North Korea travel blog

MickeyFinns

MickeyFinns

MickeyFinns

Man of Honour
Joined
17 Nov 2006
Posts
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Location
Tooting, London
Hi everyone,

After pressure from a few friends I've setup a travel blog to post my diary entries from some of the weirder destinations I visit. I'm also going to mix in some posts about how I go about planning these trips. I've wrote a couple of posts last night, editing the diary one to remove some names and make it a bit easier to read, and I was hoping I could get some feedback from people? I'm not the most skilled writer but hopefully I can improve with this new endeavour!

The blog can be found at http://www.jamesfinnerty.co.uk/.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

edit: Bumped with a new Installant! Part 4.

edit edit: Another bump for the fifth and final instalment.
 
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County said:
I really enjoyed the North Korea Part 1.

Please keep the coming. Pics also good but your descriptions really paint a good picture.

Thanks!
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Cheers! The North Korea ones should pop are quite quickly as I've already written out a detailed diary just needs tidying up.

The ones on Palestine, Svalbard and Chernobyl will take a bit longer!
 
County said:
I will save your blog in my favourites.

The descriptions really do paint a good picture and the way you write your thoughts down are really well presented. Really good stuff:D

My only gripe is spelling :p but for me that is not an issue as i enjoyed it so much!

Keep them coming
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I've noticed a couple spelling mistakes will work through it again tonight! Might've been a bit too keen in just getting some posts up there :)
 
trixilux said:
I found both the North Korea post and the other post (planning your next trip) really really interesting!

Really want to read about the rest of your trip in NK tho - when is the next instalment?!
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I've got a Russian class tonight so probably tomorrow night?

I'm new to wordpress but I think it has an RSS feed built in if you want a notification when I update?
 
I went though a company called Lupine Travel. By far the cheapest, especially the winter tour.

Unfortunately I believe this years Mass Games were the last there will ever be :(. Next year there are major events to do with Kin Jong-il and Il-sung's birthdays.

http://www.lupinetravel.co.uk/north-korea-holidays-and-tours.html

I'd highly recommend the company. Both of my trips to Chernobyl were through them.
 
The golf tour has been twice before, they also do one to Iran!

It's for amateur players but I believe there is a handicap requirement. It's definitely a very unique trip.
 
trixilux said:
Oohh yes I will do that :)

Russian class? Like dancing and the best way to drink vodka without falling on your ass? :p

You sound like a very impressive guy Finns!

Edit: commented and now following with interest!
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Well due to the seeming popularity of this blog (200 visitors today so far!) I've made a push in my lunch break to write the next part of the blog. I should have it up tomorrow!

The russian classes are jsut for some upcoming trips I'd like to make where English isn't spoken so much (Siberia/Central Asia) :).
 
Saviola said:
I had a read and look forward to reading more. I wouldn't worry to much about spelling and grammar, the source material is so fascinating most will ignore it :)

I am particularly looking forward to the planning steps as I have always wanted to do similar but to date have only really done 'mainstream' locations ie China, Thailand, Argentina.

Keep it up, bookmarked... :)
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Nice one thanks :).

The ones I'm in the middle of planning at the moment are Iraq and another trip back to Chernobyl and onto Belarus (which is proving a challenge to do on the cheap!). I'll write some blurb about how I worked out an affordable trip to Minsk soon.
 
Chernobyl was fantastic, if you can I recommend going for two days and staying over night. The hotel in the exclusion was half the experience! As above checkout Lupine Travel, used them numerous times (including Chernobyl) and they've been great for anything that I can't organise myself. I'll make a post about Chernobyl soon as I want to try and keep all my content in one place :).
 
Narj said:
Just looked at Lupine travel... specifically for Chernobyl... Apparently no access to inside of buildings anymore... WHAT!? :( :( :(
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Yeah my trip in April was the first to be denied access.

About two weeks before we went a group of tourists in a building fell through the floor and suffered severe injuries. People have actually not been officially allowed inside the buildings for 2 years. So when the higher ups found out what happened, and the fact that it was so prevalent that people were in the buildings, they sacked all of the tour guides and hired new ones on much stricter terms.
 
Narj said:
Ouch, that blows. So the only way to get access for photos would be to go by yourself? Is entering the buildings actually illegal now? I wanted to go to get photos and stuff - it just seems a bit pointless now.

The Iran tour Lupine runs sounds interesting. I think having that stamp in your passport might make the US authorities suspicious if you wanted to get into America at some point in the near future though. Hrmm.
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You can't go entirely by yourself, you'd till have guide. You can still take a lot of good photos but just not what you probably want. Other things that make it difficult is nothing except shoes are to touch the flow, this includes tripods, much to the annoyance of the two semi-pro photographers in my group.

I've gotten to know the owner of Lupine through the trips and yeah he says getting into the US with several Iran stamps causes issues. He's entitled to having two passports so I think he's looking into that. Alternatively you can just get a replacement to remove the stamp, I'm having to replace mine as my Israel stamp won't let me do my Iraq trip next year.
 
trixilux said:
Just read part 3 and loved it :)

Did you guys notice the 'special' tour that Lupine have next year in Chernobyl?

*checks the web site* Oh they must have sold it out now. They were giving permission to tour the Duga 3 (in Prypiat) and a reactor tour too but only for 2 days in February I think. I looked really really interesting :)
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I'm booked on that trip :p. Well sort of. It was originally for 10 people, but then when the company applied for the permits the government rejected it at the last minute and said only 2 people can go. Those 2 slots went to the first people to sign up. Currently trying to get the authorities to reduce the cost of the permit so 2 of us can go the next day instead.
 
trixilux said:
Just read part 3 and loved it :)

Did you guys notice the 'special' tour that Lupine have next year in Chernobyl?

*checks the web site* Oh they must have sold it out now. They were giving permission to tour the Duga 3 (in Prypiat) and a reactor tour too but only for 2 days in February I think. I looked really really interesting :)
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Whey and it's going ahead! One day in the zone going to Duga and Reactors 5&6. Mega-chuffed!
 
Goodie said:
If it's of any use I went to Belarus fairly cheaply a few years back. Went with a few mates for the England football match. We flew into Warsaw and then got a night train to Minsk. Minsk itself was a surprisingly nice place, all the locals were also really really friendly. Might be worth looking into as opposed to direct flights.
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I've ended up doing the same, I'm going Kiev-Minsk-Riga :).
 
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