August 24, 2009
Yet again I find myself in a foreign land on my birthday. Last year I spent my bday with family in Canada, now I will spend it in Latvia with friends learning to skydive in a wind tunnel.
I have been back in Riga Latvia for the last 3 days. Sweden was a blast, but not cheap. It’s been only 2 weeks since I have been away from road tripping and I must say I miss being behind the wheel. I arrived back in Riga wondering if my car would still be here and it was, although it took me 15 minutes to start. I’m heading to Estonia on Wednesday for a few days then up to Russia! Not sure how I feel about going to Russia, but I’m sure it will be an adventure! Here are some pictures from Sweden and the wind tunnel.
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August 11, 2009
Ahead Sweden (unknown)… behind Latvia (past)… now somewhere in the middle of the ocean, no land in sight…. Feeling peaceful right now…. Vibrations of the boat engines, sounds of waves crashing against the hull, smell of cigarette smoke from the annoying Russian meatheads sitting next to me. I feel for the Eastern European women.. you girls got screwed on the gene pool for men. The women here are too freaking hot to leave here for these tards. I think I’m going to call Obama and see if we can do operation implant/spruce up our own gene pool.
I digress
I’m not sure what it is, but there’s something but the open ocean that clears the mind. It’s 8:30pm and the sun is still struggling to light up the horizon.
Its amazing how different things can be from what you expected. I am sitting on a boat that turns out to be more like a cruise ship, equipped with a Sauna, Gym, 3 different night clubs, 4 bars, more places to eat then I can count and one beautiful view. When I booked my ticket for the boat trip to Sweden I went for the cheapest option, which was supposed to be a 4 beds in a room all males. During check in I flirted a bit with the check in girl and it now appears she upgraded me to a 2-bedroom suite. It really goes to show what can happen if you live you life being happy and making other people laugh and enjoying your company.
You might wonder since I’m on a boat now where is the little Fiat? Well it didn’t make much sense to bring the car with me to Sweden so I left it on a street in Riga. I will be back to pick her up in 4 weeks after Sweden, Estonia, Finland and Russia.
The last 3 weeks since I got the car has flown by. Nate and I had such an awesome time driving around Eastern Europe that it’s hard when I try to sit here and think of all the crazy moments… everything seems like a blur. My brain is having a hard time processing the images and sounds and different exchange rates.
Nate flew back home to the US yesterday so I am back on my own, but I guess you truly are never really alone, there are people all around you just need to open up.
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August 2, 2009
Silence can be a good thing. The reason for my silence is simple… I have been having too much fun to spend time on the computer writing. It’s hard to even begin to explain the crazy adventures we have had so far driving around Europe, so I will do the next best thing and break it down like a list.
After buying the Fiat, a friend and I headed south for Turkey or at least that’s what we planned. To avoid the Slovakian mountains we headed west into Czech Republic and then down to Bratislava Slovakia and then on to Budapest where the plans changed.
After spending 3 days in Budapest we realized a few things. A) we really missed Poland. B) it makes more sense to drive north where its colder since the Fiat is an air cooled engine and the heat of southern Europe was killing the engine. C) it’s always fun to change plans.
So that said we drove back to Krakow where we stayed for 3 days seeing old friends. Then we drove up to Warsaw the capital of Poland and happened to arrive at a prefect time. On Saturday Aug 1st Warsaw celebrated its 65th year from the uprising against the Nazis which ended in the Germans blowing up 85% of the city. Also during the 63 day uprising some 165000 people were killed. It was really good timing for us to be here this weekend as we were able to learn a little more about Poland and also since the people here are in such a friendly party mood.
On a car note… the fiat is running good other then the fact the engine is making such a loud rattling noise people stop and stare when we drive by. I took it to a mechanic in Krakow and he said nothing was wrong with it and that it’s a Fiat what do you expect.
During the drive up to Warsaw the noise became louder and louder… when we drove into Warsaw it sounded like the engine was dragging on the ground. I opened the engine when we made it to the hotel to find that the muffler clamp that holds then muffle on was broken and that was making the rattling noise. Today I spent some time trying to act like I knew how to fix it. I did mange to get it a little tighter but I still think we might need a new muffler clamp.
Tomorrow (Monday) we are driving 400km to Lithuania, where we will stop for the night and then up to Riga Latvia where we will stay for about 5 days and also that’s where Nate is going home from. Not sure what my plans are after Riga, I might head over to Sweden to meet a friend or drive up to Estonia by myself.
Sorry for such a boring update, I promise to write soon about the adventure and the police tickets…etc.
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