Eric came screaming that we were boring and started an impromptu karaoke on board! Dribbler, Yoda and Kay surprised us with their well toned voices. I think they were surprised, too!

Eduardo, Ecap and me decided to sing some songs in Spanish. Something that was rather well appreciated by everybody except for Freaky and Elgo who kept laughing at us. Then it was their time to sing, and our chance to boo them.


Suomenpankki seemed silent most of the time...or at least he tried. Soon enough, he was singing in Finish...or perhaps calling for help. You never know with that language!

Meanwhile, we left the Mediterranean Sea behind and ventured into the deserted lands south of Cairo...


Farther down south, the thick jungle and the Congo River, extending like a snake among the vegetation.


We finally arrive at Johannesburg International. Just in time to meet with our dear friend Brad!
Ah, his smile when he saw us coming through the door was priceless...we are going to enjoy very much our stay here!

See you soon!

Guess who's back?

Yup, we are back on track!

Sorry for the extended intermission. Long story short: my FSX decided that it was too much so it coughed up and died. I finally decided to format the hard disk and start over from scratch. While at it, I went to try a different simulator: X-Plane. It is manufactured by an independent company (actually, developed by a single guy) and, as usual, the results can be as good or even better than its Bill Gates counterpart.

Anyways, last time you heard about us we were all in Athens. Athens nonetheless! Where Pericles, Aristotle, Plato, Socrates, Sophocles, Aeschylus and so many others walked around, giving us a legacy that will last forever! Oh, yes, Angie was there, too. She does not look at all like Pericles, I must say (which is good, considering that he had a pineapple-shaped head that made him look like one of the Coneheads).

So there we went, invading the Attica with our cheerful, noisy army. We visited the Acropolis, of course but also went for a dive in the nearby Mediterranean Sea. No money for a cruise around the Aegean Islands, though, as much as I wanted it.

We never ran out of activities, though. We want to the many, many, many theaters Athens has (more than any other European capital); attended some concerts at the "Megaron Moussikis", the Athen's famous Conecrt Hall. We spent days at the museums, visiting the Academy, the old Omonia square, the Syntagma square and the Piareus port.

This is obviously not a "mostly male" trip anymore. Our yells and crude jokes harder to hear now under the jokes and laughs from the ladies. Kathy, Freaky, Elgo, Kay and Angie seem to be getting along quite well. Eric, Murray, GFG, James, Shane and Mika seem to have grown a couple of inches since we started the trip, I guess its just that they are trying to impress the ladies. Of course, we old and wise men do not do that (not because we wouldn't, but because we can't!)

Here are some pics, of course. The last ones FSX could provide us before falling to pieces.

An early rise to do an aerial tour around Athens:
Over the Piraeus Seaport. Look at that luxury liners!


Around the city:


The Parthenon!


Well, if X-Plane permits, our next stop is going to be: South Africa! Another long trip!

Stay tuned...

There might be news soon about this blog!

"Graecia Capta Ferum Victorem Cepit"

I know no Greek language, so I had to resort to Latin. That phrase means something in the line of: "Captive Greece Captivated its Savage Conqueror". That's the phrase the romans used to illustrate how the Greek culture had influenced them so much.

Like them, I've spent countless hours reading about the Greeks, their myths, their history, their glory and their downfall. It's one of my oldest wishes to travel there and see with my eyes the places I've seen in my dreams and my books since I was a kid. Oh yes, and try some ouzo while at it!

For this trip, I got a plane that will make PD drool. A mighty B-52! Of course, it was modified to allow passengers in its cargo bay. Believe me, you will feel very comfortable. By the way, I wouldn't touch those nukes, if I were you.

I had some trouble convincing PD that we will not travel to Moscow but finally he yielded and we all could climb on the plane for another ride.


Impressive, I know :-D
In no time we are once again flying over the Mediterranean. This is a beast of a plane! Thankfully, now i get to hear a lot more chat in Spanish. Elgo, Freaky, Argento, Ecap and Eric who only says things like "Tu eres más bonita que un tortilla, olé!" followed by "Did that make any sense?" which of course it doesn't.

So many people means lot more discussions. They don't last much, though, and the girls, AJ and mikathegreat laughing at whatever nonsense either Dribbler or Murray are saying makes me want to put the plane on Autopilot and join the fun! Yoda, Puma, Drib, MG, Argento and I have discovered that we share many things in common when it comes to music tastes so we spend some time listening to some unknown and classic bands.

Below us, the Fiumicino Airport in Rome.
Definitely not a "green" airplane...
Sun is setting as we reach the Adriatic Sea.
Say hello to the Island of Corfu (Kerkira) so much history below us!

Athens, at last!
Well, time to land and look for Angie. Then it's ouzo time! ;-)

"Toreador, oh don't spit on the floor"

...at least, according to Bart Simpson. Which means, of course, that we are heading for Spain!!! Yay!

We spent quite a bit of time at Finland, partly, due to some technical problems. I think it was a clear case of sabotage! You don't want me to be the Nr.1 pilot! There was white powder in the fuel! Dribbler went to a photocopy store and came back with lots of copies of his butt!

Ahem...we also stayed to enjoy the celebrations in Finland for Kimi's WDC. Basically, they drank vodka from gallon-sized bottles, and sometimes they smiled.

Sorry, back on subject.

This time we got ourselves a luxurious little Learjet 45. And a couple hundred bottles of Absolut. For the road. And Meanioni, who joined us here! I thought because he liked us. But seeing him dive into the storage area looking for the bottles made me thing otherwise.

