Dear Lithuania,
“If this is a dream, don’t wake me up.” That’s what I told my daughters as my wife and I watched them take turns rowing a boat on a serene lake surrounded by evergreen trees. “It’s not a dream,” said the little one. I grinned with delight and began to sing, “row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream, merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream.” A rare moment. I wanted it to last forever. The stunning view reminded me of the majestic pictures on the covers of jigsaw puzzles I enjoyed mounting as a child, only this time I was one of the pieces inside the puzzle. One piece depicted a wooden dock, another a shed on the edge of the lake, another wild ducks and the rest sprawling green trees stretching high into the sky.
If you’re wondering where this idyllic place is, it wasn’t in a puzzle. Dear friends, this is Vievis, Lithuania. How we arrived is close to a miracle. I believe in them. It began in 2011 when I met a man about 2 meters tall. He could have easily been mistaken for a professional basketball player. He walked up to me and asked if the neighborhood I was living in was a good place to raise a family. I said yes. Cyprus has sunshine most days of the year but I think telling him I had two girls made a difference. He did too. Our wives became good friends and at one point our daughters were in the same classroom. In some ways we were different, but we also had a lot in common. We talked for hours about doing business, in particular starting our own online businesses. We had a lot of experience with the internet and knew opportunities abounded. Like most entrepreneurs, we dreamed of what those opportunities meant if we executed our plans correctly. It was in one of those discussions that Simonas came up with the idea of “welovelithuania.” Amazingly, but not surprisingly, it grew into one of the most successful online media companies in Lithuania that focuses on the travel and leisure industry. It was also in one of those conversations that he encouraged me to expand my product offerings from one category to two. That is, from wholesaling Brazilian swimwear, to adding another one which turned out to be wholesaling Brazilian workout clothes. But it wasn’t all about business. His friends became my friends and my friends became his friends.
Fast forward ten years. The decision to visit Lithuania was easy, especially when you have friends to welcome you on the other side. We didn’t need a lot of convincing. We wanted to escape unusually high temperatures and a scorching heat wave that blanketed Cyprus for most of the summer. It was unbearable. Going to the beach was no longer fun and it certainly didn’t cool us off. That’s how hot it was. When our airplane landed at Vilnius International airport, it was “love at first sight.” The contrast between Cyprus and Lithuania in a span of less than 4 hours was huge. My first impressions were positive. Everything was greener and cleaner. Oh yea, and it helped that it was at least 15 degrees cooler. Marketers say, “you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression.” Vilnius left me with an incredible first impression.
The opening scene begins with us bonding with friends, catching up on how things were going on in our lives – work, school, family. I find reconnecting with friends especially rich and meaningful. Small talk with simple questions such as, “how have you been?”. There’s humanity and beauty in these precious moments we often take for granted. The second scene, of what seemed like a romantic movie, was our walk through the cobbled paved streets of one of Europe’s most beautiful old towns. Vilnius’ old town includes hundreds of well-preserved historical buildings dating back to the 16th century. It reminded me of my art history class where I learned about neoclassic, baroque and gothic architecture. They were on display everywhere. They appeared as museums, cathedrals, churches and even the university of Vilnius. I could understand why the old town was recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage site. The ambience was magical and deeply enchanting. Interestingly, the medieval part of the town played host to modernity with electric scooters zooming past us in all directions, mostly to deliver food that was ordered online, both inventions of the 21st century. As I walked through the streets, I contemplated how Vilnius compared to other cities I’ve visited such as Rome, Athens, and London. Of course, every city has its own unique charm but I just felt more relaxed in Vilnius. The city seemed more authentic. The structures weren’t pushed on you and blended perfectly with its citizens. There was harmony. In a way, the buildings and streets felt more organic as were the people who inhabited it. I found the landscape aesthetically pleasing, getting around easy, and the people friendly. My wife was impressed with the law-abiding pedestrians. She noticed that people would only cross from one side of the street to the other using designated zebra crossings. This is not the case in many parts of the world including Cyprus where a lot of people don’t respect street signs or the proper points of where to cross the street. Our next act, in what felt like a movie, was wanting to visit friends who lived in Klaipeda, a port city 310 km North East of Vilnius. We booked tickets to stay in a hotel and arrived at the Vilnius railway station excited to board the five hour trip to Klaipeda. To our surprise, the lady behind the ticket counter said that all seats were fully booked including the next train. We were disappointed we couldn’t see our friends but grateful that we could still spend a few more days in Vilnius. It was the last weekend of August and a chance for most Lithuanians to spend their last weekend out of town before schools opened on the 1st of September. As we left the railway station my wife spotted the famous Portal located at the entrance of the railway station. Imagine a large round lens about 2 meters tall transmitting live images from where you stand to others in the Polish city of Lublin. My wife waved to people who walked by the camera in Poland. Many would stop and wave back at her. She enjoyed the experience so much that she said she could spend the whole day waving to people who walked by the live camera in Lublin. The futuristic portal was a great distraction from not being able to secure seats to Klaipeda. We were blessed to have good weather throughout the week and were not at all disappointed with a little bit of rain that followed the next day. After all, Lithuania means “to rain.” I googled, “what to do on a rainy day in Vilnius.” There were many choices but the one that stood out was the “The Vilnius TV Tower,” promoted as the tallest structure in Lithuania. We pressed the elevator button and seconds later the doors opened 327 meters above the ground. I was in awe of what I saw. We were in the clouds, much higher than the birds that flew below us. It was a breathtaking sight and one of the most incredible views I ever had of a city. I’ll never forget it. I looked down at Vilnius and saw a city somehow embedded perfectly into a forest. We enjoyed some nice snacks as we soaked in the aerial view. We didn’t want to leave. It was as if we were traveling first class without having to pay for first class tickets.
Of course there are many special things I liked about Lithuania but the one I was most content with was how the country and its people made my girls feel. There’s no greater feeling than seeing the eyes and heart of your family emanating joy. There’s a lot of truth to what husbands often hear, that is, “a happy wife and children is a happy life.” But it’s not just that. You know you’re in a beautiful country when your daughters tell you they don’t want to return to Cyprus and think about studying in Lithuania. In fact, one asked, “what is it about Cyprus that our Lithuanian friends love?” After hearing that, I remembered my uncle who often repeated the wise words of our forefathers. They believed that, “people are the place,” that basically your friends become the country. It doesn’t matter where you are in the world, as long as you’re around good people – family, friends and even strangers. In business, the best testimonial is a returning customer. There’s nothing more satisfying than having a customer say that their expectations were exceeded and that they’ll be back for more. That’s how I feel about Lithuania. We’ll be back. So thank you Lithuania. And thank you for your children who have now become our dear friends.
