"Markov Spirello" m_spirello's Profile

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Mont St. Michel - Normandy 2005

Tamworth - Brasov 2005

14 countries in four weeks - from the Normandy beaches to the Carpathians and back, a clapped out people carrier was our home. We rocked out in the stupid little principalities of Luxembourg and Liechenstein, blitzted along the Champs Elysees listening to the Test Match on longwave and knackered the suspension in endless Romanian potholes. 5000 miles only served to whet my appetite for more, but unfortunately I'm now trapped in the UK till Christmas, when the target of my hedonistic tendencies will be the Puritan heartlands of North America. You have been warned...

Tuebingen - Roma 2005

The Road to Italy, Chamonix - France 2005

Three long weeks of German hospital placements got the better of me, and I prescribed myself the only medicine available - hitching to the Italian capital through Switzerland. A detour through France forced me to re-evaluate my Francophobia - hitherto one of the fundamental pillars of my identity - after experiencing French hospitality at its crepe-frying best. Through the Mont Blanc tunnel and into the crazy, nicotine-sustained twilight world of trans-continental truckers, I gradually made my way south and reached St. Peters as a thunderstorm broke over the Vatican. Job done, I headed to a friend´s house in Frascati and spent the week, a White Russian in hand, looking out over the vineyards....

Riga - Warsaw (via Russia & Belarus) 2005

Berchtesgarten - Deutschland 2004

PERKELE!!! Just returned to the Bundesrepublik for the first time since February after the ultimate hedonistic snowbound Russian adventure. From St. Petersburg to Belarusan villages too small to make it onto maps, we tore through northwestern Europe like Napoleon on mescalin. More to follow when I have recovered enough to write......

Viva la revolution!

Riga - Tuebingen 2004

St. Petersburg - Russia 2004

After a brief stint in the Baltics, I spent the summer of 2004 living in St. Petersburg ostensibly working for a research institute. There I learned to drink vodka like a true Russian (i.e. at 10 am to ward off a hangover) and made some great friends in this most frustrating yet rewarding of countries. I also had the distinct pleasure of meeting, via VT, the eccentric Scotsman Bob and his car Freddie. After brief sojourns in Finland, Sweden and Austria, I now find myself in southern Germany embarking upon a year of university in a language I vaguely understand. Bring it on.

Bangkok - Leeds 2003

Mongolia 2003

My greatest journey to date - crossing Eurasia without the use of aircraft.

This summer I travelled solo overland from Bangkok to Leeds, through Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, China, Mongolia, Russia, Finland, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, Slovakia, Austria, Czech Republic, Germany and Holland. It took me three months, and I arrived back on a drizzling Monday morning on Tyneside just in time to start lectures in Leeds.

An account of this madness can be found here

Viva la revolution.

Cancun - New York 2002

Monument Valley - Arizona 2002

The events of Summer 2002 stemmed from a drunken conversation with my Canadian friend about the possibilty of touring Central America, buying a car in Arizona and driving it to Canada, where it would be blown up in front of a camera.

Amsterdam - Ulaan Baatar 2001

St. Petersburg - Russia 2001

During the summer of 2001 I headed east by train across Europe starting in Holland, and eventually found myself on the trans-Siberian railway on the way to Mongolia. Details of this hedonistic drink-fuelled odyssey across Eurasia will follow shortly...

Tanzania 2000

Sunset - Ruaha, Tanzania 2000

As part of a team of 16 people, I travelled to Tanzania in July 2000. I spent a fantastic month there doing all sorts of stuff. The highlight of the expedition for me was the 4500m ascent of the volcanic Mt. Meru, with amazing views of the (nearly) 6000m peak of Kilimanjaro only 30 kilometres away.
The picture features a sunset photographed while staying in huts in the Ruaha National Park in the south of the country.

2000 World Challenge Expedition Travelogue

Intro Updated Nov 2, 2005
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Comments (10)

bobs12 Sep 1, 2005 at 12:35 PM Report Abuse

Yep, back in the Fatherland. Living in a caravan in Fife, working as a welder in an engineering workshop. Hi to Veronica!
JessH Aug 9, 2005 at 11:15 PM Report Abuse

Hallo! Wie ist z.Zt. der Sommer bei Euch? Viele Gruesse von einer heimwehgeplagten Deutschen aus Dubai! Jessica ('c',)
Luisanna Dec 6, 2004 at 2:59 PM Report Abuse

Wishing you a great birthday!
jmhenry1123 Dec 6, 2004 at 10:15 AM Report Abuse

Happy Birthday from Chicago. Seems like you've had a life filled with extraordinary travels.
littlegirl0130 Dec 5, 2004 at 9:20 PM Report Abuse

hey there c",) droppin by to wish you a HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! Hope your enjoying your extra special day! More travels! CHEERS! ~cathy
majormodel22 Dec 5, 2004 at 8:26 PM Report Abuse

Happy birthday from California!!!
seattlesmiley Dec 5, 2004 at 8:25 PM Report Abuse

Happy Birthday !!! Best wishes and smiles from Sydney, Australia :)
Guedes Dec 5, 2004 at 7:31 PM Report Abuse

Happy birthday! Best wishes! Greetings from Fortaleza! =)
orlikins Apr 28, 2004 at 12:01 PM Report Abuse

hey another fan of HIGNFY on VT! :-))
GrantBoone Feb 21, 2004 at 3:20 AM Report Abuse

Is that Mr Hislop I see before me!!!!!