Aeroflot’s one bag rule was my introduction to Russia’s general hatred of luggage. The next time I found it was getting on the bus in Yekaterinburg that was heading downtown from the airport. Stern-looking and solidly built as she was, …
To Build a Fire is a short story by Jack London that describes an arrogant man’s walk from one trading post to the next in the dead of a winter along the Yukon Trail. London is unsympathetic to his central …
Itchy feet is a chronic condition in my family, and I’m not talking about the athlete’s kind. We are in varying degrees a band of wanderers, seekers of adventure with a commonly held curiosity about the world and other people …
Red Thread is off to the chilly, frozen bits of Russia in an attempt to drive 2,500km across the Siberian wilderness on an old Ural motorcycle with sidecar. The goal is to drive from Irbit, the home of the Ural, …
Anta, about 1pm and 25 kilometres west of Cusco was the point at which we said goodbye to Fritz with many thanks for all his hospitality and gracious guiding across the Andes. He’d dropped us at the local mototaxi repair …
Climbing quickly we wound our way up to over 4500 meters. Zaya fell asleep and I struggled, between a headache and lack of oxygen, to stay awake. But the high altitude plain was itself a welcome change from the stress …
We pulled into a truck stop on the outskirts of Nazca for a dinner of trucker’s fare which we’d become familiar with. Massive portions of good home cooking for very little money. Mine was a pile of rice with a …
Pulling out her sign, Zaya started waving down trucks. It had been years since I hitchhiked anywhere and never with either a Mongolian or a mototaxi. Sure enough within the hour Fritz pulled over in his huge Volvo 420 truck …
Our plan was to be up early. We finally hit the road at 9:00AM – which isn’t particularly early. Zaya was keen to hitch a lift, while I wanted to drive. We compromised. We stood around with our thumbs out …
The Pan-American highway forbids pedestrians, horses, bicycles and mototaxi’s, so there we were – living on the edge, fugitives from justice, driving like banshees. Trucks blew by us at speed leaving us wallowing in their wake. In 10 minutes my …
