We are getting close to Christmas and it’s seven weeks since I have come home from South Africa and the Cape to Cape adventure. Seven weeks was the same time spent this autumn to cover the two continents in the adventure of the year. At least from my perspective!
Time seems to come in very different sorts, all depending how you spend it. Not that I have not had a really good time being home and being with my family and at work in the high tech flyby wire Airbus. But a different pace in time…
Seven weeks with two different tastes. I like both tastes! Lucky me!
I have been slightly soaring on clouds since I came home. I keep smiling and I am hoping that you out there that have been following the adventure by been reading the blog, feel slightly the same.
At work I keep bumping into friends and also colleagues I hardly know but they all confront me and ask about Cape to Cape and congratulate on the successful flying. It feels like I have a huge caramel – that will last forever!
I am hoping to put this into some kind of documentation like a book…. Perhaps some of you would like a copy, and perhaps in many years from now someone out there will pick it up and be inspired to do a new adventure…
My project couldn’t have been successful without the friendly reception I was given in all 17 countries.
Not at any place did I feel threatened. Some of the authorities might have arrested me sprung out of fear, but that is something else!
The possibilities I have as a Swedish citizen and with a Swedish passport is fantastic. A big smile, a wool costume (well in Africa I had some less warm shirt and pants!) and a 80 year old grand lady did contribute to the success as well!
Getting the Moth home…
I can tell you that there have been huge problems with South African customs giving a delay for the return of the aeroplane to her home base in southern Sweden.
As the shipping firm has been responsible for the paperwork and declarations I must confess that I do not have the whole picture on what went wrong but it started by the fact that I flew into the airspace of South Africa and did not fly it out again. That turned out to have been so much easier!
In addition the fact that I took the wings off to mount the aeroplane in a container apparently transformed the aeroplane into “aircraft parts” and by doing that I had ot declared the entry into the country correctly. I was now exporting aircraft parts and was due to pay VAT and a big penalty in a delay and 25000 Rand for not filling out the correct form. I got fantastic help from a very good South African lawyer dealing with custom matters and after a few weeks the penalty ended up with 1500 Rand, and a five week delay resulted in a demurrage fee.
On the positive note is that the lawyer firm gave us a huge discount due to the good cause of the project with the Red Hill charity part – thank you! We are now trying to get a similar response from the shipping firm to get a relief from the demurrage charges. No response yet. The good news is that the container is now in Rotterdam, and I feel quite sure that SE-AMO will be coming home soon!
Rewards – FundedByMe
We have not yet distributed the signed thank you posters or the leg sponsor rewards – but bear with me – they will come!
What we have done is to finalize the lottery to decide who the three winners are – to fly with me in the DH60 Moth next summer season!
And the winners are:
Cristiana Simoes, Portugal
Lennart Håkansson, Sweden
Per Kristian Berg, Sweden
Congratulations! We have contacted you separately by email!
Last but not least – to all of You out there I would like to wish a Happy holiday and a Happy New year!
Johan
Ps! As a small Christmas gift I will publish a drawing of a small paper model of my Moth. A great idea and design by Anders Lindholm – thank you Anders! Print it in any size and get some glue and a sharp knife out and you will have a possibility to get your own Cape to Cape aeroplane on your desk! I will just figure out a smart way to forward it to you! 🙂 Ds
