Thread by @prchovanec

1. Finally, after about a 24 hour wait, the weather has cleared up just a little at Tetouan, Morocco, enough for me to make my flight across the Straits to Gibraltar.

2. I always have to remind people, but yes, this is Microsoft Flight Simulator on my PC, not real life. But the weather is set to real life, real-time weather, so it's going to correspond to actual reports you can find online.

3. Some specks of drizzle on my windscreen as I taxi to the runway at Tetouan, Morocco.

4. Positioned for takeoff at Tetouan, and a rainbow appears in front of me. Actually a faint double rainbow if you look closely.

5. This is good luck, right?

6. Taking off from Tetouan and turning north. You can see the rain falling from the clouds behind me.

7. I'm staying at 1000 feet to stay below those low-lying clouds over the Straits of Gibraltar. These are marginal VFR conditions.

8. Heading north along the coast of Morocco, aiming for Cueta.

9. This is actually a very short flight, only about 20 minutes or so.

10. I'm approaching Ceuta, a tiny Spanish possession at the northern tip of Morocco.

11. Ceuta is on a small peninsula that was originally settled by the Carthaginians.

12. The Portuguese captured Ceuta in 1415. It was turned over to Spain in 1668, in the aftermath of Spain and Portugal's temporary unification in the late 16th, early 17th Century.

13. Today, Ceuta is a free port belonging to Spain and not part of the EU Customs Union, though it uses the Euro. It is claimed by Morocco.

14. About 85,000 people live in Ceuta. The main commercial activity is cross-border trade, legal and illegal. The enclave is surrounded by a high fence to keep out the many asylum-seekers from Africa hoping to enter.

15. Leaving Africa, and heading across the Strait of Gibraltar towards Europe.

16. Spotting the Rock of Gibraltar up ahead, but I'm going to have to descend to just 500 feet to stay clear of those clouds up ahead.

17. Approaching Gibraltar at 500 feet, under a very low layer of clouds.

18. Coming in low to land at Gibraltar. You can see the red landing assistance lights on the runway to the right of the famous rock.

19. Landing at Gibraltar. There's a 7 knot crosswind, but with gusts of up to 17.

20. I got hit with a big crosswind gust right on touching down, nearly lifted me off the runway like a kite. In real life, I'd be having a mechanic check out my landing gear after that one.

21. So this is my biggest memory of Gibraltar, when I went there in college, around 1990. Right after you go through the customs/passport control from Spain, you drive straight across the airport runway into town.

22. Another view of the main road crossing the airport runway, on the way into Gibraltar, from the opposite angle.

23. Get a piece of the rock!

24. Here's the latest update of my Microsoft Flight Simulator journey. I've made it back to Europe, at Gibraltar.

25. If anybody doesn't know what "Get a piece of the rock!" means, take a look: