Istanbul to Tbilisi | Midnight Train To Georgia: Ep 2

We attempt to travel overland from London to Tbilisi, Georgia.

In this episode we have a couple of days enjoying Istanbul; then once we arrive in Georgia, we explore Tbilisi before heading up to the mountains to the ski resort Gudauri and the iconic location of Kazbegi.

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——————— About Karl Watson ———————

My name’s Karl, welcome to my channel that’s all about sharing my backpacking adventures from around the world, through fun, entertaining and honest travel documentaries.

Through these films I want you – the audience – to escape and come on the journey with me, and then be inspired to start an adventure of your own.

In between my travels I’m based in London, UK where I work as a freelance video editor.

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Myself and my friends Kevin Sai are currently trying to travel over land all the way from London to toi in Georgia and we’ve only got 11 days to do it I am buzzing for this trip cuz it’s kind of random Adventure I haven’t done for a couple of years I’m excited but

Jesus Christ what the hell are we thinking so far we’ve been traveling with trains and buses right the way through through Europe from London to Istanbul made to Istanbul boys and we’re now about to drive across turkey and then get a train across Georgia to spend some time in toi and

It’s a gorgeous evening a bit chilly but it’s January where’s February February 1st February 1 and then the trip will be finishing up in the georan mountains this is the highlight of my week and I haven’t even touched the ski cheers Lads to Georgia our journey began 7 days ago as

We worked our way across Europe from London to Istanbul right off to salsburg you would never get to enjoy this if few were fly at night it’s rather lovely it on to the In to the bass let’s go We’re here right in the center of Belgrade W going to a traditional Bulgarian place just next glass of petrol this is our train to Istanbul our sleeper train officially midnight and we’re on a train to istanb on the way to Georgia [Applause] Georgia arriving in Istanbul our plan is

To spend the day exploring here and then tomorrow we’ll be hiring a car to drive 2 days across turkey and then the following day we’ll get a transfer across the border into Georgia now it’s Kevin side’s first time in this Temple but I was here a couple of years ago and

We’re staying at the same place I was at last time cheers hostel which is in the perfect location for exploring some of the main sites in The Old City we’re back happy to see you again cheers man oh it’s good to be back we got this lovely four person private room they fed

Us some breakfast there’s a laundry right here only takes a couple of hours and we’re all set just to explore Istanbul for the day so it’s all going smoothly so far this is Simon going smoothly that’s C going smoothly to the bathroom so a year and a half ago I

Hosted one of my bespoke tours here in turkey with Intrepid and our tour guide fur cam was an absolute Legend lovely PLO and so I messaged him saying are you free to meet up for a drink whilst we’re here in Istanbul and we got to talking

And I told him about what we’re doing and where we’re going and our last stop in Turkey before we cross the border is a town called trabs on and he’s like my family’s from there so he suggested him and his fiance come with us in the car

On the road trip for the next two days so that’s what we’re going to do and we’re going to meet up with him right now we’re just going to go check out some of the sites some of the classics we go and get a massage think maybe a

Little shave go and see the SST yeah good times the first place we’re going to visit is a Saia which was originally a Cathedral of the Eastern Roman Empire before the Ottoman Empire converted it into a mosque and in the short time since I was last here they’ve now

Changed which part of the building non-muslim visitors can Enter so well was last here this upper bit wasn’t open at all and now this is the only area tourists can go in so they’ve restricted the down bit to Muslim so they can go down and you know worship there’s also some crazy poses and is going on down there was czy

Seeing it from a different angle than last time it’s absolutely fascinating like it’s just you think of how old it is and how big it is as well it’s great it’s unbelievable and it’s still here what was it 6th Century something like that it’s still here we got some

Graffiti here written by Vikings Viking graffiti just saying like this Viking was here there’s a little Compass to show the route he came from you want to go in truck yeah yeah yeah course feeling of De absolutely delicious this place is actually a bus company driving about 1,600 km Southeast so every evening

There’s a bus leaving from that City to East full of trays underneath so they get the fresh bako early in the morning Amazing by the time that the day is over the bako is finished next day starts all over again so it’s a fast circulation that’s the bus I want to ride Great time to come to Grand Bazar is when it’s pissing with rain outside like now there’s 4,000 shops in here 15,000 people work in here it’s a huge basically just a giant Labyrinth of different shops almost and now we’re going to go check out the blue moss cuz last time I was

Here was covered in scaffolding inside so we didn’t bother going in but apparently that’s all cleared so we’re going to go check it out wow you think this is better I think I do mate the hug feere was just like immense but this is prettier it’s got more colors it’s spectacular mate it’s

Absolutely spectacular Realize that a egg is something that chases away the spiders because a spider making a web web getting Dusty and falling as the place would be lit with candles fire will attract the web and it is going to fall on the wool carpet so easily burn that is why ostrich eggs are

