A family-of-five are on a 14-month round-the-world holiday flying their own single-engine plane. The Porter family took off in June and have already travelled to the Bahamas, Dominican Republic, US Virgin Islands and Argentina. Dad Ian, 59, a real estate developer, mum Michelle, 58, and kids, Samantha, 21, Sydney, 18, and Christopher, 15, travelled 15,000 nautical miles, stopping off in 12 countries. The brood, from Vancouver, Canada, believe they are the first family to attempt the adventure. Currently in Argentina, next they will be heading to Ushuaia, South America, then they will head north through Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia and into Central America. Next they'll go through Europe before heading through Northern Africa, the Middle East, Pakistan, India, Eastern Asia and then back towards Canada. They have all given up their jobs to go on the adventure which is set to cost them between $200k and $300k. They bought their plane - called Moose - for $500k in 2021 and saved up for decades to do the trip. They spend around two to four days in each location and stay in hotels, airports, camp and go sight-seeing and exploring. Samantha and Sydney are both co-pilots, assisting their dad Ian, on the journey. Samantha also looks after radio communications and Sydney is in charge of air navigation. Michelle looks after flight planning and navigation and Christopher controls drone operations. He said: "We are all enjoying ourselves, one thing we find people will say 'oh my gosh you're flying, it must be tough' the actual flying part is a relief. "It's the paperwork before you set off that is the challenge, our biggest challenge is logistics for accommodation. "Because of schedule is fluid and we don't know where we are going to be tomorrow or in a few days from now, we can't book far ahead. "We have had everything, we have slept on floors, camped, slept in airports, through to nice hotels. "The experience so far has been fantastic it is a really cool experience, not just flying around the world, meeting all of these people and seeing what we see but to do it as a family is a dream come true I couldn't ask for anything more. "To do this as a family, I mean, how cool is that." They set off on June 15, 2022, after planning for years. Ian, chief pilot and team leader has flown paragliders, paramotors, sailplanes and fixed-wing aircraft for 40 years. He said: "I have been a pilot for quite a while and have done some fairly long trips and when I had been doing those trips, I thought it would be good if I could do this for as long as possible and it would be great for the family to come along too. "I sat there with my wife Michelle and she was on board, I posed the idea to the kids, who then were asking how the plan will work with schooling. "We told them the time would work well because my oldest daughter could take a gap year and university, my middle daughter had just finished high school and could take a break between University and my son could do online learning - we had a 14-month window and went for it." The plane, which is a GA8 AirVan has a strict weight limit of 4200lbs, so each family member only gets a 10kg personal weight limit for their clothes and belongings. Fuel weighs 700lb and the rest is used for food supplies, tools and emergency gear. Ian said the family's mantra is to go "low and slow" allowing the family to enjoy the sites and appreciate the world around them. He also thinks that he believes that no family have ever done what his family have set out to do. Ian said: "More people climb Mount Everest in a single year now than people who have ever flown a single engine plane around the world - we don't think a single family has ever done it before." While travelling the world, the Porter family are raising SOS Children's Villages - a charity that provides humanitarian and developmental assistance to children in need. Ian said: "We decided that if we were going to do this grand adventure and take 14 months, we needed to do something that would account for more than our own personal adventure. "We wanted to raise funds for a charity that works with families and children and has a global reach. "SOS Children's Villages is not that well known in the US, we are trying to raise $1 million and get the name recognition and profile raised higher."
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