How a Romanian photographer travels around the world without a plane, only with a backpack and a few simple safety measures: “It's important to keep your passport and some money”

Eduard Vînătoru (35 years old) is a photographer and, on January 12, he left Bucharest, from the North Railway Station, on a four-month trip around the world, without a plane. He travels by train, bus and local transport, and for distances between continents he chose passenger ships. After almost a month of travel, he is in Uzbekistan. To get there, he's passed through Turkey, Iran and Turkmenistan – places he says look different when you see them from the train or on the street, not from the news.

The photographer is doing this route with four other people, but they didn't all go at the same time, nor did they go permanently together. “We are a group of five people. Some left earlier, on January 9. I left on the 12th, from the North Station. Three entered Iran earlier, I stayed three days in Turkey. We met on the route,” he explains.

At the time of the conversation with the HotNews reporter, Eduard was in Uzbekistan. The direction was set from the beginning – to the east, but the concrete route was adjusted on the fly, depending on visas, borders and the political situation in the region.

The first journeys were made entirely by train, including the departure from Romania. Eduard started from the North Station, and the first days meant crossing Romania and Bulgaria, then entering Turkey. He first arrived in Istanbul, then went on to Ankara, where he stayed for a few days. From there, the pace changed and the distances became more manageable, especially because of the trains.

Hagi's name

“I went by train to Tatvan, then by bus to Van, close to the border with Iran. From Van I took the train to Tehran. Each segment was 20-25 hours and I didn't get a berth”, says Eduard.

So that he could sleep, he bought two seats: “I bought two seats so I could lie down.” He says that after the first very long journeys, the perception of time changes: “If a 27-hour train is two hours late, it doesn't matter anymore.”

In the eastern Turkish city of Van, where he arrived before entering Iran, a child selling tangerines from a trailer asked him where he was from – “from Iran or from Russia?”. When Eduard answered that he was from Romania, the child looked puzzled. “The Hague. Galatasaray,” the photographer continued.

Eduard says that this kind of reaction is repeated often: people light up when they hear Hagi's name and immediately become more open and friendly.

Couch Lottery

During the journey, Eduard also documents the journey online. He created Facebook and Instagram pages under the name “Circle Around the World”, where he posts when he has internet and a little free time. They are usually short videos from the trains, from the cities it passes through or photos taken on the road – without a constant rhythm, because internet access differs greatly from one country to another.

On the route from Turkey, Eduard took the Vangölü Express, the train that connects Ankara to Tatvan, a journey of about 27 hours. The train also has a restaurant car. He says he expected the experience to be “rough,” especially since he didn't get a bunk, but that the ride was more bearable than he anticipated.

“I expected it to be nasty,” he recounts. He compares the experience with much shorter journeys made previously in Romania and says that, in the case of trains that go this long, “it matters if they are designed for this duration”.

Here, a ticket without a berth costs, depending on the time of purchase, between approximately 12 and 18 euros (approximately 60-90 lei), while a seat in the berth reaches 50-55 euros (approximately 260-290 lei), for a single direction.

Eleven days through Iran

The next leg of the trip was Iran. Eduard entered the country by train, on the route between Van, in eastern Turkey, and Tehran, at a time when the situation was tense, and tourist access was limited due to the protests of the last months.

Eduard says that he knew before entering that he would not have access to the Internet and that he tried to prepare his family for this. “I told my family to be quiet. I knew I wouldn't have Internet and I wouldn't be able to call them,” he says. He arrived in the country by train, on the couch, and the journey took about 22 hours.

Eduard did not enter the country at the same time as the other members of the group, but a few days later. “Three of them entered earlier, I stayed three more days in Turkey and then I entered too,” he says.

At the border, things were much simpler than he had imagined. “At the border control, the official looked at the passport for a few seconds, then at me, and motioned for me to pass. That's it,” says Eduard. He had expected more thorough checks, especially in the political context he had read about before leaving, but none of that happened.

Taxi trips for 2 lei

The first stop was in Tehran, where he stayed only one night, then went on. The route continued to Isfahan and Yazd in central Iran, then Mashhad in the east of the country. He says shipping was simple and very affordable. “I used to go by taxi for 20-30 minutes and pay about two lei”, he says.

Even the longer journeys remained cheap: “If I went 40 minutes, I paid under one euro”.

Throughout his stay he was accompanied by a local guide, a necessary condition to be able to travel during this period. He says the guide was constantly present and attentive to detail. “

He knew a lot about Romania and helped us with everything we needed.” Including early in the morning, when Eduard wanted to go out to take pictures: “If I wanted to go out at sunrise, he would come with me.”

