First Time for everything....

The Hungarian Bath was one on a list of firsts that I have identified from this trip.
1. First stay at a Hostel
2. First time driving on a cobblestone road.
3. First official meal of fish and chips, Belgian Waffles, Swedish Pancakes, and more to come.
4. First visit to Europe.
5. First time camping illegally in someone’s forest and again in a corn field.
6. First time ordering or asking for something to someone I couldn’t communicate verbally with.
7. First time having three or more mosquito bites within a one inch region of my body.
8. First time holding a hedgehog.
9. First visit to a castle that once housed royalty.
10. First time being in four countries within one day and over 13 new countries in total.
11. First time driving on the left side of the road legally.
12. First time ordering food and not knowing what I was getting.
13. First time getting passed by a semi carrying vehicles and passing with oncoming traffic screaming by!
14. First time getting rejected at a border crossing. (Belarus)



There have been a ton of firsts on this trip. The last few days have been very interesting. We arrived at the car after blogging and found that some boots had been placed on the vehicles after two hours away. I was surprised to find that it had happened as we didn’t see any sort of signage talking about needing a parking ticket. We immediately called the number and about 20 minutes, 100 Euro later, we were on our way. We stopped out of town towards the Ukraine and stayed in a campground right next to a local zoo. The gentleman attending the gate made it difficult to get in, but after some basic signaling and grunts we were in like Flynn. It was a nice campground and I was grateful to get in a good night sleep when we had been out and about all day. I met a few interesting folks, including a man from England that was a member of the Rainbow Tribe of the Light. To my understanding, this is a group of people dedicated to living ‘light’ on the land and having enlightenment in their soul. The cool thing is that they are totally drug free and promote peace around the world through good example. He was on his way to a gathering in the Ukraine and invited us to join him if we were able. The other highlight of this night was the conversation that took place between Bryan, Ken, Sean and I. We stayed up discussing various thoughts on philosophy and life, carrying on into the light hours of the night.