GB
PEOPLE
Quick overview of the people travelling with me over the years
VALE. I couldn't have found a better girlfriend and partner for all my travels. Vale comes enthusiastically with me to all exotic destinations (typically learning where we are going when we are on the flight) with superb adaptation skills. Crossing mountains, rafting on rivers, strolling on the beach, boating on the oceans, driving to nowhere … Vale never gives up and always keep going on like a Duracell battery. One memorable moment was when in Salta (Argentina) she was with 39º fever caused by a mix of altitude, early wake-ups and intense travelling on previous days. That night, half asleep on the bed, she told me: "Darling, I love you but tomorrow, when I recover, I’ll kick your ass!”. You can find Vale in most of the videos: Namibia, South Africa, Indonesia, Istanbul, Bosnia, Argentina, Chile, Arizona, Morocco, Malta, Cuba, Portugal, Dubai, Hong Kong, Myanmar etc.
FRAC. I met Frac in India and since then he participated to several adventures including Bosnia, Vietnam, Colombia, Oman and Uganda. Known for his professional negotiating and harassing skills, he always plays a pivotal role in organizing, negotiating and claiming money back. Memorable moment when I found him in the middle of nowhere, with a broken tuk-tuk, negotiating with an Indian mechanic the price of the repairs for more than 30 minutes. How much was that? The mechanics wanted 0.5 Euro cents while Frac was offering no more than 0.3 Euro cents. Apart from negotiating, Frac is always on the front-line when comes to party till late, even if the following day we have to wake up at 6am. In 2009 he embarked in a 3-month trip around South America which is fully documented in the 5 videos "Frac's Great Escape".
COMANDANTE. I met Comandante at the university. Since we both moved to UK we started travelling together in various remote places. Comandante took part the the adventures in India, Isreael, Oman and was the man creating and organizing the Bosnia rafting and the Vientam motorbike adventure. Comandante likes tough travels with a historical angle: the Vietnamese war, Yugoslavia Civil War, World War I in the Dolomites, Isreaeli-Palestine situation etc. With Comandante, we planned together a few travels which didn't yet materialize: such as Colonial Eritrea and Egyptian Desert. More recently he settled down with family live, thus no longer participating to recent adventures. Despite that, in September 2013 he took part to the Ferrata delle Trincee, on the Dolomites and one year later he came to visit the hostile (for him) city of Naples.
AUGUSTUS. Augustus is a long standing member of many adventures, including India, Oman, Bosnia, Isreael, Vientam, Colombia and more recently Uganda. She is the one who came with the original idea of the Indian tuk-tuk race. Augustus always finds her way in any weird situation. And regardless of where we are going or how long is the trip, she always manages to pack everything in a small cabin suitcase. One of the finest experts in booking flights at best rates. Now looking after her new baby, Filippo. We will see her in 10 years.
VECCHIA QUERCIA. As Augustus' boyfriend was forced to participate. His baptism came with the Vietnam motorbike adventure where Quercia stood his ground. After that he refused to participate to the Colombian Oddisey two years later (claiming he had work to do). The Uganda trip saw Mikael in charge of one of the 4x4 carrying not only his wife (Agustus) but also Fumagalli.
NONNO. Nonno is an old friend from the high school who now lives between Hong Kong and Shanghai since 2004. He took part to 5 great adventures (Vietnam, Colombia, Dolomitesm, Uganda and Myamar). During the adventures Nonno does absolutely nothing: not involved in organizing, doesn't like to plan or help others; howeve his presence provides great moral support to the group by costantly highlighting the risks of death, kidnapping, diseases and turning into a cinic lough any difficulty encountered (which by the way, helps).
FUMAGALLI. Characteristic of Fumagalli is missing the flight or cancelling the trip at very last minute. When she manages to arrive at destination, she's always a ticking bomb. In India she manges to drive the tuk-tuk off road after the first 5 meters of driving. In Uganda, Fumagalli came for the first time with a boyfriend … incredibly both survived. Fumagalli always comes with her unseparatable blackberry. Fumagalli appears in the Indianm Bosnia-Montenegro and Uganda videos.
