VLN (Vilnius)

I'm not going to make up an excuse about why I didn't write before. I didn't because I am the master procrastinator, the laziness king! that being said, let me get onto the story.

I had been to Lithuania a couple of times before, to Kaunas as it's on the Via Baltica. For some reason I never went to Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania.

It's a cute small city about a 100 Km west of the Belorussian border. I didn't know what to expect. Was it going to be similar to Tallinn?  Maybe not. Given its history, well, actually that applies to the entire country, the ties to Poland; Lithuania is a surprisingly religious country! Nothing I expected in the Baltics. Estonia is one of the most pagan countries in the world whilst there is a church almost in every corner in Vilnius; both Roman Catholic and Orthodox. Just beside my hostel there was that a pilgrimage church for Poles to the point that you could hear Polish being widely spoken around the chuch, that church is Aušros Vartai.

One thing that I noticed almost immediately was most pubs where outside the Old Town which made things a bit complicated. Given the fact that I'm extremely lazy, the 20ish minute walk to the center from the Old Town was too much for me. Therefor, I barely went out in VLN.

There are a couple of hills inside the town. One has the remains of a castle and the other one has three crosses, someone told that these one were "new" as the previous ones were destroyed in Soviet times. Not to confuse this one with the Hill of Crosses, the one in Vilnius has only three crosses, the other one not far from the Latvian border has a shitload of crosses.

I was living with my friends in a nice area near Kalvariju Turgus. Thirty minutes from the Old Town. Near an old football stadium. To get to the Old Town/Center you needed to cross a river, but cannot remember which one exactly, but it's either the Neris or the Vilnia.

Whilst in Lithuania I also went for a couple of days to Kaunas (again) and to Trakai. 

Overall, Lithuania was a good experience. I got to see good friends and made some new ones an int the short time I was there, I had visitors! Only time will tell when I'll be back, because for sure I will go back to the heart shaped country.

Wojtek

Picture this scenario:

Estonia. It's winter, early December. First snow was the day before but this particular morning slush was all over the ground. Standing on open roads thumbing with subzero temperatures. Ahead, ~300 Km to Riga. It though it was easy...

Scenario part two:

Stuck in Pärnu about to lose hope and either CS there or take the bus back to Tallinn. White truck pulls over and a friendly twenty something driver. He picked me up and drove all the way to Kaunas while sharing tons of stories. He dropped me at the end of Kaunas but before he gave me his number.

Now, fast forward to exactly a year later...

I'm about to leave Lithuania, again. I'm in Vilnius where I'd stayed the previous 5 weeks (you will read about this, I just thought to share this before as it's very important and meaningful to me). I decided to text him as he told me the year before that he goes quite often from Poland to the Baltics. What where the odds for him to reply to my text, maybe not many. But to my surprise he did,  he remembered me and I was even more surprise when he tells me that he's going to Kaunas and that he could drive me back to Poland! We agreed where to meet and I set off to Kaunas.

A Lithuanian truck driver was the one that drove me to Kaunas. I tried to explain where I was going. I said Garliava, he said Ok. Wojtek texted me that he was not going to unload that evening but the next morning and asked me if I could somehow get to BLS, the place he was unloading the cargo. Again, explained this to the driver and he left a few hundred meters from the entrance. What came next surprised me: he made a hand gesture meaning that now he was going to turn back and head on to his destination... what?! he didn't need to take me there but still he took me! Ačiu very much kind sir, ačiu.

When I get to where he was, a distribution center, Wojtek welcomes me with a huge smile, we shake hands and hands me a beer as we begin to catch up.

Practically the entire day we are catching up, playing games on his iPad. We reached his home town, Grajewo. He invited me for a meal at his parent's house where I met them. They were a really nice couple and of course, very welcoming. But it was getting dark and I had to go. We said our good-byes and Wojtek took me to a petrol station outside of town where he found a ride to Ostrołęnka... the town I was stuck for a few hours the year prior... going to Warszawa!!! Now I have a new friend to visit when I go back to Poland.

It was almost dark when I left Grajewo. It was pitch dark when I got to  Ostrołęnka. The driver spoke the same amount of words in English as I know in Polish. He tried several times to find a ride on the CB radio to WAW but nothing. I saw that he was talking on the phone and suddenly he says "hey, kolega" and gives his handy. I began talking to his daughter. She tells me that he's going to take the trailer to the parking, take the truck to another parking and take me to the bus station where he will pay me the bus to WAW... I couldn't say anything but a huuuge thank you.

Finally I made it to WAW. My friend Agata found a place to stay with Mateusz, a CSer that lives in a squat.

My friends Ania and Antonia are back in Poznań and I tried to reach them but it was impossible. I left WAW late but I managed to get on the motorway. Near Łódź, some guys with a car with Luxembourger number plates drove me to Berlin, where I'm recharging batteries before continuing my journey back home.

Wojtek, thanks for everything man! see you again soon, maybe in Guatemala?

2013

2014

ps. I love everything about Poland

Alive and kicking (part 4): Kraków - Vilnius

I always have a great time in Kraków visiting friends, making new ones. But it was time to start moving. Kraków to Vilnius could be done in one day, but it's not summer anymore and there are not motorways (no big petrol stations) making it difficult to hitchhike at night. I decided to play it safe and stop for a couple of days in Warszawa. I wanted to see a friend anyways. 

Getting there went smooth. Had a ride in a car that was voted the "ugliest car in the world". Got to Warszawa quite fast actually and had to wait until the evening to meet with Martyna. While walking I saw a guy whose face was familiar. I knew that guy but from where? Then I remembered! To explain I need to go back to 2010, Praha. I was working two jobs, the C&B and the other one posing naked for art school. Now fast forward to 2014. There I was, walking beside the Warszawa Centralna and I saw this guy. Wait, I wrote this already. Fast forward a few more minutes into the same day. The guy stopped at the bus stop. I kept looking at him. I went up to talk to him and asked him in he lived in Prague a few years before. It was him! The guy that drew me naked! We remembered each other but couldn't remember our names. We had a small chat, I was with my friend and she asked him "how do you know each other?" to what he answer "I used to draw him naked". A girl standing nearby turned to look at us with a WTF face, priceless!!!  Can't believe that I almost moved here a couple of years ago. What was I thinking... no wait. I wasn't.

Anyways, I left. I was on my way by 10. After the first ride of about a 100Km I took a short break for breakfast. Then was a ride almost to the border. There I got stuck a bit. It was fucking cold. A short ride  a few kilometers from the border. Almost in Lithuania but not quite. It was still cold. The small shop in the petrol station was open 24 hours. That was good. I was reviewing my options = thinking if they would kick me out if I wanted to spend the night inside. A few drivers were going to Tallinn. A couple of other drivers wanted to take only Justyna but not me. Finally, one driver agreed to take us to Kaunas. He was going to Riga. On the Kaunas' ring road, he contacted another Polish driver that drove me to a petrol station on the highway to Vilnius. After a failed attempt of buying coffee and 30 minutes later I was on my way to the capital of Lithuania and was going to meet my friends Mikael and Simona. Haven't seen them since last year's Hitchgathering. 

Yay! I was finally in Vilnius! I didn't know what to expect, I've heard such wonderful things about it that I couldn't wait to get here.

the ride that took me into LT