didn't quite make it to vilnius...

i frantically paced back and forth looking for my correct bay as i stood in front of riga's crowded bus station. signs all in latvian pointed to cities i've never heard before. all i cared about was getting to vilnius. even with all of those strange dotted letters, i was still able to make out some of the cities; vilnius was being displayed at a later time. it was at that moment when i felt my heart sink. 
i instantly knew the huge mistake i'd made. i looked at my bus ticket and the departure time read 2:55. there was no pm or am because in the rest of the world countries use universal time. i knew that my ticket was long gone, but i still tried talking to the agent about possibly catching another bus. "this tiket, no good." the agent said with a lazy swoop of the hand. 

there was no point in arguing, all i could do was smile and walk away. i went back to my hostel where i was welcomed back with open arms. the next two hours i desperately searched online for other buses and flights to get to vilnius but all were either ridiculously overpriced or the timing didn't make sense. i opted to stay one more night in riga in the hope that lufthansa would still honor my ticket that originated from vilnius...not riga.
i slept for the next 15 hours on a empty stomach. i was on a strict budget so one more day of spending in riga was definitely out of the question. the next day i woke up and i headed straight to the fridge where i had my cold sandwiches ready. they weren't that great, but did the trick.
it was then where i met ryan, samantha, and this other kind man who i've forgotten his name. they were new yorkers who were also backpacking europe. we instantly hit it off! i think i had more fun in the three hours we hung out with each other versus the whole 48 hours i'd spent in riga. 
sammy kept bringing us shots of this medicinal herbal liquor that resembled jagermeister but with a much more bitter taste. after three of those shots, we headed to a restaurant where we had a latvian take of mongolian bbq. a few moments later we were at the bus station, the same one where 24 hours before i stood with a decimated look. it's crazy, i think i learned more about new yorkers in the few hours we spent together, than what i learned about the rest of the people of latvia. it's something that i'm not proud of but it's also something that i'm not ashamed of. we said our goodbyes and off they were.

now, i'm on a lufthansa flight a couple of thousands feet above eastern europe eager to see my kin, andy and phillip. usually i can go for weeks on these trips without being home sick, but the baltics has made me miss what i hold close. i cant wait to see them 

elk soup and beer for breakfast

beef in the baltics

there aren't that many things that i can say about latvia. this city, with its cobblestone streets and post-soviet defaced churches looks neat from the outside. but there are strong tensions between the russians and latvians that are hard to avoid. yesterday i hung out with a group i met during a walking tour of latvia, and the tour guide was giving us the breakdown of latvia's history. we were standing in front of the jewish ghetto when an older man approached the tour guide. the man spoke in russian, but our tour guide could not speak it back. she understood almost everything he said and the end of his rant, our guide's eyes became glassy from the anger. russians in latvia will not learn latvian, and i guess they still think that the soviet union lives on.

anyways, today is a new day. in a few moments my carry-on will be stumbling across the cobble stones headed to the great country of lithuania. vilnius is where i'll stop and find my next meal. 

estonian to latvian

its been three days since my last taste of some of that elk soup from tallinn; though the second time around was not so pleasant as the first. from what i gathered, estonians seem to be the friendly and outgoing type. they are also freaks! as in, the women seem to have the same mentality as the opposite sex. 

on the last night of my stay in tallinn, i was invited to an outdoor concert right next to the freedom steps. it was me and four girls from the hostel, which made for interesting conversations. as the concert drew to its end, it grew more patriotic and grand. "estonia!" from all over that specific pocket of the city were shouted as the crowd swayed from side to side. but from what i gathered, this emotion that estonians were displaying has been the same since they gained freedom from the russians in the early 90's. nina, a finnish girl who was studying in tallinn, explained how the movement hasn't really progressed forward. after hearing the same melancholic song for the third time, it didn't seem farfetched.  

the night ended, everyone went there way, and i began making sandwiches for the long day ahead. the next morning i said my goodbyes to john(sweden), and nina(finland), and off i was with roller in hand. i turned a corner and walked into a 'R kioske' and asked, in my most estonian english, "baass tiikettt REEEGAA". that sounded about right, but the lady across the counter just gave me a ticket for the local tram. i shook my head and repeated riga, this time including latvia; the lady laughed. she shook her head and communicated exactly what i feared.

i walked outside and took a cold deep estonian breath. a few seconds after, i heard a soft "hello" directed straight at me. during my deep conversation with the kiosk lady, a girl inside had been hearing our conversation and offered to help me. at first she tried explaining, but apparently the bus station was far. she asked me to follow her to the next block, for a better view of which street to take. her english was good, but very estonian. her explanations of getting to the bus station kept being interrupted by sub conscience. we kept walking until we approached a lot full of cars. she began walking to her car and i tried remembering the vague directions she had said. 

