And with today comes a very exciting milestone - I've now explored 50 countries! This is really special for me because growing up I watched my grandparents travelling the world and returning with lots of amazing stories and presents for me. They inspired me to travel the world so upon getting my first job when I was 12 (a paper round that hardly paid anything!!!) I started to save. Over the years I've worked really hard, sometimes in 2013 even working 60 hour weeks and some 15 hour days with two jobs to get the money together to travel whilst still studying. And as a result I've spent 20 of the last 60 months overseas. So thank you Nan and Pa for inspiring me, and a massive thank you of course to my wonderful parents who have been supportive all the way through. And while 95% of my travel has been self funded, their money for my birthday towards Croatia, their help while I was at uni and some treats whilst travelling with the, have helped make this all possible too. Thanks for supporting me, love you both very much :)
Today I slept in and then packed up. It cost £10 each way to pay for 'large hand luggage', which might not seem a lot. But considering I paid £25 each way for flights, I was not going to pay for large hand luggage! So my challenge was to fit everything I need for the cold for five days into my tiny backpack. This saw me wearing a few layers today, but I did it :)
I left my flat and couldn't resist taking a photo of the lovely autumn leaves out front - enjoy!
I got the tube to Golders Green station and waited for the bus. It was very delayed due to a fire in Finchley Road, but I managed to get on the bus that should have arrived at 10.40am but arrived at the time mine was meant to (11.20am) thanks to the driver not reading my ticket properly. He told the people behind me they couldn't board - phew!
The drive took 40 minutes and I was back at Luton airport. I was here to fly to France in March and Iceland in May. It's my least favourite airport, but the flights are so cheap! Wizz Air was heaps better than Easyjet though because the line was lots shorter so it wasn't too bad. Boarded the plane with my bag no dramas and sat back for 2.5 flying over Denmark and Sweden! Before I knew it after a short nap we had landed in Riga.
I don't really know anything about Latvia. I know some people whose families came from here, and my Topdeck tour to Norway etc last year continued on through here but I had jumped off by that point. But that's the kind of visit to a country I love the best - one where I have no idea what to expect! So knowing only that they use the euro, I left the airport. First impressions - cold! Lucky I brought the thermals. I walked across the car park to the public #22 bus I had researched and boarded. No one sold me a ticket so I sat there confused for 30 minutes and got a free ride. No complaints here!
We then stopped outside a shopping centre on the outskirts of old town. I walked the 5 minutes to my hostel. From all the advertisements around it looks as if Latvian is a mix between German and maybe polish?? The German half I can read some of the words which is handy.
Got to my hostel, you literally have to walk through McDonald's to get to the entrance so my will power has to be high the next few days, especially if I go on the pub crawl Wednesday evening!! My hostel is lovely and cosy, feels more like a friend's house. I, in a 6 bed dorm with a comfy bottom bunk and a huge locker. The common area is warm, with music and heaps of info. They gave me a map with so much info. Here I was thinking I would do a day trip here but I think there's more than enough to do in the city!
I set off for a quick night time walk as the lack of customs meant I was in the bus and at the hostel lots earlier than anticipated. Speaking of customs - the first 14 pages of my passport are now completely choccers. Talk about first world problems! This one is only from late 2013 too - oops.
So I walked to old town, it was so lovely! It's so nice when living in crazy (but loveable) London Town to go somewhere quiet and slow paced. There weren't many people around and I walked to St Peters Church and the House of the Blackheads. So pretty all lit up! Don't know anything about them at the moment but I will tmro after my walking tour.
I just wandered around aimlessly and took it all in. I must say the attitude to women here isn't great. I've had two men walk square into me, look straight at me and not apologise or smile or anything. Bit rude, but I'll just continue walking purposefully and not letting them bully me! At least no one shouted out to me today hey!!! Lol.
I went to the ginormous supermarket over the road from my hostel and had some nice Latvian pastries for dinner. One had a hotdog and mustard in it, the other was kind of cheesy with some ham. Yummmmm.
Now I'm in the hostel researching what to do the next few days. Looks like there's two walking tours, a church tower, a boat trip, a pub crawl maybe, three districts, a market and two museums I would like to do. I should be plenty busy!!
Love to all
Claire
Xoxox
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