Placed on the chandeliers that thing what what is hanging now they’re Aller no it’s a very common tradition to see in Tim I have to get some of them from my House next up we went to The Basilica syst a Subterranean structure for storing water that was built in the 6th Century so last time was in instan I went to a different system to this one this one’s a lot more built up it’s a lot busier these platforms but it’s just

Fantastic the scale of it d Wes the other one I went to impressed mate hell yeah it’s Bonkers oh we’ve gone to techno mode so in 1876 when they rediscovered these places first people came down here thought it was demons living down here and the reason because of that was the

Lanterns through their boat were reflecting off these faces and they saw it like moving with the ripples of the waterers so they thought there’s a demon this one here is Medusa as you can see the snakes with hair palas Cuisine Restaurant it’s I would say rather a new restaurant it’s

About 1 year old now they are focusing on Turkish and ottoman dishes Al together there what seven cheeses five cheeses five seven cheeses a number of several cheeses Che several of them oh yeah it’s quite sweet like the pastry is quite sweet it’s got honey on

It I think yeah yeah yeah I I love when my kebabs come in both form you can actually just shovel it into your mouth I was that’s what I was thinking is that what thats for lamb tandor So Soft oh this is fantastic you said we’re going to share

Didn’t we so I just ordered my own and that’s your B and that’s my B so good you have chosen ni after we finished exploring round Kevin Sai went for heran which I didn’t really fancy cuz I’ve just heard so many horror stories of people basically having their

[ __ ] beaten out of them by some Turkish men so I was like no not for me so I just had a nice nap good oh I feel I feel so loved it was literally like remember that scene in uh Matrix where he gets reborn like a little chicken

Yeah that’s literally how we feel right now good everything is silky soft silky soft like soft like it’s I don’t know it’s just touch it wow okay that’s a soft hand I’m not even making it up that’s like that’s like baby skin so was it not violent

Then not really it was it was it was more homoerotic than violent to be honest there was bubbles there was being caressed and it wasn’t a woman so and at one point like when he’s messaging your leg he puts his leg down like that so

That he can put your leg here and work it like that some form of weird flute I’ll do the fingering but the boys are looking fresh cuz they went to do a Haman but they also gone for a a bit of a haircut and a

Bit of a clean and a wax and all these kind of things so step forward the new and improved Kev andon it won’t last but for out tell me about your experience so we went in we asked him for two full mots so this is my first ever Turkish Barber experience

And this is what he’s going to fix hopefully so uh yeah best of luck mate cheers thank you initially went in and got a full fade on the back sides uh trim on top so good then he did full beard trim with cro blades then the wax strips came Out Do oh no it’s a weird sensation isn’t it then the face mask started so we had like a full face mask and then they like pulled hairs that I didn’t know hairs Existed your K is Oh my Jesus that’s disgusting that’s so nasty looks like a h jog it’s at the end cuz I asked him could could I record it and he goes yeah I’ll show you something cool to record just takes a Flamethrower you could see that there was like little straggler bits the back of my head and he just flamed them off and so was just like what okay wow so they made me uh beautiful Turkish man that’s what I asked for and this is what I got and

You’ve got it man you look bloody spectacular I got my haircut literally the day before we started this trip I know just looking now been wearing my hat and all that St but I was like I don’t need to go get freshened up and do all the waxing and stuff genuinely I

Feel like I’ve done so much kind of uh work on myself to look as great frankly radiant as we do that um that I didn’t want to put any more toxins in my mouth anyway 5 minutes later I’m on I’m on my third pint um we have got a a four

Person mixed Kebab for three people as well as beers happy birthday oh my Christ on a bike Actually I was like you guys a bit peckish should we get a kebab and a beard just to finish off the night like yeah now we have all of the food ever made this is what happens in let the takeway man order yes nice One what did you guys order I mean how how we do we order extra do we are disgusting this is not for four people right this is for like 73 people the thing that’s trly disgusting is we’re going to eat it anyway I’m glad we got the side of roast and vegetables desperately

Needed it’s just amazing like so Happy our evening ended with some beers at the Rooftop Bar of Cheers hostel finishing off a fantastic day in istan it’s been a good day it’s been raining but we still man get to see everything Istanbul as as more than perhaps any other one so far you’re just

Like damn I want to spend a week here out of all the places that we have like traveled through I just think that turkey and Istanbul itself took us in with open arms I’d definitely come back here first if I had the chance I’ve really really loved this first first

Half of the trip and then the next half is more road trip and then we actually get into Georgia go and enjoy that so we’ll see what happens next but so far so good Yeah all right it’s bright and early in the morning prob 7:45 but we got a taxi on our way to take us to the rental place then we hit the Road and see what driving through tur is like what do you think they look absolutely different I have no idea who these be

Gorgeous wow beautiful we are just waiting for our car r the shop now to be fair I booked it for 9:00 a.m. so we had time to drop it off at the other end by 9:00 a.m. ler but the place opens at 8:00 a.m. so I

Was like surely they’ll have it from 8: they don’t we went to the car rental place and um asking to see our passport and stuff your driver’s license and then they said oh there’s no stamp in your passport for coming into turkey and I was like so I’m

