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Clive Coleman, BBC News.

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Now on BBC News it's time

for The Travel Show.

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Coming up on this week's show, we

travelled to Georgia to pay a visit

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to a town that is the birthplace of

one of the 20th century's most

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controversial figures. We meet an

artist in Dubai creating a unique

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fusion of traditional Arabic or

graffiti and street style graffiti.

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I always try to bring a message of

peace and tolerance and try to bring

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people together. We are all

connected and calligraphy is to

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connect people.

And I discovered

that Santa makes it look easy when I

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hop on a sleigh for an early slice

of Christmas. Let's go!

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But first, this week we are going to

Georgia. With its Black Sea

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coastline, forested landscape and

world-famous wine, it's not hard to

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see why tourism is booming in the

once the Soviet state. But one city

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there is attracting tourists for a

very different reason. In many ways

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Gori is an unremarkable post-Soviet

town. Tourists do calm and in their

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tens of thousands every year and

today that includes me. In 1939, my

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great-grandfather, a Polish

official, was arrested as the

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Soviets invaded under the leadership

of Josef Stalin. Like so many other

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people from Poland, my

great-grandfather was sent to oppose

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Labour camp and died, leaving my

family to flee, eventually reaching

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the UK. Today, in Gori, a flower bed

lies in a place where a statue to

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the city's most famous someone's

powered. But some locals wanted put

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back up. So I came here, to the

former hometown of Stalin, where he

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remained such an important but

quantum of -- controversial figure.

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For many in the former Soviet Union,

Stalin was a great leader. Over his

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30 year rule he brought victory

against the Nazis and respect on

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international stage. But he also

oversaw the starvation,

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imprisonment, execution and ethnic

persecution of millions of people

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across the USSR.

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At this guesthouse, Stalin is good

for business.

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But for many here Stalin represents

far more than potential profit. He

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is still an icon. 100,000 visitors

came to the Stalin Museum last year.

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You can see here furniture from

Stalin's first office.

Given my

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family history, I have mixed

feelings when I walk around the

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museum. For me it is an

interpretation of style and --

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Stalin's life which feels too

positive. Apparently the guides in

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the museum to tell the groups about

Stalin's victims, this room is

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dedicated to his victory in World

War Two and there's a similar room

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in the museum -- and there isn't a

similar room talking about his

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oppression and mass famines. By the

museum officials maintain that they

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are faring their representation of

how many suffered under Stalin.

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This is supposed to be museum, but

in this room it feels more like a

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shrine. It's actually quite

reminiscent of the Lenin Museum in

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the Red Square. In 2008 a

long-running dispute with

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neighbouring Russia over the south

is building the war. Gori suffered

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Russian bombardment. Following the

war, the pro Western Georgian

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government began removing Soviet

symbols from public spaces. In 2010

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the statue of Stalin was removed

from outside the government

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building, at many other locals are

proud of Stalin and is nostalgic for

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the old days and they want the

statue put a cup.

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-- back up.

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For some of the younger generation,

however, Stalin should be consigned

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to history, not lauded.

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I'd heard that a local taxi driver

knew where the Stalin statue had

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been dumped, facing the elements in

a scrapyard next to a military base.

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He agreed to take me.

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In many ways, Georgia has yet to

decide for itself how to remember

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Stalin. Although he statue remained

hidden away, the museum which

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seemingly venerates him is actively

promoted as a tourist destination.

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But while the nature of Stalin's

future in the city remains unclear,

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what does seems certain is that for

better or worse he will continue to

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bring travellers to Gori for some

time to come.

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Stay with us because coming up... We

meet the man making his artistic

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mark on Dubai. And I take a magical

reindeer safari through Finnish

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Lapland.

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If you are watching our special show

from Dubai a few weeks ago, you

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might remember we featured an artist

who is based there. He has displayed

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his unique form of art all over the

world. So Rajan has been back to ask

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him about his travels and where he

gets his inspiration from.

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Calligraffiti is the art of

beautifying script and it is an art

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that has been mastered by a master

calligrapher. I am not a

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calligrapher because I did not learn

from a master.

I was born and raised

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in France and I had this kind of

idea. This is how I started to learn

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to write Arabic. I was looking for a

teacher who could teach me Arabic

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calligraphy but I could not find

anyone. So I started twisting the

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letters or extending them and

creating my own style.

And that

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style is eL Seed's mix of Arabic

graffiti, bright colours and street

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style lettering dubbed

Calligraffiti. And he believes his

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work is the most powerful on the

street, bringing his message of

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tolerance to streets around the

world from New York to South Africa.

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I always try to bring a message of

peace and tolerance and bring people

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together. We all connect and this is

what I am trying to do with Arabic

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calligraphy, to connect people. I

was lucky enough to experience this.

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All the projects my team and I have

done around the world we have seen

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people and created relationship and

links with people.

Today, this is

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his biggest project. And immense

peace of work painted on 50 walls in

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an area of Cairo where a

marginalised and poor community of

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Coptic Christians collect and sort

the city's rubbish. It took over one

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month to complete and gives a

different perspective to an area

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many locals feared or ignored.

