Again we woke up at 7.30, this time in our presidential suite in the Metropolis hotel. Breakfast was included in the hotel price, so off course we benefited from that to eat as much as possible, a long day was upfront. Our target today was to cross the Lithuanian-Polish border and to go as far as possible westwards into the stretched out country of Poland. Like the past days we first of all went with public transport to the suburbs of the city in order to find the big roads. On the trolley bus Philippe and I were discussing where to hitchhike when a girl noticed our German-like accent. Her name was Kristina and she could speak to us in German. She had hitchhike-experience herself and helped us to find a thumb ride. It was astonishing how fast that cars stopped for her! But when they saw us coming the cars just drove away, that was really shitty. Luckily after a while a Lithuanian trucker gave us the permission to go with him. In his truck their was only room for one passenger so I had to stay in the sleeping cabin. The driver dropped us of at a huge parking lot near the Polish border filled with hundreds of trucks. We thought I was easy to find a next ride to cross the Polish border, but we were completely mistaken. We had to deal with 2 major problems. All the truckers were from Poland or Baltic states so they didnt understand English nor German not to mention French or Dutch. Impossible to communicate properly. A second thing we were confronted with was that if you wanted to cross the border legally the trucker could only bring one passenger along with him. After one hour of desperate searching we gave up and went for a drink in small roadcafeteria. After a hot drink we found the energy to give it another chance one more time. And, we were immediately lucky to spot 2 Latvian truckers working for the same companywho would bring us over the border each in their truck. Bless this guys! We were so incredible grateful to find them. You are maybe wondering that splitting up was not the brightest idea. ( Only Philippe had a cell phone with him) but we could stay in contact via a radio between the trucks. Initially it was the plan to go 50 kilometres along with these guys because they were heading for Italy with their vegetables and fruits. Although we had to go to the west we liked the idea of driving to the sun. So we kept our Latvian truckerfriends accompany the whole day. Their was absolutely no need to get out while temperatures dropped to almost zero and it was snowing like hell out there. Plus the atmosphere in the truckcabins was cosy and warm. The least you could say about the roads in Poland was that they sucked: small and dangerous roads full of snow! We passed 3 spots were accidents happened that day. Some quiet horrible in fact :s. Our truckerfriends were real heros: it was the 25th time that they had to drive to north of Italy that year, 10 hours per day behind the steering wheel. One trucker already delivered beer for InBev in Louvain!
It was already late in the evening when we arrived at a truckstop in Radomska, South Poland, to get some sleep. Our truckdrivers slept in their luxury sleeping cabins, we were happy to have a motelroom. We decided to follow these guys further southwards the day after so we had to adjust our their timetable and that implemented a morning buzzer at 6.30 straight in ya face!
Day 3: Riga â Panevesyz â Kaunas (510 â 650 - 800)
From yesterday we learned that getting out the city on time was crucial for the rest of the day. We set a new target: Vilnius, capital of Lithuania. So we get up again pretty early, at 7.30, without making not too much people awake. Riga was also awake, the city was full of commuters and traffic was almost stuck. So, under impuls of an always-hungry Philippe we took breakfast at Hesburgers. With the idea of at least here we eat something that we know. Then a very confusing situation took place, we took the bus were told to take yesterday by the barlady. Asking for confirmation on the bus today somewhat the only English speaking person said we had to take another bus. We shouldnt have believed here because we were out of direction. At the last stop we got out, the only positive thing was the supermarket nearby. After some groceries we were lucky to find a guy who could bring us to the right road. With his crappy van he brought us first to a constuction were he need to settle some business for a few minutes. A few minutes became a half an hour but he helped us a little further. We were dropped on a bridge of a big road. Almost immediately an old lady who didnt understand a worth English picked us up. 5 kilometres before the road to Vilnius she kicked us out of the car although we thought she could bring us their. We decided to walk that way, that was a quiet scary because trucks drove 120 kilometres an hour 2 metres next to us and at the horizon we saw that an accident had happened. 2 cars seemed to had crashed but no-one was wounded and police (policija) was already their. We were the only ones that day who benefited from that accident because the traffic jam caused by the accident gave us the opportunity to ask a Latvian dude for a hike. We dropped us by a gas station on the road to Vilnius. Unfortunately the station was located on the wrong site of the road, it only generated people going to Riga. So we started to hitchhike around noun at the other, right side of the road. That was absolutely not a success. Was it the low-standing sun who blinded the people so they couldnt see us? Maybe because no one of us has boobs? For almost an hour we tried. In our last attempt we pulled in full police-style a bus over who went to a city, Bauska, in the direction of Vilnius. With big smiles we entered the bus and were welcomed by a full bus of angry Latvians! In Bauska we tried to hitchhike again but were not lucky again. We were forced to move further by bus. Public transport in Latvia was in fact good organised. Finally we crossed the border of Lithuania, it was already dark when we came in Panevesyz (called the Chicago of Lithuania). Their, in the bus station we met a friendly young Lithuanian lawyer with working experience in Scotland. He showed us where we could exchange Estonian Krones and Latvian Lats in Lithuanian Litas. A quick look on the map learned that we could better travel to Kaunas in stead of going to Vilnius. Kaunas was closer to the Polish border plus a after a possible stay in Vilnius certainly had to go to unstable Belarus to reach Poland. After Helsinki, Talinn and Riga we were a little bit fed up by capital cities. Kaunas was a charming city with all the comfort we needed. For a modest 17,5 we stayed at the Metropolis hotel in the citycentre(bath,tv,breakfast inclusive). And for 7 we ate probably in the best restaurant of kaunas, really unbelievable cheap. After a good walk in the old town we were really tired and only our luxury bed in the Metropolis hotel was our biggest wish.
