243: ‘Going East’: Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania & Turkey by train

Today we find out about ‘Going East’ – a new ski film from Arc'teryx – which sees a team of four skiers make their way to ski in Italy, Austria, then Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey – all by public transport with not a single flight! 

In total they took 35 trains, 24 buses, 7 metro, 2 trams and spend over 140 hours travelling. They had to deal with language differences, connections and passport checks in the middle of the night. At one point they lost one member of their team completely!

Yet, when you listen to our conversation, you’ll find out why they think "the journey was as important as the skiing itself" and why they’d do it again. 

Host Iain Martin was joined by Silvia Moser and Joi Hoffman, two of the athletes who made the film. 

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SHOW NOTES

Win a pair of Watchtower sunnies from Vallon – simply leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or write a comment on Spotify or Instagram (1:15)
Vallon’s End of Season Ski Sale is on now with 25-35% off (1:30)
Silvia is based in Cortina, Italy (2:30)
Iain travelled by train back from Selva Val Gardena (3:15)
Joi is based in Innsbruck, Austria (4:30)
Watch 'Going East' – the new film from Arc'teryx (5:00)
The journey involved taking 35 trains, 24 buses, 7 metro, 2 trams and 140 hours of travelling (8:30)
The team used Interrail tickets for their train travel (9:15)
How did you carry so much camera kit? (11:30)
What about backing up? (12:45)
The other two athletes in the film are Loic Isliker and Max Kroneck (14:00)
The first stop was Tarvisio, Italy (14:30)
Next up was Semmering, Austria (15:30)
Find out more about Stary Smokovec in Slovakia (18:15)
The team stopped in Caransebeș, Romania (22:15)
Arriving in Borovets, Bulgaria was a culture shock (24:30)
Travelling on the night train from Sofia to Istanbul (26:45)
Max went missing in Ankara! (29:30)
In Turkey, the team finished their trip on Mt Hasan (32:00)
The editing process (35:45)
Watch the movie on YouTube: 
https://youtu.be/yzHgzoPEJp4

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