Captain Myrakas here. This is my first entry in the new logbook. Well, no, actually, I’m an old hand at this, and I’ve made more notes than times Kanye West has been abducted by aliens. In the past, I simply sailed on other ships and scribbled in foreign notebooks. If you can jump over the paywall, you can read about those adventures too. Links are below.

So, what can I say to start? Traveling is damn awesome. One must travel, and to live without travelling would simply be impossible. Our family realised this around a decade ago when a plan to eat pancakes and slurp cocoa in the Baltic city of Klaipeda ended up with us speeding off to Southern Poland. We clinked beer pitchers with Krakow's hipsters and wandered around the tunnels of the Wieliczka salt mine. This innocent little detour felt like such an epic venture that I might have even dared to stick my tongue out at Chuck Norris. I mean, damn, when the legendary space film “Navigator Pirx,” based on the short story by Polish writer Stanislaw Lem, hit the screens in 1979, all I could do was soil my diapers and shove my pacifier from cheek to cheek with my tongue. Let space be space; even years later, I didn't dare to hope that my foot could one day touch Polish ground. Even to get to Saaremaa back then, a Soviet person had to first sell their grandmother and then offer three drops of blood somewhere at the crossing of Väägvere-Mõngaste on a full moon night. We had been to Latvia and Lithuania by then, yes, but us with our three Baltic countries together are like three poor brothers sharing a single pair of Sunday pants. Poland, though, now that was a real foreign country and all.
After that life-changing detour to the land of the pans, we’ve never looked back.
Every year now mostly passes with us enduring the cold and putting aside pennies. Everything we do is in pursuit of finally jumping behind the wheel and hitting the road. So far we’ve been on around three-week road trips to Italy, France, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Montenegro… Of course we've passed through several other jolly countries, that we'd like to be more thorough with in the future. Why not take these voyages together with you?
With time comes wisdom, and by now we’ve realised that, in reality, it doesn’t matter how far you go to have a memorable travel experience. You can get a rush from Pühja as well as Phuket. For proof, we have our latest trip, which we went on at the beginning of October to our southern neighbours in Latvia. Five days, a 400-euro budget, and priceless memories for life. I’ve never had the chance to count whether Latvians really have six toes or not, but that doesn't matter as they are still and incredibly cool and kind bunch of people. Even if they had fins in their boots or a little curly tail tucked into their undies – I trust Latvians. We have much more in common than we dare to say. And if I ever have to crawl into a trench to defend my loved ones, with a Latvian by my side, I’d be ready to beat all the world’s evil into pieces, I swear.
So, Muti announced from the caboose that the evening grub is ready. Pasta is a traveller's fuel, I'll tell you that. I won’t babble more today, but in the next post, I’ll take apart what we saw in Latvia and where we'd recommend you to go to. Keywords to keep in mind: Cinevilla, Kolka Cape, the Old Town of Kuldiga, Ventspils.
Muti! Muti! Where’s my bib, damn it!
While I’m fuelling up, gaining momentum, and warming up my fingers, it would be wise for you to catch up on our previous adventures. Have a go!
Villidest veisteni ehk Kondiauruga läbi Soomaa rahvuspargi (Sakala 12.09.15)
Mustad augud, tulistavad tuvid ja kehakeel ehk Nädal aega neljal rattal (Lätist, Leedust, Poolast 06.08.16)
Lameda maa rahva seiklused lendavate taburettide kuningriigis (Itaaliast, 05.08.17)
Arrogantsed akordionistid ehk Seiklused konnaõgijate maal (Prantsusmaast, Sakala 11.08.18)
Ratastel romantiku uitmõtted (Sakala 08.09.18)
Lõunanaabrite väike Viljandi (Kuldigast Lätis, Sakala 07.03.20)
Kaerajaanist "Troonide mänguni" ehk harilik kriisipuhkus Horvaatias (Sakala 08.80.20)
Vokaalideta paradiisisaarelt kodusele maailma servale (Horvaatiast, Sakala 04.09.21)
Ühe magamata öö hinnagaga Euroopa kirjuimasse pealinna (Berliinist Saksamaal, Sakala 09.04.22)
Õnnelikud sipelgad, mustad mäed ja kasside linn (Montenegrost, GO Reisiajakiri 11.10.22)
Comments