I hated Phnom Penh. But don’t get me wrong. I hadn’t slept for almost 48 hours and took 3 flights to reach that crowded and dusty city. Plus it was the first time I was in South East Asia. And you know, when everyone tells you that there’s such thing as a ‘cultural shock’ the first time you enter SEAsia, well, it happens. The struggle is real.
I got very overwhelmed by a not very friendly nor helpful border police man who was looking at me in a sort of very-worrying-way. Or maybe I was too tired.
Then, (and I’m truly not making this up) we got surrounded by 20 tuk-tuk drivers who wanted to bring us to the hostel we were staying in.
Driver: Is it your first time in Cambodia?
Me: No! No! Second time! Second time!
Miguel (the guy I traveled with): (Talking in Spanish) Why did you lie?
Me: I’ve heard that you have to always say that it’s your second time. This way you’ll avoid rip offs.
Miguel: If you say so…
Driver: Then, welcome to Cambodia, again. Smiley face.
After we had a great sleep next day was different. Still a bit rough to get used to it, but ended up loving Cambodia’s Capital, Phnom Penh.
It all started about 6 months ago, Christmas time. I was with my friend Miguel, having a beer and a sandwich at our favourite catch-up-place here in Logroño (Spain) and we started brainstorming about what we could be doing the upcoming summer. The last trip we had done together was when we were 18 and it was our trip around Europe with the InterRail tickets.
For this time we decided to step up the game. He had never been in Asia before (I had the luck to travel to South Korea last summer) and we came to a common idea that South East Asia was quite interesting to travel.
And that was it. We planted a seed that began to sprout and grew quite fast.
The travel: Cambodia and Laos (and one last night in Bangkok) during 21 days. 5 vaccines and anti mosquito liquid included.
Briefing it up, tomorrow we are going to Madrid, catching up a flight to Bangkok(layover in Dubai) and once we are in Bangkok we will be taking another flight to Phnom Penh(Cambodia’s capital). And from there, adventure. The map above shows more or less the route that we will be following. About 3,500km that we will cover up by plane, boat, bus, train, motorbike and feet.
As I usually do, I’ll be sharing the whole experience on my instagram and if you don’t have instagram you can click here: daily.fateuser.com. Also, as I new thing this year I’ll be sharing a daily video blog on my youtube channel.
I love traveling. Also I love saving. And if I can travel and save at the same time, well, perfect combo! Whenever I travel there’s always the pressure of being a student and not having lots of money to spare. There have been many times when I couldn’t do something because I didn’t have enough money or I had to decide: either entering in the museum or eating the next day.
Since I have been a couple of times in Riga (Latvia) (one in February 2014 and the other one in November 2014) and by the experience I had trying the different things you find in the city, I think I have come with the ultimate and sort of cheapest way of visiting Latvia’s capital.
*Disclaimer: the prices may vary according to the season and availability of services. If you are traveling from other city that is not Kaunas it might be a bit more expensive or cheaper. Also I’m not getting sponsored by sharing anything of this, it’s just all from my own opinion and belief.The trip I’m presenting here is a weekend trip: leaving Kaunas on Friday and coming back on Sunday, 2 nights and 3 days.
1. Bus from Kaunas to Riga and back: 37.60€
Now, what is very important is to own an ISIC card(it gives you many discounts in many cities in Europe and in some places you can enter for free). If you don’t have this card you’ll have to pay 5€ more on your journey, so you decide! The bus company that I travel with is Ecolines, the buses are quite okay and comfy. The ride is approximately 4 hours and it drops you at Riga’s central bus station.
2. Hostel for a couple of nights: 24€
Now there might be a bit of controversy. The first time I went to Riga I stayed at The Naughty Squirrel Backpackers Hostel. Backpackers + Naughty + Squirrel in the same name of a place? Yes please! Also I was reading lots of reviews about this place, and it appears that it has won for several years prizes such as best hostel in Latvia and top 10 hostels in the world. And just for 12€ the night if you decide to stay in a 8-10 people mixed and shared room.
Also, a big plus of this hostel is that it is located in the centre of the city and just next to it has a Coffee Inn (a quite popular coffee place here in the Baltics).
There might be possibilities such as CouchSurfing, AirBnB, other hostels or even the street. It’s all up to you. I have been twice in that hostel and if I ever have to come back to Riga I will probably stay there again.
