We returned to Latvia on March 7th very late at night. But before we got that far, we had a 9-hour layover in the London-Gatwick airport where a good friend of ours came to spend a lot of that time with us & help us deal with the worst of the jetlag. As we talked, we realized that there is a one-carry-on-bag-per-person-leaving-UK rule & my wife & I had two each. So, we did quite a lot of consolidation to get us down to one each. Our friend was willing to take my camera bag for me, since it isn’t collapsible, & would give it to her husband, also a friend, who would be coming to Latvia in just 3 weeks.
So, this is where my bag’s adventure really began. Our friend, Dana (who’s American), took it home to her husband, Andy, who’s English. 3 weeks later he brought it with him to Latvia where he was going to the opposite side of the country from us for a guitar workshop in the town of Madona. A mutual Latvian friend, Baiba (said like “BY-bah”) was going to the same guitar workshop. Since Andy had a very short amount of time in Latvia (& we’re still without a car & couldn’t get to Riga very easily), we asked Andy to give my bag to Baiba to take back with her to Riga.
So, Baiba took the bag to Riga & then met another mutual Latvian friend, Elita (said like “ELLIE-tah”). Elita called me one day to let me know that she had met with Baiba in Riga & that she had given her my bag. A week or so later, Elita’s boyfriend, Pēteris (said like “PEH-teris”) went to Riga to visit her. Pēteris is another very good Latvian friend of ours, so it worked well, since he lives in Talsi just a few kilometers from us.
Well, last night, exactly 6 weeks & 5 people later, my little grey camera bag made it home safely. Since we’ve returned to Latvia 6 weeks ago, my camera bag has seen more of this country than my wife & I have!!
Thank you to all of our friends (American, English & Latvian) who got my little bag home!