Estonia, (one of) my new favorite place(s)

I am happy to report that Estonia was the first place I actually stayed UNDER budget during this trip! Ding ding ding, winner winnner, chicken dinner. So what do I do? I head to Helsinki, Finland, one of the most expensive countries in the world! Brilliant!!

Anyway, one of the hardest things about discovering a new city I like is that I eventually have to leave. I often find it hard to acknowledge to myself that the only thing keeping me from staying in any given place is that I have an airfare ticket that expires within a year. Other than that there is absolutely no other reason for me to move on. There was always a reason to stay just one more night, whether it was to hang out with a group of new and interesting people with their own set of travel stories, or solidifying a casual acquaintance into a friend I will visit in the future.

Anyway, as I mentioned in my earlier post, I came to Tallinn with Adrian, to meet up with my old buddies back from California, who were going to be here for just three nights. I stayed on their couch, right in the middle of the Old Town Square, which, in my world, was pretty much like going from the Motel 6 to the Ritz Carlton. It was good to stay in an apartment again!

Some highlights from the time in Tallinn:

*Many of my close friends have heard my stupid Swedish routine, about how, when I get to Sveeeden, I will drive my Vollllllllllllvo, on my way to Ikeeeeeeeeeeeeeea, to call you on my Nokiiiiiiiiiiiia, to let you know I will eat some Sweeeeeedish meeeeeeeeeatballs. Well, I have not gotten to Sweden yet, but I did meet two Swedish girls at our hostel and convinced one of them, Isabelle, to say the exact same thing to me just for shits and giggles and recorded it on my camera. Needless to say, this is one of those videos I watch over and over again, which never ceases to make me laugh outloud. Oh yeah, little did I realize, but Nokia is a FINNISH company, so the new routine incorporates Ericcson as the replacement. Does not really flow as well, but hey, might as well! (or as my friend Greg would say, MINUS WELL!!!)


*We met two Russian girls in Riga, Malveena and Katia, who were staying in our room. I recall meeting these two girls, (see previous post in Riga) as they stood in our room with two huuuuge pieces of luggage (who carries luggage in a hostel??!?) for about a solid 20 minutes, speaking in all kinds of Russian gibberish. Finally, I asked them if everything was ok, and it turns out they were not the least bit happy about staying on the top bunk. Apparently, one of them rolled off the top bunk once..... Anyway, we exchanged emails after hanging with them for a night but never really heard back from them. Lo and behold, they show up at our hostel in Estonia about a week later! They tried to get in touch with me enroute, but apparently, sent an email to the wrong address. Anyway, I guess it is not uncommon to run into people here and there as it seems most people go to the same places. The travellers circle is indeed quite small.

*One day, we decided to head to the beach and we quickly figured out that none of us really conform to the stereotypes to of where we come from. Amanda, from Seattle, does not drink coffee and also dislikes salmon. Aaron, from Spain, does not know how to salsa, merengue nor flamenco. Though I am from California, I have no idea how to surf. Adrian, from the UK, has good teeth! And Gregory, from France did not wear speedos to the beach (but decided to take his pants off and wear his undies instead!) Ok, 4 out of 5 ain't bad.

*One night, we were at a bar with Hayden, Tim and Glen, three Kiwis I met at the hostel who have also been thinking about opening a hostel. From our discussions it seemed like these guys had really put some thought into it. Anyway, we head to a bar on a Sunday night (why not?) and it was fairly empty. So I ventured about and met three Estonian girls upstairs and persuaded them to come downstairs to say happy birthday to Hayden (even though it wasn't!) They come downstairs, one of them gives a kiss to Hayden and we start singing happy birthday to Hayden. After we finish singing, the bartender comes over and asks me, "Is it your friend's birthday today?" And I answer, "Yes, he just turned 25!!" Not two seconds later the bartender brings out a bottle of champagne and six glasses, "On the house!" he says! And to think, all I wanted to do was chat up some local girls in a bar!

*My last evening in Tallinn, I decided to cook a very simple chinese dinner (fried rice and chicken stir-fry) for my friends. They all commented on how great it was, and I reminded them all that my family back home would get a kick out of that. They would obviously tell me that a bunch of hungry traveling backpackers are probably not the most discerning critics when it comes to food, but hey, if any of my family is reading this (and Gypsy, you too!) my fried rice was a hit! hahahahaha

Ripped off in Riga....