3. Breakfast for two days: 6€
As I mentioned before, there’s a nice coffee place where you can get a cookie or cake plus a coffee for about 3€. Here again if you like to eat more or you are a not breakfast person (you know you should eat breakfast. It’s the most important meal of the day. Just a simple and friendly advice) the price may vary.
4. Lunch and dinner for two days: 30€
Exactly the same as with the breakfast, it all depends on your budget and on how much you want to eat. I’m 99.8% sure that for 7.5€ you can eat and have dinner almost every day. There are many places to eat in the city and of course there are different prices and qualities of the food. It’s all about the budget you got!
Heather Hall (from Ferreting Out the Fun) has recently moved to Riga and she’s writing tons and tons of information about the city and Latvia. If you are planning to visit Riga her blog is a must!
5. Tour around the city: 0€
The first time I tried a free tour was back in 2013 when visiting Stockholm. I really liked the idea: a local person shows you around and tells you about the history and anecdotes of the city for free. If you liked the tour you are free to offer a tip for the nice work. There are a couple of tours happening daily in Riga, and you can find more information here.
6. St. Peters church: 7€
Now this is not something you need to survive like food or a place to stay. It’s an extra (that’s why if you add this to the total amount it will exceed 100€) but it’s totally recommended to go up there. The prices vary (important, get an ISIC card for discounts) so you can find the exact price on their website.
7. Travel guide for Riga: 0€
I have recently found a travel guide(well, if you just type free travel guide for Riga on google you find it very easily) where you find lots and lots of useful information (like where to eat, what to visit, what to do, what NOT to do) and you can just download it on your smartphone or if you feel like print it. Or both. You are free to do as you please.
(…)
So, the final sum would be (of the extremely necessary needs, if you like to buy 25 postcards everywhere you go I’m sorry, I didn’t add it here): Bus from Kaunas to Riga and back: 37.60€ +Hostel for a couple of nights: 24€ +Breakfast for two days: 6€ +Lunch and dinner for two days: 30€ = 97.60€!
Now if you add spare 50€ for emergencies (like tequila shot emergency, postcard emergency, taxi to your new friend’s house emergency or nail polish emergency) you have a fantastic trip for 150€.
Do you need to translate anything fromLatvian or to Latvian? Check out this amazing Latvian translation services offered by PoliLingua 🙂
Whenever I see that I have few days off (and as long as I have money and no exams soon) I like to travel.
Usually, what I do is check what free days I have and search with this amazing ultimate travel cheap tool called AZUONwhere’s the cheapest destination to fly to. As we say around here: «when you are traveling low cost, it’s not important where you go but what days you can travel». After running the software a couple of times I saw that the optimal trip was to Norway, the cheapest destination. The only «problem» was that I had already been there this year.
The next option was Italy, inbound flight to Milan from Vilnius and outbound flight from Milan to Vilnius. Three nights, four days. Eventually, (including big luggage) I paid around 140€ for both tickets (back and forth).
The journey itself went quite smooth (except for a couple of anecdotes that I’ll share soon) and I tried AirBnBfor the first time! Such a nice experience! (post about it on the making!).
Even though I had already been both in Milan and Venice (when I was about 16 years old and I was with my parents and sister) I truly didn’t mind going back, because it would be almost the first time that I was in Italy without parents.
On our first few hours in Italy, we got to the flat we would be staying, got cleaned up and went to the Duomo. We didn’t make it to the roof (spoiler alert, we didn’t go up there on the trip, the second day we wanted to go was very cloudy and it was totally not worth). That didn’t really bother us, we wandered around the city centre, visited the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, stepped on the bull’s testicles and span aroundand went shopping after fulfilling our stomachs with two wonderful pizzas (one for each, don’t think that I ate two pizzas by myself. I mean, I really like them but that’s way too much dude).
On the next day, we went to Venice.
We got a bit lost while trying to reach the flat but finally made it. But we didn’t make itexactly to Venice(yeah, we thought we were staying in the main one but we actually booked a flat in an outskirt town, well, you can get to the main Venice, yeah the one with the canals and gondolas in a 20 min bus ride, for next time I’ll know better).
To tell the truth, we actually were somehow happy that we made that «mistake» and didn’t get a flat in Venice the mainland. Mestre(the town we stayed in) was super calm and chill, plus it had a very nice and historic old town!
