I arrived to Nashville International Airport at around 4 p.m. on Friday May 6th. The line for security was incredibly long… The longest I have ever seen it. It stretched past the ticketing counter. I am not sure if it was poor planning on the TSA office or just a huge surge in people hitting the security checkpoint at exactly the same time. It took me a good hour to get through security and I possibly could have missed my flight to Chicago had my flight not been delayed. I made it to the counter at around 5:05 p.m. I asked the American Airlines rep if the flight was still delayed and she said yes. The new boarding time was 6:16 p.m. I decided to get a quick bite to eat and a very expensive bite to eat as a matter of fact at the Quiznos near by. It cost me $12 for a regular sub and drink.
I boarded my flight to Chicago and had to leave my bags on the Concourse because the plane was too small to carry bags in the passenger baggage compartments. I requested and got a window seat whenever I booked the flight. This let me take some great photos of the Chicago skyline as we were landing.
I had to switch terminals to the international terminal whenever I landed in Chicago and had to go through the exact same security procedure that I had gone through in Nashville. This is terribly inefficient and they should make some way where passengers do not have to go through security twice. I finally got through security and made it just in time as they were boarding the flight to Helsinki. I sat beside a friendly Finnish businessman. He had just got back from a business trip that took him to various places including Alabama. I kind of felt sorry for him if Alabama was his only exposure to the American South. But he seemed to enjoy showing me pictures of some older Alabama houses. He switched seats to a row in front of me which left me with four seats all to myself. I took great advantage of this and it allowed me to lay horizontal during the flight. I had come prepared with a blow-up travel pillow and eye mask. I think I was able to get a few hours of sleep on the flight which is a first in my years of traveling.
I watched Deadpool which is one of the few movies available on the flight. Deadpool is one of those movies that I would probably regret buying or even watching on basic cable but in a bind on a long flight I figure things could be overlooked which would allow me to watch a somewhat uneasy movie like Deadpool.
We landed a few minutes early and they Helsinki. Finland’s customs clearance was very easy as it is with all European Union members. A very short line to the customs agent, then the Customs agent asking why you visiting Europe and how long you were going to be there. I made it to my departure gate for Vilnius in no time but it was not open yet. So I hung out in another gate and communicated with friends via the free Wi-Fi network at Helsinki Airport.
Finally it was time to open the gate to board the flight to Vilnius. The actual Airline name was Nordic Regional Airlines or Norra ( with rolled Spanish r’s). The regional Airlines partnered with Japan Airlines, British Airways, finnair comma and a few other airlines which my memory escapes.
The usual weird European fashions were present on the plane ride over. There was one 40 year old guy with a “Haters Gonna Hate” shirt and a couple of younger guys wearing jean shorts (jorts).
They served drinks on board which allowed me to try something I had never tried before. They had blueberry juice. It looks like grape juice or cranberry juice. I couldn’t tell that much difference from it but it was always good to have something tangy rather than just plain water.
We landed at Vilnius International Airport promptly at 6 p.m. I looked around for rental car companies. But only one that was Ollex was staffed. I inquired about driving a car from Vilnius to Riga and not having a one-way fee of $120 tacked onto it. The lady at the counter said that she did not have any Riga destined cars and other rental companies would not waive the one-way fee no matter if they had a car that needed to be returned to Riga in Vilnius.
I then set off to buy a bus pass. I asked the gentleman at the tourist information desk who said that I would have to buy a bus pass at the in-house convenience store, which I proceeded to do.
I then went over to the tourist information desk to inquire how to get to the hill of crosses via bus and train. The gentleman at the tourist information desk was able to give me a bus and train schedule to make it to the town near the hill of crosses which I plan on using rather than renting a car to drive there on my way to Riga.
After a little difficulty I was able to connect to the airport’s Wi-Fi so that I could catch the appropriate bus to go to my hotel. Since I had bought the 3-day bus pass I had been told to hold the bus pass against the reader on the bus itself. It was a good thing I did activate it because on my stop there were bus company Representatives checking people’s bus passes to make sure that they had paid their fare. I walked about one kilometer to my hotel a long jagged sidewalks the wheel of my rolling suitcase got damaged and now only half the wheel is available. I checked into the hotel without any problem came into my room and took a shower before going out and getting a pizza. I had found a very highly recommended pizza place near my hotel. I ordered the barbecue pit said but forgot to tell them to hold the onions which I had to pick out somewhat like an autopsy while I was eating the pizza. The pizza restaurant made their own lemonade which had somewhat of a tart taste to it but I enjoy drinking it and wished I had ordered a pitcher of lemonade rather than just a glass. I had seen other couples at the table surrounding me with pitchers of lemonade.
Since the sun sets so late here near the northern regions of Europe I was able to explore the area until about 9:30 when it started getting dark. I got some great pictures of a church and of some hot air balloons.

Tomorrow I plan on going to the island Castle and KGB Museum.  I hope I can get some sleep as my jet lag always seems to hinder me my first few days in Europe.