Archive for the 'Air Journey' Category
On April 3rd I will return to China , for the first time in a little over a year. This time, the focus will will on South China, entering from Hong Kong and finishing in Shanghai.
After a short flight from Miami to Newark, I will board Continental Flight 99 – the 9th longest flight in the world. Flying time is 15 hours and 50 minutes for the 8055 mile / 12980 km distance. Leaving at 3:45 in the afternoon, the 777-200ER will fly northwest over New York State, Quebec, Hudson’s Bay,Baffin Land , and across the Arctic icecap within about 200 miles of the North Pole. Continuing in the same direction, due south, the plane will travel over Siberia,Manchuria and East China, before landing at 7:45 the NEXT night.Because the northern Arctic is in 24 hour daylight by April, all but the last hour or two of the flight should be sunny – hopefully with few clouds – to enable aerial shots and videos.
ArcticTropic will be meeting with many South China adventure travel providers. If you would like to meet with us between April 4th to 14th please email – travel@arctictropic.com
Newark is also home to the world’s longest flight – to Singapore – 9535 miles/15345 km at 18 hours 50 minutes !
Time lapse of a typical day across the world’s skies.Note how activity increases and decreases as the sun moves west. Note the little blips over the Arctic,Pacific,Amazon and Atlantic during the night.
An ArcticTropic friend,Tom Stires, took this shot of Reykjavik Harbor last Saturday morning.The first snow of the season dusts the hills overlooking the city. Iceland , only four hours from New York, makes an ideal getaway for a long weekend. One can stay in town and take day excursions to glaciers,volcanoes and geysers. The nightlife is also great – and in just a few weeks – the nights will be 22 hours long.
On Friday, September 10th, ArcticTropic travelled back across the Andes, from Mendoza to Santiago, this time in just 45 minutes ! The highlight of the flight is a view of Cerro Aconcagua 6,962 m (22,841 ft), the world’s highest mountain outside of the Himalayas.
LAN has 3 daily flights to and from SCL to MDZ. Santiago – gateway to skiing at Portillo, and Mendoza, gateway to the Mendoza and San Juan wine regions.
On Sunday,June 20th, I flew from Miami to Los Angeles for an ArcticTropic business trip to meet with programmers and financial types. Above – takeoff over Miami and the Atlantic Ocean.
After crossing the oil-soaked Gulf of Mexico we coasted over the Texas Coast. Then landed in Houston to change planes.
Not long after…… the Deserts of New Mexico.
The volatile Mexico – Arizona border- now a War Zone in some areas.
Coming down over Southern California – still snow on the mountain tops.
The 405 – Light traffic on a Sunday – jam packed during the week.
Manhattan Beach.
The Pacific Ocean. The second ocean for me that day – I swam in the Atlantic at sunrise.
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North Pole. The next shot is when we were back in daylight over the Laptev
Sea of the Arctic Ocean as the plane approaches the North Coast of
Siberia.
Newark. The flight plan was a bit different than reported earlier. After
takeoff, we went north through New England, over Maine, then Quebec and
Western Labrador. We then went out over the Davis Strait along the coast
of Baffin Land, then crossing over the Labrador Sea and Northwestern
Greenland – then over the Arctic Ocean and went directly over the North
Pole ! Then our Northward trajectory became South. Over the Laptev Sea
into Russian SIberia, for several hours, Then across Mongolia, past
Ulanbaatar. FInally we landed in Beijing bout 3 PM. Aerial photos will be
posted later.
I have flown all over the world and often, when it is not cloudy or dark, I take shots from the plane. The Earth is fascinating from 35,000 feet ( and less). Even Google Earth doesn’t capture the reality of the real photograph. ArcticTropic has hundreds of such pictures on file. We welcome submissions from readers as well. Below – some assorted shots from the last few years:
Amazon River – November 2005.
Near Santiago,Cuba.
Northern Venezuela Coast.
El Popo – Mexico.
San Diego.
Lake Powell, Arizona/Nevada.
Near Monterrey NL, Mexico.
Rio Grande – Texas above,Mexico below.
Alps – France – Italy border.