Meet Carl Hamnesjo. His Instagram handle is ‘No Flying Dreams’. Carl is one more friend I made on this journey but why a postcard about him, you may ask.
Well, as far as possible, whenever he chooses to travel around the World, he DOESN’T take a flight. He either travels by road, train or cargo ship and so far has seen over 30 countries in Europe, Asia, North America, and Africa and he is all of 27.
I met him on a train to St Petersburg from Moscow and after our initial conversation, we decided to meet in St Petersburg. We met on Wednesday evening at Panteleymonovsky Bridge so that we could explore the place a little and also chat — I was quite interested in knowing more about his ‘No flying Dreams’.
Since Carl is a vegan, we found a vegetarian restaurant near Summer Garden in the city and I found a tiny menu (10-12 preparations) of Indian cuisine which included Samosa in starters and Thali for two people too. But, we decided to stick to the traditional Russian cuisine and opted for ‘Borscht soup’, ravioli made with potatoes, and a potato spiral served with green chutney.
A small two-hour catching up turned out to be a very fascinating conversation between the two of us. The association that started on a train continued in St Petersburg for a couple of days later. Carl plans to visit India once he figures out how he can enter the country using either sea or land, and I am looking forward to meeting him again.
I had spent the previous night at the Palace Bridge, so I had started my day at noon and gone to visit the Universe of Water Museum, an old water reserve tank converted into a museum to inform and educate people about the precious natural resource. Keeping in mind that it can be a great education tool, the interactive museum showcases how the water supply of the city works and why it is necessary to use water carefully.
As I called it an early night, I realised that it was a day well spent indeed...
