So here’s a good story…
I’m chilling at a campsite when I get a message on Facebook from Radoslav. I played pro volleyball with Rado in Vilnius, Lithuania in 2007. All the message says is, “Alex are you in the Netherlands?”. I write back that I am. He says he lives in the Netherlands. So I think to myself, it’s a big country, and it’s late what are the chances. I mean, I’ve biked from one end to the other, literally, stopping in villages all along the way and I never thought Rado would be living here. So what are the odds we’re close by each other?
I’m starving, it’s already dark, I still have to bike into town. So basically I tell him what campsite I’m at, and that it would be cool to see him if he’s in the most southern part of the Netherlands near the border with Belgium and Germany. I’m quite confident this won’t be happening tonight, as he’s likely somewhere North of here hundreds of kilometres away. I think nothing of it, and I take off on the bike.
At this point in my trip my NL SIM card is dead and I don’t have any minutes left. So I can only check the internet when I’m on WIFI, which is at the campsite. I roll back into the campsite, I’m gone maybe 20 minutes. I don’t even make it to my tent, I just stop to check if he wrote back and he says he wants my cell number. So I send it to him, not sure if it will work because I’m out of minutes, and I figure we’ll chat and see if we are within distance so we can visit sometime this week.
Phone rings, “Alex it’s Rado, I’m in the parking lot, can you come and find me please I can’t find your tent!” hahaha…what a guy! I later found out that he saw the URL of the campsite, researched it immediately, got the address, jumped in the car, and drove straight here. He was walking all over the campground looking for me while I was shopping, and when he gave up he went back to the parking lot. So I turn around walk 20 feet and there is Rado!!! So after 7 years of not seeing him, and realistically thinking I’d never see him again in my life, here we are in Vaals in the dark at this campsite just jumping around screaming!! You can’t imagine, my best friend from Lithuania just showed up at my campsite, what fun!
Being the gentleman that he is, Rado insisted I come and stay with him for the night. The Lithuanian people are incredibly generous and very welcoming. I experienced this first hand while playing in Vilnius for the year, all of my teammates were great! So I grabbed some gear and jumped into the car with Rado. We had some great laughs on the way to his place in Kerkrade! We grabbed some beers, and some stroopwafels (of course) and sat around catching up for the rest of the night. I also got to see Lena! She lived with us in Vilinius and she was pregnant when I left. It was just so surreal to see these two again, I gave Lena a big hug! She then brought me a bowl of home cooked soup. Wow…I hadn’t eate hot food in quite some time, not to mention home made. It was delicious. I also need to mention the apple and pear cake she made. I was so hungry I ate the whole thing you are a brilliant chef!
It was amazing to hear about Rado’s beautiful family, his first son is 6 now and he just had a second baby. Felicitations Rado! He has a new home and he has a great job in the Netherlands. I’m just so happy for these two because they are Quality with a capital Q. Rado gave me a real bed to sleep on, and I was very grateful for that. It was just brilliant to spend time with him again, something I’ll never forget…ah the joys of traveling abroad.
This picture is taken at like 2AM. Rado just started yelling "Alex, Alex come here, let's make a picture in the bathroom!". So we did. Be well Rado, et mercy beaucoup encore.
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