The road trip

Day 1, Sept. 5: Tallinn - Riga

I guess that during the last days before my departure, I finally learned what it REALLY means to be BUSY and STRESSED. I've never had SO much to do during so little time, as on those last days in Estonia. Because there were some people whom I wanted and needed to spend time with and say goodbye to, I left all the practical issues to the last minute (which I normally never do!). On the morning of my departure, I had not packed anything and hadn't managed to exchange any money either. So, instead of starting from Tallinn at 1 pm, as I had initially planned, I managed to start driving an hour later.

This time, my departure was kind of unique - always when I've left Estonia for a longer period time, I've gone by plane, but this time it felt strange to get in the car in front of my house and start driving along the usual way that I often take to my summerhouse and to pass the familiar places, only this time knowing that I won't see them in a long time...

I feel that this road trip is good for me - lately I haven't had much time to spend with myself; there have been lots of people to communicate with and there's been no time to just be on my own and think about things. So, I'm really enjoying that time. My life is about to change and somehow I like it that this time I'm approaching the unknown slowly, not plunging into it straight away but letting my mind gradually adjust to the new.

A few words about the actual trip. The distance between Tallinn and Riga is around 300 km and I covered it faster than I expected - only in 4 hours. But I learned a very good lesson on that trip (mom and dad, please skip the following paragraph!): it is NOT a good idea to drive, to look at the map and to send an sms simultaneously. When already in Riga, I was slowly approaching a row of cars standing in front of me at the traffic lights, engaged in the above mentioned activities when I suddenly felt that my car gently hit something. In a shock, I discovered that I had bumped into the car in front of me!! The driver came out and we drove off the main street to check the damage. Miraculously, my car had NO damage at all, while his car had a small scratch where paint had come off.. The guy didn't speak any English, except for the words "police" and "money" - I was still in a slight shock, apologized and offered him money. The guy was furious and at first threatened to call the police and then asked for 100 euros. I didn't have that much (and even if I did, I wouldn't have given him!), so I offered him 20 dollars (from my previous experience (of bribing the Lithuanian policemen) I've learned that dollars could be quite useful when travelling through Eastern Europe) which he finally rather reluctantly accepted, after which I was VERY quick to disappear!

Although my description of this little incident might seem somewhat amusing, the real situation was very far from being even remotely funny - I was in a shock when I realized what had happened and at the same time relieved that it ended so luckily for me. I don't even want to think what could have happened if my speed had been a bit higher... But the point is that I definitely learned a lesson here and I'm thinking that perhaps it was meant to be, maybe as warning of more serious things which might happen if I don't concentrate ONLY on driving..

The accident happened near Lola's place and when I turned to the next street, I already met her. I spent the evening with Lola and Christian - we walked in Riga and went to see a ice hockey match where a friend of Lola's was playing.

One more thing – it is great to know that there are people who care about me and I am very very grateful to you for everything you have done for me and I appreciate it more than you will ever know.

Day 2, Sept. 6: Riga - Kaunas

I started driving from Riga at 2 pm and arrived at Kaunas around 5.30 pm. I lost some time on the way, because the roads were being repaired at several places. Almost the whole way from Riga to the Lithuanian border was closed, so I had to make quite a long loop on smaller roads. The way to Kaunas was rather uneventful, except for an incident at the Latvian-Lithuanian border where the border guards (who were obviously bored) told me that they won't let me into Lithuania because my car doesn't have the new license plate with the country code (EST for Estonia) on it. At first I didn't understand what they wanted from me, as they didn't speak English. But then they showed me a page from some EU regulation (in English) about the license plates. I really had no idea about that! After arguing with them for a few minutes (during which they became quite amused!) they let me go. Hopefully this won't happen again at the next border crossing! Although this little incident seems funny now that I describe it, the actual situation was not really amusing for me and like yesterday, I experienced a moment of panic. Because of these incidents, I find it increasingly difficult to just enjoy the trip - I'm worried sick about safety, road accidents, reaching the next location without getting lost, not losing my documents and a whole bunch of other things. By the evenings, I'm so exhausted (more from worrying than from driving!) and I have a headache..

Before leaving Estonia, I printed out a route plan from viamichelin.com. However, I'm not really using it much, but instead I'm driving according to a European road atlas, but mostly just following the signs on the roads. So far, I haven't really lost my way, except for a few minutes when entering Kaunas where I had some trouble finding the centre of the town - I was driving the opposite direction (there were no signs!) until I noticed that the house numbers are getting bigger, after which I turned around. When I arrived, it was rush hour, but miraculously, I somehow found my way to the hotel right away.

The hotel where I'm staying in Kaunas, is probably one of the worst hotels ever. It's an old soviet building soon to be completely renovated (or maybe demolished!) and that's why it's so cheap! The hotel (and definitely my room!) would make a great set for a bad horror movie!! :)) Well, but anyway it's better than sleeping in the car, as I had initially planned (after hearing some rumours about Kaunas having high crime rates, I decided for the hotel). After checking in the hotel, I took a walk in the city. Kaunas is not a very nice town (except for the main street, which is ok) - it has lots of old soviet buildings in very bad condition (like the shitty hotel). I'm not sure what event was taking place in Kaunas today, but the city was packed with drunk and extremely noisy Scottish people wearing kilts.

