The Plan
It started, as all great things invariably do, with an idea. Since I first heard about The Tube Challenge it’s been one of my favourite
Hi, I’m Graham Hughes, British adventurer and the world most travelled scouser.
In the summer of 2017, I attempted to set a brand new Guinness World Record™ by visiting every country in Europe, from Iceland to Cyprus, without flying, in less than 3 weeks. Did I do it?! Well, er…
It started, as all great things invariably do, with an idea. Since I first heard about The Tube Challenge it’s been one of my favourite
With the ferry from Iceland to Denmark only running on certain days, and the People’s March for the EU (at which I’ve been asked to
I would be leaving the UK for Denmark (from whence I would be taking the ferry to Sweden) on Sunday 13 August. Since the visa
Sunday 13 August – Tuesday 15 August 2017 I got online and bought a ticket for the Flixbus to Hamburg. I meandered down to the
The ferry to Iceland was kinda outrageous. At over 500 smackaroonies there and back it was quite possibly the most I had ever spent on
We pulled alongside in the sleepy east-coast town of Seyðisfjörður at precisely 9:30am GMT. For it to count as my first country, I could not
It was indeed the wee small hours when we returned to Tórshavn. I arose from my couchette bunk (banging my head on the one above)
The staff of the Norröna wished me well and as the ramp fell allowing me access to the gangway at Hirtshals I ran as fast
We arrived in Stockholm around 6am and headed straight for the ferry terminal. There we got tickets for the first ferry to Turku in Finland.
Arriving in Tallinn at half midnight was always going to be hilarious, but sadly no trains or buses matched my hectic schedule. That’s okay, get
The Eurolines bus we took from Marijampole to Warsaw was “exclusive class” and as far as this expedition was concerned it was the best thing
The night bus to London rumbled out of Brussels a good half-hour after its scheduled departure time. It was past midnight before we got to
At around 5pm I was awake again and we were coming into port in Holyhead. The first train to Chester and then the familiar Merseyrail
Cricket and I got up super early for the first train to Paris, arriving Paris Nord around 9am and taking the Metropolitan to Monparess Station.
The guy behind the ticket counter in Salamanca thought we were mad. Yes we’d like to reserve tickets to Madrid and then onto Barcelona. “But
I didn’t realise but the bus didn’t go to Nice, it went to Nice airport. Which isn’t served by a dedicated trainline. So Cricket and
I wanted to get to Vienna, the capital of Austria, as early as humanly possible. That meant getting off the train we were on (which
The train rumbled into Bucharest at 8:22am. Cricket and I walked to the minibus station from where we could get a bus to the city
After a few hours sleep, Cricket and I were UP AN’ AT ‘EM for the 0522 from Bazau to Bucharest, arriving in good time for
After yesterday’s somewhat unexpected blitz through a quite frankly staggering number of countries, today we arose from our slumbers as we arrived in Podgorica, the
We began the new month in high spirits as the bus crossed over the border into Croatia just after 3am and trundling through Croatia via
I’m always going to find waking up on a train exciting. It’s just the way I’m programmed. And yet this morning’s awakening included the extra
Today was the day. Today was the day that would make or break The Eurodyssey Challenge. If I was to stand any chance of setting
My alarm went off at 5am. I turned it off. I had paid 70 bastard euros for this room, for €17.50 an hour I expect
If things had gone to plan, I’d be well on my way to Silifke on the south cost of Turkey by now, ready to take
I awoke in the midst of the insanity that is Istanbul’s central bus station, Esenler Otogarı. I quickly gathered my things and got off the
Woo woo Taşucu. Now, if I had arrived on a Monday, Wednesday or Friday I could have taken the daytime ferry over to my 50th
So. Is Cyprus part of Europe? I would say yes. Not only because Cyprus is a member of the European Union (well, half of it