Wheels up and bound for India

After three frustrating weeks, today is the day! With Indian permits in hand (huge shout out to those helping on this), an early start was the order of the day. Arriving at Abu Dhabi airport in the soft morning light, we had hopes of an early take-off. But challenges to the very end meant we ended up hand-pumping avgas to ensure we could still make our flight window. We left late, but we were finally wheels up with stress and anxiousness behind us (for now).

We had some great views over the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque and the city. Then a stunning desert and the burnt orange landscape. We also enjoyed the most incredible lesson in geology as we flew east over Oman. Large rugged escarpments led up to the Al Hajar mountain range with its peak over 3000 m. Intricate sculptured hills were interspersed with the mind-boggling deep canyon of Wadi Ghul (Arabia’s Grand Canyon). Bathed in hazy light, the terrain had everyone reaching for their cameras. The mountains gave way to the coastline and then the deep blue waters as we flew over the Arabian Sea with Iran and then Pakistan to our west. 

We landed that evening in Surat, India are we were welcomed in the most friendly manner possible. The scores of handlers were very excited to see us and all wanted to help refuel (again by hand). When that was done, we packed up Spirit of Douglas and headed through rowdy streets and straight for our beds where we collapsed for the night. A dizzying mix of exhaustion and culture shock. Tomorrow we hope to fly across India, home to 1.5 billion people. Just shy of 20% of the world’s population. But first… sleep!