Tomorrow will most probably be the most exhausting day, as I have to cover around 700 km from Kaunas to Krakow.

Luckily I’ve found a good way to calm down – reading the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy will definitely help :)

Day 3, Sept. 7: Kaunas – Krakow

Wow, I can’t believe I’ve made it – 700 km in 12 hours!

After a surprisingly good sleep in that shitty hotel in Kaunas, I woke up at 8, packed my stuff and started driving from rainy Kaunas. It took me 1 hour to get out of Kaunas and find the road to Warsaw! There were no road signs anywhere.

The way to Warsaw was ok and I didn’t get lost at all. My biggest concern was getting through Warsaw. I didn’t have any map, so I followed the road signs. It required hard concentration, but I drove through Warsaw and found the way to Krakow without any problems. At around 8 pm (Polish time, which is 1 hour behind from Estonian time) I reached Krakow and met with Monika whose place I was staying at.

It is strange how my emotions changed when compared to the previous day, and how my mood and feelings changed during the long trip. In the morning, I was still worried like crazy. Being lost in Kaunas was kind of depressing. But after I got out of the city and was on the highway, I began to enjoy the trip and got the feeling that everything would turn out fine. Perhaps the hardest part (both emotionally and physically) was in the early afternoon, about 2 hours from Warsaw, when I felt as if the road was endless and that I would never reach Krakow by the evening. When in Warsaw, I had no time for any thoughts and feelings, but concentrated only on driving and traffic signs. After Warsaw, I felt somewhat tired, but this lasted only for an hour or so. The rest of the way to Krakow was very enjoyable.

It is strange what can happen (in the mind) during a long distance drive. At first I was frightened and quite emotional about things, but the more I drove, the more I lost all feelings and emotions, until driving became completely mechanical, as if I was a machine or as if it was all in a dream (not that I actually felt sleepy). There was just no strength to feel anything – all my efforts went to driving. At some point on the way, the final destination and the purpose of my trip became irrelevant – I was just there on that endless road, and the only thing I knew was that I had to keep going (now it might seem to you that I was delirious, but I assure you, it wasn’t really as bad as it looks – I'm just trying to describe my thoughts and emotions, or rather, the lack of them).

As I was approaching Krakow, the road became more hilly and the views much nicer than in the north. Since I was in a hurry, I didn’t have much time to admire the landscape.

Day 4, Sept. 8: Krakow – Budapest

There have definitely been too many impressions today and I’m really exhausted. I started driving from Krakow around 8 am. The whole city was a huge traffic jam and it was raining heavily. This time I was really sure which direction to go and which way to take in order to get out of Krakow… but... I still managed to get lost!! This time it took me around 1,5 hours to get out of the city!! Again, there were no proper road signs and I didn't have a map of Krakow either. Anyway, it's not good to drive and look at the map at the same time, as I learned. At one point, I became extremely frustrated. After asking for the way in 2 gas stations, I finally managed to get on the right road. From then on, I had no problems finding my way. Driving through Southern Poland and Slovakia was quite enjoyable (the landscape there is beautiful), although it took me a bit longer than I expected, as the roads were hilly and curvy. Unfortunately I didn’t have time to stop to take pictures, but I shot some pictures while driving (that’s why they are not that great!). In Slovakia I passed some places where I had been this winter when I was skiing there!

Budapest is only 85 km from the Slovakian-Hungarian border and the roads there are very good, so it didn’t take me long to reach the city. It was around 5 pm when I entered Budapest and there were huge traffic jams, which was actually good for me, because I had to follow the map while driving. Somehow, I managed to find the dormitory of the CEU where I was given my student card and a bunch of other documents. From there, I drove to the hotel that the CEU had booked for students receiving the scholarship. The hotel is quite ok (compared to the one in Kaunas, this is luxurious!) and I have a room here for 2 weeks. Hopefully during that time I will find something to rent. Luckily there’s fast wifi in the hotel!

After checking in, I left my car at the hotel and took a bus and metro to the city centre, where I met Sander, an Estonian guy studying in Budapest. He gave me a little tour of the city. It was already dark then, and the city looked very nice.
------

To prevent this blog from becoming like a diary where I describe my daily schedule, I will from now on write only about the most interesting experiences and observations.

Today I’m too tired to write anything more, but tomorrow I will write a about why I am in Budapest and what I will be doing here, because some of you probably don’t know that. Also, I will write about Hungary and Budapest soon (in fact, I don’t know much about it myself yet, as I had no time to read about the country before coming here).

I’ve taken some photos during the trip – most of them are not really great because I took them from the car while driving. The photos are at the usual address: kadri10.pri.ee/gallery.php