Facts and fiction Traveler's impressions

74 © Travelers impressions

A. Meeting the nicest person in Lithuania I arrived at Siarliai, a small Lithuanian town by bus to look at the ‘hill of crosses’. I had just missed the connecting bus that was supposed to take me there, so I took a taxi, spending much more than I had planned. We drove through the fields, far away from the city. When we reached the hill the driver looked at me: „Wait? The bus is far away“ - „No, thanks, I can walk“ - „No, I’ll wait, you can’t stay here.“ - „No, thanks.“ I got out of the car and walked towards the hill, hoping I would find my way back. When I came back an hour later the driver was still there: „1 will take you to the city - no money“. That was the moment I fell in love with Lithuania.

B. The power of spontaneity - College, friendship, and travel! I live in Fullerton, California and attend CSUF with my friends. None of us knew each other before coming to college, but we were all brought together by sheer luck. Our friendships have blossomed and we have been on so many adventures together throughout the first semester of school. It was sad to be heading home for the winter break, but when we returned to school it felt too good to be reunited! Our first weekend back we decided to take a trip to Santa Monica, which is about an hour away from Fullerton (depending on traffic). We found a parking spot, and strolled to the pier to find florescent lights and ocean smells. I am a videographer so naturally I filmed some of the fun moments with my friends and later turned it into the video. We had dinner at a café and took pictures at sunset with the beach in the background. This night of spontaneity is now one of my favorite memories with the girls and I will cherish it always.

C. Catching the train with the police After our Freedom Trail tour, we wandered around China Town in Boston in search of our next thing to do. We ended up reaching the train station and thought that maybe it would be cool to check out Gillette Stadium. We didn’t put much thought into it and next thing we knew, we were on the train towards Walpole station. It was quite a hassle getting to “Patriot Place” but we found it to be a cool spot to chill out. However, we failed to realize that there would be a back-to-back football match happening that late afternoon. We lingered around too long and there were no means for us to get back to Walpole station. (Traffic was down, making it impossible for cabs to come in, and it was a long walk away).

When we saw a policeman down the street, we ran up to him asking about other alternatives to rush back to Walpole for the last train leaving in 10 minutes. To our disbelief, he offered us a ride in the police car. So, thanks to the Boston Police, we were back in Boston safe and sound, just in time to catch our bus to New York.

D. Travel with Rose-Colored Glasses - My Nicaragua Experience

Nicaragua was not kind to me. My luggage was delayed, I had a violent bout of food poisoning. My belongings were wet with rainwater when a hostel roof collapsed, and I suffered through a week-long illness. And when my wallet was stolen from my hostel dorm room? I had had enough. But if Nicaragua taught me nothing else, it’s that every single experience is valuable. Every experience shapes you; I learned from those hardships and am better off because of them. Travel comes with no guarantees except that it’ll be worth it. And now when I look back on those memories, I see Nicaragua through rose-colored glasses.

1 Before you read: Can you guess? a) Read the titles. What do you think these stories are about? b) Look at the pictures. What do they tell you?

2 Why? Read parts A-D. Decide which story is the most exciting, the scariest.

the most exciting why? Ok why? the scariest why? the one like you have already had why? the one you would like to experience why?

3 O pposites Choose the most exciting and the scariest travel story and write facts in the table to compare them.

the most exciting travel story the scariest travel story missed the connecting bus (©)

4 We say How does the saying “All is well that ends well" refer to these stories?

5 Your im pressio ns Write an e-mail to your friend where you describe your travel story (it can be even a weekend trip).