The Postscript
Well, we made it. Over 35 days, we traveled 5,237 kilometres on 23 different trains, with 17 different stops along the way. Looking back, it was a truly amazing trip. We saw so many wonderful, incredible places, many of which I would love to go back to. Although I am not rushing back to Sofia - I feel I saw enough of Bulgaria! We made some incredible memories, many good but all entertaining.
We met some... interesting people. Particularly at the Wiki Hostel in Zagaralo - everyone was lovely, but it did feel like we had joined a cult! Although for much of the trip, we were probably the weirdos, especially while walking down the street dying with laughter. Or singing. Loudly. And not always well!
Alongside me throughout, I had my Olympus Trip AF 31, with two rolls of 36-frame B&W film - Lomo Lady Grey 400 and Earl Grey 100. When we arrived into Istanbul, I dropped these off at Foto Analogue next to the Galata bridge. While many of the shots were somewhere between totally black (exposure is a fiddly thing) and slightly black, there were a few gems nestled in amongst the other 72 shots. Rather than go back and add them to each location retrospectively, I thought I'd include a few of them here, as a final postscript to conclude an incredible trip.
Of course, there were two of us on this trip - Orla. Aioli. Aula. (Is it Dutch? How do you spell that?) We sang, we cried on park benches, and we watched far too many episodes of ER. And yet, despite everyone's (yes, everyone!) expectations to the contrary, we didn't argue! Thank you for putting up with my constant countdowns, for helping me buy a needle and syringe without being arrested, and frankly not murdering me somewhere in France - I would have murdered me if I was in your shoes, I am immensely murder-able. Maybe do this again sometime?!
I still cannot entirely believe that we actually made it all the way to Istanbul. Looking at the map, it seems incredible to me now that we crossed an entire continent and took about ten steps into the next one! Thank you, Europe, for not mugging us, and to all the trains for carrying us every step of the way. Taking the train really does beat flying.
Oliver Hewitt
13 May 2026
Fin.