A Baltic Adventure of Balloons and Gelato in Lithuania with my girlfriend.
I know people travel to new cities to eat gelato or charge phones. My girlfriend and I decided to be less vain and went for gelato and a hot air balloon flight.
Hello stranger,
It’s been a while, yeah? How have you been? I have been well. To be honest, I’ve struggled a bit in the last couple of weeks, but I am here.
How has life been treating you? I hope better. I was supposed to have written you a while ago and to be honest, I have written several postcards to you but didn’t post them. I feel they aren’t good enough to send to you, but don’t you worry; you’ll have them after this postcard.
I always need a reminder that things don’t need to be perfect all the time. The goal is to show you the world through my lens, and that’s all that matters.
Why Vilnius, Lithuania?
I went on a 7-day trip with one of my girlfriends — Mercy Ikpe. Y’all know her. I’ve talked about her a couple of times. Plus, I don’t exactly have a long list of girlfriends anyways.
We casually talked about traveling and catching up because it’s been almost a year since we last saw each other. The plan made it out of the chat, and while Bella couldn’t make it this time, I am looking forward to our girls' trip next year.
So, for the trip, there was no specific plan. The main deal and reason why we chose Lithuania in the first place is that we wanted to go on a hot air balloon flight — I know, right, for someone with a phobia for heights, I was playing too close to my grave. But hey, we said we’ll do daring things.
We wanted affordable living and somewhere with hot air balloon flights, and that’s how Lithuania made it to the top of our list. Once we decided, we started the prep — the primary prep was booking flights and accommodation (Perks of being an EU resident).
On arrival
We left our homes early in the morning because our flights were early. Mine was 5:45 am from Malta, and Mercy’s was 6 am from Berlin.
The first shocking thing when I got off the airplane was that it was chilly. Everyone on my flight had shorts on, and as we alighted, we all felt the cold. Malta has been serving us 30 degrees and above, so most people didn’t consider the weather difference. Not me, though, I am an overthinker, and that means I google every detail before I leave for the airport every damn time.
Immediately I stepped into the arrivals, my baby girl was right there, and even though I didn’t see her first, she ran towards me and gave me a very needed hug. Her flight was slightly over an hour, while mine was 3 hours, 30 mins.
After catching our breath, we decided to book a ride to our home for the trip. We booked a Bolt ride, and after about 20 mins, we arrived at our block.
On Lodging
The apartment was beautiful. We first noticed the building sat in a green, serene, and beautiful environment.
Once we decided it would be Lithuania, we hopped on a call and looked on Booking.com and Airbnb to see our options. We eventually found a place we both loved.
On arrival, we realized that our check-in time was 3 pm. We arrived 4 hours earlier than we should’ve. We contacted our host and told him we were in town already and if there was any chance we would check in earlier, and he was kind enough to allow us. He asked us to wait so he could get the cleaning person to clean up since the previous guests just left that morning.
We decided to walk into a nearby mall a block away. We bought juice, walked into a sushi place, and ate noodles. A few minutes later, our host reached out and said the apartment was ready.
Transportation in Lithuania
After grabbing dinner on our first day, we decided to hop on a bus. We used Google Maps and found our route. When we entered the bus, we couldn’t figure out how to make payment, and to avoid being fined, we hopped off at the next bus stop.
On researching, Mercy found the official transportation app in Vilnuis — Trafi. We downloaded the app, signed up for an account, and paid 15 euros for a 7-days ticket that gave us unlimited access to Vilnius. Mercy, with her newfound love for bicycles, even rode a bike, and of course, she pressured me too, which was lovely.
Transportation in Vilnius is excellent. The buses arrive on time, there is little or no traffic, and it is affordable.
My hot air balloon experience
Given my phobia for heights and how I still panic with every flight I take, David would’ve thought I was joking when I said I wanted to go on a hot air balloon flight.
I have no idea why a hot air balloon was our main activity. But that’s what we planned, and we had our flight with Smile.
The flight was on Friday. Mercy booked online and was communicating with them all through. When it was time, we left for the city center, the pickup location — Radisson Blu. The company would pick us up and drive us to the takeoff spot in Trakai. The ride was a 38mins ride by car.
As we drove by, I couldn’t help but notice that Trakai looked lovely and had cabin houses and some isolated luxury homes behind thick trees. While I admired such isolation, The Nigerian in me thought, “What if something bad happens? How do they make it out or get help?”.
We drove to a clear takeoff site on arrival, and the staff began the setup. I’ll love to explain the setup, but it is better experienced, so I’ll leave the details out.
30mins after setting things up, we were in the basket, and in another 10mins, we were 2,500 feet in the air. It was a surreal experience. I didn’t prepare for the fact that the flame that powers the hot air balloon would be hot. When the hot air blew above my head the first time, I wanted to start crying because, let's be honest, I am the first child of my parents, and people are counting on me. Umuada Ebeteghete (The women of Ekwulobia) will not agree oh.
After we alighted from the flight, the staff brought out boxes containing champagne and glasses, as shown in the photos below. They poured everyone a glass while sharing a brief history of hot air balloons.
