Off on Hols

[G.K.]

It's approaching that time of year again. We're off on our hols to Crete. We'll be using Thomson this time. We Fly from London Gatwick and the flight path quite often goes over our home town on the Sussex coast. From there it's quite an interesting flight over Europe if the skies are clear. France is flat and green and has a certain "je ne sais quoi". The Alps are always beautiful and it's good fun trying to name the peaks. From there we fly over the Italian lakes, maybe Lago di Garda, and then over Venice and the Adriatic. The islands off the coast of Croatia are interesting, there one that's the shape of the male genitalia, penis island I call it......From there we fly over Athens, Santorini and various other Greek islands before we land at Heraklion (Iraklion) airport.

So Lucky to live within travelling distance of these places.

I have started to recreate this flight in P3D c/w ORBX England, ORBX Global Base and Global Vector. The Thomson 737 is A Posky one, downloaded here (simviation). I have also purchased the Aerosoft Heraklion airport which works very well with P3D

Here's the first shot, take off from Gatwick:

[OldAirmail]

Beautiful picture.

I did the same thing a few years back, downloaded the plane that I would be in & flew the route there and back.

It didn't look anywhere as good as your flight though.

[yancovitch]

wow...what a perspective!

[Fozzer]

Hereford to Crete takes a long time in my trusty Cessna 150 Aerobat... .... ...!

Paul.... ...!

P.S...does taking photos/videos of the ground below work, when you are at 40,000-50,000 feet ASL in a Jumbo Jet?.... ...!

[G.K.]

Thanks chaps.

Here we are over the Italian Alps or the Dolomites to be more precise. Lago di Garda is a few miles to the west, incidently, me and the missus have sailed on that lake, it was mind booglingly beautiful. Anyway, that aside: Earlier, a few miles back over the Alps, we passed over an airfield called "Bad Ragaz"......that's a seriously cool name



....and from the cockpit



Next photo opportunity is Penis Island.....it's somewhere off of Croatia.....fingers crossed.

[G.K.]

Here we are flying over the Lido di Jesolo and a few miles to starboard we have Venice. I was reading about the disappearing community in this beautiful city. The prediction is that by 2030 there will no longer be any native Venetians, the prices are forcing them out. Only Holiday homes for the filthy rich and tourists......shame really, inevitable I suppose:






....and just a little way down the Adriatic we have Penis Isle ....I've no idea what it's real name is nor do I care. I promise I haven't touched this up at all. The big pic is taken from Google Earth, the inset pic is from P3D. Fairly accurate I thought although the real one has more sand on it.









....and yes, I am small minded.

[OldAirmail]

I don't have a clue what the locals call it, but the Romans knew it as Biggus Dickus.

Off to the northeast is a deep draft harbor, from which the US State of Virginia got its' name. Sorry, but I've forgotten its' Latin name.

[Fozzer]

I've no idea what it's real name is nor do I care. I promise I haven't touched this up at all. The big pic is taken from Google Earth, the inset pic is from P3D. Fairly accurate I thought although the real one has more sand on it.

I don't have a clue what the locals call it, but the Romans knew it as Biggus Dickus.

..and the origin of the experience; "Sandpaper Sex on the Beach"

Paul.... ... ...!

[G.K.]

Oouch, ouch, ouch.


Here in Hastings we have a shingle beach and thank goodness for that.



Anyway, the next Photo opportunity will be Athens then Santorini, the volcano which was allegedly responsible for sinking Atlantis. And then finally Crete, home of the Minoans (2000 BC), Minotaurs and the legendary birthplace of Zeus.

I might see if I can cobble a video together for the landing at Heraklion. The Aerosoft addon airport does look quite good.

[G.K.]

I flew over Athens and Santorini but alas I took no pictures because it looked a bit dull. There's only so much you can do with Plane + Land + Sky, they all start to look the same after a while.


I took a couple of pics of the Airport though. I also took some video of the landing which I'll put in the appropriate forum subsection:

[Anthindelahunt]

Very nice shots indeed.

Anthin

[FoMoCo63]

Good set of images

[G.K.]

Thanks Folks, very kind.

I'm back from my hols now, we had a great time.

As it happens we flew in the Thomson 737 "Dynamic wave" livery which is different to the one I used in the screenshots. The 737 we flew on also had the new "Double Scimitar" winglets, they look like something you'd find on a Klingon Bird of Prey. I can't find a model with these.

I may re do the screenies and repost