Day 2: Tallinn â Pärnu â Riga (200 â 350 â 510)
We woke up very early at 7.30 because we wanted to make use of the sunlight to make as much progression as possible and to have a decent breakfast. That was not so easy to have while it was a Sundays and most stores or tearooms were closed. We ate a horrible snack in some kind of dirty hamburger stand on the street. The day before we figured out that the only road to Riga passes by Pärnu, a middle size Estonian village. So, we reasoned that we could get a lift on the Pärnustreet in Talinn, the first time that our thumbs went in the air. To be honest, it went not so smooth as expected. After a while a friendly native girl gave us a hint to take the bus out of the city if we wanted to hitchhike. Some 8 kilometres out of the centre on big road we got our first lift. We dont even actually know if this guy intended to take us along with him because he was waiting for somebody else and he didnt speak a word English. Our first ride was 60 kilometres! Unfortunately we were dropped in the middle of nowhere we only a few cars occasionally passing. On the moment we were losing hope a Volkswagen Sharon pulled over to the side to pick us up all the way to Pärnu. Pärnu was a Estonian city between Talinn and Riga with an excellent cheap pizzeria, their we decided to take the bus to Talinn. It was too late to hitchhike because dark was starting to fall. The chance of getting a car who would stop in the evening to pick us up was almost zero. In the bus we met some Latvian chicks who helped us finding a good youth hostel in Riga. And if we found a good one The Backpackers pub was a cosy hostel in the heart of Riga. The hotel lobby was in fact also the bar. The hostelexpierence is something different and totally new for us. We had to share one single room with other guests we didnt knew. In the ancient old town we ate in a trendy restaurant a salad and a big meal with local kefir for only an unbelievable 7. After dinner we visited the old town and were again surprised by its diversity. The rest of the evening we spend in the bar of our hostel chatting with the barlady and benefiting from wireless internet. A blue bottle of Absynth drew our attention since this 70° alcohol is (or was?) forbidden in Belgium. For a humble 1,5 we took a shot and burned our stomach. It was it all worth! Absynth is super famous drink, all the French geniuses drink this. It started to creep in to our brains, a signal to get some sleep. zzz
The return day 1 Lahti-Helsinki-Talinn (0-110-200)
After a great and late farewell-evening it was an early morning that 9th December. Their were still a few necessary administrative things to settle. But we have to be honest: some people deserved a more special goodbye :p.
We could finally face the most extraordinary challenge in our young lives because we decided to end the eramusstory in a more special way. A hitchhike starting from Lahti to Belgium, a journey of approximately 2500 kilometres and at least 6 days and 7 different countries and 5 currencies. From the far east of Europe up to the heart of the ancient continent.
Off course we didnt take all our stuff with us, that would be completely impossible. With Finnish posti we sended all the non-essential things to Belgium, except each a big backpack, our laptops in one bag together and one guitar could join us. The laptop-bag was in fact so heavy that the weight of it had to be divided by carrying it together, each one handgrip.
When we arrived at the busstation of Lahti the bus to Helsinki was already waiting. We took the opportunity to take it although we intended to hitchhike already. Arriving in Helsinki city so early gave us the chance to wander around a little bit for the last time, swerving to the quay of the ferryboats. By accident we discovered a fourth ferryline company called superseacat or seasupercat who did Helsinki-Talinn. The timetables and rates were fair so we didnt hesitate. The boat was very small in comparison with the Viking ships but it was capable to go much faster. Running on the deck or in the corridors was practically impossible because the ship shook too violent. Just coming back from Mukkula, we didnt feel a lot for puking so we basically tried to catch some sleep. After exactly 100 minutes the ship arrived at his destination: Talinn. Ironically, it was a cabdriver who welcomed us on true Estonian ground by the question Taxi?. A far better idea popped up when we saw a shoppingtrolley for our luggage, giving us the opportunity to discover the capital city like a shoppingmall. After a while, when entering the really heart of the city and a lot of people looking to us, we thought that it would be more socially acceptable to leave the trolley for what is was. For a moment we felt actually a little bit lost in the evening rush of people either going home after a day of Christmas shopping or going out on this Saturday night. Because it was already starting to get late we searched a youth hostel. But we didnt know where to start, we hadnt even a citymap... It was in fact Philippe who had the courage to step in the lobby of the ultra-chic Tallinkhotel to ask for a youthhostel. Luckily the lobbyboy was kind enough to explain and re-explain where it was. The G9-hotel was located on the third floor of an apartment right in the city-centre. For a moderate 20 / night, this was even cheap. It was certainly not the only thing that was cheap, on the ground floor of our hotel we ate a delicious evening meal doïme for only 120 EEK or some 8. After dinner we checked out the old part of the city. Getting used to boring Finnish cities, Talinn was only a surprise. This was really a cosy, medieval city. Several small, even Mediterranean looking streets and markets were highly appreciated by us. In comparison with Lahti or Helsinki people do came out their houses after 9. If you were thinking Estonia is poor east-european city, think again. In Talinn we saw more luxury cars on one evening then almost 4 months in Finland! Tomorrow: Riga?
