Who knew getting a Russian Visa would take so long?
Quality Time in Tallinn
8/27/2008 10:01:33 PM - Day 163 - Tallinn, Estonia
At the seemingly abandoned Kontserdisaal, a relic of Talllinn's Soviet past.
I spent more time in Tallinn (Tallinn, Estonia city review and information), Estonia then I have at any other location in all of my travels and I can honestly say that I enjoyed every second of it. It's fair to say that if you really want to get to know an area, you have to spend a decent amount of time there. I have been in Tallinn for close to three weeks, and although that is a relatively short amount of time, it is still longer than most and because of this, I also got to see parts of Estonian culture that most aren't privy to. Tallinn is a city going thru a modern renaissance as it attempts to break away from its Soviet past and emerge as a regional player. With its thriving tourist industry and budding infrastructure, I can say that Tallinn is well on its way, but being behind the "Iron Curtain" does leave its mark.
One thing I learned in Tallinn was that there is a large divide between the ethnic Estonians and the large Russian population (most of which were relocated to Estonia during the Soviet era). This all came to a head recently when some Soviet era monuments were removed from Tallinn. From the Estonian point of view, they didn't like anything about the Russian takeover of their country after WWII and the subsequent years of Russian servitude and they want to break free from any memories of those harsh and unjust years, and one way along the road of healing is the removal of all the old Soviet relics, so that's just what they did. However, from the Russian point of view, one of the monuments was for the Russian soldiers who died during WWII in Estonia (I was even told there were remains of unknown soldiers stored in one monument, but I can't confirm the factualness of this) and they were obviously pretty fucking pissed off when the monument (and others) were removed. This has caused a lot of tension as of late and I see it whenever I go out from the old Estonians telling me about how stupid Russians are and not to visit Russian areas of town and Russians telling me how ungrateful Estonians are. How this will play out is anyone's guess, but I think the wounds will heal and everyone will move on with their lives.
Ironically, the main reason I was in Estonia for so long was because I was waiting to receive my Russian visa. It turns out that currently (these things do change quickly and frequently) you can get a Russian visa from some travel agencies here in Estonia (Baltic countries seem to have better connections with the Russian consulate than other countries) if you have the time and money. I went to a place that was recommended to me named "Esti Travel" in the Old Town of Tallinn, and the magic numbers for the visa were "2 weeks" and "170 Euros". Fair enough, I had the time, Tallinn was reasonably priced (originally I was going to take care of the visa in Finland, but Finland is way too fucking expensive) and it was worth it to me to wait for the visa because I really wanted to visit Russia. I was a little worried about getting it though because tensions reminiscent of the Cold War have rocketed recently between my United States government and the Russians over the conflict in Georgia and South Ossetia. Watching all this stuff unfurl on the news the only thought in my head was "just fucking great". I had images of the Russian consulate seeing my visa request showing up on their desk right at the start of the conflict and denying it with possible suspicions that a military aged American who had done the kind of traveling I have to many Global "hotspots" could possibly be an international spy or similar. Turns out that I was having illusions of grandeur and the Russian government has better things to worry about than some tourist, and with that in my favor two weeks passed and I got my Russian visa. This has been the hardest visa to get thus far on my travels (and from what I hear, getting a Russian visa is one of the most difficult ones in the world) and as I walked away from the tour office with the visa in hand I felt invincible, I had just gotten one of the world's toughest visas on the road after reading from multiple sources that it was no longer possible. I felt like I could go anywhere and do anything if I wanted to badly enough. I felt damn good.
In total I spent close to three weeks in Tallinn. During that time I met a lot of cool people, stayed at a very good and "hippied" out hostel named "Euphoria" (Euphoria Hostel Review in Tallinn, Estonia), as well as a more conservative place named "City Bike Nunne" (City Bike Nunne Hostel Review in Tallinn, Estonia) since I wanted to at least check out more than one hostel since I was going to be staying in Tallinn for so long. Euphoria was a trip being staffed mainly with hippies and because of this, a lot of their hippy friends would visit and stay for a couple nights. This was the second time I ended up staying at a hippie run hostel and this was the second time I was pleasantly surprised. I'm pretty ideologically different than most hippies and because of that, have always harbored a bit of dislike for them, but after staying at Euphoria for so long I've learned that most of these guys are honest, hard working people, even if it isn't in a profession that is deemed "respectable" by society. Of course, you still have you fucking knuckleheads who don't do shit but waste their days smoking pot and accomplishing nothing, but I've learned that stereotype I have of hippies is typically inaccurate, and like most cultures and sub-cultures in life, you can't over-generalize. I made some good friends at that hostel, with staff and guest, hippie and non-hippie alike and they made my stay in Tallinn a very enjoyable one. This is one of the best things about traveling, shattering stereotypes and spending time with those you might consider the unlikeliest of friends.
When I wasn't enjoying myself at the hostel, I was wandering around the city, ducking into pubs here and there to share a pint with fellow travelers, sampling food from the various restaurants of the Old City or chilling out in my hostel dorm room getting work done on the laptop. Nothing overly outrageous happened during my stay in Tallinn. I saw some of the usual sites such as churches, old walls/gates, had some drunken nights that I hated myself for the next morning, ate good and bad food (I found some great pizza), met a lot of really friendly locals, visited a bar that they only play Depeche Mode at, watched a bit of the Olympics (Phelps is the man!), anxiously watched the news hoping this conflict in Georgia will end soon, saw a couple sissies get into a fight, learned that Estonians love it if you try to speak in the native tongue and that it sure does rain a lot over here so be sure to bring an umbrella.
