The long-way to Nor-way and travel problems

10/13/15

Had a sort of nightmarish travel to Norway.  I had a 430am train from Bristol to London-Gatwick. I’ve timed it before and it takes me 25 minutes from my flat to the Bristol’s Temple Mead station, so I allowed 45 minutes just to be safe.  Everything was going fine, but then I made a couple of foolish mistakes that I still can’t figure out what happened or why I panicked and made such mistakes.  At about 4:05 I arrived to an intersection where all I had to do was go left and in 100 yards I would be at the parking lot that is then 200 yards to the station.  When I got to this intersection there was a big billboard blocking the view of the station as well as some construction. It was completely dark, which didn’t help things.  I saw some people coming down from the road on the right, so I was drawn to that and started heading that way, going right at the intersection. But as I crossed a bridge, I realized I wasn’t going in the right direction as I could see station buildings in the distance down to the left.  So I came back to that fateful intersection. But instead of going straight and arriving to the station in a couple of minutes, I went right and under a bridge (turns out the train tracks).  I expected the station to be shortly after going under the bridge but there was construction. 

I assumed that if I kept walking I would loop around and arrive at the station.  So I walked more and more and started feeling that if it didn’t loop around I was in big trouble, so that kept me walking forward.  But then I realized it wouldn’t.  So I turned around and started at a full sprint with my backpack and wheeled luggage.  I had probably gone over a mile past the station.  On the way back I saw a trashman and asked him directions.  He directed me back to that intersection.  He told me a direction to go (I assume, now, that he said right), but after running for a mile, being tired and overheated in all my coats, when I got to the intersection, I imagined he’d said left, so I went left (the way I had very originally gone (though it was a right-hand turn then, b/c I had been coming from a different direction) and this time I went further.  It was up a hill and I was exhausted (maybe the fastest I’ve run a mile in some time), but I stopped and caught my breath when my watch showed the time my train was supposed to leave.  As I caught my breath and took a second to think, I saw where the station should be and headed in the right direction, back towards the fateful intersection.  From that intersection it of course took me about 2 minutes to the station.  That’s how bloody close I had been.  I was completely drenched in sweat, near tears, and in a bit of pain from running (it was the first time I’ve really run since I hurt my knee in Kenya the summer of 2014). 

When I arrived to the station and confirmed that I’d missed my train, I was told I would need to buy a new ticket.  I went to the computer kiosk to buy a ticket. Problem was that the next 2 trains would cost each about 120 pounds ($180) since it was last minute and they were high travel times.  They told me I could probably get a cheaper ticket when the ticket office opened, but that wasn’t for another hour, so I would miss the next 2 trains, which would leave me with no chance to catch my flight at Gatwick.

So I walked over to the next train leaving to Reading (where I was to change trains for Gatwick), and I told the conductor lady my sad story of missing the train. I also told a bit of a white lie saying I was just desperate to catch my flight back home and as a student I couldn’t afford buying a new one.  She took pity on me and said she was going to be my lucky star for the day and let me on her train.  So I figured I could still make my flight at this stage.  But the train had some diversions for construction and then they had a problem with the electric doors not closing, so we were delayed arriving to Reading. I had 2 minutes at Reading to catch my connecting train.  I again sprinted at full speed, but the Reading station is huge and crowded, and I didn’t make it, so I had to wait for the next train to Gatwick, insuring that I would miss my Norwegian Air flight.

I finally arrived to Gatwick around 10am.  My flight left at 9:20am.  I had assumed, with a tad bit of doubt, however, that they would just put me standby on another flight to Oslo considering there was still 3 more direct and 3 others non-direct flights to Oslo that still had seats (I had checked using the free wifi on the train).  When I got to the Norwegian Air counter, they told me that they do not deal with bookings or re-bookings and I had to go to this other desk.  I went to that desk and they said I had to buy another flight.  The cheapest flight they had in the next 2 days was 200 pounds ($300).   That was extremely expensive considering my ticket to Norway had cost me $45.  I didn’t know what to do, so I bought it b/c I did want to get to Norway.  The airport offered 60 minutes of free wifi so I went online and saw that they had tickets online for about $60 which was completely frustrating to me considering how much I had just paid. But I was talking to Elisha and she said Norwegian allows you to cancel without penalty up to 4 hours after purchasing.  So I bought the cheap ticket for the next day and cancelled the expensive one.  This was the first time, in all my travels that I have ever missed a flight/train/bus/boat because of my own accord, and it certainly didn’t feel too great.

