Old Town can be a crap shoot. A luxury apt might share a courtyard alongside some less desirable real estate... you'll never know until you get there. Compare the prices from the highest to the lowest, "you get what you pay for" is particularly apt in this case. As in most euro cities, the places nearest to the train station are the most "dangerous". You'll see all of Old Town in two weeks, never mind two months... there are other nice neighborhoods in Vilnius, and public transportation is quite reliable.

Can't say much about renting a car... since I came to LT, I've found actually no reason to drive. They don't have the microbuses in the city anymore. One point is where will you park it? Does the apartment have a reserved space or "secured" courtyard? Not that this will guarantee a free place to park, but can improve your chances. In more than ten years of living here, and friends that drive relatively new, better cars, no one has ever had one stolen.
Really, you CAN get anywhere in Lithuania using public transportation, even to villages if you can get the right buses at the bus station, or trains to village, then buses to even the most backwater hog farm.
Before you come, go on some local "friends" sites... don't just look for Lithuanians, but Polish, Russian, and whoever else. Tell them when and why you're coming. There are THOUSANDS of stories to hear, and just as many "secret" places to go, once someone lets you know it's there.

Oh yeah... make sure you have an open ticket, because if you come here in april and may, you'll be kicking yourself that you left before the end of June. If you don't drink alcohol (beer), learn to use it as a food/snack source before you come. In most places it's cheaper than soda, and a lot healthier for living things, let alone that it's a lot more friendly than a diet coke.
And don't pee near the President's Palace, you'll end up on the news.

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Mikai, thanks for the input. *Old Town: I recently read the same thing on a blog - http://cathyinvilnius.blogspot.com/2009_03_01_archive.html. Perhaps New Town is an options for me. *Renting a car: Perhaps it's the American in me. I can't imagine taking a bus everywhere instead of a car. Maybe this is a change I need to temporarily accept. *Open ticket: I only have an U.S. passport. My max stay is 90 days. I also don't believe I can convince my employer to let me have an open return. They will want to know when I come back to work. Can't lose the office. That being said I have applied for reinstatement of my Lithuanian citizenship. Though born in the U.S. my parents were born in LT and this means I have a good shot of becoming a citizen based on most interpretations of the law. I submitted my application in April but it's a long waiting process. *Presidential Palace: thanks for the tip. Did someone do this recently with negative consequences? Rimantas

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Hi Rimantas.

You are going to enjoy your stay here, that's for sure. The only thing which could mess thing up a little bit is rainy weather. But since you're gonna stay here for the whole 2 months, you will anyway get to experience many nice days, too. The last summer was wonderful - I can only recall 5-7 days of rain throughout the whole summer.----------
Regarding car for rent: no problems at all, you can rent a decent car one for 40 USD per day. If you rent it for the whole period, it will be even cheaper. If advice you to use someone local to rent it for you, so that you don't get ripped off by som egreedy rental company.
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Regarding hotel: Ambassador Hotel in the Gediminas avenue is exactly what you need. There you will get a free and secured parking lot, cheap prices, direct access to the very senter of the city with windows looking over the Gediminas ave.. I have myself stayed in this hotel on many occasions. If you want, I can talk to the manegement of this hotel for you, so that you do get the best possible offer. -------------
Alternative to a hotel would be to rent a decent flat somewhere in the oldtown - you could save even more money, while enjoying the total privacy and feeling of living in your own place.----------------
Feel free to ask if you have more questions, or if you need any help with car or hotel - or anything else. I'll be more than glad to help you. Merry Christmas !
Anyway, feel free to ask for any help

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(I'm going to use the first part of this message to test formatting ...)

If you see this as a new paragraph (which seemed to work in my previous post) it means you can introduce paragraph breaks into any message by inserted two HTML linebreak characters. Let's see if I can show one: <br>. You'll need two between paragraphs. (Sorry, the computer guy in me yearns to be free)

A lot easier to read than artificially putting putting in characters.

Nerka, thank you for your input. My goal for going to LT is two-fold: be a tourist and to see what it's like to live in LT long-term. If I like my 2-3 month stay then perhaps if/when my passport comes through I'm going to try to stay for a year, two, maybe longer. There are many steps to be worked out but I'm at the age where I'd like a change in my life. Is it going to be colder and rainier? Well, there are places in the U.S. that are colder (Minnesota - low crime rate), rainier (Seattle - rated high for urban living), and frightfully hotter (Houston - low cost of living). The U.S. is a great place but the opportunity to live in another country is too great forme to pass up. Besides no place has perfect weather. Well, southern California does but the real estate is very high and you have to drive everywhere.

Thank you for your tip for the Ambassador Hotel. For my 2-3 month stay I'm hoping for a flat rather than a hotel room. Bedroom, kitchen, living area. I've lived in hotel rooms for 2-3 months straight and it gets old. However, it may be a perfect place to stay when I arrive in case the flat is not ready. I will certainly contact you about this if it comes to that.

I am still waiting to hear from my employer on whether I can leave for 2-3 months. If they say 'yes' I would very much appreciate if you could direct me to online resources. Everyone here is so helpful.

Linksm? Kal?d? visiems!

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Yes, renting a flat seems to be a better option than staying all this time in a hotel.
Well, I am one email away, so let me know if there's anything I could help you with. Keep in mind that you won't get a fair offer as long as u speak english, or by any other means let people know that you are a foreigner. Ask somenone you know to order services and bargain for you - you will save a great deal of money. Linksmu Sv. Kaledu!

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Indeed,
this interface lets you use some html.
Unfortunately, that was all I could perform...

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