Solitude in Tallinn, Estonia

I really should be asleep right now considering I did not sleep last night before coming back to the Castle this morning. It’s been an incredible weekend. I am absolutely knackered and this week will be insane with school work but I don’t regret going to Tallinn one bit. It might be difficult for me to explain my adventures in detail without scaring some people. (Especially with my previous post about hitch hiking) I arrived in Tallinn the afternoon of Friday February 4th and soon began to do a little bit of sight seeing. As I walked around, snapping my camera as to pretend I’m semi professional. An Australian guy on a business trip began to converse with me. We got along really well right from the start, talking about one thing after another. Not long after we met, it started snowing so we went into a British sports pub at around 4pm for a drink.

The Six Nations were playing and there were tons of rugby fans in the bar. I was quite excited to not only have really good company to hang out with, but also to watch some sports at the same time. Time flies when you’re having fun. It’s true, don’t ever doubt that for a second because the next time we checked the time, it was past midnight and the pub was getting busier and busier. Long story short, we sat in the same seat in the same pub, having a drink after another until around 5am when we decided we’ve been there for way too long. We then headed to a bar just around the corner for another drink because at that point, I had no where to sleep and he had to head to the airport later that day anyways. We decided to pull through it and stay up. We were having a good time anyways.

Him and I hung out until mid-afternoon when he had to go to the airport, thus I decided to find myself a cheap hostel and get some rest after a night of drinking and being out. I don’t think you’d be surprised if I tell you I passed out soon after until the next morning.

I took it easy Sunday, didn’t get out for brunch until around noon. I should probably add that I witnessed a fight between four British guys in my 10 bed mixed dorm room at around 4 in the morning. Long story short, one was asleep, and the other three decided to act like 12 year old school boys and take a photo of him. Everyone else in the room, I’m sure, was awake but pretended we were oblivious to everything. We agreed that it was more entertaining listening to the fight than to get up and tell them to shut up.

The weather was gorgeous on Sunday. The blue skies and bright shining sun reflected on the ice and snow I trudged through in the city. Old town in Tallinn is relatively small. The forts and walls that have been untouched for the last 600 years are incredible but sight-seeing only takes a few hours. Tallinn is listed as one of UNESCO’s world heritage site. Along with many of my friends and family, I have not heard of Tallinn until I found extraordinary cheap flights. I visited the City Museum and spent two hours learning about the history of the beautiful streets I’ve been walking through.

Not long after, I headed back to the hostel with plans to sit in the common room, watch movies and converse with fellow travelers. I thought about going back to the sports bar to watch the Six Nations but decided the hostel was too nice to not enjoy. The night then began to take a different turn that I had imagined. A few hours later, I found myself in a bar with 10 guys from New Castle, a girl from Estonia and a girl from Germany also traveling by herself.

Sevens hours later at around 4 in the morning, I found myself once again wondering how time simply creeped by. The next two hours consisted of cooking cup noodles in the hostel and trying to explain Quidditch. We would make an awesome team.  Soon after, I managed to get about an hour of sleep before tackling a full day of traveling, classes and school work.

I believe I’ve told you plenty what I did this weekend, I don’t want continue to bore you with my new philosophy of traveling alone but I believe it’s something everyone should do at some point. It’s not easy, it requires you to take a huge step of faith and trust in yourself to go out into an unknown world without any plans. Your family and friends will think you’re crazy, and worse comes to worse, make up a plan to keep them happy. Don’t tell them I told you to lie and no Dad, I didn’t lie to you at all.

With our daily lives as busy as it is, many have the fear of being thought of as a ‘loner’ when seen alone. Just as others are wondering why you’re alone, more often than not, you will also find yourself curious to learn their stories as well. At that point, since you have no friends to distract you from that particular thought, you have no choice but to start a conversation. And so begins a new friendship.

There’s no doubt I’ll do it again.