GRENA. Grena partecipated only in the Bosnia-Montenegro adventure but got a spotlight due to his enthusiasm in paddling during the rafting of the Tara river. “A spanela!” is Grena’s motto (untranslateable). You can also find an appearance in the video London Olympics (behind the Brazilian flag). We also randomly met Grena and his wife in Myanmar in 2015, althogh they don't appear in the video.
SHKARLL. Shkarll was the iron-lady of the group, although since she gave birth to a beatutiful daughter she is at the moment no longer taking part of the trips. A memorable moment was when she turned upside-down the poor fellow travel Mosole for not driving the tuk-tuk as a man … As result, we spent an incredible day along the Ho Chi Minh trail almost reaching the border with Laos, arriving at destination only late in the night. We hope to see her back in the future. Sara appears in the following videos: India, Isreael and Vietnam.
JULIAN. Julian deserve a special spot in this "Hall of Fame" because it was with him I embarked in the very first adventure which set the standard for all other ones. In 2007 myself and Julian (colleagues at that point in time) went into the Omani desert without knowing where we were, where to go and what to do (the only thing we knew was that we had 20 liters of water with us). He was the only friend enough "mad" to enthusiastically embark in a trip in a country which he never heard (not to say where it was on the map). It was an adventure as such where we both supported each other in some critical moments. Like when we walked along Wadi Tiwi, it was me to convince Julian to enter into an aquatic cave whose entrance had no more than a very few centimetres of space where to breathe, and a few hours later, we were on 300km far away completely stuck with our 4x4 in the desert dunes .... There it was Julian who, with a smile, managed turn the situation into a lough and eventually allow us to get off the sand and reach a desert camp base in the middle of nowhere. Oman 2007 was also the first adventure where I start shooting videos (and you can tell that watching the poor quality of that).
SERE. The “Camionist” Sere is known for her no-frills, no-bullshit talks. Sere always speak her mind as we learn during the adventure in Colombia in 2012. and in Uganda in 2014 The topic moment was when responding to a joke made by Frac, she mimed the jesture of a blowjob meaning … “don’t bullshit me”.
BIANCI. Originally a friend of my girlfriend, Bianci was so amused by watching my earlier videos that at some point she asked to participate (for the Bosnia-Montenegro rafting adventure). Since then she developed the Milan branch of the group of people bringing on board Sere (see above) for the Colombia odissey and Daniele on the Ugandean trip. Bianci is always reliable in helping organizing the logistical details. Her experience in the red cross (and in emergency healing) provide some safety to the team.
CRI. Cri like to travel “in-style” which quite offently (if not always) clashes with the rought itineraries and low-cost accomodations we orgnize for her. Despite that, Cri always get to the finishing line without any trouble (as in Colombia or in Bosnia) and is a pivotal element for the nightlife of the trips. In Uganda she even survived to a car accident caused by Nonno, proving her resilience to any event.
REVELLIS. You never know if Revelli is really realising where she is or what she is doing during a travel. She gives the impression to have her head in the clouds but the reality is that you can through anything to her and she will always keep going. Like in Vietnam when she fall with the motorbike, got wounted on all the arms and continued as nothing was happened for the rest of the day (... and when cleaning the bleeding wounds in the evening we all though thet they were serious). You can find Revellis in Vietnam adventure and in the upcoming trip to Uganda.
CONDOR. Condor is a solo-traveller. Despite that he partecipated to the Oman expedition in 2008 and become famous for two things. Firstly, for his fluerescent colour of the skin despite any exposure to the sun and secondly, for his motto “I don’t dislike” when he is offered to eat other’s people left-over food.
COLAVITO. Another sport man, Colavito organized two sport events documented in the videos NY Marathon 2008 and Tough Mudder Wales 2013. For many years is trying to convince me to climb Kilimanjaro and all major mountains of the 5 continents (note: he comes from sea-side South Italy and cannot be properly defined as mountain expert) … doubt I’ll resist for long.
