A few years ago I was driving through Siberia in an old 82 D Land Rover with my mate

“I tend to travel to places that aren’t normal holiday spots. Places that put you way out of your comfort zone. You have to put your trust in strangers knowing that without their help and kindness it won’t work out. I’ve found that the countries that you’re told are most dangerous tend not to be, Iran and Russia are two.  A few years ago I was driving through Siberia in an old 82 D Land Rover with my mate. We were trying to drive back to Ireland. It had serious mechanical problems and we hadn’t much money left. It totally broke down outside a city called Novosibirsk, a huge Russian man with no English pulled in and towed the jeep for us. We had no say in the matter and went with it. He brought us to a dodgy looking industrial area and into this yard full of old trucks and car parts. A group of enormous men, some with their tops off in the biting cold and all covered in oil came out of a warehouse, they were all truck mechanics.  Nobody spoke English and six of them starting inspecting the jeep and then set to work right away. We were worried we wouldn’t be able to pay them and that there might be trouble and tried to stop them and find out how much first but they just laughed. They showed us into a small canteen type room and put bread and vodka on the table. After almost a day working on it, they all started cheering, the jeep was fixed.  As we tried to smile, but still worrying about paying the bill, they called us over. They had taken an Irish flag we had out of the jeep and hung it on the wall of the warehouse. They wouldn’t take a penny and waved us goodbye. Most people are sound.”