If you’re offered something for nothing, most people grab it with both hands. But Shrewsbury-based Julie Bromilow was having none of it.
Although she was delighted to be offered a scholarship by the Japanese government to research environmental education, there was one part of the package that didn’t quite fit — the free flight.
Julie says: “Somehow, it didn’t seem appropriate to take advantage of the polluting flight that was on offer. So instead my boyfriend John Clarke and I decided to travel all the way there over land and sea.”
To put the journey into perspective, the pair spent three weeks travelling over 9,500 miles across Eastern Europe, Russia and parts of China. And at a cost of around £800, it was all in the name of the environment.
She says: “The journey, including visas and spending money, actually cost the same as a peak season flight. But overall, it saved around 2.79 tons of CO2 emissions, so it was worth it. I want everyone to know how easy it is to travel all the way to Japan without using cars or planes.”
The pair began their remarkable journey with a coach trip to Prague, before trekking across the border to Poland, where they caught a train to Krakow.
But it was their arrival in Moscow — following yet another train journey — that they came across some of the starkest reminders of the region’s communist past.
Julie explains: “There were black-windowed, enormous black cars parked aggressively outside large buildings that were still engraved with the hammer and sickle. The underground trains ran between incredibly lavish stations — Stalin destroyed the palaces and churches, but built incredibly ornate palaces for the underground.”
Her trip also included six days on the famous Trans-Siberian Express, which took them from Moscow to the south-eastern port of Vladivostok, which was a ferry crossing away from Japan.
The train journey covered around 6,000 miles and took in some of the most spectacular scenery on earth.
And as Julie points out, it is these views that linger most in the mind: “The journey was mostly miles of empty birch forest, with gushing rivers and pine trees. At the stations, poor people pounced eagerly on the rubbish thrown out by the guards.
Although Julie is now settled in her role at Joetsu University in northern Japan, she and John are planning to return to the UK next year, again via a non-traditional route.
“I still haven’t decided how to travel back to the UK, but I really want to go across to Alaska by ship, down to Mexico and back to Europe that way. But if that is too expensive, we will go back through South Korea, China, pop into Tibet, then up through Mongolia and into Russia.”
- Are you a Shropshire expat? We’d love to hear from you, and see your pictures. Please contact starfeatures@shropshirestar.co.uk
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