Aaron's Awesome Adventures

In 2015 I decided to travel to 12 countries over the course of 12 months, making a series of short breaks rather than doing it all in one large trip. I started this blog map my adventure.After having so much fun and experiencing so many things, why let the adventure stop?

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SMacaroni cheesecake. #Smacdown #Glasgow #Sloans (at Glasgow Restaurant Festival)

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Can you be more specific? #Moscow #touristsign #Russia #specific

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До свидания Москва . Пока мы не встретимся снова. (at Moscow, Russia)

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Fallen Monument Museum #Moscow #Russia

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#Sovietarchade #Soviet #arcade #Moscow #Russia

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Spaceship selfie #cosmonaut (at Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics)

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Good morning. (at Moscow Kremlin)

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#Moscow #redsquare

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Moscow

Arrived at my hostel about 7, checked in, dumped my bag and headed to the city. My hostel is less than 5 minutes walk from the Red Square, which is cool. I got some pictures and noticed they were all out of focus. Retuning back to the hostel, to a group of youngsters playing some dance game on the X-box/PlayStation, I managed to clean the lens of my camera (well it looks okay). Using the wifi I found a fairly local bar and had a beer. Unfortunately I've been awake for too long and only got 4 hours sleep last night, add in a beer and I'm shattered. 22.20 and I'm turning in for the night.

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#Moscow #selfie

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#Malmö

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East bound and down

Sitting in Glasgow’s central station, sipping a pint of a local(ish) brewed lager, listening to an eclectic mix of songs, waiting for my holiday to begin on a muggy, spring-like Scottish winter evening. I’ve always wanted to visit Russia. I’ve dreamed of travelling the trans-siberian railway. I love the cold. I have the travel bug. I live for adventure. Yet somehow I’m not excited. I know I should be. I should have a smile on my face and a spring in my step, yet I’m feeling nothing but tired and stressed. Maybe it’s the hurdles I’ve had arranging this trip (my new winter jacket was delivered on the wrong day to an empty house and then re-delivered on the wrong day, visa application trouble, unexpected expenses, trouble getting the right time off from work), or maybe it’s because I’ve not had time to think about the trip between organising it, working, family issues and socialising or maybe it’s something else (though I can’t think what), however no matter what it is, I’m not excited. I thought that writing this post while nursing a beer might help, I guess not. Anyway, tonight West Central Scotland, tomorrow Moscow.

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#aurora #Tromsø #norway #nothernlights

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#tromsø #norway #home

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EAST

So off to a flying start in my challenge. My Russian Visa has been approved, I’ve got my flights and hostels booked, and I am heading East.

Currently the furthest east I've been was Tromsø (69°40′58″N, 18°56′34″E), however this month I intend to visit Nizhny Novgorod (56°19′37″N,44°0′27″E).

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N.E.W.S.  The 2016 Adventure

Chatting to a friend in work after returning from my final leg of the 12 countries in 12 months, he was surprised when I showed him how far north Tromsø was. This lead to a conversation on how far North, East, West and South we had been. North was easy for me, it was Tromsø, south, I thought it was probably Barcelona, east was Bratislava and west was Chicago. Without realising it, in 2015 I went the furthest North, East and possibly South I’d ever been, which was pretty cool. That night I decided to double check my N.E.W.S. limits by checking Google Maps and Wikipedia to confirm all the cities I’d been to. My furthest north I had ever been was of course Tromsø (69.40N 18.56E). Furthest east, I was wrong, I found that Tromsø (69.40N 18.56E) was actually further east than Bratislava (48.08N 17.06E). So it turns out my trip to the arctic was the furthest North and the Furthest East I had ever been. Not bad. Furthest West, I was spot on, it was Chicago (41.50N 87.41W). Furthest South was also a shock, Barcelona (41.23N 2.11E) was the furthest south I had been in Europe, however it turns out that Washington D.C. (38.54N 77.00W) was the furthest south I have ever been. This made me decide that in 2016, if no other challenges or adventures present themselves, I will aim to break the furthest I have been North, East, West and South.

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Malmo