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.

(un)comfor(table) zone

Disclaimer: There is no right or wrong way to travel. People travel the way they please. I respect that. Please respect my own way.

When I was still living back home I used to frequent fancy pubs. Didn't mind a lot of spending lots of money in partying, gadgets, nice car. Went out practically every weekend. Then one day in 2008 someone introduced to Couchsurfing and it was then when all began to change.

During the year I hosted, traveled and hung out with CSers I met all kinds of travelers: week long holiday travelers. Foreigners wanting to learn spanish therefore staying for a few months immersing into the culture. Long term travelers staying in hostels and couchsurfing. These ones where the ones that really intrigued me.

They were traveling for months straight or even years. The key word they mentioned was "low budget". Many people in Guatemala save a lot (or use their credit cards a lot!) to travel. Then they go back to work more and start saving again, or to pay the debts they got into.

It took me a few years to finally leave my comfort zone. When I started to travel I stayed in hostels, not many but still. Well, only in Central America. In the States and Europe I have never paid one single night of accommodation. In the States I didn't hitchhike. I took trains, car shared and even flew twice.

Summer 2010. I met Jass in København and he told me about this wonderful place in Amsterdam: Casa Robino. There, I met more wonderful people and that told me about this thing called the hitchgathering. In the couple of pre-gatherings that I attended I met more wonderful people. One person in particular caught my attention: Tomi. When I met him he had been traveling moneyless for a few months. If he can, why shouldn't I give it a shot? I still suck at traveling moneyless but that was a turning point in my life when I decided that at least I was going to travel spending as little as possible. I quite good at it, except when it comes to booze and girlfriends.

I stayed for year in Estonia. I got quite comfortable here. Not that is anything wrong with it but it's just that I liked me more when money was the least of my concerns. My friend wrote that the comfort zone is inside your hear, like my happy place. In my case is not exactly like that. It's so easy to eat Macdonald's or go to Rimi to buy a frozen pizza... or two. A couple of days ago I cooked something for the first time in a few weeks. Cereal, sandwiches and pancakes from Knight House don't count.

I don't even know what I'm writing. I had my last shift last night. My last shift at Alur Hostel. my home for almost a year. I'm very sad. Timing sucks. Timing is shit.

I'm leaving Estonia in less than 24 hours. I think, I  hope that this small roadtrip to Portugal will help me  leave my comfort zone again.

Not sure how often I will post after I leave. For sure I will not write about the road itself but about life on the road. I will try not to describe the trip.

I have a long, cold road ahead of me. But people will make it warm. Eeer, that came out wrong, anyway, you get my point. I was hoping to start hitchhiking without snow but the first snow came yesterday.

There are no "goddbyes" but "see you laters"

weather

Sometimes happens to me that when I don't have anything else to talk about with the person I'm with I start (or the other person) to talk about the weather. 

I figured I could apply this to my writing: I don't have anything else to write so I will write about the weather.  Actually it's not a bad thing to write about the weather. It's autumn. Summer is long gone... if it in fact we had summer...

It's amazing how you can adapt to the environment. Not only humans can do this, during the Industrial Revolution, an species of butterfly changed color adapting to the new environment. Like that butterfly I too adapted to the environment. I think I knew it all along that I was going to end up in Estonia because the first time I came to Europe was winter and I chose Norway... fucking cold and fucking dark!

I'm going to fast forward from Norway to Czech. I'm living in lovely Prahaha (not a typo error) and from what I heard it was one of the coldest winters in many years. Average temperature was between -15ºC and -10ºC with some days a bit colder. Felt colder due the fact that I had to stand completely naked in front of art students drawing my boney body. Poland was also fucking cold but I had a lot of sex making it alright.

I was back in Europe and left Estonia in the beginning of autumn. I was now leaving in Berlin. I've gotten used to the weather so well that in november I was still wearing havaianas outside. Early november at least.

So I said I can adapt. The other night I went for a walk and I thought the weather was "chilly". It was -2ºC. What the hell happened to me!? That was the first negative so far and it will only get colder (and darker).  Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, I'm just pointing out that I'm used to this kind a weather.

The reason why I don't gain weight is because I have a fast metabolism...

happy place!

Last year, in December I was writing about finding a state of mind (wonderland) and/or a nice physical place I like to refer to it as "my happy place".