The now traditional instrument panel shot.


... and the cockpit, from the outside. Hey! Who are those???

An uneventful trip over parts of Sweden, Denmark, Germany and France (sorry, the route didn't came close to any major landmark) and we are already flying across the Pyrenees, the mountain range between France and Spain.


Arrival at Reus Airport, just outside of Tarragona. Now, the program didn't make a good job of depicting the city. Nor Vitoria, our next destination. So I traded them for a visit to Barcelona!

But first we pick up Freaky here. She is still a little drunk (with "virtual" vodka) yet still as lovely. She takes us on a tour around Tarragona. A beautiful, ancient city with history that goes back to the Romans. Many buildings around town still remind us of its legacy, like the Anfiteatro, and the Part Alta. We missed the fireworks festival, though, which is a real shame for they say is the best in the whole mediterranean.

Hurry! We still need to pick up Elgo and go to Barcelona!
An aerial view of Tarragona. It doesn't makes justice to the city, I know.


Heading to the Basque County now. You can see the city of Vitoria in the background.
Elgo was already waiting for us and guess what? She looks nothing like a dancing banana! Quite a shock!


Vitoria is another beautiful city. The Basque County and the Catalan county being two of the most peculiar counties in all Spain. Each one with their own proud heritage. At Vitoria we got a chance to see the cathedral and the Torre de Doña Otxandra.

Have I mentioned how good is food in Spain? I am not sure I want to continue traveling. I think I will stuff my face here. You can have the plane. Here, take the keys.

Oh, well...we need to catch up. We are going to Barcelona now. I arranged a helicopter tour around Barcelona. Of course, there's no room for all of us. So, I democratically decided that only the ladies (Katy, Kay, Freaky and Elgo) and me would take it. Thank you guys, kind of you to come to the helipad to see us go. The torches and pitchforks are a nice touch!



Heading for the mythical Camp Nou Stadium. The Colserolla tower above the hill.


The Santa María del Pi Church. (Sorry, the game crashes when I try to reach the Sagrada Familia or the Torre Agbar)

The Olympic complex at Montjuic. Speaking of which, I can hardly wait to see F1 racing again there! (No, not at the Olympic Stadium. You know what I mean!)


That was quick! Next stop: Greece.

YeahfersurewearegoingtoFinlandfersure

We came to Ireland to pick one guy and ended up picking up three people: mika, Ecap and Erinn.

I should've get a transatlantic, not a plane. Oh, well!

We are all set for Finland now. Looks like another beautiful day with some scattered clouds. Great for testing our Boing 737, a classic and dependable airplane. Ecap keeps asking me questions about some fire damage on his plane. No idea what he is talking about. He uses many mexican words I don't understand like "Pinche cabrón" y "Chinga tu madre". Anyways, I blame Argento for all this...ahem!

Say goodbye to the British Islands...
Wanna know how many buttons and knobs I have to use to fly this thing?

After less than an hour we are already flying over the Norwegian fjords. A beautiful landscape below us!


We cross Sweden and part of the Baltic sea to reach the Finn coast. Vaasa Airport is just south from the city and a light rain is falling. Time to change tyres to wets :-p

Suomenpankki was at the airport. Luckily, next day we all could enjoy a sunny day and the beautiful Vaasa, the sunniest city in Finland. Even if the FSX doesn't shows it, Vaasa has a lovely architecture. We managed to get some shots from the sea.


And now...let's get drunk with Suomenpankki's vodka supply! Of course, the young ones won't be allowed (yes, that includes you, Kay) so go play with Mika's Playstation! Us grown ups will take care of the "acting like total asses" part. Don't worry!

Hope you enjoyed your flight. Soon we will head for Spain!

To The Settlement of the Ford of the Reed Hurdles

We spent some days visiting Kay. We even convinced her that going to law school would be no better than joining a band of crazy pervs for a virtual tour around the world. She believed us. Maybe it was that funny powder that Pabloh put in her drink. Who knows. The important thing is, she joined us.

So, we needed to go back to London. Another uneventful ride until right before landing. At that moment, I took a little detour and we landed at Rochester Field, a small airport. From there, it was a 15km drive until we reached Sittingbourne.



And who was there? Shane! Yeah, I couldn't resist. After all, we all want to enjoy the match once Cav join us at Sydney, don't we? No? Sorry.
He seemed a little overwhelmed when he saw the whole gang. But it took just a couple of minutes of goofy talk courtesy of Murray, Pabloh and Eric to make him feel welcome.

Ok, fast forward a few days. We all went crazy around London. Museums, Pubs, bookstores, palaces, bridges, monuments...you know the drill.

Now we are on board of our latest acquisition: a Bombardier CRJ-700 at Gatwick Airport, a small (compared to the A380 monster) plane ideal for our trip to Ireland.

London airports have lots of traffic. We were told to queue behind a 747, which we did. Wouldn't dare to mess with those giants.


Some hills below as we fly across Wales...

Touchdown at Dublin Airport
Can you tell this is Ireland?
Here we meet with Mikathegreat2 (from now on, just "Mika") the youngest member. So you better behave back there!!! Geez...

Kay and Mika seem to go along well. We get to see some famous landmarks of Dublin.

The Four Courts:
Irishtown Stadium and the monstrous chimneys of the Poolbeg Power Station:


Part of Dublin Castle (The Chapel Royal), The Trinity College and those buildings at the back are the George's Quay Plaza. The old building across the river is the Customs Building.

Croke Park Stadium, the biggest stadium in Ireland:

Well, enough for today! See you soon!