Archive for the 'Air Journey' Category
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.
After arriving in Buenos Aires yesterday afternoon, we went out to Club Pilará to watch some polo pickup matches, as the world’s top players prepared for the big matches in Palermo this Sunday.
Springtime – November – is the height of Polo Season here. Come January, many players move north to Palm Beach. Pilará is home to the Argentina Polo Association.
Aeroparque ( along with Santos Dumont in Rio de Janiero) is one of my favorite airports in the world. It is for flights from other parts of Argentina, as well as Uruguay. It is a graceful 1930’s style terminal on the banks of the Rio de La Plata.
Relaxing way to touch down.
The view from my hotel – Av.Liberatador. For all adventure activity in Argentina – VISIT THIS LINK.
Yesterday morning’s flight from Santiago to Mendoza was only 45 minutes. A spectacular flight across the Andes, when the spring sunshine is just beginning to melt the deep snowpack – providing precious water for the rainless vineyards along the eastern side of the White Wall. Above you can see Cerro Aconcagua – over 22,000 feet high in thedistance.
Entering Argentina from Chile.
Mountains over 20,000 feet high.
Our route.
Mendoza Centro.
A late day glass at a vineyard.
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