History of the hot air balloon
Hot air ballooning dates back to the 18th century and is marked by various significant milestones. However, the Montgolfier brothers Joseph-Michel and Jacques-Étienne conducted the first recorded scientific experiments in France in the 1780s. They observed that hot air could lift a fabric bag, and in 1783, they successfully launched a small unmanned hot air balloon.
Drinking champagne after a safe landing — In the early days of ballooning, when the Montgolfier brothers and other pioneers conducted flights, ballooning was risky. A successful flight, especially one that ended safely and smoothly, was cause for celebration. Champagne, a luxurious and celebratory beverage, was often used to toast the balloonists' accomplishment and safe return.
A certificate of first flight — After we cheered, drank the champagne, and took photos, we were given the first flight certificate. They gave us that to say, “They came, they conquered, and they did not die in our hands.” But that’s just me overthinking things again.
Overall, it was a worthy experience — 150 euros well spent. The flight lasted a little over 1 hour. We flew over the Trakai castle, surrounding waters, and mini islands.
Hot air balloon tips
If you ever want to go for a hot air balloon flight, these tips may come in handy:
- If it is during the summer, wear a T-shirt, bottoms, and flats because it is warm. It might be different during the winter. So, ask the staff when you’re planning. That flame, you see, is hot.
- It’s about a total of 4 hours from setting up, flying, landing, and celebratory drinks.
Other fun things we did
Because we didn’t exactly plan for the whole seven days, we just went with the flow. So, we wake up, work, make breakfast, and hit the road.
On Wednesday — We visited the Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania, Climbed the 800 stairs to get to the three crosses monument, and climbed to the top of the Gediminas Castle tower.
On Thursday — We went shopping. Mercy and I have a track record of not having very “hot-girl clothes,” we decided to change that during the trip. To be honest, we didn’t do too much because I couldn’t. I don’t understand how stressful shopping is, yet people enjoy it. I want to walk around and go home. But yeah, the shopping mall we went to was Akropolis, and it wasn’t bad.
On Sunday, we went to Kaunas. Kaunas is one of the major cities in Lithuania. It houses Kaunas Castle — a medieval fortress housing historical exhibitions.
Some facts and culture shocks
During our trip, there were some shockers and exciting things worth mentioning.
- TimeZone — When I booked my flight, which said 5:45 am to 10 am for 3 hour, 30 mins flight, I didn’t think much about it. Fast forward to my arrival, I noticed Lithuania is an hour ahead of Malta (GMT +3).
- Cost of living — The cost of living is pretty affordable. So affordable I even thought about returning to buy a house and retire. Compared to other cities like Rome, Sicily, and Amsterdam that I have been to, Lithuania seemed pretty affordable, asides from Krakow, Poland which seems to be one of the cheapest places I’ve visited in Europe.
- A futuristic portal — At the train station in Vilnius, a ‘portal’ lets people connect with folks in Lublin, Poland. A similar PORTAL is said to have been installed in Lublin’s central square. The portal’s purpose was to allow people to connect in real time. That was mind-blowing, and I plan to return to Vilnius or Lublin to experience the portal again.
- Traditional food — Y’all know I don’t joke with food, right? So, on this trip, I decided I wanted to be open to eating new things whenever we decided to eat out. We had the opportunity to eat a traditional meal at a restaurant — Kino Studija. It is a soup made from beetroot and called “šaltibarčiai” (aka beetroot soup).
- Alcohol control — After one of our crazy explorative days, I decided to stop by the supermarket and buy a bottle of Moscato. When I scanned the self-service booth, an attendant immediately ran towards me and said I couldn’t buy alcohol once it was past 8 pm. Ah! Why not? Shey you dey whine me?
I left the supermarket heartbroken, and even when I got home too tired and went straight to bed, I couldn’t help but Google why I couldn’t buy alcohol. Do these people think that I am below the alcohol-drinking age? I know people compliment me and say I look younger, but today is not a good day for that compliment.
On searching the internet, I found a Law on Alcohol Control in the Republic of Lithuania. And this law states the opening hours of alcohol retail trade was shortened to 10 am- 8 pm and 10 am — 3 pm on Sundays. Good for them but sad for me.
- Lack of Malanine skin — By day 4, I only counted three black people. And that was all I had throughout the trip.
On a final note…
Generally, I think I’ll love to revisit Lithuania. This time, I might stay in a cabin or some scenic place. I even considered buying a property and moving to Vilnius (Don’t mind me — I am overthinking and can be too ambitious, too. I know people, it’s wishful thinking — but you can’t stop a girl from dreaming). I loved Vilnius.
It is not very touristy, maybe because it has few tourist sites, but I loved the calm and greenery of the city and country. And as you may know, I love living in quiet and fresh places.
As you may have noticed, I am the typical traveler that’ll travel to some famous place and rather stay indoors, take walks, and never bother to visit popular tourist places. I love my space.
Finally, the people seemed calm and peaceful, so it was a pleasant stay.
Till I write you again.
Obiagu
