Borderlines.
Geography, history and geopolitics.
Award Winning Travel Writing
Borderlines is where ‘Prisoners of Geography’ meets travel blogging. This is Travel Tramp’s geopolitical column.
Learn how geography, politics and history shape the world around, as we answer deep travel questions from the road.
What makes a country a country? What’s the difference between a micronation and a microstate? Why did Transnistria declare independence from Moldova?
You can find answers to all these questions and more as I build a database of the world’s cartographic curiosities and geopolitical oddities.
Latest Border Stories
East Timor: My First Impressions Of Dili
My First Impressions Of Dili, East Timor I spent four days travelling across West Timor to reach East Timor. The island has long been divided into two, a legacy of division that goes back to the early colonial days of the 16th Century and that produced a history that...
Nagorno Karabakh: The Forgotten Land
“This is not the best time to be here”, said the official at the Ministry of Foreign affairs, “but thank you for visiting my country”. I had travelled to Nagorno-Karabakh, a country which doesn't technically exist. It's a small, breakaway territory between Azerbaijan...
How To Travel To The Breakaway Republic Of Abkhazia!
So, you want to travel to a country which doesn't exist? A barely recognised, war torn state somewhere on the black sea? Well then you are reading the right article! Here's how to travel to the Breakaway Republic of Abkhazia! The breakaway Republic of Abkhazia is a...
A Secret Look Inside The Breakaway Republic Of Abkhazia
I visited the breakaway Republic of Abkhazia. Here's a secret look inside this self declared nation state. Abkhazia is war torn. It's been in conflict with Georgia since the Soviet Union collapsed and the people decided they were better off on on their own,...
Surviving A Holiday To The Breakaway Republic of Transnistria
Transnistria. The perfect location for a get away holiday. Far from the madding crowds, really far from anywhere at all in fact. There's beaches, cognac and KGB agents. The breakaway republic truly is a destination like no other. Read on if you too want the thrill of...
I Went To Transnistria, A Country Which Doesn’t Even Exist
I can't think of a great many better places to spend a few relaxing days on holiday than the heavily armed breakaway Republic of Transnistria. This is a country which doesn't, technically, even exist. This unrecognised recognised nation is lost somewhere in...
The Countries That Don’t Exist
In April 2015 The Free Republic of Liberland declared itself the world's newest state. The independent micronation was proclaimed on unclaimed territory between Croatia and Serbia by idealistic Libertarians from the Czech Republic, on a patch of derelict land only...
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