Let us introduce ourselves.

We are Igor and Galya, a married couple, and our big eared friend – a papillon dog called Shoustrik (which means somebody quick and lively in Russian, and in England we sometimes call him Shoestring).

Igor is in charge of the technical side of this blog and Galya writes posts. Shoustrik is our moral support.
Igor was born and grew up in Latvia. He once set off on a journey in search of a better life – and settled in the UK for many years. He tried his hand at different jobs, once he even painted ships in Scotland. In London he worked in hospitality for quite a while before quitting his job and starting his journey in South America together with me.
I was born in Moscow where I lived and worked as an office manager/personal assistant until I had a chance to move to London in 2008. I had always wanted to try my hand at something new and in London my company gave me an opportunity to master a new profession in the financial operations. Igor and I met in London. It didn’t happen very soon though – it was in 2014 when we started seeing each other.
Long before meeting Igor I began nurturing a plan of a long trip to South America. In 2016 I finally received a chance of carrying out this plan. My company ceased to exist and I was made redundant. Thankfully in Igor I found a like-minded friend and we set off on our journey together in January 2016.
We visited 5 countries in South America from January to May 2016: Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Peru and Bolivia.
After the trip we settled down in Igor’s motherland, Latvia, where we got married. I also started working as an English tutor.
In 2017 we decided to return to our adopted country, England, and this is where we are now.

As to Shoestrik, he came into our life as a three months puppy in 2016, and by now he has chewed up more socks than has travelled the countries. But it’s all ahead of him.

Where we are now: England, Bury (a town near Manchester)