On my landmark milestone week where I crack my 100th real life country to have visited, I decided on a few other quirky adventures on the way, this involved visits to see my friends and family on route as well as a few small nations, unknown countries and disputed regions. I was very enthusiastic about my visit to Austenasia. Where is that you might ask.
Austenasia has been a self declared country since 2008, when it seceded from the United Kingdom. Austenasia is now a nation consisting of around 75 people, scattered across different countries. Their nationality is Austenasian and the capital is known as Wrythe. This is the national flag of Austenasia:
I got in touch with the Emperor of Austenasia, Jonathan the First and arranged a guided tour of Wrythe, the capital. Wrythe borders England and the United Kingdom on all four sides, it’s a landlocked capital formed of one terraced house with outer and inner wall borders, one main garden and a front driveway. This is where Austenasia declared its
independence from the United Kingdom.
Despite being in existence since 2008, I was the first ever tourist and backpacker to visit the capital city Wrythe and get to understand Austenasian life in more detail by meeting some of its residents. It was quite cool to be visiting the least touristy capital in the world – yes that’s right – there were no tourist visits before I turned up on Saturday 21st
March 2015 at 10.38 am. Before that only journalists and friends of the Austenasians had visited and as I result my visit attracted local publicity within Austenasia, and I was featured on the front page of the Austenasian Times that day.
It might sound like a bit of a crazy adventure in life to visit Austenasia but it was something I was hugely excited about. My love of travel was what inspired me to head to Wrythe in Austenasia for this very cool adventure. So after a succession of buses from the English towns of Roehampton, New Malden and Sutton, I arrived on the street known as Green Wrythe Lane. It is on this street, at number 312 where you cross the border from the United Kingdom or England and into the Empire of Austenasia. I had arrived and was ready to explore this small country.
I will cover the key sights of Austenasia in another post as well as my trip to the nearby nation of Orly and details on crossing the border from England/United Kingdom into Austenasia. In the meantime I featured on the Austenasian Daily News website.
Here are some of my videos from backpacking in Wrythe, Austenasia:
[…] Blair, a travel writer, visited Wrythe to write an entry for his journey blog “Don’t Stop Living“. He was given a guided tour of Wrythe […]
I actually looked up Austenasia – thank you for bringing this to my attention. 😉 Also, well done for becoming the first ever tourist there – maybe others will follow (as we all know, tourism is a very lucrative business).
Congratulations on number 100! You certainly picked an interesting place.
Hi Monika, I really hope others follow. I love off the wall stuff like this when I travel. Safe travels, Jonny
Thanks for the comment Jonathan, I won’t be counting places like Uzupis, Austenasia or Antarctica in my official country count (it would be 109 if I counted all those I believe are genuine countries. I personally believe that if the people within an area believe it to be a country, then it is. Austenasia is a wonderful country to visit just because it feels so crazy having been started on a street in Carshalton. Safe travels, Jonny
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Dear Sir/Madam
I want visit there with my wife, so do please tell me, process of the new Developed country immigration policies
Thanks
+92-315-9339909
Hi Miraj, Thanks for the comment. I was the first and only tourist backpacker to visit Wrythe to date, so there is virtually no chance of you and your wife visiting this nation. Plus it is simply not a developed country, nor is it a place for couples to hang out. All visits are strictly monitored by the Austenasian government and you will be accompanied at all times. I am the Consul General for Northern Irish citizens to visit Austenasia and this is the procedure. There are plenty of other cool countries to backpack through. Regards. Jonny
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Imaginary countries shouldn’t count. Interesting, but not a real country.
Hi Jorge, oh it is really a country!! What right have you to decide it is any less of a country than say Italy, Faroe Islands, Artsakh, China etc. If you go to a country and it recognises itself as separate, then for me it IS A COUNTRY. My list has 627 countries on it and sadly none of us will ever have time to backpack them all. Safe travels whether you recognise places as real countries or not. I love real countries like Austenasia!! Jonny