I grew up in a remote town of Siberia on the border with China (Magdagachi, map). Russians call this region the Russian Far East. When the USSR collapsed my parents opened up a small hotel and told me to study English. It was the only hotel for one thousand miles in any direction and I was probably also the only person out there who spoke some English, which proved to be quite essential when various around-the-globe travelers started showing up on our doorstep as this was the only way to cross that part of Siberia.
I met many wonderful people from the US, Canada, Australia, and the UK. Some drove cars, some bicycles, some walked. Some were writers, some were retirees, others were professional travelers (there were no bloggers at that time). And, they all stayed at our small hotel and were invited to dine at my parents' house. It was then, 30 years ago that my career in travel has started and when I first realized that the world is much larger and much more interesting than my remote town in Siberia. My inquisitive life-perspective and diligent approach to studying eventually brought me to New York University on a prestigious Fulbright scholarship sponsored by the U.S.
It was during my time in New York that I realized that travel was not my childhood curse, but my lifetime purpose, so I joined the travel industry. I worked in many different countries and worked on many different projects related to travel and I consider myself to be an expert in international travel with deep specialization on Europe and Russia.
I have always enjoyed the quality of content of Wikipedia as a reader and I decided to contribute to this wonderful project as an editor.