The Big European Travel Adventure...

Two years ago, I'd just finished travelling around Britain by the light of the full moon. That idea came to me first in 2007, when I thought it'd be fun to do something a bit different. I didn't do anything about it at the time. Then a girlfriend dumped me and I ended up living back home with my parents and life stalled - so I made it happen.

Every full moon of 2009, I decided I'd hop in my car and travel to somewhere in Britain that had lunar connections, then throw myself into any situation I could.

During that year, I spent a lot of time researching places I didn't know and discovering fascinating facts about them. And at one point, I spotted something that gave me another idea that, one day, would give me another excuse to travel and do daft things. It was clearly a sign:

The idea was 'Twin Town'. The one day arrives in the spring.

In April, I'll throw off the shackles (and income) of work, hop in a car, cross the Channel, arrive in France and probably think Eek, this is a much bigger challenge than I imagined. Then I'll head to my first twinned town. I'll spend the next couple of months hopping between twins, asking questions, snooping around and getting into some sticky situations (that my mix of English and GCSE French will hopefully rescue me from).

What's a twin town? To people in Europe, it's a place twinned with another place, either in Europe or further afield. (If you're American, you'd call it a sister city.)

What does that mean and why does it happen?

I've got three months, from today, to do all the research I can about twinning. I want to know why it started, whose idea it was, how popular it is, who's involved, does it help and build relationships or has it run out of steam? Then, for a couple of months in the spring, I'm off to learn more first-hand.

But before that happens, I need your help.


Thank you
Sam, Caroline and Mark from Fabric, for the beautiful mark and typography (above) and helping make it work online.