Gatecrashing Europe

In 2007, Kris Mole flew one-way to Stockholm with a vow not to return home to England until he had visited every capital city in the European Union (excluding the islands). He set himself eight simple rules, most importantly A) that no money would be spent or handled during the journey, and B) no credit cards would be used either. Thus, the great Euro Freebie Challenge began: twenty-three cities to be visited, 6000 miles to be covered, without spending a single penny on the journey - to raise money, in fact, for Cancer Research UK.

The colourful story of this six-month trip was first told by charismatic, wise-cracking, semi-anti-hero Kris via a series of blogs, and followed by readers of The Daily Mail, The Telegraph and the BBC website. Readers found Kris drawing on his formidable resourcefulness to acquire all of life's necessities for free, resting wherever he could find a place, and travelling by foot, hitch-hiking, or stowing away on trains - experiencing, as you might expect, a wild emotional ride in the process.