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Across the World

09.05.2006

Day 14 – Flight to Rio After two weeks of relentless competition in Thailand and Laos, activities came to a halt when the Land Rover G4 Challenge reached the halfway mark after Stage 2. The second half of the global Challenge is set to start on Rio de Janeiro’s iconic Copacabana Beach on Sunday, but getting there from the far side of the world proved a challenge in itself.

Leaving behind the lush forests and gigantic limestone mountains surrounding Luang Prabang in Northern Laos, the group travelled back to the city where it all began two weeks ago – Bangkok, Thailand. But there was no time to visit the famous markets or temples this time - they boarded a charter flight bound for Rio de Janeiro via Johannesburg in South Africa.

The flight was scheduled to take 21 hours, including the refuelling stop in Johannesburg but complications with excess baggage and adverse flying conditions significantly delayed the flight in South Africa.

‘In the end we were on the plane for nearly 27 hours,’ said Britain’s Brian Reynolds. ‘It would’ve been more bearable if they had at least let us off the aircraft for a bit in Johannesburg, but we had to stay on board.’

For many competitors the mammoth stint aboard the Boeing 767-300 was their longest flight to date, and everybody felt the effects of sitting in a cramped seat for more than a full day.

‘On the Challenge, we pride ourselves on making sure that each competitor will do at least one thing that he or she has never done before,’ said Challenge Event Director Niki Davies. ‘I don’t think any of us expected the flight from Bangkok to be quite as long as this, but at least we’ve delivered on our promise.’

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