100 and Done! (Countries that is...)

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We are back! This last trip brought the total countries visited to 100! It is a crazy milestone. It is difficult, time-consuming and can be (IS) expensive. After I got back from Antarctica in 2007, I started thinking about it. After 2010 I was thinking about it more (as I moved from NY to Georgia) and in 2014 it had become a real goal. Between Angie and I we have been to 109 Countries. We are tied at 100 countries each. We have 9 countries different in our lists. For example, I have been to San Marino. She has not. She has been to Israel. I have not, yet. There has been some fun competition in this area. That's why we had to establish rules. 1.) Must be listed (as a country) with the US State Department 2.) Being in an airport doesn't count. You have to get through immigration somehow and not in a DMZ or a no-mans-land 3.) A passport stamp is not required. I have been to Canada, Paraguay, and Uruguay without getting my passport stamped. There are friendly borders in many places...
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Angie and I were in Florida for a couple of days. I was intending to fly an ICON A5 aircraft for a test flight. I got the word less than 8 hours before my flight that there were some mechanical problems. As a pilot, if the mechanic or someone else says there is a problem (mostly including me) it is easily heeded. So, a bit disappointed, I didn't fly the ICON A5 --yet. There are many hills and mountains to climb in aviation. On to the next one in near reach. There are many.

I flew the drone in Florida. I feel like a skateboarder with the drone. Flying the drone is not a crime! Even though I am operating legally and safely and (way over that) I am a federally licensed remote pilot (in addition to my regular pilot license) it puts me on the defensive when some one comes up to me and asks you if you are the drone pilot. It does not have the same glamour as when I arrive at a strange airport and I step out of the aircraft that I flew there.

There are two pics here of me performing "DJI Tai Qi" with my Phantom 4 as I calibrate it and do field firmware updates. It is sorta meditative, but mostly it is a uncomfortable delay to me feeling the small morsel of flight (lift) the drone affords.


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100 and Done! (Countries that is...)

-
Image
We are back! This last trip brought the total countries visited to 100! It is a crazy milestone. It is difficult, time-consuming and can be (IS) expensive. After I got back from Antarctica in 2007, I started thinking about it. After 2010 I was thinking about it more (as I moved from NY to Georgia) and in 2014 it had become a real goal. Between Angie and I we have been to 109 Countries. We are tied at 100 countries each. We have 9 countries different in our lists. For example, I have been to San Marino. She has not. She has been to Israel. I have not, yet. There has been some fun competition in this area. That's why we had to establish rules. 1.) Must be listed (as a country) with the US State Department 2.) Being in an airport doesn't count. You have to get through immigration somehow and not in a DMZ or a no-mans-land 3.) A passport stamp is not required. I have been to Canada, Paraguay, and Uruguay without getting my passport stamped. There are friendly borders in many places...
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