It was now around 11am and I had a whole day and night to hang out in the *lovely* Gatwick airport. Yipee… Like it’s budget brother Standsted, Gatwick is quite cold, boring, and in the middle of nowhere.  They also lack even the basic creature comforts such as free water.  I was exhausted from getting up so early, but they don’t have any great places to sleep while the airport is busy, so I just worked on my data entry.  In the evening when the airport cleared out more, I was able to get a bit of sleep b/c I was able to take over a bench to sleep. But my flight was bright and early so I had to be up at 3:30am to check in.

10/14

The flight went smoothly and there was a total of about 10 people on my flight which was a big plane.  In Oslo I bought a train ticket to Stange where Elisha’s friends Ingvar and Jessy live on a dairy farm. 

I guess I should explain a bit of what Elisha is doing in Norway and how she knew these folks.  Jessy is actually American and lived near to Elisha when they were growing up.  Jessy’s mom is who we stayed with in Kalispell when we visited Glacier NP. At some point Jessy met and married Ingvar who is Norwegian and they moved back to Norway.  Elisha actually lived with them and worked at the dairy farm there several years back.  This fall, after finishing her exotic species job in Idaho, Elisha figured she’d head back to Norway to see her friends and make some money at the farm…though it sounds like she didn’t work on the farm as much as she had hoped.

Ingvar picked me up at the train station and took me to their farmhouse and made me some lunch.  Jessy and Elisha arrived home several hours later.  While I waited for them, I went to rest in bed, but was too excited to see Elisha to sleep, so instead I just watched the re-run of the democratic presidential debate.

That evening, Ingvar made a very tasty traditional Norwegian meal for us and we had lots of beer and wine that Jessy had picked up at duty free on a recent trip to Italy.  We also finished the bottle of wine I had bought at the duty free b/c I knew that with taxes Scandinavian OH is quite expensive. For desert we had lots of chocolate that I had brought from England (Elisha had been complaining about how expensive the chocolate in Norway was) and a special apertiff drink that Jessy had for digesting a heavy Norwegian meal.

10/15

Today was the day that Elisha, Ingvar, and I were supposed to head out for a road trip through the western fjordlands and mountains of Norway.  Ingvar has a VW camper bus that we were going to take.  But on the day he picked me up, he realized that he had a water pump leak. He figured he could fix it, so he worked on the van while Elisha and I drove their car to Lillehammer, the site of the 1994 winter Olympic games.  Lillehammer was a bit over an hour drive and when we got there, we hiked the 935 stairs to the top of the ski jump, which is the thing to do there.

10/16

The VW bus still wasn’t fixed so Ingvar spent the whole day working on it while Elisha, Jessy, and I stayed home working on backup plans and me doing some homework.  Based on other experiences with VW’s, I had little optimism that the van would get going, so I was busy looking at alternatives.  Finally, late into the night, Ingvar gave up after he stripped some bolts trying to replace the water pump.  So with this news, we decided to rent a small budget car and do a car camping trip.

they had a crazy good deal on swix down jackets and Elisha and I knew we needed to get stylish puffy coats if we are to be able to fashionably fit in with Zach and Kaitlyn in Crested Butte

Lillehammer ski jump

sleeping with the other dirt bag backpackers at Gatwick

Sad Last days in Bristol and small world connections

10/07/15

Kath and her boyfriend Rob had me over to their house for a really tasty meal.  The main dish was rabbit meat from Scotland, which was very tasty.  And then they had made a very tasty pie for dessert.  Rob is a cool guy. He's into climbing peaks and glaciers and such, and someone I would definitely be friends with if I lived here permanently.

10/08/15

After work I took a bike path that goes for 7 miles to a small town called Nailsea out in the country. On the way back there was a most glorious sunset.