I think I finally achieved that. Wonderland has finally reached my head and it will stay there!

I also think that I might have found my happy place. It's been under my nose for almost a year but it was not until a few months that I realized that Estonia might be indeed my happy place! it's funny because I always said that I never saw myself living here. Fuck, spend another winter in Tallinn? Alright, I wouldn't mind spending winter somewhere warm where I could swim naked in the ocean but I definitely don't mind staying here.

Estonia and Tallinn had become the country and city I've stayed the longer, surpassing the USA and Prague. I stayed in the US for 6 months and in Prague for 3 and a half. I have been in Estonia for 7 months in total and Tallinn for 5 and I'm looking forward for more!

Yesterday someone asked me how would I rate Tallinn in a scale from 1 to 10... I said 11. Why? Because I've met some wonderful people here. Because I keep meeting amazing people here.Because I've done some crazy shit here. Because Tallinn is one of the most beautiful cities I've been. Because I love the sound the snow makes when I'm walking. Because I love the long summer days. Because I love the autumn colors. Because I love to see a frozen Baltic Sea (and walk on it). Because Tallinn have a prison that held parties now and then. Because Estonia has beaches with pine trees instead of palm trees. BBecause the list could go on and on and on.

Wherever I go in the future, no matter how far I might end up, I will always come back to this place. Actually I've done it before. I was in the Southern Hemisphere last year, alright I was just a few hundreds kilometers South but still! now I'm 800 kilometers from the Artic Circle.

So here I am in Tallinn, Estonia a month short of being one year in Europe (this time) and about two of being 4 years on the road.

I'm actually really looking forward for the winter...

mid-fucking-summer

Photo by Joxemi

This was supposed to be posted before the "weirdness" post but I completely forgot about it. Maybe it was exactly because of that, of my weird state of mine... that I still have.

Maybe I should've waited until my birthday celebrations/midsummer were over to write something about it.

I knew that in Scandinavia celebrate midsummer. I think I had an idea that also is celebrated in the Baltic States, what I didn't know was that it was a big celebration over here. I've never been to any Scandinavian country during this celebration, or in summertime for that matter. My first time in Estonia I was a couple of weeks too late. Another thing I didn't know was that is celebrated on my fucking birthday! What are the odds for that!?

But it was not all happiness. The few Estonian friends I know were going to celebrate the bonfire in the country side. I was going to stay in Tallinn. I've heard that Tallinn was going to be dead. That was far from being the truth. I mean, there was a bonfire on the beach on Patarei prison. It was a huge (at least for me) bonfire.

Photo by Joxemi

I think I've spent my best birthday so far. I've drank with people from many countries. I've met new people. New wonderful people.

I don't know what else to write. I have been in a weird state of mind that prevents me to write something worth reading. Not that I'm good at it but at least, I would like to think, that it doesn't suck that much.

Can't stay away from...

Poland.

I had this long draft ready to be published but I changed my mind and not going to do it. Just going to say that going back to Poland was nice, as always. I shared some great times with great people. Poland will always be in my top list and I will always keep going back. I felt like home when I stayed in my home for the spring of 2011, the Goodbye Lenin Pub & Garden. I would really recommend this hostel, as a super plus, they have their own pub and the receptionists are hot... makes me wonder why did I ever leave that place? Jokes aside, the staff is wonderful and the facilities are awesome. Special thanks to my former boss Paweł for let me crash for a couple of nights.

Will I ever get to see the Tatry, please tell someday I will dammit!

But I had to leave, a job was waiting for me in Tallinn. In the petrol station I found one of my rides there was an Estonian car tanking. I was not that lucky, the car was full. My aim was to make it to Kaunas. I surpassed that and luckily I made it to Riga BUT I was in the same petrol station I was stuck 2 years before for 12 hours. This time though there were several trucks including two with Estonian license plates. Long story short: I spent the night in the toilet and by 5.45 I was already on my way to Tartu. By 9 I was in Tartu but it was still early and I had the option of going to a town 50km from the Russian border so I went. The town's name is Johvi. From there it was easy to get to Tallinn.

 I took this photo before the ride mentioned above, it was before 5.00 in the morning. Before I walked inside the shop and drank two hot chocolates. I was shaking, I have no idea how cold it was but it felt like -20C!

The small white circle on the left it's the moon not a light post.