There are few events in the history of NomadMania that encapsulate our community spirit, our capacity to be daring and our ability to go where nobody has ever been before that can compare to the recent traveller gathering in Azerbaijan to celebrate the retirement of our founder, Harry Mitsidis.
Yes, Harry has decided that, after almost 15 years of dedicated service to NomadMania, it is time for him to focus on other projects and to leave the operational, strategic and financial side of NomadMania to the team. Of course, the founding principles upon which NomadMania is built, with a dual focus on both the traveller and the place, with attention to the community and its involvement and with a philosophy of innovation, will continue to be a central focus of the community.
Thanks to our friendship with Azerbaijani UN Master Mehraj Mahmudov, we were able to organise a fantastic event which gathered a never-before-seen collection of notable travellers.
The travel great, Andre Brugiroux, recipient of NomadMania’s Lifetime Travel Achievement award, decided to make a last trip to join the gathering even though he no longer had a valid passport as he didn’t expect to ever travel again – he duly applied for one and, aged 88, became the oldest UN Master present.
On the other side of the age-range, 24-year-old youngest male UN Master Luca Pferdmenges also participated and showed everyone how he can juggle! Coming fresh from the heels of a visit to Cyprus, it was announced that Slawek Muturi is the first person in human history to visit every country three times.
Former contenders for ‘youngest male UN Masters’ Billy Offland and Sal Lavallo were also present, while travel legends Rudi Naegele and Roman Hereter represented Germany and Spain as well. Andrea Munoz, the youngest verified female UN Master was also there, while Arvi Bahal, who is one of two people to have been to every country, both poles and space, was present, as was the man behind ‘The Impossible Journey’ of 10 years with no flying and no return to his home Thor Pedersen.
Kazuto and Azusa Matsumoto are the first Japanese couple to be UN Masters and respectively the first man and first woman from their country to visit 193 based on our information. And the event included the only Albanian, Bahraini, Cypriot and Qatari UN Masters, the first Spanish couple UN Masters, the first Danish and Italian women UN Masters and the first Argentinian UN Master. And there were many more – including a couple of travellers with less than 50 countries visited so far, proving that the spirit of inclusiveness and togetherness is what matters, far more than numbers.
All in all, 79 travellers were present in Baku to celebrate Harry’s retirement, including his parents.
Geopolitical Context
But possibly more important is not the gathering itself – after all, we are a travel community, and it’s all about exploring new horizons. 70 joined the trip to Garabagh, which is now fully under Azerbaijani control, and 34 flew to the exclave of Nakhchivan, landing at the airport that only a few weeks ago was attacked by a drone.
In fact, this whole event is made all the more extraordinary when the geopolitical context is considered – Baku is a mere 170 kilometers from the Iranian border as the crow flies, while the journey took the group to the tripoint of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Iran, at one point a mere 30 meters from Iranian territory.
We were assured that this was the first time anybody had been allowed access to this area apart from military or contractors – even for Mehraj, this was a first. And the group had a very clear view of Iran across the Aras river, including what looked like a military or police facility where it appeared there was some confusion as to the sudden large influx of foreigners in an area which normally sees nobody.
Even more extraordinarily, nobody cancelled due to ‘fear’ or the significant flight issues in the Gulf, and the resilience of Rasha Yousif, Nasser Almohannadi and Salvatore Lavallo, all three coming from the Gulf, needs to be specially commended. The commemorative booklet of participants became a talking point of the event, with travellers rushing to secure the signatures of their fellow travellers as a rare memento.
Resume
Among the notable points of interest visited, we should note:
- the new Victory Museum in Baku, which recounts the Second Garabagh War of 2020 which resulted in Azerbaijan establishing control over much of the territory which had since 1994 been under Armenian control;
- the Zoroastrian temple of Ateshgah, which provides a glimpse into the religious and cultural history of Azerbaijan;
- the former ghost town of Aghdam, where it is now possible to go by train from Baku and even stay at a new Hilton Garden Inn;
- the largest town Khankendi, formerly known as Stepanakert, where the group saw the newly constructed Victory Monument as well as the ‘We Are the Mountains’ Monument’;
- the very pleasant town of Lachin, formerly part of the ‘Lachin Corridor’ and a NomadMania DARE region, where we stayed at an impressive newly opened resort hotel and spa and had the chance to visit art and ceramic galleries;
- the tripoint between three countries, where predictably the focal point of the group was capturing images of the goings-on in war-torn Iran across the Aras river, but also seeing the end of the road on the Azerbaijani side of what is proposed to become the ‘Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity’ linking Azerbaijan through Armenia to Nakhchivan and beyond.
For the number ‘geeks’, the statistics are unique and never before imagined:
- 64 UN Masters from 40 nationalities/citizenships all meeting in the same place, in the midst of an increasingly volatile conflict in the general region (though Azerbaijan has remained incredibly safe);
- 58 UN Masters travelling together to a new region, notably one that has been subject to so much conflict in the past.
Many of the travellers present are not convinced that the ever-energetic Harry Mitsidis truly plans on retiring, but we will be presenting a final interview with him in April where he explains his decision.
Meanwhile, we at NomadMania would like to thank our friend Mehraj as well as the team behind the event, headed by Farid Isgandarov, for their dedication, time, professionalism and good attitude.
And of course, we thank all the NomadManians who attended the event during this stressful time for the world. We will always strive to continue creating opportunities for travellers to meaningfully interact while also exploring new horizons and understanding the complex world we live in.
