In 1998 Mackinnon set out from England, planning a short jaunt down the Severn River, one year later, he found himself in the Black Sea. In an open dinghy less than 11' long, he crossed the English Channel, cruised 3, 000 miles of rivers, canals, and open sea, and traversed eleven countries, including war-torn Yugoslavia. Many adventures highlight this unexpected journey: an arrest by River Police while being swept out on a night-tide under Westminster Bridge, meeting Michael Palin, getting shipwrecked in a coastal storm, a solo crossing of the English Channel, being tear-gassed in the Budapest Metro, then trapped without funds in Serbia under threat of bornbardment, and capture by Romanian river pirates in the Danube Delta.