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From:
Date: 6/1/99
Time: 11:32:10 AM
Remote Name: 194.112.32.102
Mike and Olivier, I am Brian Milton, who completed the 120 day journey around the world last year, in 71 flying days. I was in much more of a hurry than you, because I was sponsored, and had to meet deadlines. I was also (successfully) trying to beat the 1924 record of 175 days for a circumnavigation. If you read my book, Global Flyer, you will get some idea of why Keith Reynolds left me (the inside story is, sadly, much worse). You won't have many real problems in North America, aside from the weather, until after Nome, Alaska. Your journey through Russia, on the route I have seen, looks interesting, and I will be curious to see if you had the hassles I had. They required me to take a Russian navigator (which is why I sent Keith, on £800 a week's wages, to Anchorage to wait for me, but he lost heart there and went home). You are obviously capable of taking one. Mine was Peter Kusmich Petrov, chief of all Russian navigatorsa in the Far East, and based in Kabarovsk. The downside is he cost $245/day, plus all travel expenses, including an airliner home. You may have trouble in Japan, where I was charged $1,200/landing. They keep their microlights in little legal cages, and free spirits like yourselves show up the authorities as idiots. I hope you have good negotiating contacts. My advice would be to go via Vladivostok and then Beijing, avoiding Japan altogether, but you have your own contacts. If you need help, write to be on the Internet, at bmilton@dircon.co.uk and I will do what I can with the contacts I made. Finally, yes, I would do it again, but not the same trip (would you fly Cape Hot to Cape Cold again? I don't think so). There are other adventures; I hope our passes cross on the next one. Best wishes, Brian