Terceira, Azores (Portugal)

Woke up to heavy mist and rain - it seemed like a good day to leave England... Our crew checked out of the Gateway (Air Force) Inn early and we left Mildenhall Air Base on time.  Overall, it wasn't a bad start to the day - we got lots of help from the London controllers (I guess they didn't want us on their airways) as we flew towards the Azores.  At one point, we had fuel concerns - fortunately, everything worked out. Best part of the first leg was seeing the green coasts of Terceira. Flew in on a visual approach (rare) and had very little wind (even more rare). Great turn around on the ground - some problems with flight plan, but quickly fixed. Weather said to be OK in Canada, so left for Gander again. About 3/4 of the way there, we started to hear that the weather was not good at all - right at minimums. Sweated our way to about 100 miles and still heard no good news. Thunderstorms in St. John's kept me on track for Gander - and we broke out of the clouds around 400 feet. Believe me, we were happy to have even that ceiling (not much fuel for a "fun" divert)! Another great turn here - the place is slowly growing on me... Trip down to Hampton Roads was pretty easy - except for a huge thunderstorm in the first 30 minutes. We dodged it OK and then had nice views of Cape Breton, Cape Cod & the Islands, Long Island, Sandy Hook (NJ), Cape May and DELMARVA. Could see downtown Norfolk from 50 miles! Had to wait for a crew to drive over to take the aircraft from us (we reached our crew time limit) - that took a few hours. Finally got to my car around 1830L (2330 in London). Very tired... Glad to have this trip opportunity - definitely one to remember!