World Tourism Day

For World Tourism Day this year, we asked our members to tell us about unforgettable flying trips they have made as tourists, with the flying as the holiday or as part of a holiday. Read on and get ready to be whisked away!

Sue Tuddenham

On a trip to Sun ‘n Fun in April 2015, which coincided with my birthday, I took the opportunity to visit Jack Brown’s Seaplane Base, just 20 miles away, for a lesson in a Cub on floats. I didn’t manage to spot any alligators, but the flight and the views of the Everglades were amazing! I remember it like yesterday!

Christina Carver

In 2018 I made a trip to New York and decided to combine it with a ‘bucket list’ wish to see Manhattan from the air. I booked a Cessna 172 with an instructor for the 45-minute trip. We flew past all the famous sights, and it was the most stunning VFR flight I’ve ever made.

Elizabeth Wein

My husband and I flew a hired forty-year-old PA-28 across the USA and back again from California to Georgia in May 2024. Among other memorable events, we landed at Moton Field, Alabama, and visited the Tuskegee Airmen’s Museum, and at Sweetwater, Texas, where we visited the WASP Museum. We had an incredible adventure!

Lily Marsh

While in Chicago during September 2023 for work, I contacted a local flying club, and someone generously offered to take me up in a Cessna 150. We flew directly over the city and saw the amazing urban landscape and its lights. This was my first time night flying, my first time flying outside of the UK, and unforgettable.

Rachel Ramsay

In 2023 I was in Cyprus, so booked an hour with an instructor flying a Cessna 172 from Paphos International Airport. We flew along the coast and over the famously crystal-clear waters of the ‘Blue Lagoon’, before turning inland and flying an exhilarating low-level route through a mountain pass back to the airport.

Annabel Cook

While in the US for the last ever Reno Air Races in 2023, I arranged a one-hour introduction to mountain flying. Taking off from Bishop/Eastern Sierra Regional Airport in a PA28-236, we climbed to 14,000 ft over (and alongside!) the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The views were mind blowing and I felt very small indeed.