I am in Latvia!

Currently sat in a Costa coffee sipping an extremely large hot chocolate complete with marshmallows and whipped cream! This is the beauty of being on holiday..More reason to treat yourself.

So let’s back track 24 hours and take a look at what I’ve been upto…

Yesterday I got an afternoon flight to Riga from Leeds, because of the flight time and the time difference i arrived into Latvia pretty late. As it was dark I decided it’d be best I take a taxi rather than trying to figure out the bus system in a new country so late at night. Being in the taxi I saw a fair bit of Riga and soon realised I’d have been okay getting the bus.. The whole place was full of lights! Large department stores everywhere and as soon as we hit old town the place was booming. I felt instantly safe with how lively the place was. The taxi however was easy and cheap at only €11 can’t really complain..and free wifi! How strange.

When I arrived at the hostel the place was crazy. The music was blazing, beer pong on one side and a bar on the other- the atmosphere was incredible. So I checked in amongst the liveliness and was then advised that it is tradition in their country to do a welcome shot… Blackcurrant flavoured not sure what it was. I felt rude to say no so just went with it. Blehhh my mouth was on fire! Horrible! I had to eat some crisps instantly afterwards.. I have a feeling it was one of those super strong proof liquors..but at least I did it. 😀

I headed for my room where I was greeted by my Canadian roommate, she was travelling around the area for a few weeks before heading back home. She wasn’t going to go out that night so I dumped my stuff and figured I’d head to watch beer pong and see if I could meet anyone. Sat down in a snug chair and put my feet up whilst I was messaging some people from back home about how awesome the hostel was and then I noticed a smart looking man staring at me. He looked like he might work at the hostel. He came over to me then asked me to follow him. I looked around at others in the room to see if this was weird, I thought maybe he was going to tell me off for having my feet up. Turns out he wanted to tell me that he’s just got his pilot licence and is buying everyone in the hostel a drink. Haha.. So I took him up on that offer then headed back to watch the end of beer pong. I don’t know how but I ended up meeting a girl called Wendy from England.. She actually goes to university right by me and we entered into a table football tournament. England vs Greece/Denmark.. I won!

After a few hours we headed out to an Australian backpackers pub. It was awesome! The whole place was kitted out really funky. The bar was inside a mini van! It was ace! And I got to sample honey beer and cranberry beer…yummy!

Stayed there an hour or so before deciding I was tired and starving so me and Wendy wandered around for a bit, ate McDonalds then headed back to the hostel for sleep.

It’s a good job I called it a night at that time cos even with an earlyish night, I slept until 11am! Close call since the walking tour I wanted to go on was to begin at 12pm. Luckily it wasn’t far from the hostel. So I wrapped up and ventured out for the tour. It was freezing so hard to concentrate but overall very good for a free tour. The tour guide was funny and I got to see parts of Riga outside of Old Town. Went through the market aswell but I didn’t find this to be much different from the usual indoor markets. So after the tour, I accidentally found myself shopping.. Wow are the clothes cheap! Got myself 5 jumpers and a pair of leggings for €30. Not sure how I’m going to fit them in my hand luggage to get them home! Oops.

And so here I am sat in Costa.. I’m really umming and ahhing over how to spend my day tomorrow. There are many day trips you can do from Riga and I’m just not sure what to go for. I’m also heading on the bar crawl tonight at 10pm so I can imagine I’ll probably wake up hungover tomorrow! I’m a tad gutted that I can’t see the huskies as its out of season but I guess that always gives me an excuse to come back right?