10/09/15

I put my bike on Gumtree (UK equivalent to Craig's list) and within 10 minutes I received a call for it, and 30 minutes later I had cash in hand for it! After looking at some of the other bikes for sale and the quickness of my sale, I obviously could have sold it for much more, but considering I had such a short time remaining, my goal was to sell it quick.  And I ended up selling it to a student, so it's also nice to feel like I gave a student a good deal.  In the end though, I made £5 off of it. I bought the bike for £55 and a used lock for £10 and ended up selling them together for £70

In a small world connection, Carleen and Glenn Ogg--our wonderful Bronco loving, music playing, and very fun neighbors in Solar Hills, Montrose--informed me that they had good friends, Dave and Sue, from Bristol who had neighbors of Carleen and Glenn for 2 years in Montrose. [mom and dad, they lived in Dave and Betty's house].  Incredibly enough, Dave and Sue live only about a 5 minute walk from me down by the harbor.  I always love visiting Carleen and Glenn because they are fun and like to laugh a lot, which I appreciate. In fact, Elisha and I stayed with them this past June on our way to Telluride Blue Grass.

They invited me for dinner last night, which was a most wonderful experience.  Carleen and Glenn were right: Dave and Sue had a great sense of humor and were most entertaining to talk with. Mom and Dad, it's too bad they didn't live in Montrose while we were there b/c you most certainly would have gotten along well.

 When I arrived they welcomed me into their nice home and introduced me to their daughter in law, Mithy(sp?) and their 3 year-old granddaughter and served up some beers and very tasty hors d'oeuvres. Fresh vegetables from the garden, really tasty pesto and tomato sauces, also from the garden, and cooked goat cheese that was most delicious, but I am blanking on the name.  Their son, Andrew, arrived shortly after from work (He's a professor from the other big university in Bristol, University of West England).  They were all very nice, quick-witted, and genuinely interested in me, my life, and what I'm doing.  For dinner, Sue made a really tasty (I will use some British lingo here) and gorgeous fish pie--so incredibly tasty that I really stuffed myself--and some veggies and curried sweet potatoes.  And they served me a really tasty berry crumble pie that was very tart just like how I like it.

I stayed late into the night at their house, long after Andrew and his family left.  It was most interesting to hear Dave and Sue talk about Montrose and to have a British take on Montrose.  Keep in mind that I left Montrose before my 7th birthday, so I don't remember tons about it, but I do remember some.  And I've since visited Montrose several times for state swim meets, to visit Eric Gladding, and Carleen and Glenn.  First off, the reason they were in Montrose was because Dave worked as an engineer for some contract company that worked with the US (and maybe UK) military base on Diego Garcia (in the middle of the Indian Ocean).  B/c they were dealing with entities all around the globe, there was no best place to have the company, so why not in lovely Montrovia?

They described Montrose as such a beautiful place and talked about how heavenly the views of the San Juans are from our old neighborhood.  They had such positive praise for Montrose, which made me happy. And of course they talked about Telluride's beauty and Sue mentioned how the Gondola ride up the Telluride mountain must be the most lovely free ride in the world (Amazingly, it is indeed free of charge in the summer...I took Elisha on it this summer).  They talked about how amazing the Silverton-Durango railway is, and I loved hearing them describe how crazy and just completely unfathomable the 4WD passes in the area were to them (like Engineer Pass and Cinnamon Pass). I'm including a pic of Cinnamon pass from last summer a friend posted on FB.

Sue said what she took away from Montrose was just how genuine, nice, and generous the people of Montrose were.  But they also had some funny stories about the sort of innocent ignorance of the Western Slope. While in Montrose, it was looking like Dave and Sue were going to be sent to Romania for his job next. They had dreams of building a log cabin there and Sue had checked out a bunch of books on building log homes at the library. Some women noticed the books and asked her about it.  And she told them they were planning on building a log cabin in Romania. She said there was a pensive silence for a while, and then the ladies asked how they were going to get the logs from Colorado to Romania. Sue told them that they were planning on using Romanian logs, which baffled the ladies b/c they didn't imagine there were trees in Europe! Another story was that when Dave and Sue were getting ready to move back to the UK, some people in Montrose generously gathered clothes and goods for them to take back to England b/c they genuinely believed that in England you couldn't get such things and that England was a poor country, so they would need those items. They had many other good stories that would just take me too long too repeat.  But Dave did mention something he found so amusing was that when Montrose was getting a small mall, the people of Montrose were very excited saying that now they would have 2 malls within 2 hours driving distance (the other being in Grand Jct). Dave reckons that within a a 2 hour drive of Bristol, which would include places such as Cardiff, Birmingham and London) there are probably several thousand malls.  They also really liked the Montrose airport, which I never used b/c it was built the last year I was there but said how sometimes it caused them trouble b/c they often were flying out to connect with international flights. B/c of the difficulty of flying a small plane over the Rockies to Denver, they had weight limits on the luggage that could be loaded. Hunters with their freshly killed meat got the priority, which meant that Dave and Sue were often separated with their bags on the int'l trips.