"alright, well thank you so much for everything. so i make a right on..." she didn't let finish my sentence. "no! no, you its too complicated! you will get lost, you come with me." as she pointed to her car, "i will take you"

now, going against all my judgement, i had to make the call. on the one hand, what i had here was a stranger, inside a strange city. but on the other, she seemed sweet, genuine, not out to harvest my kidneys for profit. she was also good looking, so in case of rape, i would rather it be from the opposite sex. 
well, everything turned out fine. her name is christina, and she was very nice. she dropped me off right in front of the bus station which was about a 10 minute drive from where i originally was. we exchanged emails, and parted with a gentle smile. a few hours later, i was on a bus headed to latvia. 

helsinki sunrise

helsinki it is.

it pains me look at the clock. and more painful than that is thinking about the last 4 hours. i could've been in tallinn, inside my highly rated hostel, eating a warm meal and perhaps sipping on a cold beer. i was so close, the agent had given me my boarding pass, the seat 19d. 
my boarding pass got within a few inches of the scanner; that was the closest it would ever get. a few seconds later it lay on a counter torn into small pieces, just like my hope. 

back in san francisco, the boarding agent gate had gate checked my roller bag and i completely forgot that i left my ZED tickets inside. for those who aren't familiar with ZED tickets, they are paper tickets that act as money for whichever corresponding airline you are trying to fly on. i knew i was doomed since we were boarding from a remote gate. there was no way that they were going to find my bag and bring it up in time for me to catch the flight to tallinn.
the next flight to tallinn didn't leave until the next day and i did not want to spend the night in frankfurt airport. the boarding agent then suggested another option; flying to helsinki, finland.

i didnt think about it much. in my mind, things usually follow the same logic; and that is asking myself "why not?" the flight didn't leave until another 5 hours but it sounded better than staying another 20 hours in frankfurt until the next flight to tallinn.

so now, i'm on a plane, currently working on my second warfteiner not knowing what to think. it'll be midnight by the time i land in helsinki so it doesn't make sense in my world to head into the city at night and search for a hotel/hostel. this means that i will be adding one more airport in which i've slept in. 
here lies the beauty of traveling, especially when it's only you, yourself, and yee. expect everything, because anything can happen. plans and itineraries are as good as the weather. i landed in germany this morning thinking i was going to tallinn and now my boarding pass says helsinki. let's see how the next journal entry ends  

and again i find myself in frankfurt.

i'm not sure if i can describe the wide spectrum of feelings i've felt during the last 24 hours. currently, i feel exhaustion. didn't get much sleep two nights ago and i certainly did not get enough sleep on my trans-con flight with lufthansa. yesterday i awoke with the task of packing two weeks worth of clothes into one roller bag and a backpack. i gave myself a two hour buffer before my flight to san francisco. i made a quick stop to the bank but in between the car ride from my house and the bank, my debit card disappeared. luckily, by the grace of God, my friend Hugo a.k.a "juice" happened to be working. he's the bank manager so he quickly cancelled my debit card before a "paco" or "chuy" had the chance to use it. a couple of minutes later Hugo had a temporary ATM card ready for me to use. 
i made my way to LAX with a heavy foot. i got there fast but was stuck inside a shuttle bus for about 30 minutes, all thanks to the genius behind the wheel. by the time i got to terminal i had about 25 minutes before departure. i got through security quick, and made my way to the service center. breean was controlling the SFO flight, she told me that it was completely full; my heart sank.
the boarding agent was checking on a seat and it turned out that the guest was not boarded. and being that it was a little under 10 minutes before departure, i got the seat! i did get scolded though by my supervisor : / but either way, i wouldn't have been able to get the seat any sooner since they had to check if the seat was open. 
that was probably the most stressful leg of this journey so far. the SFO--->FRA flight was smooth. the agents were nice and gave me a seat as soon as i got to the gates. one thing about the A-380: it is huge! the seats comfortable, leg space generous, the food tasty. though the filipino lady next to me kept bumping my shoulders every hour leaving me in a perpetual state of half-sleep. 

well, i'm back in frankfurt. hopefully i don't get to spend the night here. if i do, i've already picked a great spot. 

back to the land of polygamy: salt lake city