Lovely Riga

During my research for last year's stumble through Eastern Europe, I came across an interesting website called www.sleepinginairports.com. Of course, that's something that I thought only smelly Dutch hippies would do, but I'm here to tell you that (a) I did that last night in Riga International and (b) it wasn't that bad, save for the metal bar jutting in my back half the night. That was fixed by my handy pocket-size Vocab Dictionary.

My flight got into RIX from Frankfurt (which I almost missed despite the 12 hour layover!) at 01:00 am, giving me a ready-to-depart time, after customs and baggage recoup, of about 02:00 am. Now, mind you, my phone doesn't work over here yet, not until I replace the SIM card with a Latvian one, and I certainly did not want to hoof it through the cobblestone roads of old Riga with my dumb little roller bag while the youth of Riga where wilding. Besides, I have always thought that hotels are just about the crappiest value for the dollar going as I generally spend very little time in them.

So, after almost exactly one year, I'm back in Riga, the unofficial capital of the Baltic states. I spent nearly a week here last year so I'm not exactly here for discovery purposes. Just get my visas to Belarus and Russia done and then I'm outty. I do find this to be a great city, quite comfortable for me this year since I know where everything is, although the prices have gone up considerably. I will hold off on my diatribe against the European Union and the spoilers from Great Britain for another time.

It is Sunday, I have no place to stay yet as everything appears booked up by the pillaging Britons, but I don't care because I can always pay the 20 cents to get back to the airport to sleep! If it all works, I may be heading to the coastal town of Jurmala or possibly Liepaja while the visa paperwork goes through.