We get up early, weather looks good, visibility is ok-ish, forecast good, only some east wind that will slow us down a little. But things look good. We take off and the views are amazing

Here we are with life jackets on

we go snooping around Tavolara

Nice boat...

Then, once cleared Olbia CTR, we head north, destination Corsica, Bastia, then Elba and refuelling at the same airfield we visited the week before, near Piombino.

Weather is good, is going to be a nice flight.

Corsica

And Solenzara. They see us on radar (we fixed a shorted trasponder aerial cable) and they vector us to avoid some local traffic, due to an airshow. for a few minutes, we feel like real airplanes :-)

Pianosa. The sea is really flat.

Elba

The mainland is reached.

Later, after a bit of wandering due to sloppy gps programming, and after having crossed a few ulm a bit too close for comfort, we land on the airstrip Il Gabbiano, where we are greeted by a dusty owner and even dustier fuel cans. Man, get clean cans!! After refuelling, i can see water, dead bugs and dust on the bottom of the cans. Hope the filters will do their duty. A character we meet there shows us a hot air engine he built himself. a piece of art

We remove the life jackets, take a leak, a drink of water and a bite of breakfast and we take off. A east wind and the hot hours of a very hot september day gives us some fierce turbulence. Will i ever get used to it?

We decide pass the apennines on the florence-mugello route, because we will get less turbulence once we are east of the mountains. we decide to climb, and up we go a totally illegal 6000ft. But as usual we are alone in the air. A Bae 146 is struggling for take off on the florence airport, due to a strong and gusty tailwind. We scan the radio, but hear no traffic. We spot a lonely glider spiralling in some thermic, and thats the only flying thing we will see for the day. Visibility is incredible. We can see Florence very clear.

Passing the apennines. Air is clear, and at 6000 ft the flow perfectly laminar. we have a 30kmh headwind but we could play pool in the airplane.

Bologna-Firenze motorway. Deadly.

We are in Pianura Padana now. Flat ground, and a strong thermic turbulence due to a 35C day. A bit more wandering due to no route planning, and we are heading towards Mezzomerico. Back Home after 9 days and a epic (for me) trip that i will never forget

We arrive at Mezzomerico airfield, we have to wait a few minutes to land. There is the annual airshow there, so we arrive at the right time to be greeted by a big crowd! The guy at the speakers makes a bit of fun of us. We are a bit tired, flight time from Il Gabbiano was exactly 3 hours, flying at leisurely pace, burning a mere 40 liters of fuel.

Here Bettyboop, cooling down after the long flight, almost 6 hours today.

We have some food and drink, kindly served by some locals :-) You know who you are.

Nuria calls me from Malpensa, i go to collect her, and we reunite after flying back home on very different vehicles!

Here the GPS track of the entire trip.

So here is the end of Da Vacation. Everything went well, weather collaborated. Many thanks to all those who helped make this possible:

Federico (a.k.a. Saddam) who taught me to fly, built Bettyboop and gave us always unlimited amout of fun, good mood, and with the help of Patrizia, great food and drink.

Bettyboop who behaved wonderfully.

The guys of San Teodoro for the hospitality and the help.

The people in Tortoli airport. See you next year, guys.

The folks at Il Gabbiano airfield. Get clean cans, will ya? :-D

Gianni, my first (and last) officer. A true friend, a great pilot, immune to turbulence (unlike me), and now the happy and proud father of a bouncing baby boy.

Nuria, my beloved girlfriend, who supported me (also financially) in buying Bettyboop and getting her ready to fly, and who shared with me some wonderful flight hours, not to mention some aerial fights you could not even start to imagine :-) fights in the air dont always occur between people on different airplanes...

without these people, none of this would have happened. thanks folks, i love you all.

The End