A. Valujavičius, who is preparing for a record trip, found an unexpected place to stay in Lithuania

Aurimas, who also earned the Lithuanian title of Columbus of the year last year, does not like short and boring trips. He landed with a kayak. through the Nemunas from their origins in Belarusis living in Bali on the island a volcano climbed, it is cycling in 200 days killed 13.7 thousand. km in Europe, visited 14 countries and lived unique adventures – I even spent the night on the Troll tongue in Norway.

While in quarantine, while travel is severely restricted, Aurimas presents plans for this summer’s spectacular journey across the Danube and tests the equipment. Over the weekend, he was sitting in a kayak at Nemunas in Kaunas, but since it was already his beloved city’s birthday, he decided to make the trip exceptional.

“I thought I needed to find something more interesting. Where to stay here to be a quite interesting and visible place: 15 minutes Aurimas said. “I knew I wouldn’t be spending the night on the island of Nemunas, because there would be a lot of people there, and a tent might not be entirely safe.

Then the traveler’s eyes caught his eye behind the small islands near the island of Nemunas, and a sight appeared in his mind: a tent on a small island. The place may not be as promising as the night I spent on the tongue of a Norwegian troll in a tent last year, but it is very symbolic and still surprising. At the same time, he had taken the Lithuanian flags, so he spent a patriotic night in the city center.

Photo by A.Valujavičius / Overnight stay in the Troll language in Norway

That little island in the Nemunas is not always there. Aurimas said that when the water rises, it happens and everything floods, so the boy observed the place before night. Remembering to bike from the shoreline for a few days, he assessed whether it would be safe to sleep on the island, and some runoff water still allowed the plan to be implemented.

After spending the night in the midst of the Nemunas, Aurimas heard in the morning that her unusual decision was also noticed by Kaunas residents: people running along the coast spoke of Aurimo’s romantic night. “I saw a couple of police cars on duty in the Žalgiris stadium parking lot,” he said. “I don’t know if they rested there anyway or saw what I was doing.”

Before setting up the tent, Aurimas tried to find out if it was really legal to do so. “It just came to our attention then. Yes, a public place, an urban area, but on the other hand, technically it was in the water because that island is appearing, is disappearing. There is no official area of ​​land.”

Preparing for a record trip

On Saturday Aurimas sat in a kayak in preparation for her new challenge. This summer, the traveler intends to embark on another extraordinary journey and even improve the Lithuanian record. Aurimo’s plans are to sail across the Danube from Germany to the Black Sea in Ukraine. In total – 10 countries, 2850 km and 4-5 months by kayak. “I don’t have short trips,” he laughed as he spoke. 15 minutes. So far, the Lithuanian who sailed the longest in a kayak has paddled some 600 km from Tallinn to Klaipeda.

What would seem like a lifetime trip to Aurim is just “Plan B”. An adventure enthusiast who takes non-traditional trips every year these days, he had to be in the United States and start sailing even more. He was going to cross the Missouri River, nearly 4,000. km. However, plans for a coronavirus pandemic had to be abandoned, and then Aurim had the idea to cross at least the second longest river in Europe.

“There is another ‘Plan C’,” he admitted. – I said that if I can’t leave for the last day of June, then I will row in the Lithuanian rivers. But even less do I want to implement this plan. ” The challenge here would be less, especially since Aurimas has already surpassed all of Nemunas, even from its origins in Belarus. If the trip to Germany fails, then you would have to think about the longest uninterrupted waterway in Lithuania, perhaps overcoming the longest rivers, and so on. Still, the traveler believes that within a month the situation in Europe will improve and his journey on the Danube can begin.

The challenge is both the dams and the walls that have been closed so far.

The most important thing for him now is to get to Germany by land. Germany promises to open its borders in June, but neighboring Poland still needs to allow travelers to freely pass through the country. Aurimas intends to arrive in Germany with another non-traditional traveler, Arūnas, who has chosen to live in a house on the water. You can see a conversation between the two travelers in a video:

Arūnas is still in Russia, he intends to come to Lithuania through Belarus in the summer and then depart for Marseille. “He would take me to Lithuania, put a kayak on the roof and go to Germany,” said Aurimas. “For now, we are both waiting at home when we can do it.”

Analysis of the Danube route now also takes a long time for Aurim. Having planned a trip to Missouri for so long, he now had to explore in a matter of months all the possible challenges that already exist on the European river: from crossing borders to dams.

“Missouri is a longer and much simpler river. During those 4,000 km it has only 6 dams, on the Danube more than 60. And a lot of shipping, a lot of tourism. It definitely won’t be sad,” said Aurimas.

The Danube section will be particularly difficult in Germany and Austria, where the river will remain wide, but there will be many dams. “I can take about a month there,” said the traveler. – There will definitely be no high speed, the first month it will be working. In some places it will be necessary to move through the locks, in some places they will not be there, there will be black work. That is, as I sail to Germany and Austria, I hope that the situation will be resolved across Europe. “

Aurim, who is optimistic about the situation in Europe, would not survive long if Germany asked to be quarantined for 14 days after admission. “It is also better than standing still and not sailing on the Danube,” said the interlocutor who was ready for the worst case scenario.

Aurimas will surely share his travel experiences on his YouTube channel. Traveler movies inform every day, even without traveling: share tips, reflections, conversations with interesting people. June 1 will be exactly the year that Aurimas “vlogs” every day.

Aurima can be followed on social media:

FB: facebook.com/TravelAVAV/
Instagram: instagram.com/aurimas.keliautojas/
Youtube: youtube.com/c/AurimasValujavicius