For people my age, turning 18 usually means finally being able to buy some alcohol. But for me, this age meant that I would finally be able to travel outside of my own country completely by myself. So as this important date was approaching, I decided that right after my birthday, rather then going to a liquor store, I’d go explore the world. Up until then, I had visited a few other countries but I was always accompanied by adults. The trip that I was planning would be my very first independent step outside of Lithuania. And it was.

A normal person would spend at least half an hour packing. But I’ve never been one of them, so all of my things were packed in my guitar case within 5 minutes. I packed an interesting set of belongings: a guitar, a pillow, a blanket, some canned food, and The Glass Bead Game by Herman Hesse. Here, you can see how foolish I was. After all, I was planning on reaching the capital of Austria and enjoying the atmosphere of the European Football Championship for about a week. Well.

On the night before the trip, I had a few beers with my friend V. at Old Town of Kaunas and managed to shake off my nervous thoughts about the upcoming trip for at least a few hours. But the next morning, I was already standing at the side of the road.

Perfect start to my trip. I managed to break my record of waiting at the side of the road while hitchhiking, which was 3 hours. Well, three cars did stop but none of them were going in my direction. My head was full of sarcastic thoughts about me and the whole world. I told myself that when the next car stopped, I’d go wherever it was headed, even if that meant going to the Bermuda Triangle. Well, Garliava wasn’t exactly the Bermuda Triangle but at least I got on the move. This is how I gradually found my way to Marijampolė. I lay down on the grass, took in some of The Glass Bead Game and finally began to feel like I was embarking on a journey.

At about 6 pm, I began my search for a ride toward Poland. After about half an hour, due to a lucky coincidence, I managed to stop a truck driver who was headed there. It was really nice to chat with him because he was very humble, with no masks or pretenses. After a while, it felt as if this driver was a family member of mine. I was woken up at about midnight. The nice man informed me that he was headed away from Warsaw, so it was probably time for me to step out. I thanked him for his help and… and…

I was alone. At night. In a strange Polish town. My only friend was my blanket. I felt weird. I was in shock for about half a minute.

After no luck in searching for an abandoned building to squat in, I headed near the police station, sat down under a tree and began to quietly play my guitar. I was happy with what I was doing and with the fact that my guitar was still in tune. But I still needed to find a place to sleep. I discovered a very aesthetic town hall square in which I realized that this was a resort town. I rushed toward the first stairway that I could find, quickly observed it, and lay down on my pillow, hugging my guitar. Five hours later, I woke up to the view of a woman’s legs with high heels. I waited for her to leave, quickly left the stairway, and hitchhiked away toward Warsaw.

A woman and her beautiful daughter took me all the way to the Old Town of Warsaw and I once again began to feel absolute freedom. Soon after, I began my Lithuanian performance. I had two thoughts: 1. Andrius Romaska, you’re sitting in the center of Warsaw and playing your guitar instead of acting like a “normal” person and stuffing your face in a computer screen. 2. It’s not like Polish people can understand a word you’re singing, so why not add in a few swear words, just for fun:)

I was really getting into the flow when the unpleasant incidents began. I got kicked out of the spot I was starting to like, and then out of my new spot too. There were a lot of suspicious gypsies around me, so I couldn’t speak with anyone, except for a few nice passers-by. I felt small and meaningless in this world and started to miss home. Austria was too far.

I dedicated the remaining 8 hours of the day to try to leave Warsaw. I took a tram, then a bus, and didn’t buy a ticket for either. I then walked for what seemed like forever but still couldn’t reach the end of this gigantic city. Finally, at about 9 pm, I started to hitchhike toward Bialystok but unsuccessfully. I walked another 10 kilometers and noticed a group of Polish youth running toward me. I instantly thought I’d have some serious adventures during this trip but it turned out that the young people were just curious about me and quite rude, for that matter. I felt like an out-of-town attraction that everyone was analyzing.

I slept under a bridge on a narrow ledge. If I had been prone to sleepwalking, I surely would have fallen into the infinite pool of moving cars. After 5 hours of sleep, I was on my feet again and fully determined to get home. But definitely not full of energy. With the help of 3 or 4 drivers, I got to Bialystok. The last of the trips was pretty strange. During the whole trip, the driver tried to convince me to give him a 10 litas (a former national currency of Lithuania) banknote as a souvenir from Lithuania. Eventually, I exchanged 10 litai for a Game Boy which, as it later turned out, was broken. The driver invited me to go to a club with him that night but I rejected his invitation. We ran out of gas. He tried to call a taxi but that just ended in a ridiculous argument because he couldn’t even describe his location. We had to walk to the nearest gas station which was 5 kilometers away but a nice girl ended up giving us a ride. After I paid for the gas (the driver didn’t have any money and I wasn’t just going to leave him like that), I told him that I’d walk the remaining 5 kilometers to Bialystok.

I wandered around Bialystok trying to figure out how to get to Lithuania but the sun was as strong as ever and my energy was running out, so I lay down on the grass near a gas station and just watched the sky. With public transport (and no ticket, once again), I traveled through some strange suburban roads without even knowing where I was headed. When it started to rain, I pretty much lost all hope of getting to Lithuania that same day. I hid from the rain in some sort of arbor and reluctantly started to think of the very real possibility of sleeping in some strange place once again. But then, I noticed two trucks at a shabby inn nearby and I started running toward them. My heart fluttered when I saw that one of the trucks had Lithuanian plates. When I was sitting in the truck, I didn’t care at all that every second word coming from the driver’s mouth was a swear word. Nothing bothered me anymore. I’d make it back to Lithuania that very same day. Once I got there, I was delighted by every word that the driver spoke. I was picked up by an interesting truck driver at the border who was actually from the other truck at the shabby inn in Poland. We had a very meaningful conversation. He gave me his daughter’s number who had just started to learn the secrets of playing the guitar. We got in touch.

I finally got to Kaunas. And all of this lasted just three days? It felt like an eternity. It’s amazing how much a person can do in just three days. To those people who complain about their finances claiming that they need to save up for a whole year before going on a trip, may I just say that I came home with even more litai (zloty) than I had before leaving.

At this point in my life, at this moment, I must admit my complete naivety and foolishness.