It was time to finally use the all you can fly ticket, to see if it was worth it. My plan was to visit my friend Marcel in Tallinn and make the best out of the ticket. There were no direct flights from Hamburg there, so it was necessary to visit Poland first!
Gdansk (Danzig)
First flight was for 10 Euros to Gdansk, or as we say in German “Danzig”. Marla and I went there together and found a host for the first of two nights. Arriving there was so quick that I wasn’t able to write anything, after being up in the air we almost arrived already.
In the city it was quite hard to understand the ticket online, so I put money there, but we probably bought the wrong ticket, which was in that case not the biggest issue. After arriving it was time to go straight to the host, who lived quite close to the center. It was a couple, who were very sweet and liked to talk with us. We had great conversations and learned a lot about Belarus, where the guy was from.
After talking for a while, we got ourselves a pizza and continued talking to each other. This went until night, because it was hard to stop for all of us, because we had a good connection, which felt nice.
Sadly on the second night it wasn’t possible to host us again, but so it was time to basically explore the city a little bit after talking until roughly 14:00, for me this wasn’t an issue, but Marla wasn’t so excited about it.
Exploring the city
The city is very small and most sights are quite easy to reach once being in downtown, where our cheap little apartment was located. After dropping the stuff, it was time to visit the 2nd world war museum, check this article to have a little more information about this place.
It was interesting to go to that museum, there was so much new information even though I teached myself a lot about that war already. So many propaganda posters and so much to see, but so little time.
Sad thing was that we were not able to finish everything, because we went there quite late and had only 2,5h time to see it, for sure not enough. Still it was worth seeing and probably I will be returning to see everything fully next time. In general it isn’t a big deal to not see everything in the city during the first visit, because it is always quite simple to return, there are even besides the all you can fly ticket so many cheap flights to get to there from and to Hamburg.
Gdansk is a very pretty city, which reminded me a little bit of Hamburg actually, because it is also a Hanseatic city and built in the same way. A lot of similarities and in general being close to water always is making me feel like home. The little channels, the little boats and the life at the harbor.
The next morning I still had to do my normal job out of home office, but it wasn’t as much, because I almost finished my stuff two days before that and so it was possible to do some hours less. I haven’t taken vacation, because it was possible for me to work from Estonia while visiting Marcel.
Turku
The next flight was taken to Turku, a city in the west of Finland. It was for me the best option of getting quite cheap to Tallinn, it included the ferry around 30 Euros, which was a decent price.
Adding to this visiting a new region of Finland was a perfect scenario actually. We were finding a host in the countryside, but actually getting there wasn’t that easy.
After arriving at Turku Airport, which is actually a super small and cute one! Probably the smallest I’ve been!
Trouble in Turku
We took a bus to downtown and that was super simple, but from there the trouble started. The host was giving us a website, on which it was simple finding the right bus close to her village. The issue wasn’t finding the right bus, but finding the right bus, which was actually arriving at where we were. Waiting for over two hours in order to just get a bus, which never actually arrived. At the end we were using google maps, which showed us a different bus, that one was picking us luckily up.
Such a shit show with the buses in Turku to be honest, many people were telling us that this was normal to happen, it can compete with long distance trains in Germany for sure!
When arriving at the village it was dark already and still roughly 5 km to walk, which was annoying, but couldn’t help it of course. We both were exhausted and tried to do some hitchhiking, which surprisingly worked even in the night! It wasn’t something I expected of working, but it did.
The guys who picked us up were so happy to have some action happening in town. They drove us along this long empty side country road and were not sure if we were at the correct location. We also were not sure, but it ended up being the right location. Just in basically nowhere!
Living in Finland’s countryside
When we arrived there was a dog outside and some light on, so I was just assuming it must have been the right one. Luckily it was, otherwise it would have been a bit weird to be fair.
The host opened the door and looked like a nice and friendly person. She welcomed us, but quickly went to bed after, because it was quite late already.
We saw the house a little bit and were positively surprised. So much room and much to do. It was warm and in a traditional way. We had our own cozy room with a lot of space and an oven for ourselves.
It felt great being in the countryside and having some calm time, at least that was the hope for it.
In the morning I woke up to the little sunshine outside and it was finally time to explore the surroundings. It was very beautiful with the colorful trees and just being in nowhere without many city sounds.
There were also many bunnies, which were there for meat for the family, for when the society would shut down and there would be nothing left for food. She didn’t really want to eat them, but it was necessary due to lack of money. The host went through a hard time at the moment we were there, so mental breakdowns were sadly part of the day, not as great as guests, but I could relate to it.
Getting Mushrooms
It was time for a nice walk through the forest and time to collect some mushrooms! Learning about Mushrooms is something I wanted to learn as a new skill this year, sadly I didn’t take it as a priority and put other things above it. Nevertheless we had the opportunity to learn a little bit about mushrooms with the host, who knows a few types which you could collect.
We went into the nearby forest and before actually collecting them, we went to some old ancient ruins on top of a hill, with such a great view. Seeing the surroundings from above was great and felt good. In general being in nature felt good and having a breathtaking view from the top was even better.
Talking to some people on top and also meeting people who are using Couchsurfing as well was quite cool actually. We went with her and her dog and her daughter up and were getting to know each other better. Just learning about the rough time she was going through was sad of course and also made it possible to get closer with each other.
After all of the exploring it was time to collect some mushrooms. She told us how to do so and then everyone was collecting. It was quite simple to find that one mushroom, which was basically everywhere to find. Such a fun thing to do, collecting your own food and being in nature at the same time.
Each of us found a lot of mushrooms and so it was possible to have a lot of food for all of us!
After getting home the hosts had to leave for Turku and wouldn’t have returned, but it went all wrong.
Escalation
Due to a bus not showing up, their plan was being ruined. Thanks to that, the host was raging and being frustrated. Screaming and swearing at people around. Not the best feeling, but somehow we had to endure that one.
The situation was quite tough from that moment on and we were relieved of leaving the next day, because it was not the right time for visitors to be there, in my opinion. Before leaving though we had to try out her Sauna Yurt. It was a self made just in which it was possible to have a sauna. Such a cool thing to have and we actually enjoyed it a lot. Just yourself in the sauna, which was a mix of a sauna and a warm room.
The next morning it was escalating again, this time she was rude to Marla and we were about to leave. Not such a good ending, with Marla being super upset about it and bringing attention to everything.
We were leaving back to Turku and were actually able to hitchhike all the way, after waiting for not even a minute. Before that I was taking two sugar beats from the nearby farmland and off we went.
In Turku there was not much life going on actually. Marla had to go to the airport and I went to the bus station, so our trip ended there. She had to go back to Germany and I continued!
What is up next?
Next week you will be reading about how I continued my trip and my time in Estonia, so stay tuned!
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