Around the world from Zaporizhia

Pavlo Voloshyn said that the idea of the tour occurred to him spontaneously. Suddenly he wanted to travel and experience the world. Besides, the family from Zaporizhia had had a dream to travel around the world for a long time. The preparation for such a serious project lasted for a very short time. In two-month time the Voloshyns bought a car, called it Kapcheny, handed their business to a partner, organized their departure and set off on September 15, 2012.

The tour around the world by the travelers from Zaporizhia lasted 385 days. During this period of time they visited 3 continents and 28 countries: Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Panama, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Columbia, Bolivia and other. The Voloshyns organized their route to follow the sun and warm weather. Their friends and family could watch their journey on-line as the travelers published detailed descriptions of places they visited and photos on their blog.

Vira and Pavlo managed to overcome all kinds of difficulties and problems using the slogans they equipped themselves with on the very first day of their tour: “The Voloshyns only go ahead” and “There are no problems, there are adventures.” As for adventures, they had a lot: the travelers from Zaporizhia passed a cocaine plantation whose territory belonged to drug lords and was restricted even for the police, they repaired their car several times and in Spain someone broke the window of their car parked near a four-star hotel.

“In general, we were very lucky to meet good people. For example, in Argentina when our car broke down on the road every car stopped and people asked if we needed any help, if we had food and water. In Italy a family we did not know put us up, gave us the keys from their house and car and let us use it,” Vira told.

“In general, we noticed that the smaller a town is the kinder local people are. It is true for any country,” Pavlo added. We were especially impressed by small Columbian towns where people just kept saying hello and smiling to us.

By the way, after the journey the family from Zaporizhia changed their attitude to Ukraine. In particular, Vira understood that there is something special in Ukraine, its own local color. The illusions that somewhere is better than in our country were dispelled and they realized that if they are together it does not really matter where they are.

In Zaporizhia they were met not only by their friends and relatives, but also by the plenipotentiary head of the commission of the national project The Record Book of Ukraine Vitalii Semeniuk. He explained that if travelers cross all the meridians and the equator (twice) and come back to the place of their start, they make a tour round the world. The journey Pavlo and Vira made met these criteria, so they will take their place in history as the first Ukrainians who have made a tour round the world by car.