Inspired by the really cool world tour posts in this sub forum, I decided I’d only ever start a flight from the previous airport I landed at. There’s no plan, really - I’m just going wherever feels cool or interesting from that departure airport.
Started on an island off the west coast of Scotland, and landed tonight in Kilimanjaro International, flying in from Western Rwanda. The Blog’s a little behind, I’ve just posted about the Italian leg I completed last weekend.
This is probably as close as I’m going to get to travelling in 2020! 
https://docjaysworldtour.blogspot.com/
The. Weather. is. Glorious!
The Cessna leaps off the tarmac into the sky, and I just have to nudge the nose to the right slightly to see the waterfront of Nice curving in front of me. Minutes later, Monaco with its old palace, harbours & casinos is drifting past the window. I’ve picked a low cruise to begin with - 800 feet, then pop up to 1,5000 to get a better view inland.
There are two good roads to use along this stretch, where the foothills of the alps run in ridges perpendicular to the water and go right to the water’s edge before dropping down into the Med. The first is the Autoroute; as you head east towards the border with Italy, the road careens into long tunnels though the high ridges, before bursting out halfway up the side of the walls of beautiful green valleys with vineyards on the slopes, beautiful red tiled roofs far beneath the road bridge, and the glistening ocean at the valley’s head, before you plunge into the next tunnel.
The second is a smaller winding road that runs along the seafront, often halfway up the hillside that falls away to the right straight down hundreds of feet to the sea. This is the one to take if you want to pretend you’re in a classic Bond film.
I can see both routes from 800 feet. I love this place. Once in Italian airspace, I climb to 4,000 feet, and set best cruising speed for Genoa. after 30 minutes, the coast curves to the right and I begin moving down the “boot” of Italy, making a small detour to buzz the town of La Spezia at 200 feet. 3 years ago I went swimming with friends off a small rocky outcrop, which is there in the game.
Then I’m moving down the Tuscan coast, and pull the Cessna up into a long climb, topping out at 10,000 feet. From here, I can see the narrow coastal plain, then the snowy heights of the Apuan Alps, the northernmost massif of the range of mountains that runs down the length of Italy, south of their great plain. Beyond that, the green hills of Emelia-Romagna fade into the heat haze on the horizon.
I find myself looking backwards as the scene rolls behind my little virtual Cessna. From this vantage point, I can see the spot on the beach where I ate a burger and had a beer with my friends. We sung the joint English/ Italian version of various Lion King songs. It’s quite beautiful.
In my reverie, I almost don’t notice that we’re already passing of Pisa, and I look down just in time to see the old Cathedral and leaning tower almost directly under the flight path.
From here, it’s time to descend into Grosseto, which I only picked because it seemed about the right distance for this flight. I’m getting alright at landing this bird now, and am feeling confident enough to record a video of the touchdown. On final approach, I can see Corsica sitting on the horizon.
For the next leg, the sun is just setting into the water as I swing the nose round to continue to the south. This flight is quiet. There’s something incredibly relaxing about watching the lights come on below, and by the time I’m approaching Rome, passing over Lake Bracciano where 12 years ago I swam (and got a parking ticket) the sky is completely dark and the city shines in front of me.
I find myself thinking about history. When I was in this city 12 years ago, we were just walking around enjoying the sites and went round a corner to be confronted by the Pantheon. It was so incongruous - the narrow streets lined with fashionable clothes shops, I think there was even a Mcdonalds, then turn the corner and hey, there’s a 2,000 year old temple, built during the reign of Emperor Hadrian…
…who also ordered the construction of a wall I virtually flew over on my way down from Scotland.
How did people do all of that? At a time when you couldn’t go faster than the distance a man could walk in a day (even horses aren’t really faster by the time you factor in rest stops), the Romans had an empire that 2,000 years later, in a plane, it’s taken me 4 days to fly in from the edge of. I think of all that land. Absolutely vast.
And when the Pantheon was built, the great pyramids were as old to them as the Pantheon is to me. History is insane.
Clouds are beginning to slip past the cockpit, blocking out patches of stars and lights from towns and roads beneath me. As I fly the approach into Naples, Mount Vesuvius to my left, a line of rain is obscuring the 2nd half of the runway. I touch down with the stars overhead, and taxi into pattering rain and clouds, before shutting the engine down and going to sleep, still thinking of ancient things.