Despite some good times in Krakow, it was time for me to move on and meet up with my buddy Adrian in Riga, Latvia and then eventually meet up with my other buddies from California, Jason, Malik, Eric and Terry in Tallinn, Estonia. In other words, trouble was going to happen. No wait, make that Trouble.

I arrived into Riga from Warsaw and somehow managed to get into the luggage arrival without going through customs. I don't know how it happened, I just followed everybody else! In other words, if I somehow get deported to the Siberian gulags, well, it's because I was an illegal alien.

Anyway, when I arrived at the airport and decided to grab a bite before heading out. I recalled seeing an exchange rate display upon arrival that it was roughly a 2 to 1 exchange rate. Lunch bill was 5.75 Lot and in my head I thought, wow, only $2.38 for lunch!! I thought to myself, "I'm going to love it here!" Hopped on a bus, and it was .4 Lot and was again said to myself, jesus, that's like 20 cents! Then, of course, as I soon discovered, I was doing my math all wrong (surprise surprise, polysci major here) It was actually 2 dollars for every 1 Lot. My 5.75 Lot lunch was actually more like 13 bucks.... ugghhh anyway, so much for anything being cheap here in Latvia!

Adrian and I went out one night with a few friends we met at the hostel, including a rather crazy and hilarious guy from London, Lucian, aka The Chairman. He apparently got into a minor tiff with some of his buddies in Tallinn the day before, literally threw a barstool/chair at him, and took a 200 euro (350 buck) cab ride from Tallinn to Riga in the middle of the night. Anyway, that night, we went out and ended up at a club where he, ok fine, all of us, ended up getting pretty smashed. We left him at the club, only to find out later the next day he was arrested for throwing a glass into the side of a BMW for no reason really, except that he was falling into that stereotype of the British hooligan! Despite all that, I enjoyed hanging out with him, in the same way we kind of all want to witness a train wreck that is about to occur.

You're probably wondering why I entitled this post about getting ripped off. Well, I went to a casino, and as many of you know by now, I do have a propensity to gamble. Given my $100/day budget, it probably wasn't the wisest thing to do but I figured I was going to win, (don´t we all??) If anything, I'd get free drinks, and that, in my book, is reason enough to lay a few hands down on some good ole fashioned blackjack. Needless to say, I lost my shirt, going down $160 bucks in about an hour. So I ended up dishing out 40 bucks a drink. Not bad, I guess in the whole grand scheme of things. Went back the next day to chase my losses and ended up paying another 30 bucks a drink. Not only that, in my haste to win, I forgot my ATM card in the machine prior to getting to the casino! Thankfully the casino was in a hotel and the front desk allowed me the use of their telephone to cancel my card immediately. When I spoke to the Bank of America telephone rep, I told her I was going to be in Estonia, and that she could send me a replacement there. She responded, "Estonia? Is that, like, in Spain?" At that point, I decided it would be better to call later, since I had a feeling my card would be sent to the wrong country.

Another night we headed out, I was at a bar ordering a drink and two extremely attractive girls came up to me and asked me where I was from etc. etc. Flattered by this, we spoke for a bit, but we left them after about fifteen minutes. Once we got outside, my friends were all laughing and making fun of me because apparently, they were, umm... professionals. I had no idea... and I was still a bit doubtful so I went back the next DAY and the same two girls were painting each other's nails. Point taken, I'm not as good looking as I think I am!

So, dirt broke, way over budget, with no ATM card, and a bruised ego, I packed up my backpack and headed to Tallinn with Adrian to meet up with my other buddies from California. Good times!!!

PS: I have been having a hell of a time uploading my pics so stay tuned until I get to a computer that allows me to do group uploads via Picasa. Ahhh... technology!

Good crack in Krakow!

No, I'm not into crack-- it's just a term I picked up while in Dublin. Good crack means good times, which basically sums up my 12 days in Poland, 10 of which were in Krakow. I had originally planned on staying in Krakow for 5 days but ended up staying an additional five more days-- a telling indication of how fun things can be if you stay at ARS Hostel. I've stayed in millions of hostels and Slavek (Owner of ARS) and his staff are truly one of a kind. Slavek's passion for showing his guests the local side of Krakow had me wanting to stay longer.

