From the Siberian tundra to the jungles of Papua New Guinea and from cycling through Zambian villages to sailing the raging waves to the most remote inhabited island on earth. In the footsteps of Willem Barentsz on Spitsbergen and Alexine Tina in the Middle East. From immersive adventures to the wildest discoveries. We are world travelers Milene and Yuri van Mygrations.nl!
We are Milene & Yuri
Introduce: Milene is a photographer who travels a lot for her work to what others often describe as more exciting destinations. She has also lived abroad for five years, including Turkey, Uganda & Argentina† Besides being a photographer, Milene is a (hobby) beekeeper, she is always up for a game of volleyball and she prefers to eat pizza. Or kale.
Yuri is a structural engineer with a specialization in fire safety. While traveling he sees the beautiful details of buildings that others pass by. Before he got to know Milene, Yuri traveled four months through four continents† He likes to play softball, has a passion for making beautiful videos and prefers to snowboard in unknown places such as Iran, Georgia and Japan.
We got to know each other in 2015 and since then we have been saving adventures and memories together. And in those years we have saved up a lot of adventures. We like to travel 'beyond the ordinary', prefer to visit the undiscovered places and do not shy away from a 'travel warning† Of course, safety comes first.
From global adventures to lockdown in The Hague
We were in Siberia when the corona virus took hold of the world. Ignorant and far from the chaos caused by the virus, we played with the Nenets children in the snow, tried to gather reindeer and had to find our way through the icy cold of the steppes. Our phones had been sitting uncharged in our bags for a while, away from range and the internet. However, all good things come to an end and so we returned to a world of lockdowns, chaos and toilet paper hoarding.
We had nowhere to go and our apartment became our world. Our most exciting adventures were now cubes to come back without a snot. Every corner of our house reminds us of the journeys we have made, but also the beautiful earth that is now closed to us. We became aware once more of the privilege of our fine passport. So that's how it feels when you come from eg Iraq or Venezuela.
After a few months of rest and also restlessness, it was time to forge new plans. It didn't look like the pandemic would disappear as quickly as the plane tracks in the sky. So it's time to look at what can be done. And the sky may be the limit, there are always roads that lead to Rome. There was a particular road, actually more of a route, that had been calling for our attention for a while. It was time to get our Volkswagen T2 out of the garage.
The Silk Road in a Volkswagen van
Our van, Alexine (named after adventurer Alexine Tinne), was almost ready. In the summer of 2020 we did a key course to recognize the parts of our bus, to be able to solve minor problems ourselves and to understand the system. Then it was up to us to fix up the bus. Everything out, sanding, painting, coating and so on. She was almost like new. A 45-year-old van is of course never like new, but you couldn't tell those years from this lady. Not only the bus was being prepared, we also had to believe it. Rent out a house, digitize everything, clean up, apply for international driving licenses and all the other hassle.
Our plan: drive the Silk Road. This ancient route actually consists of several routes. Our plan was to drive one of these routes starting in Venice and via the Adriatic coast to Turkey. then via Georgia & Armenia to Iran from where we travel up through the Stannen (Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan & Kyrgyzstan) to finally reach Xi'An China arrive. A tough journey in times of crisis, but nothing is impossible!
Fast forward, March 2021 we left The Hague for the first far too cold nights en route to China. Many adventures further, in September 2021 we will face the closed border of Iran. We decide to park the bus with friends in Armenia and fly back to the Netherlands. In April 2022 we will continue our journey and you can read all about it wereldreizigers.nl, on our website mygrations.nl and on our Instagram account.
Traveling off the beaten track
In the time we have been together we have made so many beautiful trips and adventures that we are only too happy to write about. For example, we sailed on a three-master ship 'de Rembrandt van Rijn' to the northernmost village of Europe on Spitsbergen, we took the train from Zambia to Tanzania to dive on Mafia island and we climbed the highest mountain of Oceania in Papua New Guinea. We visited the most remote inhabited island in the world; Tristan da Cunha and fed the oldest land animal in the world on Saint Helena. You can read about these adventures in the coming time at Wereldreizigers.nl.
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Love, us