Hiring a car because our passports were just scanned electronically rather than a physical stamp when we came in on the train uh they don’t want to give us the Car Hire cuz they don’t have any proof of us entering the country and they were like no we need proof that you’re

Actually in Turkey to hire the car so what do you mean proof I’m actually in Turkey I’m standing right here when we booked it there was no information saying you need to prove that you enter the country was just bring your driver’s license and credit card so if we had

That information beforehand we would have made sure we got the stamp but we weren’t told anything like that and now they’re refusing to give us a car cuz they don’t have proof that we came in the country which is just [ __ ] just computer says no [ __ ] so yeah we’re trying to figure

Out what to do cuz if we can’t get the car rental we’ll have to figure out another way to get across turkey we have 4 days to get to toi on time and the original plan is we drive 8 and 1/2 hours today to aasia have an

Evening to enjoy there then the next day drive 6 and 1/2 hours to trabzon get there midaf afternoon and then the following morning drop off the car rental and get a 3-hour private transfer across the border to Batumi then we’d have a lovely chilled out day there and

Then finally on Friday we’d get a 5 and 1/ half hour train to the Finish Line into B let’s have a bit of context to where we are we’ve suddenly come to a boardroom of the taxi company or the car rental company yeah just the car rent through there we’ve come to their

Boardroom to have a have a board meeting um the options are we can go to the airport try and get our passport stamped and then pick up the car rental and carry on as planned just with a slight delay today here’s Kev Googling the plan is is that we’re going

To go to asemble airport get the stamp and then take the car from the airport and then drive we come back or get on the next plane to drve who said that me no planes just tear don’t give up so easily Kevin wants to give up and get a

Flight but I’m like no so let’s see what happens if you will be able to get in stamp successfully you will rank the car there and just go from there that sounds like the easiest option work oh it’s definitely not the easiest option you’re still driving we had a good think about this

New plan but ended up deciding against it as there’s too many unknowns we didn’t know if we could even get our passport stamped or how long it would take and plus it would add too much time on to an already very long driving day today we’d arrive so late that we

Wouldn’t see ma here anyway right my my suggestion will be we take the hit on the car we stay an extra night in Istanbul get some really nice food good few drinks fly to toi cuz it’s is a fight for 50 Quid and then have the extra days into we actually have extra

Days into bleaching it does kind of Ruin let’s some options another option is tomorrow cuz it’s too late for it today we’ get a 4 and a half hour train to anchura the capital city and then immediately transfer onto a 27-hour train to cars so that would basically be

31 and 1/2 hours non-stop on trains then arrive late in the evening in cars spend the night and then immediately in the morning take a 10hour bus across the border to toi so it’s just you’re going to be just I think going be dead through the traveling traveling just for the

Sake of traveling it’s like well so what you haven’t achieved anything you just bought a ticket and sat on a vehicle we wanted to actually sort of explore the places a little bit as we went the simplest option to get back on track is take a taxi right now to the bus station

On the outskirts of the city and then we get a 16-hour overnight bus to traps on and we’d actually arrived there nearly 12 hours earlier than we would by driving we have an extra day in traps on just to hang out in that place and then the day after tomorrow carry on as

Planned with the border crossing uh or we give up fly to to poliy because is so unbelievably huge I say we book the flight for tomorrow cuz we save 50 Quid we stay in istan and the hostel again 50 Quid cheap the flight is cheaper tomorrow night yeah it’s

Compelling isn’t it 50 quids makes a [ __ ] mess your logo though doesn’t it yeah if you guys get the flight I might try and get the bus uh there was a moment when I was like [ __ ] it I’m just going to keep going myself I’ll get the

Bus and finish the journey finish what we started Carol just really wants to punish himself with a 24 16 you know I did seriously think about well screw it I’ll just carry on by myself but then that just didn’t feel right at all we started this trip

Together uh and we want to finish it together By the way throughout this fercam was amazing he was chatting to the people at the rental company for us like translating for us he was ringing up other places trying to find a solution he even offered to drive us but since we wouldn’t be insured on the car there was

No way we were going to let him drive the entire 16 hours by himself the way we’re wearing up right now is do we say we’ve completed the first chapter we made it asemble and now let’s just have more time to see and explore Georgia or do we still keep going but it

Means like a 20 hour bus um you know I’ve done buses like that before but it’s not fun uh Kev wasn’t Keen it cuz medication has to take would made it not comfortable to do a 24-hour bus Journey you right me saying that on camera absolutely okay um another big problem

That might have happened was we would have taken the overnight buses and trains and got all the way to the Border but because we didn’t have the stamp in our passport they might not let us through there could have been trouble and then we’d have to travel all the way back which

Would mean we’d missed a conference and we can’t miss the conference it’s not like we’re just coming along to sort of enjoy a few things I’m speaking here so I have to be here in time what I want to do from taking of all of the current options I think we

Ring up the cheers hostel we book it in for another night we fly up tomorrow to Georgia you fly to Ley for 50 qus and get two me on the train have a day in between me and come back that would be a waste of time cuz it’s that’s like you’re going

