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Entering a new country isn’t just fun, it’s a chance to turn the tides on a bad spell and refresh your travels. Just like trying something new with your food, insulin, or sleep schedule can refresh your diabetes and blood sugar. Today I found that a new border can change your fortunes, but Pakistani food can absolutely murder your blood sugar.
The few days that Masayo and I just spent in Latvia were a little tension-filled. Our pace of travel was wearing her out, and my blood sugars were too high. These unfortunate things made both of us irritable.
None of this was Latvia’s fault; the plucky little Baltic nation tried hard to please us. What we saw was really nice in Valka, Rīga, and Daugavpils, and the people everywhere were warm and wonderful.
Me under the Lithuanian flag. Yippee, another country!
But our bad moods in Latvia were an inescapable fact, so we were both looking forward to crossing the international – and psychological – border into a new realm: Lithuania.
After an early but hurried breakfast at Hotel Biplan in Daugavpils, Masayo and I checked out and walked briskly to the bus station (I was still chewing my last bites of breakfast) for the one daily 8:00 am bus to Lithuania’s capital Vilnius (pronounced “vil noose”; the second “i” is silent).
The bus was late by an hour, though, so all that hurrying had been for nothing. Latvia, you little tease! Oh, I still love you anyway. Let’s meet again in happier times.
Diabetes report: Breakfast
My blood sugar was 164 when I woke up today, thanks to my corrective Humalog after my post-pizza high last night. The buffet breakfast in Hotel Biplan was another large and delicious feast. I knew it would be tough to shoot up for; my post-breakfast blood sugars have not been easy to control lately.
164 at 6 am. Fair enough.
Over the Lithuanian border
Our first impressions of Lithuania weren’t exactly grand and spectacular: construction on the little two-lane highway was causing long delays, and everything seemed dead, misty and cold. The solid Lithuanian sky was white and foggy, its trees leafless and its farmhouses empty and silent.
Welcome to Lithuania sign in the mist.
Diabetes report: BG check
As the bus neared Vilnius I checked and found that my blood glucose was 362! I was shocked; a mis-calculation at breakfast may have happened, but 362?! I took some Humalog and fumed silently in my bus seat. Not cool, Lithuania.
Ah, diabetic anger and shock. Let’s make this less commonplace what hey?
In Vilnius we had a special treat waiting for us: Masayo’s friend Neringa was going to meet us at the bus station. And she did. It’s very nice to be met by a local with her own car as soon as you arrive in a new country.
Neringa drove us to our hotel, The Opera Inn, situated in the UNESCO World Heritage “Old Town” section of Vilnius near the Neris River. There wasn’t any paperwork, either; a guy gave us our room key and that was it. Our room even had its own kitchenette. He knew we were coming because we’d booked the room on booking.com; the lack of any check-in surprised me though.
Lithuania is looking pretty good after all!
Me and Masayo with Neringa in Old Town Vilnius.
The three of us went to a nearby café and had coffee and strawberry cheesecake. I marveled at the international-ness of this café experience: an American, a Lithuanian, and a Japanese all chatting about travel and the world together. In English too – as the only native English speaker of the bunch, I felt pretty lucky. What a useful native language to have!
Diabetes report: Humalog
I snuck off to the bathroom at the café to take two units of Humalog for the cheesecake. This, on top of the four units I’d just had on the bus due to my high BG. Oh yeah I’m juggling this diabetes stuff like a wild, genius circus clown!
Neringa took off, and Masayo and I walked around Vilnius a bit. We immediately got good vibes from the lovely little buildings, the clean, orderly cobblestone streets, and the air of self-expression and local pride that was evident in the decorations and the people we saw. Contented citizens going about their lives and enjoying their surroundings: seeing this is one of the high points of travel.
I became fascinated with these figures down the street from the hotel and kept taking pictures of them whenever we passed.
Diabetes report: Nap and BG check
Do afternoon naps destroy your blood sugar? They often do mine. However, back in the room I couldn’t help myself and fell into a long slumber. When I awoke my BG was a stunning 131. Victory to the ‘betics; the world will be ours!
Excellent post-nap blood sugar. But it wouldn’t last.
Dinner time, Lithuanian-cum-Pakistani style
For dinner in our new temporary home of Vilnius, we found a Pakistani restaurant called Mughal-E-Azam. It was a great choice: located in a kind of cellar, the walls were puffy and yellow and looked like smooth painted plaster. The undulating subterranean surfaces, the hookahs in corners, and the exotic Pakistani decorations gave the place an other-worldly and palpable atmosphere of cultural authenticity. It was like a mixture of Cafe Sten Sture of Stockholm and the inexplicability of Tallinn’s Patarei Prison.
(Avid readers of t1dwanderer.com will notice that I often refer to Patarei Prison. The place made quite an impression on me.)
Inside the Pakistani restaurant. Wow man.
“You folks enjoy your meal. Don’t mind us.”
Mughal-E-Azam wasn’t particularly Lithuanian, of course, but I’m no purist. I got a great sense of satisfaction pretending I’d just parked my camel outside and had sauntered in to escape the hot desert sun.
Diabetes report: Pakistani dinner
Feeling confident thanks to my excellent post-nap BG, I ordered the works, carbs be damned: naan and curry, and rice and lamb, and mango lassi. Any one of these items could send blood sugar into the ionosphere. Ultra-tough to dose for. I finally settled on 12 units of Humalog, injected at the table right through my Bluff Works pants which have served me so well so far.
Unsurprisingly, the magnificent but dense meal overpowered my inadequate insulin shot: before bed I was 366. Terrible number, but I wasn’t upset because it was understandable. I miscounted the carbs in the rice and naan.
But I still need to figure out why I can’t dose properly though; it’s like I’m an ace pitcher who suddenly forgets how to throw strikes. Overthinking it, or something.
Even my Humalog pen was nervous about this one!
Second BG in the 360s today, this time to no great surprise.
Vilnius has been great for our mood so far, though. Being welcomed by a car-driving friend rather than negotiating with impatient taxi drivers, staying in a hotel with the best location of the trip so far, and filling ourselves with some great food in a warm, inviting place has made us like Lithuania right off the bat.
Crossing that border did indeed allow us to leave our grumpy moods behind in Latvia. And they say you can’t run from your troubles. Ha!
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