I got back to the plane at Old Sarum. My brother was passed out in the back seat. I checked everything out, and we got ready for our short field departure. I used some extra flaps as we rumbled down the wet grass strip, and made it up just as the runway ended.

Today's trip was to Rotterdam, but we weren't going to fly directly there. First, I was going to go buzz London, to make sure I really was in England. We flew over at 5,000 feet, and I recognized a lot of the buildings, though they did seem oddly out of place. After passing over City Center, we turned to the southeast. The sun was just starting to rise as we headed towards Dover. The plan was to fly there, then drop down to only 200 feet or so, and fly by the cliffs. Well.... they must only exist in the real world, too, because there were no cliffs in Dover. Maybe they meant Dover, Delaware, in that song... I don't know.

We flew along the shore to the west for about 30 miles, and still no cliffs... so we turned back east for a while, then south over the English Channel towards Normandy.

At this point, I was just hoping France was going to be there. After a few minutes, we did see land popping up on the southern horizon. We flew over the beaches, then headed west over the coastline.

The weather had been clear all morning, but as we approached The Netherlands, the clouds started building up. ATC said it was raining in Rotterdam (EHRD). We were cleared for runway 24. There was another plane, but they were behind us. Everything was going smooth, just until about 10 feet over the runway. A gust of wind shoved us onto the ground really hard. We were fine, but the front gear of the plane was pretty much wrecked. I was able to get us out of the way onto a taxiway, but then waited to get towed back to a hangar.

The damage was pretty bad, and the mechanic said that he could fix it with no problem, as long as he could get parts. That, he said, could be an issue. Being that it was Saturday, he said we were probably stuck here until at least Monday, but he would do his best for us. I could think of worse things to have happen to me than be stuck in Holland for a weekend. I have some friends in the area from when I had visited back in March, so staying over isn't a problem. The only concern now is how much fun to cram into this weekend.

When the plane is fixed, the itinerary is first to Munich, then to Italy, then Greece and Egypt.

LEG	Start	Start Time	Land	Land Time	Distance	Trip Time	Fuel Used
1	EGLS Old Sarum, England	06:00 GMT	EHRD Rotterdam, The Netherlands	08:50 GMT	238 NM	2 hr 50 min	90 gal
Day Total					238 NM	2 hr 50 min	90 gal
Trip Total					3619 NM	28 hr 5 min	1256 gal

Pictures

Flying towards London over Heathrow	I recognize the buildings of London, but something seems out of place.
Over the shore in France

Where we've been so far

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