Handcrafted, epic journeys are the heart of MIR. President Douglas Grimes shares one Canadian family's adventurous overland expeditions, from Siberia to Central Asia. Their travels truly are the "ultimate dream trip." Read More
A look at MIR’s first 1980s pioneering tours to the U.S.S.R., and a fateful decision after the 1991 Soviet coup: should MIR quit, or adapt? Read More
MIR's president Douglas Grimes fulfills a life-long dream: playing volleyball against Soviet Olympians, leading to the creation of MIR Corporation. Read More
Here's everything you need to know about MIR Corporation, a pioneering, award-winning travel company specializing in travel at the crossroads of Europe and Asia. Read More
Just one month before Douglas Grimes (MIR's founder and president) and his clients arrived in Irkutsk, the temperature had registered -35 Fahrenheit. January in Siberia can be chilly. Doug planned the custom winter trip for writer Sophy Roberts and photographer Michael Turek, and figured that the weather in February would be a little more inviting. And it was: it was 19 degrees above zero the day they spent playing on the Lake Baikal ice. 19 degrees and snowing. But, warmly dressed and undaunted, the crew stepped boldly out onto the thick ice of Baikal and did what Siberians do so well: enjoyed themselves. Read More
It's been 28 years since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. We're marking the anniversary with eyewitness accounts from MIR colleagues and contacts. In this installment, Doug shares his memories of the fateful days of the August coup in 1991, and his travels from Seattle to Moscow to Kamchatka in the Russian Far East. Read More
In her column How to Spend It for the May issue of the Financial Times, British journalist and traveler Sophy Roberts writes about the allure of obscure border crossings, and the “small coterie of top-end travel outfitters who have made it their business to expedite difficult border crossings in far-flung lands.” Roberts traveled through Siberia and across the Mongolian border this past winter on a journey that MIR created especially for her. MIR founder Douglas Grimes accompanied her. Read More
Russia is a “strange, alluring, enthralling, wonderful world,” in the words of author Nikolai Gogol. The domed Orthodox churches, world-renowned museums, high culture and down-to-earth street life make up a whole that is at once well-bred and wild, huge and intimate, formal and free-wheeling. You need an insider to help you make sense of it all. And who better to be your guide than Douglas Grimes, the man who founded MIR in 1986? In the past 30 years, he’s been to Russia more than 100 times. Here are Doug’s 5 tips on how to travel like an insider in Moscow... Read More
At this time of year, Annie and I can’t help but pause to reflect on why we do what we do, and why this company was started almost 30 years ago. Peace through travel was the impetus to our start and remains a cornerstone of our business today. Today, more than ever, that message resonates with tremendous relevance. We will hold this in our thoughts as we move into the future. We celebrate our amazing and intrepid travelers for being so open to discovering our fascinating off-the-beaten-path part of the world. We feel privileged to be asked to design one-of-a-kind personalized journeys, and to assist so many in making their travel dreams come true. Read More
To celebrate our 30th season in 2016, we’ve gone back to our roots and custom crafted two new itineraries to two classic MIR destinations. And for a limited time, traveling on these new tours is even easier with our special offers. Book now and save! Read More
Struggle to come up with a perfect Valentine’s Day gift year after year? Treat your significant other to a romantic getaway for two, as The Active Times suggests. In a roundup of “6 Romantic Getaways for Lovers,” MIR’s Essential St. Petersburg private journey was featured alongside the Mukul Retreat in Nicaragua, Robinson Crusoe Island in Chile, and a bike tour across the Italian countryside.Forget Paris or Rome. In St. Petersburg, Russia you and your lover can peruse Fabergé eggs, attend world-class ballet or opera performances on one of the most prestigious stages on the planet, stroll the halls of luxurious palaces of the czars, walk the broad streets with gorgeous 18th century buildings, and stand hand-in-hand before “The Dance,” a joyous painting by Henri Matisse.Read the full article on The Active Times website.
While in Kyzyl, a small Siberian village in remote Tuva, Tatiana took one of our favorite photos from her trip: a photo of a ... Read more
A recent feature in Men’s Journal Magazine about adventurous — yet still accessible — far north destinations included b... Read more
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