I really need to figure out a way to sample a Bullet Train next month.
I might well have more time than you or others to clear my Bucket List, but I want to get it done ASAP. Still not figured out why the rush but it's happening.
Whenever I watch an aviation trip report or watch various travel documentaries I do keep adding to my list, like today I had a look at the cover of a Jet2 brochure which came in the post yesterday. Halkidiki certainly caught my eye as a result! St Maarten is still one on my 'nice to do' list, as is completing a loop around the world. No doubt they'll get added to the Bucket List!
St Maarten is both amazing yet unremarkable. I'll explain:
We've all seen the shots from Maho beach as the KLM 747s come in to land. The sight of such a big plane sweeping across the beach road so low is quite disturbing, but if you've watched a few from the bar on the Simpson Bay side, and scale the plane, the wheels are about 50ft above beach level, bear in mind that the tail fin is over 60 ft from the ground when on wheels. What is worth watching is when a Learjet or a Cessna comes in low. I've seen those about 25 ft. Now that is low, and that size of aircraft doesn't need the just over 7000ft of runway available to stop. The KLM pilots seem to get the 747s down on the threshold markings so their rate of descent is quite steep.
According to the pilots, landing there is nothing special for a shortish runway and the presence of all the nutters on the beach is no different to those airports where enthusiasts park on a perimeter road at the end of the runway. We went there on a DH Dash 8 which obviously had no problems landing, but the beach might as well be a grass field.
What is daft is the way people cling to the fence when a big jet takes off. The blast form a large widebody is not only strong, but the pollutants are terrible. Even those standing back on the beach get a fair old sandblasting.
Still the island is good fun, not so much the French side where they are a bit sniffy but Simpsons Bay is great.