Well thanks for the compliment but to be honest... I now have my license a little over two years, with just a little over 100 hours PIC. Just last weekend I did my largest x-country ever, way larger than anything I had done before... Rotterdam to Berlin Tempelhof and back. Total flying time eight hours over one weekend. There's plenty people here who have far more experience than me, and for whom such a flight is a walk in the park. It wasn't for me: I must have spent at least double that amount of time preparing.
But yes, when I returned from Florida I flew two flights with an instructor (one local, one x-country), then one or two solo flights duplicating what I did with that instructor, before I ventured out further and with passengers. And I still fly regularly with other pilots to learn from them, and they from me. It's all got to do with filling your bag with experience before running out of the bottle of luck, or whatever the proverb is.
So take it slow, build your experience gradually and prepare the flights outside your comfort zone and area religiously. Don't get sucked into stressful situations because of get-there-itis, i-should-be-able-to-handle-this-by-now-itis, others-can-do-it-so-why-can't-i-itis or anything like that. But most of all, have fun.
Good post....Thanks for the advice mate
