Tuesday, December 3, 2013

distances

One of the biggest mistakes I can make is to underestimate the distance between two places. I mean, Riga is not very far away from Tallinn, roughly 300 km. I was super sure that I was going to make it quite easy. I didn't. Well, kind of.

It was super hard to leave Tallinn behind. I wanted to leave at 7 so I could be at the (HHing) spot around 8. Nope! I started having breakfast around 8. I had all my shit packed and ready. I just didn't want to leave. Had one last cigarette with Liisa. I promise, I will improve my rolling skills so next time I will roll them in no time!

The hardest part about traveling is when you have to say "see you later" to the people you care about. Hard and I hate it! Why can't I take them with me? Why can't they just come with me? Sorry for the sudden burst of selfishness, it's maybe because I still haven't had my morning dose of caffeine.

Finally had the courage to leave. Manuel walked me to the bus stop. By the way, there were no controls, I was nervous the entire time! I was very anxious. A few times I've tried to hitch out of Tallinn but only once I was picked up. I had the help of hot blonde that time. This time is was the green haired, pierced and skinny me. A bit more than an hour later I was standing just before the turn off to Haapsalu. Finally! I succeeded, I managed to hitch out of Tallinn on my own! I was only 30 km away though. 

Another couple of hours and I was in Pärnu living my worst nightmare: getting dropped at the entrance of the city. About three hours later it was getting dark and I was already looking for a plan B in case I had to stay the night there. Thought about going back to Tallinn but doing that would mean only one thing: not leaving again. As tempting as it was I needed to keep going. The walk across town took two me hours. Half an hour later, Wojtek, a weed smoking polish truck driver was offering to take to 30 km past Białystok. Maybe he was just talkative, very talkative or maybe he was very high. Most likely the latter one. He had a gazillion stories to tell. He was in the middle of the storie when suddenly he stopped talking. "Wait, what was I telling you?". Are you fucking kidding me? You were telling me something 30 seconds ago and you already forgotten about it? he was funny as fuck though. At the beginning it was funny but then he kept smoking and we got to a point that it was not funny anymore, in fact it was scary.

Six hours later, a bit of salad and goulash I was in Kaunas.

I was more than sure that I was not going to make it to Kaunas in one day. I was even starting to doubt that I was going to make it Riga! Contrary to my own "rule" about starting early, this time I started late. I was still at less than halfway by the time I could had be in my destination if I had started earlier. But then in a turn of events, when everything seemed lost, when I almost had lost the hope of even leaving Pärnu, when I was thinking of logging into CS as ask for an emergency couch, everything changed. Not only I found a ride but that ride would take me to Kaunas, almost 600 km south.

To round up things, I'm staying in Kaunas with a wonderful host. In a few days I will hitchhike to Poland. I will not do it alone. I'm hitchhiking with a guy from Vilnius. Let's see how it goes.