Staying in Lithuania for a week was a relief, it made me realize how much I struggle with the language challenge in Germany, everyone I met in Lithuania spoke English.
While still in Uyo, Nigeria, I regularly met with Mfonobong Umondia (Bella) and Cynthia Peter, The venues were usually random, we hung out at Bella’s place, Cynthia’s place, my place, bars, hotels etc. It’s been a year since we met in person. Unfortunately, Bella could not make it to the trip.
7 days in Vilnius, the story.
Cynthia and I agreed to go where we could fly a hot-air balloon and Lithuania had multiple options for the balloon flight, we booked our flight and paid for accommodation on Airbnb. On August 8th, we were wheels up to Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania for a 7-day stay.
Day 1.
I arrived an hour before Cynthia so I waited for her at the airport, my girl arrived and I ran to her and gave her a big hug. After a year of talking on voice and video calls, we were able to hug in person. I was excited. Our initial plan was to get on a city bus or trolley bus to our apartment but because the weather was cold we hopped on a bolt ride to our apartment.
We got there around 9 am, called our host and he said we couldn’t check in till 3 pm because there were guests in the apartment. Oops, we dragged our bags to a mall close by, ate pasta, gist and made calls while waiting. Fortunately for us, our host allowed us to check in by 1 p.m. The apartment was perfect. The interior was minimally and tastefully furnished, and the apartment was surrounded by green fields, the balcony had a table and chair and it was perfect.
After check-in, we first called our girl Mfonobong Umondia (Bella). After the call, we slept, woke up around 6 pm, went to the mall, bought groceries dropped them at the apartment and then went to grab dinner. We couldn’t get a burger so we bought wraps, and the wrap was delicious.
We boarded a trolley bus home, but couldn’t figure out how to pay for the ticket so we alighted at the next bus stop and walked home.
Day 2.
I woke up around 6 a.m. and felt well-rested due to the long hours of sleep. I worked for a while before Cynthia joined me, she had her morning coffee and got to work. Remember this trip wasn’t a vacation, we called it a change of environment. Cynthia Peter had school work and open source tasks to do while I was handling a freelance project for a client and had to deliver on each milestone.
Moving around in Vilnius is done either by Bus or Trolley Bus. Tickets can be bought at Bus stations or other authorised offices, I preferred buying online, so we bought a 7-day bus ticket for 15 euros on trafi, a ticket and navigation app.
We set out for our first tour and were able to visit 4 places.
i. Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania
ii. The Hill of three Crosses
iii. The Gediminas’ Tower
iv. Aprokolis (The biggest shopping mall in Vilnius), window shopped and bought some nice clothes and accessories.
We were exhausted at the end of the day, climbing the hill, and tower and trekking around in Akroplis was more exhausting than we thought. I checked my watch and saw that we had taken about 16,085 steps that day.
We cooked dinner, ate and went straight to bed.
Day 3.
Cynthia takes delight in food photography, and I enjoy watching her decorate food.
After working in the morning, we went out for another tour.
Yesterday, before we went for the tour, I had booked a hot-air balloon ride, for 140 euros each on Smile Balloons Hot Air Balloon.
We went to the pick-up address, and then we rode with the Smile Ballon team to Trakai and had a hot-air flight over Trakai. The setup of the hot air balloon was thrilling, the hot air balloon could contain 6 people, We hoped in and had an amazing 30-minute ride over Trakai, the lakes, the city centre and forests.
Interesting thing: we entered a shop to buy snacks, in order to buy items, we had to first scan our debit card before proceeding to pick the items we wanted and when we went to pay for the items, we stood in front of a screen, the screen added what we picked to cart and debited our card, no human contact. This was different from the usual self-checkout, we didn’t even have to scan the items we picked because the screen captured what we picked.
Day 4.
Now that we’ve experienced Trakai and flew hot-air balloon, our goal in Vilnius was completed.
We worked till evening, went out to Vilnius City centre, walked around the neighbourhood, bought Vilnius merch and ate ice cream. The city was buzzing with lots of events, street performances, beautiful murals and historical architecture.
Day 5.
We stayed home all morning and afternoon, ate lunch on the balcony, played, laughed, and shared thoughts on marriage, career, plans for children, our education and career goals. It was good to share thoughts with someone who is in tech and married a guy in tech just like me.
In the evening, I convinced my girl and we went for a bike ride. The city bikes here are accessible. I downloaded the Bike app, paid for a 3-day ticket for 2.99 euros and at the bike station, I scanned my ticket to unlock a bike.
Famous Lithuania Food.
For dinner, we stopped at a restaurant and asked the waitress to recommend their local food, we were served Lithuania’s Famous Cold Beetroot Soup (šaltibarščiai), I did not enjoy it so I ordered pork, and the pork was delicious.
Day 6.
Sunday.
It’s wonderful to see Vilnius still booming on a Sunday. Malls were open. In Germany, don’t bank on seeing shops open on a Sunday. Most malls are closed and you rarely find a boutique open.
Trip to Kaunas. We went for another dose of tour, and bought first-class tickets to Kaunas, while on the train ride, we were served bottled water.
We looked around Kaunas, street art, historical sites and then went back to Vilnius.
We went back to the restaurant to eat dinner again but they had closed the food section and only served drinks. So we ordered Dodo pizza, the chicken BBQ type for dinner on Wolt.
Road trips are yet to be my favourite thing to do because I seem not to know what to do with myself during the long idle sitting hours of travel.
We went back to that restaurant to eat our last dinner. I ate poke bowl with salmon fish.
Day 7.
It dawned on us that we had come to the end of our wonderful and beautiful stay in Vilnius.
I loved the country. I liked that everyone we met spoke English.
I worked all morning and afternoon, and in the evening, we went back to the restaurant and ate dinner PokeBowl with salmon fish. It was delicious.
We went back to our apartment, packed our stuff, sat up watching movies and worked till 3 a.m, I left for the airport and Cynthia left later cos her flight was moved to 10 am.
Things to note about Lithuania
- No sale of alcohol after 8 p.m.
- There are no intra-city trains, only bus and trolley busses are used.
- No inter-city flights, only trains and busses run inter-city.
- The locals widely speak English.
- Comparing Vilnius with Berlin, the cost of living is cheaper in Vilnius.
I’m super happy I got to cross off Hot-air ballon from my list of things to do.
The next fun thing on my list is Paragliding. I know I’ll enjoy it.
Now, I look forward to our next girls' hangout with Mfonobong Umondia (Bella) and Cynthia Peter. Having these Ladies in my life has been an honour and most beautiful. They’ve been with me through it all. Thank you ladies. I love you 🤍
Now, updating the list of countries I’ve been to.
🇱🇹Lithuania, 🇩🇪Germany, 🇧🇯Benin Republic, 🇷🇼Rwanda, 🇬🇭Ghana, 🇳🇬Nigeria-homeland.