To spend 5 and 1/ half hours on the train there 5 and 1/ half hours back so I would so just take the hit and pay under more and fly through to Batumi yeah how do you feel about that not great like we’re taking out driving from one side of turkey to the

Next but sure we’ve also come all the way from London through here on every form of public transport we can get and we could get the ferry off to the Asian side tonight oh that tickles me quite a lot and then we can tick off fairy and the weather’s good and we can

Do the boat trip on the boss for us which is supposed to be amazing oh that makes me feel good oh I like that a lot I would like to do fair I don’t know why I went camp and Northern when I said that oh H this whole thing started because they

Needed proof that we’d entered turkey whether it’s the stamp in our passport or our train tickets or the receipt for our train tickets and just as we’ settled on the option of spending an extra day in Istanbul and then flying to DC I found the receipt the train tickets

In the bottom of my bag we just made up our mind that we were going to fly cuz this isn’t going to work and then I was just packing away my laptop and I found crumple up the bottom the receipt for the tickets so this might

Work I this has been an emotional roller coaster so now this is like the the test do you really want an adventure not really why want to take nice fairy and need to a this is tent this is this like a t oh my Lord you you get find stomach CRS I’m

About to I know yeah but then after all that the rental company said no we still can’t accept the receipt for the tickets as proof the paper’s not enough yes I mean can we can we just rename this midnight train and Georgia so the paper’s not enough no

It’s not enough it’s not enough okay we put an ESS are you just saying that anyway just to make it easy you canot trust me feels all right so we’re on our way back to the hostel I mean well I wanted a random Adventure this is what I’m getting I bet you

Weren’t expecting to spend half an hour inside some random boardroom in this having a board meeting about our Midnight Train to Georgia trip what’s just happened s it’s just uh our boy here our Taxi Driver sto for a coffee and he’s shouted down to this guy I

Don’t know if you can see him so we’re getting a little little drivethru little Turkish version of a drive-thru and I figured I want to play I want to play the game as well so I’m getting C you guys through Cho how old okay take this one take

Out how much for this one ah thank you I got Turkish te boys little tryr fantastic well we’re back in the room they haven’t cleaned it or anything straight back they said you want us to clean it was like n it’s fine perfect just as we were getting the taxi

Back there and getting back to the hostel now it started to sink in the decision that we’ made and yeah I’m I’m gutted like this trip was supposed to be a bit of an adventure and a bit of a challenge and actually so far it’s been

Pretty easy you know we’ve been a bit tied here and there but really it’s been very easy and a second we hit the first little bump in the road and it gets ever so slightly challenging we just went ah [ __ ] this let’s just get a flight it

Does just feel a bit like we bottled it you know as soon as things got a little bit tough and it’s going to have to be a long journey that we’re going to have to suck up we just went that which uh but then I was chatting to Jamie who always

Gives me such great advice and she was like well you didn’t give up you ran out of viable options and there’s a big difference between the two you know we couldn’t get a car rental the train option as an experience made no sense and Kev couldn’t do the overnight bus

Cuz of the meds he has to take so really this Choice made the most sense it’s about having the best experience possible and making the best use of your time and I think this way we get to experence a lot more of Georgia so it’s it’s the right decision it’s a good

Decision um I’m just need to initial get over the disappointment about uh giving up on the Overland thing so that’s where we’re at so we’re going to go get some breakfast uh I might get a beer it’s been one of those [ __ ] mornings it’s my breakfast anyway once we settled back

Into the hostel we walk down to the pier to meet up with fur cam who’s going takes AC cross to the Asian side and let us sample lots of different local dishes will you promise me to eat whatever it is that comes in front of you

100% pinky promise we do a little you promise what’s the promise what am I letting myself in for here just promise is it we have to promise that we will actually leave tomorrow we will not let you down no worries just promise yeah you will read whatever I will recommend you I will

Read or eat eat yeah okay don’t ask a second you I wouldn’t be that sure I promise too I’ll do it did they have Beer this is phenomenal I think like we were saying the plan was amazing we were really really happy with how things had go in you know a couple of hours ago we were all a bit deflated right but then it’s like oh well let’s just get on a ferry in one of the

World’s greatest ever cities and it’s going to take us to a place that has kebabs think smile so much I think we landed on our feet to be Honest made it to Asia without flying train bus boat it’s all the way to Asia amazing that’s an accomplishment I can’t e see cool thanks the just reminiscing about the moment and he goes for a uh like a Grove [Laughter] reference so we’re going to spend the afternoon exploring kcoy which is like

The more modern liberal part of the Asian side of Istanbul so we got Starbucks right there and Fan’s friend Alp uh showing us around for a little bit hi there my name is Alp Alp Edward watso and fan is one of my closest friends we met at University nice you’re

Showing around for this afternoon I’ll try my best cool Fan’s going to mark his work yes I will do Something very Nice what’s it called again close close that’s more Armenian way to pronounce well that’s what I’ve been working on my Medan actually so if you like your P just like him H you put some in the middle and and then if youd like it as well lemon squirt a bit on