They have moved around a lot and travelled quite a bit with Dave's job, so they regaled me of stories of many places besides just exotic Montrose, including Thailand, Jordan, Nigeria, Ghana, Egypt, Dubai, India, Nepal, and Cambodia. I also learned a few things about British politics from them.  And they were quite intrigued about Kenya and especially Antarctica.

It was a great night and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  So thanks to Carleen for making that happen!

In another small world connection, Barry Fujishin emailed me the other day that the C of I sent a gal this year to Bristol for a study abroad semester.  I emailed her, and maybe we'll have a chance to meet up at a pub before I head off

10/12/15

Last day of work at the university.  The weather was gorgeous yet again.  In my 6 weeks here, I only had 3 days of rain, which is quite amazing for England this time of year from what I've been told.  I took a short walk up to Cabot Hill and then up the stairs of Cabot Tower for a very nice view of Bristol.  I gave Kath some flowers to say thanks, which she was very excited about. I told her I had also gotten some bees for the flowers, but they had flown away

L to R: Dave, Zena(sp), me, Andrew, Sue

with Mithy

View out towards Clifton and the downs

View out towards the suspension bridge

View out towards where I live

View out towards the University

Cider Making

10/11/15

Kath and Rob picked me up today and drove me into the countryside to Cheddar for a traditional British Sunday roast at a pub. They treated me to the roast and some of their favorite British bitters, which was very kind of them. We stayed quite a long time at the pub chatting.  We talked a lot about both British and American politics, which was very interesting.

After the pub, we headed out to meet some friends of theirs in the country to help with making some cider. Both Rob and and Kath were involved in the Bristol climbing club way back (17 yrs ago) when they were in Uni, and they have remained in close contact with a group of about 25 of them even though most have stopped climbing with the onset of kids and careers. Kath and Rob still occasionally lead climbing trips to Tajikistan together for students, but Rob's job still involves a fair amount of climbing.  Anyways, a smaller group of that 25 pick buckets and buckets of apples and then make cider in the fall that will be ready by about the new year after it has fermented.

So we went out to help them with the cider making process. It was quite fun and the 2 guys working on it today (they had more who had been working on it on Saturday), Jimbo and Henry, were very nice and easy to chat and get along with.  The cider making process involved riding a bicycle that spun a mechanism made of screws that chopped up the apples.  Then putting the chopped up apple pieces in a barrel that was then pressed using blocks and a jack.  I was very impressed by it all!

Rob running the jack press

Rob cycling, Henry pressing, and Kath cleaning apples

differences between Britain and America

I saw this on fb the other day and thought it was worth sharing. I agree with most of what he said, though in Bristol you definitely better lock your bike!  Something I'd add to the list is that the cyclists of Bristol wear bright and reflective vests, jackets, and backpacks. The bikers at night also have on average 3 flashing lights! We don't do that in the US much. I've even seen some dogs with flashing light collars so they can be seen in the dark.   Kath and Elizabeth love to hear what I think about the British and the differences.  They both seem to think that Americans in general work to hard (too many hours and not enough vacation). Elizabeth also seems to think, from talking to her daughter that lives in the US, that we are so competitive in the US in our own workplaces that it blocks true collaboration and people aren't as willing to truly work together. Don't know? I've not necessarily had a job in one of those more competitive fields.

I do love the British people. Always have. They're one of my favorite people to do treks with, or other difficult activities with while traveling. They have a great, self-deprecating sense of humor. They are very cheerful, but often cheerful in a gloomy way if that makes sense. They love to complain, but do it in a funny and humorous way. When you're hiking up some long pass and it's rainy and cold, they somehow make the trip better by their funny complaining as they talk about how, if they were smart, they would have gone to the beach where they'd be sipping cocktails and tanning.

I feel like they're more laid back and cheerful, and less easily angered. The traffic in Bristol is a nightmare. Bikes weave all over, cutting cars off. Other cars cut each other off. But here, all parties are just relaxed about it, and it's no big deal. In the US, most of what I see would definitely warrant a mean honk and the finger and potentially angry yelling out the window.  People you meet at their jobs also tend to be quite cheery (there obviously could be a bias b/c they know I'm a visitor b/c of my accent). The few times I've taken the bus, the driver has been most helpful. When I walk into stores, they are all very helpful. I was in a liquor store the other day looking for beer or cider for a dinner party. I was just sort of browsing around overwhelmed by the huge variety of ales and ciders I have never seen and the clerk was super nice and came over and helped me out.  I've had to go to the giant Asda (owned by walmart, and basically the exact same as a super walmart) a couple of times. You know how our walmart checkers are. Well, the ones here are so bright and cheery.  Quite interesting. 

