AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 STAYS
A modern-day around-the-world adventure of a couple and their plane.
Julian and Kim MacQueen went on a world tour with their HondaJet. Here are the highlights of the trip
Like many people, Julian and Kim MacQueen of Florida had a dream: To experience the incredible diversity of cultures that make up the world community.
The MacQueens had recently upgraded to a HondaJet, which became a catalyst for them to embark upon a global journey during which they flew 28,000 miles to visit 30 countries, over “80 stays.”
Jetgala had an opportunity to speak with the MacQueens to understand more about their inspiration for circumnavigating the globe, the exhilaration they felt, and some interesting reflections along the way.
Jetgala: What inspired you to travel around the world in your own airplane?
Julian MacQueen (JM): My dad shared his journal of his 1930s trip from Alabama to Europe and it created a feeling of wanderlust to fly around the globe. The HondaJet would make the trip possible in a style and level that I never dreamed of.
Because we are in the hotel business, we decided that this would be an excellent opportunity to see and experience hospitality in every form and fashion one could imagine. We wanted to bring that back to our company, Innisfree Hotels, that we started 30 years ago. We felt like our job was to look at design; look at food and presentations – we ate ourselves full around the world. We saw great interior design; saw great architecture, and we saw great cultures – corporate cultures of how to provide hospitality from the heart.
What was the planning process like?
Kim MacQueen: Our first choice of destination was Bhutan. Because it is close to Nepal we decided to go to Katmandu and then India. There were reasons for every single choice, and it grew from there.
JM: The big moment was when we left Halifax and headed towards Goose Bay and then Greenland because those are kind of unchartered territories. I’ve never gone from west to east before across the Atlantic. When leaving Goose Bay toward Greenland there is a go-no go point where you have to decide if you are going to continue or turn around, so you are checking (weather) reports, which are not as detailed as in North America, so you make the call because there is no alternate. You know obstacles like icebergs aren’t on maps and sure enough, just as soon as we’re on approach over the last hill, there was an iceberg…and the realisation that I could “bump” into that!
Did you leverage any safety pilots during the journey?
JM: I had a safety pilot named Travis with me who had done more than 100 Atlantic crossings. He helped convince me that it was not as difficult as it sounds.
Flying into Bhutan is not easy. When we first called and said that we would be coming in our own airplane, the authorities said that it’s just not possible. Only Bhutan Airlines is allowed to land in Bhutan. The authorities told us that they would need to send a navigator to meet us wherever
we’re taking off from and that the navigator needs to be sitting in the right seat when we come in. Therefore, we had Captain Kanga, an (Airbus) A320 pilot who flies in and out of Paro every day. The reason that it is important is that there are no (instrument) approaches into Paro. It is in a valley surrounded by mountains that are 27,000 feet high. The airport itself, at 7,500 feet, is surrounded by mountains. The approach is completely visual. Captain Kanga told me to fly toward a temple, then turn left, drop the speed to 200 knots, put in the approach flaps, put the landing gear down, and the airport will be there. He said, “Trust me or we’ll fly right over it.” The computer is talking to you saying, “Terrain ahead! Terrain ahead!” We came over a mountain and dropped it right in. It was perfectly choreographed!
What are some of the features of the HondaJet that attracted you to it?
JM: One of the unique points of the HondaJet is that you can go up to 43,000 feet. We pushed all the way through all the commercial aviation flight levels, which are in the 30s. When you push through, you get your time slot every time and you can leave when you want to leave. I don’t think we could have done it in any other airplane of this category.
KM: Of the jets of this category, the HondaJet is the most comfortable that I’ve been in. The lavatory is wonderful – with a sink! What other plane has a sink like that? The sunshades are great. The skylight in the bathroom is wonderful. But, getting to go to sleep now and then even though our (flight) legs were very short…there were a couple of long days…and I was able to articulate the back seats with their arms up and it was truly very comfortable to nestle in there across the aisle for a lovely napping place.
JM: Our transition had been from a (Cessna) Citation II to (Embraer) Phenom to the HondaJet. What I found with the Honda avionics is that the process of getting in the airplane and leaving has been condensed to maybe three or four steps. Everything else is done by the computer. For example, you don’t have to put in the outside air temperature – it detects that. I can get into the airplane and be taxiing in seven minutes – and that I couldn’t do in any other airplane before. It was always a 10- to 15-minute process because I had to do so much manually.
What was one of your favorite ground experiences during the trip?
JM: In Morocco, Kim suggested that we go to a hammam. It was like 45 C out already and even hotter at the hammam. They wrap you up in a towel and this little lady starts throwing buckets of water on you. Then she wipes you down with mud and then puts all of this goop in your hair and throws more hot water on you. I swear I could not breathe. I was just dying and Kim was like, “This is so great!...Maybe some tea!”
Did you encounter any issues during your journey?
KM: In the Monkey Forest in Bali I decided to sit down on a stone bench and I had my little banana when a little baby came up to sit on my lap. It was so dear. I was really enjoying it and then all of a sudden, this jealous, angry monkey came out and chopped me on the arm. By the time we got back to the hotel it was swollen and purple and itching and hot so I went to reception and asked if I should go to the doctor. They said, “We’re calling the clinic right now!” so I ended up in the clinic to receive a series of rabies shots.
What is one takeaway that the two of you returned home with after this incredible adventure?
JM: If you want to go out into the world and find people that are disagreeable or confrontational and you think that’s how they are, you will find those people. So, you really do find what you’re looking for. In our case, we see the world as a community. That there’s so much similarity between all these different cultures that I think it’s truly unique. There’s no other way that you could take that in except in this kind of condensed way.
Kim likes to say that, “We went off to see our neighbors, but we found our cousins,” and that’s a kind of capper on the whole experience.
“We see the world as a community. There’s so much similarity between all these different cultures”