Top don’t mind the seeds and you can literally just roll it up you got your R nice really good are you happy little boy this is my kind of culture you’re like oh no sorry there’s no more churches to see I’m like yes so Fan’s ordered us something

They’re looking forward to seeing our reactions when it comes out you will be very Surprised okay you just bought us a dick it’s been in an accident it looks like this is the part of a stomach of a lamp or a cow we are taking that part out and stuffing it with rice onion and preferably meat so Turkish ha and then

And then seal it and then boil it the water that they are boiling it is not just water it can be with tomato paste or yeah some vinegar yeah to give some flavor presentation is unfortunate oh my lordy lordy I’m in pain just looking at it it looks more appetizing now now it

Looks like food and you hold it like you just cradled Them all right that that was actually delicious you’re going you’re going to enjoy that good Stuff good that’s Delicious someone just took a d on a plate out it’s like a flated Emoji the authentic way of eating actually is using your hands oh okay yeah the locals in Southeastern Province they will just start from one part inue yeah exactly it’s intestines stuffed with very similar ingredients again just not such a

Glowing I’ll take the other one out I I need Do Grand isn’t it I did the whole thing on purpose oh really really it’s exactly the same yeah so Kev was just acting there good acting well done just acting oh that’s a massive clim no I think it’s definitely just a little sausage burrito intestin burito that’s exactly what down to Hill down

Hill and so then down this side over here we’ve got pretty much all the bars this looks like a classic Kind of Night Out strip of bars you know something you might see in Southeast Asia or Something cheers guys cheers again say cheers all right the uh the food tour stepped up a GE right now I do a shop I’ve literally done it all over the world so what I do is it’s called feel the rhythm feel the rhyme don’t stop now it’s Bob slay Time he got the reference that’s not even the right version of that it feel the rhythm feel the ride don’t stop now that’s definitely not that just Google it what is it fill the Rhythm fill the ride Get on Up I was it’s Bob’s day time you’ve been living a

Live for about 20 years what did I say that’s what they said no you said what are you talking about that’s Absolut bring go RS get it right there is a gesture in Turkey it’s not very nice but whenever it’s called eat a dick that’s called lunch it is

Essentially the hand gesture version of that it is that’s like yeah know it means you know I was right you were wrong but in in a more in a more rude way well we’ve had a really lovely afternoon on the Asian side exploring around with Buran and his fellow friend

And guide Al it was such a lovely Vlog and took us these spots we may never have found certainly tried dishes we would never have done without out Them hey what’s not to love it’s been a funny uh a funny Upsy Downy kind of day it’s emotional roller coaster but I mean all things considered it’s been probably one of my favorite days of the trip all and all making new friends drinking some beers just playing cards in a local

Little pub with you know local friends and chilling out and then finishing the the day out with with that it’s pretty Spectacular tomorrow I think I’ll be focusing a lot more on what we gained from the changeing plans and you know we got two full extra days in Georgia and given how fast we’ve been traveling two extra days is actually a lot of time so yeah today’s just been a weird

One but this is gorgeous see you next time buddy all right let’s try this again onwards round two at the airor midnight train of Georgia continues kind of well just went through passport control and that was super easy just scanned it gave us a stamp out no no questions Asked left yet still on the Ground we’re going to have 4 days into B SE two for exploring round and two for the conference then afterwards I’m going to be heading up to the mountains to try out some skiing in gadari and then finishing my trip in kasy the famous site that’s in every postcard and brocher picture from

Georgia yeah I’m not going to lie getting on that plane didn’t feel good cuz it was a reminder of the decision that we made but then seeing the mountains out the window and seeing what we were heading to actually got me really excited for this final leg of our

Trip all right we’ve made it to Georgia not quite the way I thought going to get here but there you go because I’m speaking at the conference they’ve put me up in the Radison blue hotel and it’s pretty damn nice come a long way from the dorm rooms

Just A Week Ago while sleeping on trains this is pretty special got an amazing view of the City tobli Georgia’s capital has been a point of contention among various Global Powers throughout history because of its location at the crossroads between Europe and Asia and its proximity to the lucrative Silk Road today it’s a vibrant Lively city where the old town and medieval structures sit side by side with slick modern

Architecture now there’s going to be about 180 people attending the conference we’re here for so we’ll gradually have more and more friends joining us as we explore the city okay first stop of the day we’re getting the finicula up to MIT matat mind Park that place we put the fun in

Finicula tragic first ever ficula first ever fic welcome to the club you better get a mop because it’s going to be a fun ride well we’ve come up to get a good view of toy but unfortunately it’s a bit Misty so it’s not too bad still get a good

Sort of sense of bearings but not quite what we’re hoping for country is we’ve come to this beautiful historical town when our first stops a amusement park at the top of a hill so what you just pop the balloons all five all five yes higher absolutely creamy it that’s that’s

