In 2004 I had the great privilege of living in Kuwait for an entire year. "Culture Shock" is a mild way of putting the experience. At the time I was in my early 20's, and had only traveled out of the country once, to Canada! The plane ride itself to Kuwait City was an unbelievable experience for me. I remember seeing oil wells in Iraq burn 7 miles below me, and the brilliant lights of Kuwait City at night as we descended. During the entire year in Kuwait I woke up almost every day thinking the same thing: What a surreal experience this is!
Amazingly it's getting close to a decade since that incredible trip, but I've never forgotten how it felt. In fact my love for unique trips only increased. In May of 2006 I traveled to Romania with a friend and fell in love with the charm and mystique of Eastern Europe. We then took a trip to Ukraine for New Years in 2009, and another fond memory was made.
Recently I started getting the urge to go on another traveling adventure. I worked a dull and uninspiring job for 2 years, and I definitely needed a change of pace. It's extremely hot here on the east coast, with lots and lots of bugs. I really hate bugs, especially wasps. So.. I again looked towards Europe for travel ideas. For months I carefully researched a possible destination.. So many choices! In hindsight I probably should have made a quicker decision instead of sitting around here for such a long time being indecisive. Well, onto the big question: Why did I choose Riga, Latvia?
Right now it's mid July, and my trip is going to be for most of August. I may not have though about it before, but many parts of Europe are HOT right now! Just as hot and sticky as here in the states. So I started looking towards northern Europe. Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Denmark all looked very interesting. Unfortunately, they also looked very expensive. During this summer Europe has a massive soccer tournament, and the 2012 Summer Olympics in London! Probably not a good time to linger around Western Europe! I would certainly call myself frugal; Not to the extent that I'm going to stay at a Budget Inn everywhere I go, or shop at the thrift store, but value for my money is important. Eastern Europe is an excellent value, and it seems to go well with that mindset.
I turned to the backpackers index for information on where the best values in Europe were. This index basically tells you where your money goes the furthest. Riga, Latvia was in the top 10 easily. There were some other great choices, but some of them were too hot, or the language barrier would have been overly challenging to deal with. I also used Wikitravel, which is a goldmine of information for travelers. I found that Riga is generally safe, the prices seem to be reasonable on most goods and services, there is a large variety of foods to try, and the architecture is very impressive. On the internet, some people even called Riga "the next Prague", or an up-and-coming city that you don't want to miss out on in Europe.
After my many hours, days, and weeks of research, I felt fairly confident when I clicked the "book" button on Expedia. Speaking of which, my 25-day package to Riga was a very reasonable $2500, including airfare! The hotel I chose has received excellent ratings on review websites, but is a little out of the way. I actually prefer this. It will be perhaps a 20-minute walk to "Old Town," which is the popular walking center of the city. I don't mind the walking, and I could certainly use the exercise considering my lazy lifestyle here in the states!
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| This trip is looking like a great value for the money! |
I won't pretend to know everything about Riga or Latvia, and in a way that's the point of this blog. To see what I can discover about this far-away and fascinating country, and share the information with all of you. However, I did cheat and attempt to contact Latvians on the internet for some "inside information". A very nice girl by the name of Anastasia replied to my message, and was happy to answer all of my silly questions. She actually wants to become a tour guide someday, and I think she will do an excellent job. Nastia (as she likes to be called) approved of my hotel choice and promised to give me the names of many interesting sites to visit.
I will be traveling to Riga alone, so it is both exciting and nerve-wracking. I am not sure how hard it will be to find people to talk to, and I don't want to end up being alone the entire time. However, ironically I do not know many people in my town here either (Lancaster, PA). So the way I look at it... What do I have to lose?