Since it was my birthday we decided that it would be a good idea to have dinner in a nice restaurant where we could see the canals.
Well, we didn’t. Wait. We did have a nice dinner, but not outside, it was in a restaurant. It was too cold to sit outdoors.
Since we didn’t explore much the day we got there, we came back the next morning to keep on exploring the different streets and squares that Venice had to offer. It was so (f-word+ing) crowded. I didn’t remember there were so many people last time I was there.
After having an exhausting and quite explorer day, we jumped (we didn’t really jump, we walked in, as normal people do) into the train that would ride us back to Milan. There we would be spending the last night of our adventure in a very lovely top floor-plus-balcony-loft and the few hours we had left in the morning before heading back to the airport.
Overall I have to say that I had quite much fun on this trip. Maybe it was too much (or better said, way too much) visiting a couple of cities in that short time, but, well, this is how you learn right? As Pergulas Gunnharsonne said, «By trying and making mistakes you reach the perfection».
It was a very pleasant experience to get back to Italy and dig up some well-dug memories of my very first trip out of Spain.
It is now 08:20 in the morning, the 30th of April 2015 and I have to catch a train to the airport in about 55 minutes, but I wanted to really fast and quick share with you my next adventure.
I’ll be flying today to Milano from Vilnius, tomorrow catching a train to Venice and on Saturday coming back to Milano to spend the last night before I come back on Sunday to Lithuania.
Very express, but as you probably know if you follow my blog, this is how I enjoy traveling. On a budget (of money and time).
If you want to follow the journey, please do it so on my instagram or on my facebook page.
Safe travels to me!
(*22:38 edit: I am already in Italy, super tired after walking all around Milano. The weather is perfect, I’m staying in a AirBnB flat, first time, great experience. Post about it soon. My laptop has been messing around with me, but I think I found the way to fix it.)
If you are interested in following in a sort of real time the journey (a.k.a. me posting every day), let me know in the comments section down below.
I remember the first time I went to this place a social dance party was going on. Salsa, bachata and that sort of things. Since I’m a not-so-good (or better said, I have my own style) dancer, I just sat down and enjoyed a glass of red wine while checked the decoration and the dim light that was making of it a very unique and mystique place.
Formerly known as La Bodega del Toro, Galeria Urbanais a mixture of restaurant, art gallery, social club & good vibes place. The food price is of average but the taste of it gets a higher-than-average grading. Located in the very main street of Kaunas’ old town, it offers a good place to both enjoy a quite sophisticated meal or a very artsy drink. Or both. Or none. It’s all up to you.
One of the coolest things is that in summer and until mid-autumn they open a terrace to the bustling Vilnius street in Kaunas. Terraces are good for socialising. Very good in fact.
I’m going there quite often, and I would totally recommend you to check their facebook page and if you happen to be in Kaunas, go try their mediterranean inspired menu!
On 11 March 1990, the Supreme Council of the Republic of Lithuania adopted an Act on the Restoration of an Independent State of Lithuania. This year Lithuania becomes 25 years old (since the last independence, of course). Which means that she’s one year older than me. Oh hey you pretty girl!
*11/03/2016 edit: Lithuania becomes 26 years old! Hey you lovely country! 🙂
2. As all the important days, the Lithuanians signed an Act.
The act emphasized restoration and legal continuity of the interwar-period inLithuania, which was occupied by the USSR and lost independence in June 1940. It was the first time that a Union Republic declared independence from the dissolving Soviet Union.
3. Lithuanians = kick-ass warriors.
The Soviet Union somehow blamed that it was Lithuanian’s fault that the URSS didn’t work. Well, sorry about that you naughty people. If they want to be an independent country they have the right to be so!
4. There are parades literally everywhere in the country.
If you happen to be in Lithuania today go to the street. You’ll be amazed by the amount of things that are going on. «Lithuania – our land».
5. It’s the national «don’t-mess-with-a-Lithuanian-day».
Today everyone goes to the street. Including some radical people. Some, how to say, extremely nationalistic people. And we all know that extremes ain’t that good. So just be aware of that. And please, don’t do these things to a Lithuanian.
6. Lithuania = role model.
The Act of the Re-Establishment of the State of Lithuania served as a model and inspiration to other Soviet republics. However, the issue of independence was not immediately settled and recognition by other countries was not certain.
