Dimme wrote:
Unless the trip was financed by delivering “packages” to south America, I can’t see how one can afford this :P
A nicely equipped Mercedes etc. costs 70k€ or more. Every second household around here seems to have one. Drive a 10 year old car instead and you have more budget than you’ll ever need to fly around the world in a piston aircraft. This is perfectly possible for normal people with normal income, the bigger problem usually is to get time off from whatever you’re doing. I know quite a few people who live a rather simple life and try to save as much money as possible to spend on their flying hobby. When I had a C172, I rented it out to a 68 year old retired guy who would drive buses part time and whenever he had enough money for an hour of flying, he came to the airport and took my Cessna around the traffic pattern.
I try and convince my accountant that my 46 year old VW 1300 subsidises my 67 year old 90 hp Super Cub… and vice versa :) he reminds me that physics and accounting don’t believe in perpetual machines
Hehe. My car is 20 years old I have what I consider a pretty good job and no kids and no mortgage and I still can’t put the maths together.
Anyway, I don’t want to hijack the thread, amazing trip nonetheless. A dream trip more or less.
Didn’t Astrid Lindgren pay a marginal tax rate of 102%? Maybe that is why Swedes don’t fly Mooneys to South America? 
achimha wrote:
Didn’t Astrid Lindgren pay a marginal tax rate of 102%? Maybe that is why Swedes don’t fly Mooneys to South America?
Well, yes. But that was 40+ years ago….
Achim is right here. A good job (well, two of them), driving only one small car and the opportunity to leave the job for half a year. And being adventurous or crazy or whatever you want to call it
And to answer @Peter about the altitude:
We flew into Cuzco, Peru and Leh, India commercially before. Both are at about 3500m, so we knew how we would react. I think, it is quite different individually.
We have done some mountaineering in former times and it was interesting that even though I am physically stronger, I always suffered more from AMS and it took me longer to acclimatize than Mrs. terbang. I frequently sufferd from nausea, headaches and sleeplessness. We found that her O2 saturation is higher than mine when flying without oxigen at say fl120. I don’t know if this is a coincidence, though.
When we arrived in El Alto, at 4000m, it was not a big problem. We even had some sandwiches after we had finished immigration. However, we took a hotel at the lowest part of the city at 3300m. Usually problems start at night, but it wasn’t too bad this time. No good sleep the first two nights and a bit of a headache.
Filosofía Boliviana: comer poquito, caminar despacito, y dormir solito
…eat little, walk slowly, sleep alone…
terbang wrote:
that even though I am physically stronger, I always suffered more from AMS and it took me longer to acclimatize than Mrs. terbang. I frequently sufferd from nausea, headaches and sleeplessness. We found that her O2 saturation is higher than mine when flying without oxigen at say fl120.
Same with me – my O2 saturation at all levels is lower than my wife’s and I always feel hypoxia onset before her. She’s smoker, I’m not and my red blood cells are at upper limit, usually a bit above.
