As I had traveled for nearly 48 hours now without a wash or change of clothes I was feeling pretty rank.
I had to draw some cash from the ATM to use the bathroom. This is always a tricky operation for me. I still had my Złoty from Poland and would preferred to change them but being unable to find a Forex shop I used the ATM. The main thing that worried me about using the ATM, besides the fear of it swallowing my card for ever, is how much money to draw. At this stage I barely knew which country I was in let alone how the currency was doing with regard to the Euro.

Waiting for the bus I bumped into a cute little Irish girl, small world hey? So we
chatted and watched the sun set as our bus headed toward Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. She was spending a couple of days in Vilnius and I had 2 minutes to get onto my connecting bus to Riga.

This started off with my journey from Brno in Czech. My colleagues got me to the station and hooked up with a ticket on the over night train to Warsaw. I tried to book a sleeper, which the lady at the ticket office told me I could buy on the train.

Once on the train this did not seem possible and I was little to freaked out to even bother so ended up on a couchette. In each compartment there are 6 seats which slide out a little. I got into one of these with two other guys, pulled the seat out as much as possible and slept with feet on the opposite seat.

I was there on a 3 day training course with the obligatory dinners out at steak houses trying to work out what the best vegan chips and salad option would be. Drinking quantities of beer in a team building kind of way.

So I did not get to see much of the town really. I managed a quick run one morning which was great and I bought a Kafka book which is becoming a tradition when I visit Czech.

On the last day I convince the team to go to a Veggie restaurant. This was the best meal (only proper) of my time there and included this funny spiced cola which was awesome.

To make the most out of being there I woke up super early and went for a 1km swim in the lake. Not as hardcore as it sounds though as there where already a couple of old dears in there splashing about. Its probably the best place in the world to retire, if you like swimming.

So from there we pickup our rental an A6 Avante S line, quatro 3.0TDI. What a car! Perfect for 4 guys to stoke up on testosterone and storm down the autobahn cross the border into Czech.
I was designated drive number two. Now being a South Africa I am obviously a good driver. How ever a number of factors where against me.

• Steering wheel on the wrong side of the car
• Clutch pedal missing and no hand brake.
• Everyone else driving on the wrong side of the road.

Nicole and Lance are the ideal flat mates though, they have restored my faith in relationships. Any couple that are able to travel the world on a budget for a year together have got to have something going for them. I find it hard enough traveling with myself for company without having to worry about someone else. Not that I think people need to be looked after (I´m not that much of a male pig despite the rumors), but I would tend to worry that people are having fun and are not freaking out.
Traveling with someone also makes the waking up in the morning and deciding what you want to do for the day rather more complex. That is enough of my commitment paranoia for one blog entry.

Domingo is our resident non english speaking caperoria expert who stayed over on Saturday dispite his name being Sunday in Spanish. He is now a legend for having slept on the floor without taking his shoes off.