The Spirit of Dubai, one of the largest commercial airships in the world and her journey is to pay homage to the most famous monuments of the Continent, such as the Colosseum in Rome, the Acropolis in Athens, flying over the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Venice, and the Pyramids of Cairo before arriving in Dubai for the New Year to celebrate the opening of The Palm Jumeirah, the world’s latest landmark, with its unique concept, its architectural and environmental challenges. It is also, since the construction of the Great Wall of China , the first creation to be visible from Space. This famous concept of artificial islands tourist and residential built off the Emirate of Dubai by the Nakheel Group.

Prior to its take-off, the airship was housed in an 812ft-high hangar at RAF Cardington in Bedford. Cardington has not been used for its actual purpose for many years and it was a proud moment to see how delighted the local people were that the hangar was once again being used for an airship. Moving the airship out of the hangar was a considerable logistical task, requiring perfect weather conditions and excellent teamwork to negotiate the enormous ship out of the not so enormous hangar door. Once outside, there a few test flights before the trip.

November 9, Thursday
London
After one week of a grey and miserable weather, this day is announced ideal for Sprit off Dubai: blue sky without cloud.

Many journalists showed their interest the first leg of this journey.
Flying over Big Ben and the Parliament, then of the Thames, with the top of an amazed crowd.

November 13, Monday
The wind blows
The priority now is getting the airship to Paris in the next week. Then once over the Alps and into Italy, the weather should be more clement for the voyage.

Novem. 14,tuesday
Fairoaks
The Spirit of Dubai is released from her mast truck. Unfortunately, the gap in the weather was confined the flight in a small area. But  flying over Surrey continues to create interest in the area.
A proud grandfather brought his three-year-old grandson to see the airship and he

photo DP

November 19, Sunday
Dover - France
After some big winds, the weather has calmed down. The view of the White Cliffs of Dover was magnificent from above.

November 17, Friday
South East England
The final preparations have been carried out today to ready The Spirit of Dubai for the flight over the English Channel - the busiest shipping route in the world - to France, if the Spirit of Dubai does manage to fly tomorrow.
Fingers crossed!

The English Channel is the first of five bodies of water The Spirit of Dubai cross to Dubai, with the others being the Adriatic, the Aegean, the Mediterranean, and the Red See..

November 22, Wednesday
Paris
The country may have changed, but the wind knows no borders. It was a real battle flying the airship from Calais to our new home in Pontoise – a small town on the outskirts of Paris. Let’s hope tomorrow is more “Gay Paris” than “Gale Paris”.

November 26, Sunday
Versailles
Today there is glorious sunshine, and the Spirit of Dubai took its maiden flight over Paris.  Air restrictions meant that it’s not possible to fly directly over the very centre of Paris, but the Spirit of Dubai still had magnificent views of the city and its beautiful landmarks; the Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame, and of course the Eiffel Tower.
Perhaps most spectacular of all was the Palace of Versailles

November 29, Wednesday
Lyon
The journey was really enjoyable as the Spirit of Dubai flew over the French countryside's last breath of autumn colour with a good northerly wind working in her favour, following the River Rhone for a good proportion of the journey, with a particular highlight being the Etang de Vaux damn.
During this trip, Spirit of Dubai also saw a number of TGV's making their speedy way to Lyon.

photo DP

November 30, Thursday
Nîmes
Despite the cloudy weather, le Spirit of Dubai completed the leg from Lyon to Nimes in under six hours.

December 1st, Friday
Cannes
It’s been an excellent day – having made the flight through the beautiful landscape of Provence, and over the Italian border to the airfield base in Albenga.

Decembre 4, Monday
Tuscany
Flying-over gorgeous landscape of Tuscany.
The airfield base is in Lucca – and perhaps an airship is an appropriate mode of transport to get easy access, as it is the only place in Italy that is surrounded entirely by city walls.
The rectangular grid of the centre of Lucca can still be seen from the air, showing the Roman’s fondness for creating straight roads

December 12, Tuesday
Rome
With the sky a glorious blue, the sun high and not a jot of breeze it’s a truly wonderful experience today. Much of the area over Rome is a restricted flying zone and very few aircraft are allowed to fly over it.Tomorrow The Spirit of Dubai  will go for Naples, flying past Mount Vesuvius and on down to Athens. 

photo DP

December 15, Friday
Brindisi
Soon it will be "arrivederci Italia", With a last Italian stop - the town of Brindisi – and soon with a hop, skip and a gust of wind, The Spirit of Dubia will be over the Adriatic and into Greece. , And although there is some stormy weather predicted for the next couple of days, the Spirit of Dubai will now be making a successful exit from Brindisi and on to the "Cradle of Western Civilization" - Athens.

Naples
With sunny Italian day, today The Spirit of Dubai made the 200km from Rome to Naples.

December 22, Friday
It's been a frustrating few days for The Spirit of Dubai, as the inclement weather has meant that we have been unable to make the 200km journey across the Adriatic and Ionian Sea to reach Greece. The sea crossings are the toughest legs of our journey to Dubai, especially in winter, as when crossing bodies of water you need to be certain that the weather conditions are right - if you get caught out by poor conditions half-way across, there really is no where to land.On the flip side, when the conditions are good, crossing seas is very pleasant.When crossing land, different landscapes and cityscapes emit different amounts of heat, which means that the airship will be buffeted by differing levels of rising hot air and you have a rockier ride; whereas when you are above water, such "thermals" are far more consistent.

December 27, Wednesday
After another frustrating few days, the airship wake up to beautifully clear conditions to make the leap from Brindisi to reach Patras.The aim is ultimately to reach Athens in one hop from Brindisi, but even with a decent tailwind, she couldn’t quite make quick enough progress. The weather is excellent here in Patras, may be it’s possible to make the 200km journey to Athens in the next couple of days.