37


out of the Ipcress Files. “They took me away and just dumped me in this big hall. “After a couple of hours of not knowing


what to do with me they put me on a rickety old wooden train and sent me back to Poland. “I felt really low at that time, I almost gave it all up and came back.” Phil’s troubles continued when he found himself stuck in a carriage with some unsavoury characters. “There was a point when there were a load


of skinheads in the carriage and I thought I was going to get my head kicked in. They were drunk and they had a crate of beer - I thought I’d never see the light of day again.” Disembarking in Poland, a dejected Phil had


to work out how to get to the Russian capital where he had booked a midnight train for the Trans Siberian Railway.


He managed


to make it but was in for a surprise when he discovered he had muddled up the infamous line with its more luxurious cousin, the Orient Express. “It was only when I was on it I realised just


I did it.” Another memorable train journey was


across North America from Los Angeles to Chicago.


“I met a lot of people from the Amish


community and other people I wouldn’t normally have met. “There was another of these mass shootings while I was there. I was quite shocked that the majority of Americans I spoke to still believed in the right to bear arms.” ‘Letting the train take the strain,’ Phil


enjoyed chugging across countries and states on the railroad. “We know America is a big country but as


you trundle along you see the vastness of that land. It’s such an enormous country and so diverse. The people are so different from one state to the next, from city to the next.” From Chicago Phil hired a car to Wilmington on the North Atlantic coast and while driving through North Carolina found himself driving


onto a military base by mistake. “Some soldiers weren’t happy about that and came out with their guns pointing at me,” he said. Phil admits that he may have set


off “without fully understanding or appreciating what I was doing.” “There are times when I look back


on that journey when I think I was so naive. You get yourself into a pickle sometimes and you just hope the people who don’t like it are understanding. “I certainly knew what the legs of


the trips were going to be but, but for some of it I was flying blind. I was travelling into the unknown and I got into a mess at times.


“I certainly knew what the legs of the


trips were going to be but, but for some of it I was flying blind. I was travelling into the unknown and I got into a mess at times.”


“But there were a lot of highs and not too many lows. One of the biggest high for me is always the people I meet. “My experiences


in Belarus were not particularly pleasant but we learn from adversity and it makes us stronger. “I learnt so much from


how basic it is, nothing like the Orient Express. “As horrendous as it was at times, I’m so glad


that situation and gained an inner strength to handle uncomfortable situations. “The whole journey was an amazing,


interesting and enlightening experience.” The Covid lockdown gave


Phil the chance to turn his travel journal into a book entitled ‘Phileas Phil, Around the World in 65 Days’ which is available in Browser, Foss Street; Dartmouth Community Bookshop and online at Amazon.


The


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