St. Maarten Island is not very big, and consists of the mainland and a strip of land westward, mostly occupied by the airport. I had arrived there a few days ago, carrying 200 tourists from all over Europe, anxious for some days of sun and relaxation on this Caribbean Island.

This was my first Atlantic hopping since EuroHarmony had been re-opened, and I wanted to make it a memorable one, just like the first time I crossed the Atlantic with EHM, when I did so with a flight from Lisbon to Newark, I flew a EuroHolidays class 6 aircraft, this would be no different, just instead of the A300, the B757-200.

I must say the aircraft I flew had a name very proper to the occasion, so proper it seemed impossible, but it was, the 757 was named “Columbus”. So I left my hotel near the beach, I loved seeing all the different aircrafts, especially 747’s, landing at Princess Juliana Airport.

I walked to the airport, (there was no need to have cars, it was all quite close together). It was reasonably late (11:00 at night, local time), however I planned to fly through the night and arrive at mid-morning at Lisbon.

At the airport I saw no other EHM trace of life, except the B757 parked ready to start engines, from the outside of the airport I could see how the maintenance was re-fuelling it. The flight is 8 hours long and a 757 is not the ideal plane for an 8-hour trip, however it can be made.

I walked through the terminal and boarded, it would be a few minutes and the passengers would start to board. I looked at the route I was to make that day, St. Maarten – Santa Maria VOR – Lisbon, it was straightforward, following jet airways I would have to make a very large loop across the north of S. America & Africa.

It was nighttime and only an American Eagle ATR and an American 757 were in the terminal. The island was barely visible. I then taxied and took off; the initial altitude was FL 90.

The flight went with nothing out of the regular, a steady climb to FL400, and a cruise speed of 260 IAS.

The sky was very visible and I kept a lookout for something that I had marveled at on my flights across Siberia and Northern Russia, the aurora borealis.

However, I was very well south of where I should be to see them so I saw nothing. The flight resumed the same way for another 3 hours and a half or such with occasional correctors from New York Oceanic, later passing me to Santa Maria Center.

About 1 hour before passing over Santa Maria light begins to shine above the horizon, gradually, more light fills the horizon until it finally becomes daytime totally.

Santa Maria (Exterior Azores)

First sight of Portugal

The Bridge at Lisbon, and the landing at LPPT.

All TAP except one Continental at the terminal.

I park the 757-200 “Columbus” at the parking away from the terminal near a TAP A340. What a great flight, I look forward to flying to other Caribbean destinations. I head towards the terminal to get ready for my Flight to Paris tomorrow.