7. Harder times were about to come.
Mikhail Gorbachev called the Act of Independence illegal and the USSR demanded revocation of the Act and started applying sanctions against Lithuania. If that wasn’t enough, on January 13, 1991 Soviet forces stormed the Parliament building in Vilnius along with the Vilnius TV Tower. Unarmed civilian Lithuanians confronted Soviet soldiers. Fourteen people were killed and seven hundred injured in what became known as January Events.
8. Iceland ♥ Lithuania.
Iceland was the first to recognize Lithuanian independence on February 11, 1991. We ♥ you Iceland!
9. Bye bye URSS!
Finally, on September 6, 1991 Lithuania’s independence was recognized by the Soviet Union.
On this day, Lithuanians commemorate that on February the 16th 1918, the Act of Independence of Lithuania (Lietuvos Valstybės atkūrimo aktas) was signed, thus proclaiming the restoration of an Independent state of Lithuania.
2. The Act was signed by 20 brave Lithuanians.
This was the Council of Lithuania of 1918. In 1915, Germany occupied western parts of the Russian Empire. After the Russian Revolution in 1917, Germany agreed to allow the Vilnius Conference, hoping that it would proclaim that the Lithuanian nation wanted to detach itself from Russia and establish a closer relationship with Germany.However, this strategy backfired; the conference, held from September 18–22 of 1917, adopted a resolution that an independent Lithuania should be established and that a closer relationship with Germany would be conditional on Germany’s formal recognition of the new state. Here’s a list of all the Signatories.
3. Jonas Basanavičius = the man.
Apart from being the man who was on the 50 litas note, having a kick-ass beard and being a doctor, he was an activist and proponent of Lithuanian National Revival and founder of the first Lithuanian language newspaper Aušra (dawn). Also, he was one of the initiators and the Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the 1905 Great Seimas of Vilnius and the founder and chairman of the Lithuanian Scientific Society (1907)
4. The Act was a powerful one.
… and it was a key element in the foundation of Lithuania’s re-establishment of independence in 1990, and it says something like this. (In fact, if only counting from its last independence, Lithuania and I are almost the same age).
5. After 1918, Kaunas became the temporary capital of Lithuania.
6. February the 16th is the perfect day to go out to the city.
With all the city full of Lithuanian flags, people in the streets many acts and shows going on, February the 16th is definitely a must day to spend in Lithuania. Su Vasario 16-ąja. Su 97-uoju Lietuvos gimtadieniu!
That was my first time in a vegetarian restaurant. Or at least the fist time I remember. Not that I’m always drunk when I go to restaurants or something like this, it’s just that I wasn’t aware of being in a vegstaurant (hehe, so funny how I make new words) before.
Anyways, this one was a great one. Very posh. Very tasty. I remember being there with my backpacker uniform (a.k.a. jeans, sweaty t-shirt after being the whole day walking, boots and a sweater) while everyone else was quite dressed up. It felt a bit awkward. But hey, not having the appropriate etiquette has never stopped me before. The place is located in the not very centre of Rīga, so you will have to walk for a while, but it’s totally worth it.
Depending on your budget, this might not be the place you want to go. It’s more expensive than the average, but the plates were very delicious. And I’m a carnivorous. Like, I truly love meat. But I didn’t miss it at all.
Overall I enjoyed it. Don’t really think I’d go back there (too expensive for student-like-budget) but if you are into this type of food and this type of place, you should give it a try!
The 9th semester of my Medicine studies is done! Today I had my last exam and it (hopefully) went well. So, according to how my university works, now I have a week off. Following a bit the «self-imposed-tradition» that my sister and I decided to start, we are going to travel during this week. Last year we went to Riga (Latvia) and this time we decided to step up the game.
And guess what: I’m finally going to visit Norway. (Duh! We can read it in the post’s name dude!)
We are leaving on Wednesday the 28th at 06.10 from Vilnius airport (Lithuania) and flying to Ålesund, where we will be spending one night. After that, we will take a bus all the way down to Bergen (a couple of nights in this dreamy looking city) and finally a train to Oslo to spend the last 2 nights of our journey. Summing it up, 900 km, 5 nights, 2 planes, lots of snow and infinite fun. Can’t wait for it!
