ABOUT YOU
What’s your name? Kaspars Misins
How old are you? I'm 30.
Which place do you consider home? I'm from Latvia. But since October 2013, when together with my girlfriend we left Latvia to travel the world, things have changed a bit. Home for us now is a place, where two are together and where we feel good.
What type of traveler are you? I'm a budget traveler. Usually traveling with only one carry on size backpack. I like to travel slow, spending in one place at least few days if not even a week or more.
What is the first travel that you remember? It was my first ever trip abroad. I was 25, my girlfriend was 21, and we had no travel experience. We even had not talked about traveling. Until that one day, when we just decided to give it a try and so few months later we went on a trip to Portugal. It was a trip, that changed everything. Because now, more than 4 years later we are still traveling the world.
QUICKLY QUESTIONS
What’s your favourite transport? Train. But a slow one. However, if I would need to choose between a plane and a fast train (like TGV in France reaching 300 km/h), then as well I would choose the train. Simply because traveling by train is easier, no need to stand in long airport queues. And it's more comfortable as well.
What’s your favourite country? Right now I have few favorites - Portugal and Spain in Europe, Malaysia and Thailand in Asia.
What’s your favourite city? Again I have few favorites, but I would need to choose one, then probably Kuala Lumpur. It's a very modern Asian capital city, but it has a bit of Southeast Asian chaos as well.
What’s your favourite beach? Peaceful beaches of South Goa, India.
What’s your favourite food? I don't have one favourite. I have at least one favourite in every country :) Roti canai in Malaysia, Coconut curry in Cambodia, Prawn spring rolls in Goa, India, Salad olivier in Russia.
What’s your favourite language? English, because it's so widely used. I'm happy that I know 3 languages - Latvian, English, Russian.
What’s your favourite travel book? I love travel books. My favourite is "Riga - Pekina". Right now it's only in Latvian. And it's about Latvian couple, who traveled overland all the way from Riga (Latvia) to Beijing in China. They did on a really low budget. Which lead to a lot of adventures along the way. This book was also one of the biggest inspiration for us to start traveling long term.
WHERE WE CAN FOLLOW YOU?
What’s your Website url? WeAreFromLatvia.com
What’s your Twitter? twitter.com/kasparsmisins
What’s your Facebook? facebook.com/fromlatvia
What’s your Pinterest? pinterest.com/wearefromlatvia
What’s your Instagram? instagram.com/kasparsmisins
FUNNY QUESTIONS
In how many languages you would know to order a beer? Five
Hamburger or Pizza? Pizza
Do you have a favourite team? I'm not following any sports
A musical group you’d like see live? Rammstein. They are my favourite band. Though, I have seen them live 3 times already, I'm ready for 33 more live performances.
Favourite movie? And the worst one? Favourite - hard to decide, let's say, Inception. Worst - I'm very picky, when it comes to movies. Last one I really didn't like was Warcraft.
The most embarrassing song of your iPod? PSY - Gangnam Style
QUESTIONS
Could you imagine your life without travelling? Not anymore. I'm not sure if I will be living nomadically all the time, like we are doing now for last few years. But I will travel for as long as I will be able to do. Because there is just so much to see. Our world is so beautiful. And I want to see as much of it as I can.
Have you ever had bad experiences during one of your journey? There have been few such a situations. For example, I was robbed once in Kuala Lumpur. Some 4-5 guys came to me, when I was standing in a park, not sure in which direction to go. We started to chat. I asked them for directions. They couldn't help me. Then one of them asked me few ringgits (a dollar or so). I didn't have any money with me. And a moment later the same guy took out a knife from his pocket... I gave them all I had with me - my phone and camera, and they left.
Do you also have any funny story that you still remember? Quite a lot of funny stuff happened, when in winter of 2013/2014 we were cycling across India, all the way from Himalayas to the southermost point of India. One of them: It was a really hot day. Cycling was hard. But a lot of people wanted to take a photo with us. So we needed to stop every few kilometers. Until at one moment we decided - enough, we aren't stopping anymore. Not today. Because it's just too hard. We said no to some people during the next hour. But then we saw a police car standing on the side of the road. There were few police officers standing by the car. And they were waving at us. Have we done something wrong? It was already second month, that we were cycling in India. But it was the first time when police paid any attention to us. What they asked? Can we take a photo with you? :)
Where and when did you start to share your experience? Could you give us a link? Everything started with my blog, where I was writing in Latvian. I started to write regularly about our trips, when we went on our first long term adventure - 5 month cycling journey across India. But then, realizing that we aren't going back to "normal life" anytime soon, we decided to start blogging in English as well. And WeAreFromLatvia.com was born.
Now, could you tell us why did you start? Initially we just wanted a space online, where we could share our stories with our new friends, people whom we met on the road and who weren't from Latvia. Now it's not just for friends anymore. Now there are thousands of people, who are following our journey and learning from our experiences.
How do you usually move? Airplane, train, boat, car? When possible we try to travel overland. To get from one city to another mostly we use a train or a bus. To get from one country to another we usually travel by plane.
What would you suggest to all the aspiring travelers? Don't try to plan too much. Buy that plane/train/bus ticket first, plan later. Well, of course, you will have some probably stressful moments later, while preparing for the trip. Everyone has. But at the same time you will know - you are going on that trip! It's not a dream anymore. It's going to happen. And pack light!
What was the cheapest journey that you’ve made? And the most expensive one? Cycling across India - our first long term adventure. It was the taughest adventure we have had so far, the most rewarding one and the cheapest as well. These 5 months in India, including a plane ticket to India, a bicycle and visa cost us only about 1500 EUR per person. 3 week hiking trip in Nepal has been our most expensive trip so far. We did it in June 2016. But again it cost us quite a lot only because we were also buying new hiking gear. Otherwise it's not that expensive. And it's totally worth it.
photo courtesy of Kaspars Misins
