017 Bye Bye Baltics

Some people told me that the factual descriptions of my trip bore them, because I only tell what I do, and not how these experiences make me feel, and how this trip is slowly changing my life. I thought about this. I will concede that I could write my stories in a bit less ‘and then; and then’ style. And of course I feel things during my trip. But probably I am not a deeply profound thinker, because I do not walk around having revelations and epiphanies the whole day. Sorry, I’m shallow J.But I’ll see what I can do for my critical audience, and next time I stumble upon life changing insights into the workings of the universe, I will share them with you here.

After having a great time in Lithuania, I have now left the Baltics. I am a little sad to leave this super nice part of Europe, and happy to have found another place in the world that I like and am sure to go back to in the future. I met such unbelievably friendly and hospitable people everywhere. I spent about a week in each country, and although in many ways the three countries have things in common, for me they all present different experiences and friends. I’m not even going to try deciding which country I liked best. Ok, in Latvia it rained too much, but that’s not really something I can blame them for.

The last couple of days, in Vilnius I had a great time, even though I had to endure the constant presence of Lenny, who came over from Utrecht to make jokes about me and drink my beer. Our hosts took us to the best bar in ton, which was described to me, and I’m quoting here, like this “If you want to get a girl in this bar, you just walk in and tell one ‘I have a Volvo and a steady job’”. Somehow I do not really fit the bill I guess, but still it was a very good place. We had a jolly good weekend, after which I moved on to my last stop in Lithuania, and Lenny went back to The Netherlands to work (some-one has got to do it I guess).

I visited Kaunas, Lithuania’s second city, which was nice, although not very exciting (the city, that is, the people were great), and took to train to Warsaw.

Warsaw feels like a break in my trip. I have been here a couple of times before, so there is no pressure to see the sights, and I have room for myself to sleep in, which I did a lot. Couchsurfing everywhere is great, but somehow it also takes a lot of energy to stay in different places, meet new people, and see new exciting things the whole time. I probably sound spoiled now. I just meant to say it is also nice to do nothing for a couple of days, which I did here.

 Yesterday I met Rosalinde, who took the night train from Utrecht to here to bring me cheese and dropjes. From Warsaw, Rosalinde and I will take two more night trains to travel via Kiev to Yalta in the Ukrainian Crimea. Today is the day that our epic train journey commences, and I am sure that I will have a lot of new stories to tell you next time.