speaking of

...my soon to be fourth anniversary of being on the road...

Someone asked me if I was going to celebrate and said no. What's the point? I mean, I can go out to eat or (most likely) to drink any day. Instead of celebrating being 4 years on the road I should celebrate 4 years of not quitting and going back home. Now here I am, in Estonia having a free beer while attempting to write something meaningful and interesting (good luck to you!). Now if I end up writing something meaningful and interesting then that is something that I should have a drink to... or eight.

It was not long after I started my travels (long ago back in late 2009) when I was in Costa Rica finishing up what I used to call "the first leg of my travels": one month from Guatemala to Costa Rica (I quit dividing my travels into legs long ago, actually don't even remember when) when my couchsurfer in San José asked me how I funded my travels. I have to be honest, I started traveling with the insurance money after my car was stolen. I paid off debts and with the rest I took off. But the answer now is: I work every time I need cash.

I worked for what? three weeks in a Asian fusion restaurant that I'm not going to put up the link because for a change, they fucked me up not giving my last week's paycheck. It was not a lot but still. After I moved to North-Eastern Florida I worked for two (again) restaurants: The Burrito Gallery (you probably seen me wearing the Tshirt in some photos but now is probably being worn by some  motherfucking thieve) and The Uptown Market. I'm know for not particularly being a fan of the US but I knew that going there and working a few months would get me enough money to travel and it did for a few months. In my 6 month long stay in that country I worked a total of 3 non consecutive months and traveled for the other 3.

I was in Prague drinking my life away with the best and cheapest beer I have ever had the pleasure to enjoy. but I needed another job in order to be able to leave and keep traveling. By now all of you probably know that my main form of income is working in hostels (and now that we're into it, my main form of outcome are booze and girlfriends). But I also had so far other ways to make a bit of that precious item we use in this capitalistic world we live in, that necessary evil, that thing that unequally distributed among people, that... alright: money!

I was working my ass off between two jobs. It was around my second month in Prahaha (in Spanish only, sorry) when I needed another way to make more money. Talking about it with one of my colleagues he told me that I could take over his side job because he was not able to do it anymore. "What is it about?" I asked. "you will have to pose nude for a group of art students" he told me... So there I was, showing my naked and very boney body to some 20 czech students, some of the cute girls.  So far doesn't seem that bad and it actually wasn't except for the fact that the classroom didn't have heating!  What was hard was not to get the awkward boner because standing next to me was this gorgeous girl: long black hair, ocean blue eyes, tattoos - one just above her perfectly trimmed and pierced vagina.  Now you see that it was hard (no pun intended) to do the job? I actually made more money doing this than the money I was making at the hostel. I was able to save up all this and live (and drink) from the money I was making from the hostel. It was also hard to stand (or sit) in the same position for 45 minutes straight!

If I'm not working I try to at least not spend the little money I have therefore I look for work exchange positions. This is how I landed a bartending gig in the Nicaraguan Pacific. It was  Hogmanay, it's super fucking hot but it was good. I also volunteered or was enslaved by (the owner of the hostel I would later work in Panama City, Panama in which I also got fucked) in the small "mountain" town of Boquete. It was not that bad, I mean the town. There was this huge flower and coffee festival, didn't see any of the flowers nor the coffee but I saw a huge amounts of alcohol. This was earlier in 2012. I met some nice people like Mario, we met up again in Heidelberg earlier this year.

I also volunteered for two hostels in Colombia. One is owned by this nice dreaded German Couchsurfer married to a Colombian. The place was awesome, the people I met there were equally (or more) awesome, except for the Mexican asshole. I met Ilona and I visit her in Switzerland a year later. Anyways, it was not what I was looking for and I left. I found myself (along with the person I was traveling with) in the city of Armenia a few months later working in exchange of accommodation, (toast) breakfast and unlimited Colombian coffee, which is almost as good as Guatemalan coffee... almost.

But what I really wanted to talk about but I had to go all this way around the bushes is about my brief incursion into the Estonian (short) movie industry. Carlos, one of my colleagues is going to film school and got me a part as an extra in a short movie promoting an Estonian fashion designer. It was cool! Not only did I have my own scenes, you can see my arm once and my ass a few times, well my trousers filled with air given the fact that I don't have an ass! They even paid me for doing this! Certainly not a lot but I would've done it for free!

If you want to see my incursion into the movie industry click here: Ron's incursion into the Estonian movie industry from now on known as his 5 minutes and 47 seconds of fame even though he's not in the entire movie but who cares, he was in a fucking movie!

I guess this entire entry is also like an update of what I have been doing since "my three year anniversary". 

