Flying in the USA vs. Europe

As many of you know, I'm currently on a "barnstorming tour" around the
Eastern half of America, flying wherever the weather is best, and
enjoying the scenery along the way. Since Sunday we've flown from
Iowa City, IA to First Flight (Kill Devil Hills, NC), to Ocracoke
Island, to Beaufort, NC, to Huntsville, Alabama, to Memphis,
Tennessee. We'll be flying home tomorrow, completing a relatively
simple VFR flight of 1977 miles.

Just for fun, I have overlaid the flight plan we're currently enjoying
on a map of Europe. The results are stunning, to me, as for the same
expenditure of time we could easily have flown the following route in
Europe:

London, United Kingdom (completely over-flying Germany) to Vienna,
Austria
Vienna, Austria to Milan, Italy
Milan, Italy to Madrid, Spain

During this flight we would have overflown nine (or more) countries,
with all the complications inherent with that task, covering much of
Europe. By comparison, this flight in America has barely scratched
the Eastern Seaboard.

Considering that our current flight has been almost effortless, with
minimal contact with air traffic control (VFR flight following, and,
of course, interaction with control towers at larger airfields), with
no landing fees, only a couple of parking fees, and the highest price
per gallon of avgas paid (thus far) pegged at $4.10 per gallon, it
really is a truism that you simply can't beat GA flying in the good
ol' U.S. of A.

It would be an interesting (if frightening) exercise to see what this
flight in Europe would entail, from a financial as well as technical
standpoint. Can any or our European brethren take a whack at it?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
(Presently in Memphis, TN)
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"