Anyways, thought you might enjoy what this guy had to say...

"An American tourist's Facebook post about the cultural differences between England and America has gone viral and it'll make you proud to be English. 

Scott Waters, a 66-year-old from St Augustine, Florida, was visiting England for the fourth time when he decided to list all the differences he encountered during his time over here. The brilliant post has since been liked over 90,000 times.

Granted, it's a bit long-winded, but bear with it, it's worth the read. From every pub having a pet drunk to our tea being f*cking delicious, he's got the country absolutely spot on. 

After reading all that, you should be feeling really patriotic. Yeah we like fish and chips a bit too much, yeah our pubs close a bit early mainly because we all drink too much and are sh*tfaced by 10pm, yeah we bitch about the NHS even though we're lucky to have it. But this country's not so bad, is it? Cheers, Scott."

Lithuania: Much more than just a country with tie dye basketball jerseys

10/5/15

I took a morning bus from Riga to Vilnius, Lithuania.  The ride went through the countryside, which was mainly agricultural and some forest. It was very foggy (the cold kind of foggy), which made the view out the window interesting.  The bus again had wifi, but chose to instead listen to music and look out the window.

The first time I really knew about the existence of Lithuania was because during the '92 olympics in which our Dream Team (MJ, Magic, Bird, the round mound of rebound, david robinson, scottie pippen, karl malone, john stockton, clyde drexler, and christian laettner) debuted, Lithuania had a fairly good team (bronze medal I believe), but became famous for their tie dyed grateful dead uniforms

When I arrived in Vilnius, I quickly took off exploring. The first thing that became quickly apparent was that Lithuania appeared to be poorer than the previous two countries I had visited. Instead of brand new trams and nice buses, it had very old buses.  Also, the buildings outside of the old city were very crumbly and dilapidated. Very soviet bloc looking.  The other thing I noticed right away was how it felt almost tropical after being up in the Northern countries before (Bristol also felt like that when I returned)  Like all the baltic states, Lithuania is very Catholic and it has one of the highest amounts of churches per area in its old city. It has a giant cathedral in the center, which is where Pope John Paul started his trip through the Balkans, so they are very proud of it. They also had lots of murals up of the new pope.

After visiting some sites along the city wall, I made my way to the Uzupis neighborhood.  It's this really funky and cool artsy neighborhood. I feel like my mom's old boss Mystic Mike would really like it.  Interestingly, they declared themselves a republic and area recognized as such, at least by Lithuania (don't know about the UN). But I got my passport stamped when I entered the tiny little country.  They have their constitution, which is quite interesting and obviously composed by artist types, hanging up on a wall in at least 20 different languages. I'll include a picture of it. You'll have to check it out. The country's independence day is April 1st (coincidence with april fools?), they have a little government building, and a military with 12 soldiers.  The art in the area was definitely unique and cool and the Republic of Uzupis was one of my favorite places in Vilnius.

I wondered around the old town for a while and looked up at all the towering churches and then climbed up to the Gediminas tower which is located on a hill above the city. It's all that remains of the big castle of Vilnius b/c the Christian crusaders razed it during the crusades. It had nice views of the city and the trees that were beginning to change to bright colors with the oncoming fall.

In the giant courtyard by the huge cathedral is a tile called the Stebuklas tile, which means miracle tile. This was the ending point of a continuous human chain of 2 million people stretching from Tallin, Estonia to through Latvia and ending in Vilnius, Lithuania in protest against Soviet occupation. I happened on August 23rd 1989, and is a very powerful reminder of what we are capable of when we come together and work towards a common goal.