“They were pulling out Google Translate and writing to me 'Welcome to Iran'”

Before leaving Iran, he spent a night in a small town near the border in a very modest house. “I slept in a dilapidated house, without heat, with all our clothes on and seven blankets”, says Eduard. He says it was one of the few really tough nights from a practical point of view on the entire Iran route.

In the cities he passed through, he adds, he did not notice any visible protests or tensions. “I've been to four or five cities and I haven't seen anything that's on TV. It's all been calm.” The only interaction with the authorities was a brief one, in traffic. “They only stopped us once. We were with the guide, he told them we were tourists and they let us go.”

Meetings with ordinary people remained in his mind the most. “I didn't feel in danger at all,” says Eduard. Many of the people he met were trying to communicate, even if they didn't speak English, using the phone. “They would pull up Google Translate and write 'Welcome to Iran' to me. That's it.” In total, Eduard spent about 11 days in Iran.

Turkmenistan and the white capital

After leaving Iran, Eduard entered Turkmenistan, a country where the movement of tourists is strictly organized. He says that “you can't travel freely, but only on a predetermined route, accompanied by a guide and driver at all times”. Documents are checked often, not only at the border, but also along the way.

The first stop was in Ashgabat. The visit to the capital was short and well controlled. The car stopped from place to place, for a few minutes, in front of official buildings and on wide boulevards, after which the route continued. Eduard says that the city surprised him with its lack of life: during the time he spent in the center, he hardly saw anyone on the street.

“The buildings are large, uniform, built of white marble, but many seem unused,” and the city gave him the impression of a space designed to be looked at rather than lived in. “It's a ghost town,” he says.

Gate of Hell

From the capital, the road continued towards the desert, towards the Darvaza crater, also known as the “Gate of Hell”.

The group arrived there in the evening and slept in yurts close to the crater. Darvaza has been burning for over 50 years, following an industrial accident during the Soviet era, and the fire is visible from a distance.

Of the drive through the desert, he says it was “long and slow.” At one point, very early in the morning, the driver stopped the car on the side of the road for prayer. Eduard says that the moment surprised him mainly because of the weather conditions: it was cold and there were traces of snow in the desert, a contrast he did not expect.

About the local guides, he says that, away from the checkpoints, they were much more relaxed in their discussions. “The guides are very open-minded,” he recounts, explaining that the tone changed as soon as they passed the supervised areas.

Asked why he went on such a trip, Eduard says that it wasn't for a “very specific purpose”.

“I thought life is short and if you don't do things on time, you end up not doing them at all,” he says. The idea started from a post on Facebook, and the group, composed of five people, gradually formed. They did not all leave at the same time, nor did they always go together.

What's in his backpack?

Asked what safety measures he took before leaving, the photographer says he didn't leave with fear, but also without thinking about unforeseen situations.

He has no special items in his backpack, but he chose simple solutions for documents and money. Use an anti-theft pocket, worn under your clothes, in which you always keep your passport, cash and one or two cards.

“This is on us all the time, we only take it off when we shower,” he explains.

In addition, it has a belt with hidden compartments, where it keeps a stash of money. He says that the idea is not to avoid any risk, but to make sure that, in any situation, you stay with what is strictly necessary to be able to move forward.

“It's important to keep your passport and some money, so you can move around,” says Eduard.

Regarding safety, he says he didn't leave with any worries. “I don't have any safety anxieties,” he explains, adding that he prefers to adapt on the fly and be aware of the context rather than living the road in fear.

He doesn't talk about anything exaggerated when it comes to money either.

“Surprisingly, it's not very expensive, you know,” says Eduard. “Accommodations are simple, transport is chosen for price rather than convenience, and many expenses are diluted when shared, which helps a lot.”

Where does the road lead?

If all goes according to plan, the furthest point of the journey will be Australia.

From Uzbekistan the road continues east. Eduard and those he is traveling with will go through Kyrgyzstan and China, then further through Southeast Asia – Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia.

From the Timor area, one of the most complicated stages follows: the crossing to Australia, without a plane, with cargo ships or other options available at the time.

From Australia, the route continues by water, with a long Pacific crossing, to the United States. Next up are a few short stops in cities like Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Chicago before arriving in New York. From there, the return to Europe is also done by sea, with a crossing of the Atlantic.

In the end, the circle would close where it all began, in the North Station – four months later, without a plane, but with many trains, long journeys and short breaks.