Carol Vorderman has revealed her plan to fly solo across the world is back on track, and she will take to the skies later this year.
The former ‘Countdown’ mathematician was heartbroken when she was forced to delay her expedition last autumn, but is ready to set off on her mission to become the ninth woman to fly around the globe this summer.
“I’m waiting for one final bit of paper from the American authorities and then hopefully the extra fuel tanks [to her plane] can be linked in, which means I can go this year - May and June is the plan,” she told The Huffington Post UK.
Having earned her pilot’s licence in 2013, Carol’s challenge will see her travel for 29,000 miles completely alone.
“There’s a lot of preparation,” she explained. “I have six months of intense flying. I cannot even begin to stress how critical it is that I get the training in.
“In a couple of weeks, I’m flying her to Egypt and back with another pilot so I can start to learn the longer routes. Then I’m flying to America and back. I’m trying to challenge myself constantly.”
The ‘I’m A Celebrity’ alumni will be following in the footsteps of doomed aviator Amelia Earhart, who became the first woman to fly solo across the world, shortly before she disappeared while trying to set another record.
But it seems Carol is much more excited than she is nervous about the daunting trip.
“It’s something I never thought I’d be able to do for a million reasons,” she said. “But the scariest part is that there’s so much to learn, it’s like doing a whole master’s degree almost.
“The scariest pieces of the flight are the overwater bits, particularly as you go north over eastern Russia, across the Pacific and the high north into Alaska and so on. But there will be places people have never seen and I never dreamt that I’d see, so the scariest bits become the most exciting bits.”
Once the trip is over, Carol is intending on well and truly letting her hair down, explaining: “The next challenge immediately after the first six months of this year will be the hardest partying I’ve ever had in my life!”
Asked what a night on the tiles with her might entail, she replied: “You never know really. It’s not quiet, let’s put it that way!
“I can’t do it as often as I used to, not for an entire weekend anymore. But on Saturday, I think I was 5.30am to bed.”
A woman after own hearts.
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