G five how much is it play $200 definely this bud this is how we do this Nice come On you’re not supposed to laugh how is that no Teddy for you that Sucks this whole thing’s just creaking about but we’ll give it a go we’ve come all this way you know what when you work at Disneyland you have to be as happy as possible this is the opp consider that we didn’t have enough credit on the card

For all four of us to go on and in order to top the card you have to go all the way back to the entrance and we said to the guy can we just give you cash and he’s like no didn’t even say no there’s literally no one here we could have just

Walked on it would have been fine or he could have taken cash he could have Tak a little bribe yeah he said no no Get let’s go really quick I thought it was moving quite slowly but there he is proud mom Irish mommy hey IR mommy oh here comes Dr Giggles I wish I’d filmed a photo shoot that just happened we got off the ferris wheel and like oh come get your photo

With all these different props and all these different angles they’re all kind of spectacularly [ __ ] so we bought the download the foty part is we went to pick up the props ourselves but there is a there’s a routine we went to pick up a prop no how dare you pick up the PRS

They like oh no don’t worry it’s free then the free one you get it’s like a print out like this size phone for comparison yes quality C with butter knife put on your glasses see it well I think we’ve wasted enough time at a theme park let’s go back down and

Actually explore the city so behind us we’ve got the old city wall that they’ve since built these houses on which not very old in themselves was kind of American isn’t it like oh yeah very kind of South Carolina right yeah like old timey like there’s a saloon in there or [Applause]

Something it’s a famous Clock Tower in town that uh I think every hour when the bells ring all these puppets come out and stuff whilst you’re waiting as well you can get some mold wine if you like that kind of stuffo let’s see I think that might be

It that was cool to see I love the clock anyway I love the design like Carl trying to wake me up in the morning wake Up so we’re just walking on the Peace Bridge across the river and we’re going to get this cable car up to the Fortress and then work our way through the Old Town we’re at the cable gas station and they got a Minotaur and the minur and Thanos not getting an our cable car this my house here we Go well that was Bloody great I kind of wish that went on longer that’s what she said hey so we took the cable car up had a look at the view there there’s a bunch of stalls selling like drinks and snacks mother of Georgia statue right here so

With the mother of Georgia the sword is for the enemies the cup is a wine glass for the guests now we’re just wandering around the castle we going to work our way down into the Oldtown this is great this kind of what I wanted from today just popped into St Nicholas’s

Church here I think we’ll just have a quick look whatever and we got in it was gorgeous just a stunning stunning Church Kev got some candles to light as well a candle we can make a Wish so we just come down to the bizar which is like a little underground old shopping center beneath the altar lots lots of wine my only previous experience of Jordan culture was when I was first starting out in video I filmed a Georgian wedding in London and they

Invited me to the meal afterwards and then everyone to Tak in turns doing a speech rather than just the best man like everyone does a speech including me the cameraman you have a cow’s horn full of wine and you have to do your speech drink the entire cows horn hold upside

Down so there’s no drops and that’s how you do your speech next up we jumped into a cab to a restaurant called retro that Kev found online and it serves a giant version of the local dish called kupuri which they call the Titanic Oh yes

That’s wow wow we don’t even know if we like the taste of it we got the biggest one now I do love eggs though and I love bread and I love cheese so I can’t see what can go wrong here mixing party mixing party Iggy

Shaggy snap a bit off and you dunk a bit in so you kind of got the old snap and dunk tast like egg and cheese and bread and butter what Simon said is bloody delicious as well I don’t know if we’re going to be able to eat all of it but

Try ironically the Titanic has lost its structural integr te anyone live out there anybody hear me I think a pro top tip will be um bring like some sriracha sauce with you definely if you have like a little emergency bottle crack that out well like on a on a h yeah like it’s

Delicious but it just gets very very very syy after a bit and that’s why you have that’s why you have one person’s portion rather than eight person portion pleas with the effort considering was for eight people that looks like the recre of the tit tank in the bottom the ocean now so

Oh look there’s a Little Submarine I don’t know if I can use that how dare you the next morning we continued exploring the town and we were joined by our good friend Paul what a beautiful day it’s even more beautiful cuz Paul’s here you haven’t met Paul yet this is

Paul how you doing everyone what are your thoughts on to how are you find so far so good it’s a very cool City walk around don’t need to get public transport anyway and lots of wine places and lots of dogs and lots of Dogs so for any dog lovers out there toi has dogs everywhere just stray dogs everywhere they’ve got a little tag on them that means they’ve been Ned and sprayed and haven’t got any please they’re actually all clean and friendly and fine so they’ll just hang out just playing Around so we just come to the botanical gardens it’s like behind the Fortress where get the cable car up to and there this beautiful little waterfall it’s like a 10-minute walk from the entrance to the park cost a pound 20 so whilst we’re exploring the Old

Town we’ve signed up for a little uh wine tour of the Old Town George is super famous for his wine though so I’m pretty Keen to try this out this person would be the head of the table they would lead all of the toasts they’re called the tamad this is called the