I've given myself a certain amount of time to re-evaluate my shit, I mean my life: where am I going. What am I doing? When am I doing it?. Nothing is keeping in Estonia, unfortunately. Big changes are coming. I have been here for almost a year, that's the longest I have ever  been in one place. My feet are starting to itch. I wanted to settle somewhere temporarily and I did. Many good friends of mine are already or are going to South America and even "worse" they all are asking me to join them down there! World Cup is next year in Brazil. Would be super awesome to party the hell out of Brazil with Alonso. Andre is about to hitch the boat to Colombia. Tomi is in lovely Nicaragua. Matt is going to be in Argentina sometime in March. Lempi's dream is to go to South America. Jass is looking for a boat soon.

It's going to be sad when I leave this place. Very, very sad. My happy place. Estonia became the only place I could call it happy place. I don't want to leave but I have to. I'm a traveller, that's what we do. Go places to fall in love with them. I'm not leaving now but I know that the day will come and is not very far into the future. But I know that I cannot be too far away from here. No matter where I may end up, no matter how far, how deep, I know, I will keep coming back here.

I feel weird. 

I've discovered that I'm a better writer (or less worse?) if I have a beer with me.

I still feel weird. 

No, I'm not drunk. I wish I was but I'm not. 

I just want a hug.

Don't know what to think.

What's wrong with me? A lot!

I want a puppy.

Nina, a bit of drinks, el gato and awesome times

I sent yesterday I think an mail asking some of you for stories about travelling/hitchhiking and Nina was the first one to send me hers. She keeps a facebook page in which she writes something everyday. I posted the link a while ago, but here it is again: Charlotte Acrobat's 365. I enjoy her writing very much. You should check Nina's page, I'm sure you would like it.

I met her in Zagreb over two years ago... WOW! Nina is responsible for my love to Borek. Good times in Zagreb, remember "el gato"? 

Without further a due, I leave you with her story, which by the way I didn't expect it to be this one!

I'm Nina. A traveller. A CouchSurfer. A hitchhiker. A Croatian. Specialised in living out of Croatia and refusing to grow up. An aspiring writer.

This is my first attempt to write something 100% autobiographic and on a given topic: travelling or something related to travelling. I'm not sure how it will turn out but let's see.

There are so many tiny stories to share and it's hard to choose only one. I could talk about how it all started, about several turning points, about people's kindness, about keeping your life in a 60liter backpack, about inability to settle down… Crap, I have no idea.

*5 minutes later*

Wait, I do have an idea. I'll write about how I met Ron Navas. And no, you won't have to watch 8 seasons of CBS sitcom to discover how. (Referring to How I Met Your Mother.)

January, 2011. (God it's been that long?!) I accept a CouchRequest of two French guys and a Guatemalan guy Ron. A few days later, they enter my apartment bringing the spirit of the road inside. Sharing a bit of food, more than a bit of drinks and loads of tips and tricks on travelling.

- Hey, have you read this book on low-budget travelling? – Ron is showing a book.

- No, I haven't. Hey, have you heard of this Finnish guy who refuses to be a part of monetary system and doesn't use any money? – I'm reminded of a guy I've met while hitchhiking the Balkans.

- You mean Tomi? – Ron says.

- Yeah, Astikainen or something like that. You know him in person? – I'm surprised.

- Sure, yeah, I've met him in Spain and then we bumped into each other later on the streets of Lyon. – he explains.

Wow, the world's so small, I think to myself.

- You know, this reminds me of when we were in Greece, Tomi and I ended up spending one night at this girl's place, Martyna, a Polish girl on Erasmus in Greece. And then, a few weeks later the very same girl Martyna ended up CouchSurfing in Istanbul at my friends place. – I continue.

- Wait, you say Polish girl on Erasmus in Greece, that rings a bell for sure. Martyna, surname Grzymala?

- Yup, that's her. – I say in disbelief.

- And the Turkish guy, is his name by any chance Orcun?

- Yup, Orcun Akkiray.

The world's smaller than I could believe.

After a few days of spontaneous parties at my place, Ron and the French guys leave to continue their journey. I've been taught how to say: "¿Qué hora es? ¡Es la hora decir salud!" which has proven to be very useful since January when I began living in Valencia, Spain."

July-August 2011. I'm the States on my temporary working visa. In my free time, I'm enjoying Spanish-Italian language exchange with a CouchSurfer named Al.

September 2011. I add Al on the list of my CouchSurfing friends.

- Hey Al, I've seen that we have Ron Navas as a mutual friend. How the hell do you know him? – I'm sincerely shocked.

- Yeah, he was hitchhiking some time ago here in the US and I picked him up once. – he explained.

So peeps, this is a story of how small the world is and how I met Ron Navas.

Travelling, CouchSurfing, hitchhiking – all of that added together breaks the image of the world as a bad place, making you understand why's it said that there are no strangers, only friends you haven't met yet. (In most of the cases it's been proven to be true. Still, there are rare cases that support the image of the world as a bad place. Here's what Amanda Fucking Palmer has to say about that: "If anybody tries to steal your ukulele, let them take it!")