Something I have enjoyed while on this trip is the history. The areas are of course seeped in history dating way way back even before the middle ages. It is interesting to read about all that, but what's most interesting to me is the modern history b/c we spent so much time in school learning about that, so it's cool to be in the places where you can really feel that it happened.  All of these countries featured prominently in the world wars, the holocaust, the iron curtain of the soviets and the fight for independence.  Kaunas was the city where Napoleon started his fateful attack on the soviets. I took a Berger world history class that dealt exclusively with the 1900's through the cold war and then another Berger history class entitled "Nazis and the final solution".  And as anyone who's had a Berger class knows, he's extremely passionate about this time period and a great teacher, so it really stuck with me. It was amazing how you could really almost feel that lingering soviet presence but also the new life in the people there. In fact, it was THIS year that Lithuania joined the eurozone after years of wanting to be in it, and while I was there, they were in the process of switching to the Euro...so they had prices in 2 different currencies for everything.

I'd say Vilnius was my 2nd favorite city of the main 3 I visited, behind fairy-tale Tallinn

In the later afternoon I caught a train from Vilnius to Kaunas.  It went through very rural areas, which was cool to see.  All the houses were tiny little cottages in the woods. Like how one might envision houses in the woods in the rocky mountain west, except much smaller...cute tiny little places  The rail station upon arrival in Kaunas was huge, looming, and completely soviet looking. From the train station it was 2km walk to my hostel and the streets, until the last few hundred meters were straight out of your soviet imagination. Drab. Concrete. Rotting.  But my hostel was on a huge walking mall promenade full of more modern shops and was quite nice. I checked into the hostel, which was a super nice hostel and then quickly headed out as daylight was quickly fading.

I didn't get much of a chance to explore Kaunas, but it seemed like a nice small little city. It too had an old town of cobbled streets and surrounded on two sides by a river, which confluenced at the tip of old town.  I went to a Lithuanian restaurant in the old town recommended by the hostel girl. And it was simply amazing!!  There was so much to choose from that looked good and the prices were so cheap. You could get big beef portions for 4 or 5 dollars.  There was something called the farmers feast, meant to serve 4 people for $11. I couldn't decided what to get, so I got 2 things. I got the rabbit, beef, and duck stew and then some beef-filled dumplings.  But it was a hard choice. Those 2 meals plus a 1/2 liter of beer cost me 9 euros (a touch under 10 bucks). Beer is really cheap in this country. about $1.50-$2.00 in a restaurant for a 1/2 liter and less than $1 in a convenience store.  And the crazy thing is that only last year it was even cheaper before they switched to the Euro.  I didn't get to spend much time in Kaunas but, I liked it, and feel like it would be a good place to enjoy some of the finer things in life such as eating and drinking without breaking the bank. The hostel was super nice and it was only a bit more than 10 bucks a night.

The Lithuanian people were very nice and they definitely knew the least amount of English. In Kaunas, actually most people I tried to ask something didn't know any English.  Something interesting is that in all 3 countries, the people strictly obey the Don't Walk sign even if there are no cars anywhere to be seen. Bristol is the complete opposite. I felt really bad the first couple times I crossed without waiting for the green walk sign to flash b/c I felt like I was setting a bad example. I quickly got out of my Bristol ways to wait patiently like the locals.

10/6/15

I caught the early 5am bus to the airport. Kaunas has a tiny airport. 4 gates and probably not much more than 10 flights in and out per day.  The plane was filled entirely with Lithuanians.  I talked to a couple and they were going back to Bristol to work after having visited family in Kaunas. I would guess this was the case for most of them.  When the plane landed, all the passengers broke out into applause. Oh the cute Lithuanians!

When we arrived at passport control there is 2 lines.  The EU line and the non-eu line. Since they were all Lithuanian, I was of course the only one in the non-eu line. So I thought things would go real quick since last time the immigration officers was so pleasant and jovial.  Not this time! I got interviewed, suspiciously, for a solid 15 minutes by the lady. I don't know what had changed. My hair is longer and more hippy like, maybe that's it... Maybe it was suspicious that I had been in the UK for a while and then headed to the baltic for a short visit.  Who knows. I also sometimes think they get suspicious of how many stamps I have in my passport and wonder what I am doing traveling around so much. Am I dealing drugs to fund my travel?  Those kinds of things.  But after answering all the questions smoothly and with ease, she finally let me through with a grunt.

Once passed immigration I bought a bus ticket to the city center. It's a 30 minute ride and cost me $11.  Welcome back to the UK!  My bus ride earlier than morning, which was an hour long, cost me 80 cents.

Uzupi constitution

Reg and Judy love lock

miracle tile

Vilnius

Vilnius

Kaunas

Lithuanian meal

Miracle tile

At the hostel and the Lithuanian basketball team