December 18, 2021

What a Gap Year


What a Gap Year
They should have consulted a professional English-language editor before writing all over the Shark plane. Wikimedia Commons user MB-one

A nineteen-year-old pilot who is solo-circumnavigating the world recently landed in Khabarovsk.

Young Belgian pilot Zara Rutherford launched the FlyZolo project with help from Rotary International. Her plane is the Shark, one of the fastest ultralight planes in the world. Polina Gruba of the Rotary Club hosted the pilot at her home in Khabarovsk.

Rutherford has never been so far away from home and is doing it in grand fashion as a solo pilot. In the Far East, she touched down in Magadan and Ayan before reaching Khabarovsk. But in the latter, larger city, Rutherford was finally able to connect to wi-fi and contact her family in Belgium, who was quite worried about her.

Residents of Khabarovsk dressed the pilot up like a Russian princess and stuffed her with pelmeni, blini, borscht, "herring under a fur coat," and other Russian delicacies. She met the players of the Khabarovsk Amur hockey team, part of the KHL (the second-best hockey league in the world, by many estimates).

Rutherford has not even started, let alone finished, college. She is starting next year, so this has been a very accomplished "gap year" – a break between high school and college that is more common in Europe than in either the United States or Russia.

Rutherford hopes to be the youngest woman to ever circumnavigate the globe. Follow her journey on FlyZolo.com.

You Might Also Like

Flying High
  • July 01, 2021

Flying High

Russian air travel has changed radically over the past two decades. While there are still grave security concerns, there has been a boom in aircraft and airport construction, with positive impacts for travelers into and within the country.
New Life Breathed into the Museum of Hockey
  • February 28, 2021

New Life Breathed into the Museum of Hockey

Moscow's stunning Museum of Hockey and Hockey Hall of Fame is a hidden gem with new investors ready to keep it going – hopefully for a long time to come.
KHL Victor Crowned
  • May 23, 2021

KHL Victor Crowned

Omsk Avangard clinches Russian hockey's Gagarin Cup with some famous NHL faces.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Murder at the Dacha

Murder at the Dacha

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin has a problem. Several, actually. Not the least of them is the fact that a powerful Soviet boss has been murdered, and Matyushkin's surly commander has given him an unreasonably short time frame to close the case.
Chekhov Bilingual

Chekhov Bilingual

Some of Chekhov's most beloved stories, with English and accented Russian on facing pages throughout. 
Murder and the Muse

Murder and the Muse

KGB Chief Andropov has tapped Matyushkin to solve a brazen jewel heist from Picasso’s wife at the posh Metropole Hotel. But when the case bleeds over into murder, machinations, and international intrigue, not everyone is eager to see where the clues might lead.
Jews in Service to the Tsar

Jews in Service to the Tsar

Benjamin Disraeli advised, “Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.” With Jews in Service to the Tsar, Lev Berdnikov offers us 28 biographies spanning five centuries of Russian Jewish history, and each portrait opens a new window onto the history of Eastern Europe’s Jews, illuminating dark corners and challenging widely-held conceptions about the role of Jews in Russian history.
At the Circus (bilingual)

At the Circus (bilingual)

This wonderful novella by Alexander Kuprin tells the story of the wrestler Arbuzov and his battle against a renowned American wrestler. Rich in detail and characterization, At the Circus brims with excitement and life. You can smell the sawdust in the big top, see the vivid and colorful characters, sense the tension build as Arbuzov readies to face off against the American.
Steppe / Степь (bilingual)

Steppe / Степь (bilingual)

This is the work that made Chekhov, launching his career as a writer and playwright of national and international renown. Retranslated and updated, this new bilingual edition is a super way to improve your Russian.
A Taste of Chekhov

A Taste of Chekhov

This compact volume is an introduction to the works of Chekhov the master storyteller, via nine stories spanning the last twenty years of his life.
Fearful Majesty

Fearful Majesty

This acclaimed biography of one of Russia’s most important and tyrannical rulers is not only a rich, readable biography, it is also surprisingly timely, revealing how many of the issues Russia faces today have their roots in Ivan’s reign.
Turgenev Bilingual

Turgenev Bilingual

A sampling of Ivan Turgenev's masterful short stories, plays, novellas and novels. Bilingual, with English and accented Russian texts running side by side on adjoining pages.
Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod is a mid-sized provincial city that exists only in Russian metaphorical space. It has its roots in Gogol, and Ilf and Petrov, and is a place far from Moscow, but close to Russian hearts. It is a place of mystery and normality, of provincial innocence and Black Earth wisdom. Strange, inexplicable things happen in Stargorod. So do good things. And bad things. A lot like life everywhere, one might say. Only with a heavy dose of vodka, longing and mystery.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955