Tamad statue for this reason they are the Toast Master uh and their toasts follow this amazing flow of uh of poetry and stories and connection between everyone at the table and that is what the super is about it is about connecting human beings together in one

Group by the end of it you’ll have learned something about every person around you as everyone shares their their own personal thoughts on the topics that the tadar leads and it is quite a a roller coaster of emotions for an English person who is unable to have

Emotions I very surprised how I’ve been able to discover them here in Georgia uh the average Georgian man is supposed to drink about three liters of wine per event the super can last anything like strap yourself 2 to 12 hours is a typical Supra the Georgian WI a

526 type of the grape that’s the Lots but for the wine we use around like the 60 65 type of the grape for the make wine we have Winery East West middle of Georgia yeah so this has some similarity to the wines you’re used to but made with cats

Italian wasani which is Georgian grapes smell like wine smells exactly and that’s how you say cheers in Georgia first alcohol in 2024 oh wow January that is also true for me happy the reason that the wine is Amber rather than white that we saw before the

First one had no skin contact at all just juice with this the Skins are put in the quy with all of the juice everything together it macerates on those skins for 6 months so this is why the white wine that you just had is quite light this you will find is quite

Intense compared to what you just tried smells like your sock when you smell it you think it’s going to taste like a shot that’s actually really nice stop breathing All right isn’t it this is a a 17th Century Construction Cellar obviously they fixed the floors so we’ve come to this cell to have some more wine and we’re sitting the most beautiful table ever okay welcome my friends and G we are wishing together to

Have a victory to be a healthy it’s a second place place in Georgia to Victory to Victory so it’s a dessert wine which a blue wine basically looks like wkd we’ll see how that’s super sweet they have the very creative name for the wi called Blue apparently the vineyard from is called da

Da after this we went to a third Winery and then once the tour was finished I suggested we all took the cable car up to the Fort to grab a drink and enjoy the sunset cheers guys cheers and it’s a gorgeous evening a bit chilly but it’s January where’s February

February 1st February 1 this the guy who sold as beer what’s your name mate mate and he’s guy Carl pleas to meet you georan okay yeah it’s Georgia way to do it craft beer yeah is this craft beer yeah it feels like a lger f craft beer

So you get to work here every day look at this not bad night night is very good all lighting is on and it’s very beautiful oh perfect perfect yeah nice to meet you man take care cheers before we head back down we had a chat with the police who offered

Us some wine and let us wear their hats for some photos it’s only it’s only a mug he’s like saying there’s a robbery somewhere no one’s doing Anything it boys we make crazy we go to discotech T sharing you cig all right so this smells like a hot box but for cigarettes so we’re going to all drink have outside where are we going s to party town where are we going we go to make a crazy party over

Here cheers guys it feels a little bit AF SK yeah very AF Ski Tunes are pumping beautiful evening lights on the city this is our evening ski [ __ ] pleas where you meet cops who give you Veno and you go crazy there’s lots of dogs the festivities continued in town that

Friday evening as everybody had arrived for the Traverse 24 conference then the next day I got to do my two-part talk on editing travel videos and then on Sunday evening there was going to be a closing party but before that kicked off Kev Sai and myself met up for one last quiet drink

Together so tomorrow I’m heading up into the mountains s’s heading off to a different part of the mountains and kev’s find on look up there since the last night we just just a three of us so we just thought we’d go to the party a little late have a little

Moment of how we started out so cheers guys cheers boys it’s been a pleasure absolute pleasure guys [ __ ] I love that week so much like it just the best time absolute best time we have to do it again for sure man get a get a stamp for the

Passport I know what my next tattoo is Turkish permanent tattoo going to Rent All [ __ ] cars in Turkey the conference closing party that evening featured plenty of traditional Georgian food plenty of traditional Georgian drinking and entertainment with traditional Georgian Dancing The next morning it was time for the final leg of my trip up in the mountains there’s a big group of us from the conference heading to gadari for a few days of skiing and some of us will be going that extra step further to keggy oh there a little Fortress oh wow

I’m guessing it’s that we’re halfway up to the mountains snow’s coming down promising for the slopes presuming normally this is a viewpoint but Mery of what n Cafe gold available down these highend Street Market or a pack of local tissues if you have a bit of road rage you can also purchase daggers Well we’ve made it not a clear day but I don’t need a clear day cuz it’s just an Arrival Day right this is where I’m going to be learning to ski [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] again if you saw me arriving here and thought ooh cars about to do a skiing video sadly not I haven’t been skiing in 30 years I went when I was 10 years old to France and I was really good at it not going to lie but that was 30 years

Ago and the reason I haven’t been in such a long time is my brothers and my friends have always invited me on their skiing trips in January and February but January and February is when I don’t have any freelance work on so I always go off and do a big 6 week backpacking

Trip and for the price of one week of skiing I could do six weeks backpacking so I always chose that so yeah haven’t been in a very long time tried snowboarding a couple of times but just basically spent all day falling down the mountain and so over the last 3 days

