5th November The Albanian Adventure.


Once upon a time a right of passage for any young adult was an inter rail trip around Europe, possibly during the summer holidays or even a gap year.  If it was Tuesday it must be Belgium. Today for any single Albanian man, the must do adventure is a similar trip across Europe that is less like travelling on the Orient Express with Hercule Poirot and more like a trip on the Mediterranean with Robert Maxwell.

Instead of staying in youth hostels, taking endless selfies in front of world famous sites and attractions, sampling different cuisines and drinking exotic wines, the non refundable, one way Albanian version offers accomodation in shipping containers or the back of lorries, not eating for days and occasionally drinking your own urine to stay hydrated, only to end up in conditions at RAF Manston far worse than you left back at home.

Whilst an interrail trip offered the chance to meet interesting local characters, Flavia the flamamco dancer, Pierre the painter and Sven the scandanavian, the Albania equivalent has the chance to meet and greet Barry the blade, Tarique the traffiker and his friend Rezar the rapist.

Many setting off inter railing might hope to improved their language skills only to spend a month just shouted louder and slower in English at every foreigner they encounter, whereas those surviving the Albania experience will have learned many new life skills including how to operate an inflatable dingy, how to swim in rough seas, how cling onto the bottom of a moving truck and last but not least how to fill in innumerable forms in a foreign language.


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