Author: Thomas Dooley
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Khiva, Uzbekistan
Initially, I was not going to write a blog about Khiva. As the smallest of Uzbekistan’s Silk Road Towns, I planned to group it together with Bukhara and Samarkand in a big piece about the historic centres of the country. However, having spent the last few days in Khiva, I think it is deserving of…
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Tashkent, Uzbekistan
When I was in my hostel in Riga, about to leave for Uzbekistan, to say I wasn’t apprehensive would be lying. Following proposed constitutional reforms, massive protests occurred in the southwestern city of Nukus, leaving 18 people dead and hundreds injured. I had heard the situation in Tashkent was calm and unaffected by the situation…
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Riga, Latvia
Having travelled through much of Eastern Europe throughout the past couple of years I have sort of felt I have largely neglected the Baltic states with exception of a few days in Lithuania last year visiting friends. Consequently, when I realised the most reasonably priced flights to my next adventure went via Riga, I decided…
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Budapest, Hungary
Well, after a bit of a delay I finally thought I’d write something about my time in Budapest last week. I first went to Budapest a few years ago when I was 18 on an interrail trip around Europe. Of all the trips I’ve done, this is possibly the worst trip I could use to…
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Kyiv
So this week marks a year since I visited Kyiv for the first time. If I’m honest I’ve been avoiding writing about my time in Ukraine and Russia, put simply I have had no idea what to say or how to say how I feel properly, and I probably still don’t. Anyway, I thought that…
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Istanbul, Turkey
It’s impossible for your first impression of Istanbul not to be the sheer size of the city. Having landed at Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen International Airport, it took me 50 minutes by car to reach my accommodation in the Beyoğlu district of central Istanbul. However, for the entire journey, the road is surrounded on all sides…
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Kotor, Montenegro
If I am completely honest until I arrived in Tirana I had never heard of Kotor. However, pretty much every person I met in Albania who was travelling south through the Balkans recommended Kotor in front of pretty much any other place they had visited, including the more well-known Adriatic destinations of Dubrovnik or Split.…
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Albania
So first up Albania or specifically Tirana, the capital. Before travelling to Albania I feel people either know nothing or very little beyond its perceived poverty relative to the rest of Europe and the Albania Mafia. To some extent this is true, around Albania car graveyards will be seen, many with British number plates, if…
The Random Wanderer 