Here on the first day I got a private lesson for 3 hours and it actually went great we got right back into it parel turns got me on some of the higher slopes and she said I was up to an intermediate level not sure if I quite

Was but it was very nice of her to say that and then the next two days I just stayed on the easy slopes but just practicing over and over again to sort of get confident and get used to doing it by myself but I didn’t film any of it

Because there’s so much to concentrate on once you learn to ski trying to film it as well it’s just not going to happen and I’ve got tons of friends here who are filming as well but there are off busy filming people who can properly ski rather than just watching me

Learn and chatting to the guys that go skiing a lot they were loving it here because there’s a good variety of different slopes at different skill levels the hotels are right on the slopes there’s hardly any cues for the chair lifts you just get straight on

There and a ski passes are dirt cheap it’s like 50 for a 3-day pass so just the last run that we just had now oh yeah kny powder nice incline like surfing amazing nice yeah this morning I wanted to go to the very top just to see the view so a

Few of us got in the cable cars and just went up and checked it out not take my skis up cuz I’m not good enough to ski all the way down it’s like red and black slopes up there we’re going to go up check out the views take some pictures

Come back down and then go skiing All right one cable car down one more to go yesterday and then we go right up here hope we get a view down to the other side of the Valley Just made it to the top check out this found in here wow this is the highlight of my week and I haven’t even touched the ski So right behind me here is Mount casbc or Mount kegi which is the third highest mountain in Georgia just over 5,000 m and the mountains were impressive on the side of gadari where we were staying but you come over this Kobe pass here and it just goes up a whole other level just

The scale is just just spectacular yeah this makes me want to get better at skiing so I can just you know come here and take it all in in the winter Time cheers Dave buy good morning that nice now I may have been taking it easy with the skiing but the same doesn’t necessarily apply to the AA ski I try what is Ste it’s a drink it’s a drink [ __ ] Drink it’s the final day of my trip and a few of us are going to head out for the day going slightly further north to Cas bgy basically if you’ve seen a brocher pictures of Georgia you might have seen a little church on a hill in front of the mountains it’s that place

That’s where we’re Going so we just made a stop on the drive on the Passover which is the only way that’s open between Georgia and Russia Overland now because 20% of Georgia is occupied by Russia and what we’re right here is a monument between the friendship of Russia and Georgia

Which is kind of ironic but it was built in 1983 of the 200 year anniversary of when Russia helped Annex Georgia it’s incredible though and what a setting just ride up the mountains here just pure white snow everywhere Driving over the pass we were underneath the cable car that we saw going down the other side yesterday when we went up to the viewpoint but driving through here just feel reinvigorated like the mountains here are spectacular and I’ve wanted to come here in a summer and do

Some hiking and now I’m like I have to do it cuz this is just spectacular that’s the famous Church up there so after lunch we’ll drive up around there to get a better view of the church the mountains Behind so we are winding up to the church Carl is doing an amazing job getting us through the snow everyone everyone doing all right in the back tell my mother I love her I’m sorry look at the views no don’t got some snow a second no you can this is unbelievable ex seed

Expectations already nice work we got get back we got to get back yet that was amazing how’ you find the drive terrifying absolutely thought we were not going to make It my god I’ve never been in a tornado before just walked up a sheet of ice to get up here just about made It What a spot man what a location just walking back away from the church the car will pick me up but slipping on the I want to get the iconic view back to it just incredible but Sun’s going down behind the mountain so we’re kind of

Like rushing just to be able to get it at the right shot you see it creeping up on there right there oh this wind [ __ ] it’s freezing that is the most spectacular setting for a church I’ve ever seen now I’m just waiting in the wind for the

Band to come pick me up left my gloves in the car and it was like snow blowing across and I was like but it’s worth it pain is temporary film is forever and now we get to drive back down y you like the church though yeah the church is

Great and you know there’s been some disappointments on this trip I’m disappointed the midnight train of Georgia didn’t work out I was really gutted about that but to end up here right now can’t really complain if you’ve watched video and you’re disappointed that we didn’t travel Overland from Istanbul to Georgia

They’re good now you know how I feel now but in all seriousness like the extra time we had in toi was fantastic and that bonus day we had in Istanbul on the Asian side was just so much fun all things considered it’s been probably one

Of my favorite days of the trip all in all and traveling with San Kev was just fantastic we had such a blast together and by the end we’ll talk about future trips we could do together and what other routes we could do Overland and this is where I leave it open to you

Guys if youve got suggestions of similar Overland trips we could do in the future then I’m all ears put them in the comments the only thing I would know is it needs to be within like the 2 to 3 week time scale so whilst yes a London

To Singapore or Cairo to Cape Town would be amazing that’s not on the cards right now so yeah just leave your suggestions two or three week trips anywhere in the world but like a cool Overland route where you know lots of the countries and cultures change as you

Go so so yeah hopefully you enjoyed this video just as much as we did making it cuz we just had the best time and hopefully it’s giving you some ideas of just how big an adventure you can have in a very short space of Time Yeah