One of the reasons for taking this RTW trip was to figure out if software sales is going to be a career I return. After my experience at ARS, I have considered the possibility of starting a hostel in Mammoth or LA with the same idea as ARS'. That is, to open up a small hostel catered to those who truly want to explore and enjoy the local deal.

Anyway, my first day in Poland was spent in Warsaw since I didn't want to go straight to Krakow. My first order of business was to put some food in my belly, and walked around the main square a bit. Found nothing but relatively pricey restaurants, all with English menus and decided to veer off course. Found a joint with no English menus, packed with local people, and a chalkboard menu in Polish for about $6. I pointed at the menu, not knowing what the hell I was going to get and was pleasantly surprised to be served a plate of cole slaw, potatoes, breaded chicken cutlet, sauerkraut and sausage soup, and juice! Sorta like that white elephant gift exchange, only to find out you got the best gift of the group. I was also doubly appreciative of this because for most of my trip throughout the UK and Ireland, breakfast consisted of toast and coffee, lunch was a couple of Nutri Grain bars and dinner was (depending on how much money I had) either pasta or $4.5 cans of minestrone!


The next day, I took a 3 hour train ride down south to visit Krakow. I met Kasia in my compartment who wanted to be an English-speaking tour guide so we decided to head to the bar on the train so that she could give me a few pointers on what to do, where to go, what to see, etc. While we were in the bar, the train had stopped for a good 45 minutes. Nobody really had any idea what was going on so I asked the bartender what was up. Turns out a rock was thrown into one of the compartments and injured a passenger! That compartment, as Katia and I later discovered, was right next to ours! Thank goodness for beer o'clock, eh? Another unplanned highlight of my time here in Europe so far has been the Euro 2008 Cup, a huge football (I mean, soccer) tournament held every four years. Being in Poland during the finals was also extremely fun, as everybody, and I mean, EVERYBODY, watches the Euro cup. I understand the game much better now and wonder really why the game's popularity all over the world has never caught on in the US.

I met some pretty cool dudes while at the ARS, including Todd Novak, who is 100% Polish, but was the only one in our group who always had a hard time getting into clubs and bars because the doormen thought he was British. As I have discovered throughout my trip, the "Ugly American" moniker really is quite an undeserved stereotype, surpassed completely by the British stag (ie bachelor) party. There are signs all over most of Europe saying, "No stag parties." Anyway, funny thing about Todd. His grandma (who owns a bar in Buffalo) used to sing him a lullaby in Polish. Todd sang the song to Slavek and asked him what it meant-- Slavek cracked up while telling us it meant-- "One more beer.... one more beer!"

Also met Evan and Ed from California, who joined Todd and me for our bike tour with Slavek. We all began the journey slightly hungover from going out the night before, so it only made sense to go for a tough bike ride up to the highest point in Krakow. It was the first bit of exercise all of us had in a while, and most of us were pretty winded by the time we got to the top. Right before our ride back down, I overheard Evan asking Slavek if we could go slower...downhill!!?? That was a bad omen, as soon as we headed down Evan literally jumped off his bike and hurled the nights leftovers.

We biked for a few miles more after and ended up at "The Rocks," a mineral quarry where the late Pope used to work and not known to many tourists. After biking all day, Ed and I decided to jump off the cliff-- perfect way to cool off, and reminded me of my days of bridge jumping in Tai Tam (Hong Kong.) Swam a bit and headed back to the hostel to get ready for the Euro 2008 Finals between Spain and Germany in one of the outdoor beer gardens set up by Tyskie, a local brewery. Spain won, and so did I, as I placed a $50 bet. All in all, it was one of the most perfect Polish days one can ask for-- an awesome bike ride, an off-the-beaten track gem of a find (and adrenalin rush) at the Rocks, watching the team you're rooting for win in an outdoor beer party with the locals... thought it couldn't get better until we went on our day trip to Zakapone.

Zakapone is a mountain resort town about 2 hours by bus south of Krakow. Unfortunately I haven't been able to upload those pics yet so more on that later. But essentially, we took a two hour bus ride, 10 minute minibus, and a rather grueling 2 hour hike up a trail to a summit where the Polish border met Slovakia. After the hike, we took a cable car down and headed for the "Warm Springs" of Zakapone, where we all relaxed and spent an hour or so rejuvenating. Just an absolute blast and I have to thank Slavek ten million times over for showing us all the stuff that Lonely Planet or Frommers would never be able to replicate.