It’s been a while since I have wrote anything, actually for that matter this whole trip I have been pretty silent. I guess I’m not sure if that’s because I’m finally just enjoy the moment, and can’t seem to find time to write down all the things that are going on, or maybe because I sometimes I feel no one actually reads this crap!
Ok well I will do my best to catch you up on what’s been going on.
After spending my birthday in Riga Latvia I went north to Tallinn Estonia for a few days. Estonia was my 3rd and final Baltic country to visit. Tallinn is a lovely little city, although the weather seemed to have turned for the worse. It was still august but yet it felt like the dead of winter on my thin Californian skin. I ended up meeting up with my friend Paul that I met 2 years ago in Japan. Unfortunately for me the cold weather proved to be too much for me, so found myself sick with a cold (one that I’m still trying to kick).
I didn’t really do much other then go out at night and stay in during the day when it was cold and pissing down outside. My plan was to go to Finland but I didn’t have enough time due to my Russian visa dates, so I will leave Finland for another trip.
I took the 6 hour night bus from Tallinn to St. Petersburg RUSSIA! The bus trip was pretty easy other then it was filled with drunk Russians! The only major highlight was that I got yelled at by the Russian military guys for trying to go pee during the boarded crossing.
Before I came to Russia I wasn’t sure how I was going to like it. I grew up during the cold war, it always seemed to be Russia vs USA. To me Russia was this big country that was very mysterious, filled with tall women. I’m not sure my opinion has changed that much, other then there are very cute short girls here too. It’s been said Russians are cold people, hard to get to know and hard to read. That is a little bit true but if you take the time to break away some of the ice they are very warm and friendly people. The 2 things they seem to love the most are Cigarettes and Vodka. I feel like I have been smoking 5 packs a day. When walking in the streets its hard to find fresh air. I tend to hold my breath and wait for the clear patch of air. The clubs and bars here are so full of smoke its hard to see. When I went into my first bar I said to my Russian friend “Do they have a smoke machine on?”… nope that’s just good old cigarette smoke. Despite the smoke and the vodka that can power the fiat, this place is awesome! I am now kicking myself for not giving myself more time.
I leave for Moscow on Saturday for only 1 night, then its back to Latvia to pick up the Fiat and my Irish Leprechaun, after that it’s the open road… who knows where, but for sure a stop back in Poland!
Poland…. WOW what a place! In the last few days here in Krakow Poland I have witnessed with my own two eyes the true horrors that the human species can inflict upon each other and also the beauty in life. This city has not been all about death, it has actually been the complete opposite. The Polish people have been some of the most friendly, warm and loveable bunch I have ever met. The women here are drop dead gorgeous and they seem to out number the guys 5 to 1. Krakow itself is a beautiful city very much like Prague but filled with nicer people and less tourist. The food is great and the beer gardens are by far my favorite. I’m not sure if the fact that I’m 50% polish is making a difference in my love for this city or maybe it’s just truly is an amazing place.
I have also been spending some time trying to research my family tree. It seems that my dad’s side is %100 polish or at least that’s what we think. I have my grandmother’s birth certificate, which shows that her parents “My great grandparents” were born in Poland. Unfortatally it doesn’t say where they were born so it is making it difficult to find any info. It seems when people came over from Europe to the US via els Island, last names seemed to have been screwed up and the proper spelling and translation was lost. Some of the first bit of advice I got was that maybe they were Jewish, but after deeper research I might now come from a noble background with the surname of “Odrowaz”. The Odrowaz name dates back to the 10th century and comes from the area now known as the Czech Republic. Finding my roots is proving harder then I thought, but I feel I will leave here with some sort of idea… they might not be big deep roots but it something.
Most people don’t leave Krakow without visiting the famous Nazi death camps of Auschwitz. Learning about World War II in a history book is one thing, visiting the concentration camps is another. It truly is hard to express the feeling of being at the camps. It almost makes you lose hope in humanity, and the sad fact is that unspeakable things like what happened here 60 years ago are still happening in parts of the world today, like Sudan! I don’t want to end this on a down note but out of respect for the millions of people that lost their lives.. here are some picture from Auschwitz so you’ll never forget!
Eiffel tower, the Louvre, parks, sun and lots of hip people best describes my last few days in Paris. I didn’t think I would care too much for Paris… but I must say I really like this city. I hope someday soon I can come back and spend more time.
I met up with my friends Allison and Eric, which I met in Tibet 4 years ago. They took me out to dinner and I had some of the best Italian food I have ever had… yeah I know… Italian in France… but it was awesome.
It truly is amazing the connections you can form with people. Over the last 2 weeks I have met up with a few friends of mine that I have met over the years traveling, I met some of these friends 4 years ago and others only 6 months ago. I feel if two people have that connection… whatever it may be… romantic or just friends… that connection will always be there, even if you haven’t seen each other in 20 years. You don’t have to try to make things work, or adjust who you are or what you want to get along… things just flow with ease… there can be long moments of silence without worrying what the person is thinking or what should I say next… the connection goes beyond words… and that is the true beauty of the human bond.
It’s hard to believe that it’s been over 6 years and 100 plus countries since my first and only visit to Ireland. Back in 2003 I was a much different Jimmy Swift, one without a passport and had never traveled oversees.
My girlfriend at the time came to me one day and said “Hey, there’s cheap flights to Ireland if you want to take a trip?” I didn’t know much about Ireland at the time but thought… hey what the heck it sounds like fun. It didn’t take long for us to figure out why the tickets were soo cheap….. January in Ireland is a freaking god awful time to visit! It pretty much rained the whole time and was freezing arse cold… but we made the most of it and actually had a pretty good time.
This time around it’s going to be much different. Over the years of traveling I have been fortunate enough to meet some pretty cool people from all over the planet. So I will be staying with a band of drunken leprechauns I met in India. This is going to be the prefect kick off to my yearlong trip… it might be a good idea to pack an extra liver.
I have spent the last week in Florida visiting the family and realizing why I left home so long ago and have never looked back. So far the only thing I am missing is my roommates cat meatballer. Here is a picture I took of him on my last day!
It’s been a while since I have wrote anything, actually for that matter this whole trip I have been pretty silent. I guess I’m not sure if that’s because I’m finally just enjoy the moment, and can’t seem to find time to write down all the things that are going on, or maybe because I sometimes I feel no one actually reads this crap!
