Taking my backpack from under the bed, I began to fill it with gear and clothing. Once I'd finished, I took out my Riga guidebook and looked for a hotel as far away from Old Town as possible. At the time, my disgust had little to do with the spontaneous melee in Dome Square. The most difficult aspect of being a travel writer has little to do with the threat of violence or theft or even disease. The worst part of travel writing is that you have to write.
Writing is a solitary activity that requires a controlled environment of concentration.
In practice, trying to synthesize these two activities can be like trying to combine a disco with a monastery. Invariably, enjoying one activity will compromise the other. Since I had a lot of writing to do when I left Russia, I headed straight for Latvia. Riga, I'd hoped, would provide me with the perfect degree of comfort and anonymity for my writing tasks. Unfortunately, my writer's discipline has never been that strong.