I Went to Riga With a Stranger. I Came Home With a Friend.
Updated: Nov 3
Sometimes I look back at things I've done and wonder what the hell I was thinking. Like that time I answered an advertisement online and ended up travelling to Latvia with a complete stranger.
For five days.
Sharing a hotel room.
And the whole reason we went there was hockey. But there was something else. The man I was travelling with, Zdeněk, uses a wheelchair, and he'd been looking for someone to accompany him and help him during the trip.
I still find it crazy when I think about it. Two people who didn't know each other, agreeing to spend five days together in another country because of a shared passion.
And somehow, it turned into one of the most memorable trips I've ever had.
I came across an advertisement looking for someone to accompany a Czech man in a wheelchair to Riga for the 2023 Ice Hockey World Championship. I'm a huge hockey fan, and the idea of going to a World Championship was already exciting enough.
But going with someone I'd never met before? That was something else.
Still, I was curious, so I decided to reach out. We exchanged a few messages and arranged to meet. That's how I got to know Zdeněk. He's one of the biggest sports fans I've ever met. He'd always wanted to experience a World Championship in person, but he needed someone who could accompany him and help with the practical side of travelling.
And there was one particularly interesting detail about our plans. I'm Slovak. He's Czech. And one of the games we were going to watch was Slovakia against Czechia.
Perfect.
Five days in Riga, hockey, sightseeing and whatever else came our way. I had no idea what those five days would turn into.
A Plane Full of Hockey Fans
Our journey to Riga included a layover in Göteborg, Sweden. Usually, I'm not a big fan of flying. But this flight was different.
About 90% of the passengers on the plane were Slovaks and Czechs heading to the championship. At some point, one Czech passenger stood up and made an announcement over the microphone to cheer everyone up and wish us all good luck for the upcoming championship. We were all laughing, and as you can imagine, plenty of drinks were being passed around.
It felt like the hockey tournament had already started before we'd even left the ground.
And the flight attendants? Well, judging by their faces when they discovered all the empty bottles, I don't think they'd been expecting that kind of flight.
By the time we finally arrived in Riga, we were exhausted. We checked into our hotel in the city centre, where we'd be sharing a room for the next few days.
Think about that for a second. Not so long before, Zdeněk had been a stranger whose advertisement I'd answered online. Now we were in Latvia, sharing a hotel room and getting ready to spend the next five days together.
Welcome to Riga. The City of Czech-Slovak Fans.
That first evening, we went to a terrace and sat down for a drink. Riga was full of hockey supporters, especially Czechs and Slovaks. Flags everywhere, people singing in the streets and strangers greeting each other as if we'd all been friends for years.
Not everyone was in quite such good shape, though. At one point, I saw a guy lying completely drunk on the ground, wrapped in a Slovak flag.
Representing the country with dignity, obviously.
But one of the strangest moments came while we were sitting there. I suddenly noticed Craig Ramsay, the coach of the Slovak national hockey team, casually walking through Riga's Old Town. I couldn't believe it.
For a moment, I thought about going over to ask for a photo or an autograph. But I didn't want to disturb him. Still, seeing him just walking around the city like everyone else was pretty cool.
Exploring Riga Together
The following day, we had breakfast at the hotel and went out to explore. We walked around the Old Town, visited the Freedom Monument and stopped by the National Library of Latvia.
But travelling with Zdeněk also meant experiencing the city differently from how I normally would. There were things I had never really paid much attention to before. Whether a terrace had a ramp, how easy it was to get onto a bus or whether the pavements were comfortable to move along in a wheelchair.
Riga surprised both of us. Most of the places we encountered were accessible, and the low-floor buses and ramps made getting around easier than we'd expected.
We also visited the Latvian Ethnographic Open-Air Museum, a huge outdoor area filled with traditional wooden houses, old farm buildings and windmills. We walked around, explored the buildings and watched people demonstrating traditional crafts. It was a nice change from the noise of the city centre.
But as much as we enjoyed exploring Riga, we hadn't travelled all that way just to look at buildings.
We were there for hockey.
Slovakia Against Czechia
This was the game we'd been looking forward to. Slovakia against Czechia.
Me against Zdeněk. Well, not literally. But you know what I mean.
We arrived early to spend some time in the fan zone before the match. There were supporters from both countries everywhere, and despite the rivalry, it felt like one big family. We even ended up drinking with a group of Slovak fans who invited us for beers. Nobody seemed particularly bothered about which team the other person supported.
Then it was time to enter the arena. I'd watched plenty of hockey on TV before, but being there, surrounded by thousands of fans, was a completely different feeling. The flags, the chants, the noise whenever someone came close to scoring. And beside me was Zdeněk, watching his team play at the World Championship he'd wanted to attend for so long.
The game was close. Unfortunately for me, Czechia won 3–2. Which, of course, meant that Zdeněk had a much better evening than I did.
But even after the match, the rivalry didn't seem to matter much. We ended up drinking beers and enjoying the rest of the evening.
One of us was celebrating the result. I'll let you guess which one.
Apparently, We Needed More Hockey
We were enjoying the championship so much that we decided to book another match. Slovakia against Latvia.
Now, imagine watching Slovakia play against the host country, in a city already full of Slovak supporters. The stadium was packed with people cheering for both teams, and neither side was particularly quiet about it. This time, Slovakia won 2–1.
I remember singing the Slovak national anthem with everyone in the arena. There were thousands of people around us, all singing together after the game. I completely lost my voice the following day.
100% worth it.
We also went to see Czechia play Kazakhstan. Three hockey games in five days.
But something else stood out during our time in Riga. The Latvian supporters were incredible. Even when Latvia suffered a heavy 6–0 defeat against Canada, their fans kept cheering.
I remember talking with a local supporter who explained how proud they were of their national team. For them, supporting Latvia wasn't only about winning.
And I could understand that. As a Slovak hockey fan, I know that feeling pretty well.
Flying With a Stranger, Returning With a Friend
Looking back, the strangest part of this trip might actually be how it all started. I didn't know Zdeněk before answering that advertisement. Yet there we were, travelling through airports, sharing a hotel room, exploring Riga, drinking beers and watching our national teams play against each other.
Of course, I was there to help Zdeněk during the trip. Travelling in a wheelchair brings practical challenges that I hadn't had to think about in the same way before. But those five days weren't only about helping someone get from one place to another.
We were two hockey fans who happened to meet in a rather unusual way. We'd gone from complete strangers to spending five days travelling, exploring Riga and watching hockey together.
We had a great time.
And to think I could have simply scrolled past that advertisement.
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