When

you go to a place to create art. But

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then you realise that art is a

pretext to create a human

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experience. We went to Cairo and the

people welcomed us like we were

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family. I saw those people living in

the garbage. That they live from the

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garbage. They taught us how to be

tolerant and the human because it is

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not the easiest way to live.

Could

we go through how you approach your

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Calligraffiti?

The only rule I have

is from right to left. And then I

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play with the words and the letters.

So let's write your name. This is

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the letter R, this is the alif. In

Arabic there is no capital. But what

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I do is I consider every letter as a

capital so I separate this level. So

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in this one in calligraphy you can

do it like this. This is the letter

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are. And now the alif like that. And

then this letter takes this shape

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here and then this is the letter N.

This is typography, this is

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calligraphy.

And someone who is

Arabic can read that?

Yes. They can

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decipher that. Arabic calligraphy is

what made me realise that identity

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is not unique. I am French, Tunisian

and Arabic calligraphy made me

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except my French call it a Mecca

identity. I could not do what I do

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today if I were not French. If I had

learnt Arabic from a young age I

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would not have this freedom to do

what I do with it. -- Arabic

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calligraphy made me accept my French

identity.

Finnish Lapland is as

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close as it gets to wear winter

wonderland. Over half a million

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people come here each year in search

of Father Christmas and his

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reindeer.

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You can not see you have truly

experienced the delights of Lapland

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until you have been on a reindeer

safari. And that is what I'm about

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to do. I have been told that if I am

good, I may be able to ride my own

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sleigh with my own reindeer. Before

I do that, I need to learn how to

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use one of these. Eric is my

instructor today. Is there anything

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specific I should know?

Do you have

a tip? Just be careful. Move slowly,

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not quickly.

How do we start?

Take a

seat.

Who is your number one

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reindeer?

This guy is 11 years old.

He knows his place.

He knows where

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he is going? That's what I need. How

are you?

For my lesson, Eric takes

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me on a ride.

, my days! Like many

herdsmen here in Lapland, Eric

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supplements is income with tourism.

He takes small groups of tourists

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into the forest on a reindeer

safari. This is a proper winter

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wonderland. It is so beautiful out

here. Everywhere you look at is just

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a postcard. It is getting close...

Oh, he shook me off. He does not

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like me. He is staying away. There

are more reindeer in Lapland than

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people. Around 200,000 of these

animals and most of them roam free.

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Some of them, like these ones, I

tamed and specially trained for the

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reindeer safaris. -- are tamed.

Reindeer of a powerful and that is

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why I am not allowed to use them on

my own yet. They would run off and I

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would be unable to control them.

Eric is guiding us at the front and

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controlling the sleigh. It shows you

how hardy these people are. Eric

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tells me that if I am lucky, I may

see some wolves or brown bears

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roaming around. So far, it is just

me and the reindeer. Were travelled

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around 20 minutes into the woods and

come to a clearing. Eric will start

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a fire. We will drink something

nice, chill out and he would teach

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me to use one of the slave. I have

had a taste of the power of the

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reindeer and I'm a little worried.

Do you get more people coming around

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Christmas time?

Yes. It is one of

the seasons. It is a high week,

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Christmas week. They want to spend

their Christmas holiday in a winter

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world.

Today, reindeer sleigh

safaris in tourist like me a taste

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of what life used to be like here

before cars and snowmobile. Finally

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it is my turn to have a go.

If you

want to go you just say go.

As

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simple as that? Go! Reindeer, go! He

is not listening to me. Go,

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reindeer! Daewoo! He is not

obedient, this reindeer. Eric said

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he has given me the safe one because

he does not want me to have any

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problems. I think he has given me

the slow rain -- reindeer. What is

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going on?! You will be left behind!

You will be Billy no mates! Eric! He

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is not going anywhere! At the next

roundabout, take a right. In 200

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yards, make a left. I can't say I

didn't try but this reindeer is just

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not interested.

Maybe we will try

the next one.

OK. We would trade the

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next one. For a set of, Eric gives

me a last few tips.

Bullet and he

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will stop in an emergency.

So this

is my emergency brake? We're going!

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Look at this. Controlling this

powerful beast. Oh my god, he is

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picking up speed. Go, go! This is so

spectacular. My first-ever sleigh

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ride. I don't know how much this

sleigh weighs. It is probably around

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half a ton, maybe a little less, but

that reindeer is pulling it as well

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as myself so easily. Such a powerful

beast. Let's go, son, let's go! It

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still may not be the fastest of

rides but it seems to be the

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smoothest and most magical way to

enjoy this landscape. It feels quite

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Christmasy. Very Christmasy.

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That is it for this week. Join us

next week when... I take a look back

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at some of my personal highlights

from this year's travel show

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including my trip to Ghana where I

met some other country's cheekiest

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residence. They are not shy. Look at

him here. So that its next week. If

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you want to see what we're doing on

the road between now and then,

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signup to our social media feed. The

details should be on your screen

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right now. But for now from me and

the travel show team here in Finnish

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Lapland, farewell.

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