Now that I have my Russia visa in hand, I'm getting ready to head off into expensive ass Finland to meet up with my good friend from back home named Cam who is playing in the American Football League of Finland. I have to admit that I am a bit sad to go and had really grown fond of Tallinn. Having been here for so long I'd gotten "comfortable". It is that feeling you have back home that makes it so hard to get up and leave. It's something that you take for granted, something you don't even realize is there until you have lost it. It is this feeling of comfort that makes you feel "homesick". I felt comfortable here in Tallinn and flirted with the thought of renting out an apartment and staying even longer, but I knew that if I did so, I would be succumbing to that comfort and putting off the goal at hand, which is to see the world, and I'm not going to do that if I spend all of my time in one place. Although I really enjoyed my time in Tallinn, it still doesn't compare to the comfort I get from being back home in Southern California, and I won't be able to enjoy that comfort again until I accomplish my goal of seeing the world. Therefore I begrudgingly bought a ferry ticket to Helsinki, Finland, and I leave soon to once again step out of the insulated comfort zone that I had finally had a chance to once again enjoy here in wonderful Tallinn as I continue my journey across the world.
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There sure are a lot of dudes here.
Next Baltic Stop, Riga!
8/8/2008 9:06:55 PM - Day 144 - Riga, Latvia
Having a beer with the cool English lads from my hostel, Callum and Jamie.
I've had a pretty chill time here in Riga (Riga, Latvia review and travel information). There isn't really much to do or see here, and most of the tourists who come here are European guys who want to party. Because of this, the hostel I was staying at "Friendly Fun Franks" hostel (Friendly Fun Franks Hostel in Riga, Latvia review and information) was one giant sausage fest. Even so, it was a pretty damn good hostel with good staff and I didn't really care about the horrible ratio because I'm not here to "pick up".
I tried to keep myself busy by checking out the old town of the city as well as some of the "sites" that were there, but the stuff I saw wasn't that awe inspiring. I checked out the usual manors and churches that can be found all over Europe, and by this time in my trip, I had already seen a ton of each and didn't really think much of it. One of the churches though had a really cool photography exhibit that I found very interesting. Many of the pictures were portraits of various people in some sort of pose or interesting clothing, and the one thing I remember from visiting the exhibit was having the realization of how insignificant and small our individual existence is in the scope of the universe. When you think about it, what we do or accomplish in our lifetime will probably have minimal impact on those around us, and even if we do impact a good amount of people, a hundred years after our death all you'll probably be is a footnote in some history book. Even if you affect a ton of people in a large portion of the world, in the scheme of the universe, what you have done amounts to almost nothing. You would have to in some way change the course of humanity to really make an impact.
In a way, it is a bit of a depressing thought, but it is reality. I'm not going to dwell on it too much, but it is something that I have been thinking about during my travels after seeing all the monuments and ruins of long forgotten kings and empires. This way of thinking really brings to light the importance of enjoying your life, the here and now and living it in pursuit of your goals. This idea is one of the main reasons that I have gone on this trip to begin with.
When not wandering around the old town lost in thought, I did manage to head out to the movies with a couple cool English guys named Callum and Jamie to see the new Batman movie, "The Dark Knight" and all I can say was that movie is fucking awesome! I was getting bummed out because all these good movies have been coming out back home and I haven't been able to see them, but they had a theatre here in Latvia that played the movie in English with Latvian subtitles. When I heard that, I made sure to head out to see it. If you haven't seen the Dark Knight yet, I highly recommend checking it out.
I got some beers with the two cool English guys, ate some good food and all in all had a decent time in Latvia. My next stop is Tallinn, Estonia where I'll probably end up spending a lot of time at while I wait on getting my Visa into Russia. If I don't end up getting that Visa (which would really, really suck since you never know if you are going to be able to get a Visa on the road) I'm going to have to change up my plans big time and miss out on visiting a country that I am very interested in. I really want to get behind that damn "Iron Curtain" so I hope it doesn't come to that, but we'll have to wait and see!
Sausage-Palooza in Riga, Latvia. Did I show up to the bar on the wrong night?
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It's Rythm Nation out here!
Changing Cultures and Regions...Time for the Baltics!
8/4/2008 6:12:41 PM - Day 140 - Vilnius, Lithuania
Shoot to Thrill!
Vilnius (Vilnius, Lithuania Travel Information and Review) has been a great place to stop off at after spending some hectic (and really hot) time in North Africa and the Middle East. It was nice to get to a country with a cool climate, western ideals and a penchant for drinking since I hadn't done much of that for awhile and I was ready to cut loose (I am on vacation after all). Getting thru the customs in Vilnius was a snap, which was an awesome change after dealing with the HELL known as Israeli immigration.
They tell you to be at your departure gate three hours prior to your flight for all flights leaving Israel. Unfortunately for me, I had a very early flight so I was at the gate at around 3am. They have multiple lines which are all super long which each lead to some type of "super" X-Ray machine that makes what we use back at home look amateur. While waiting in line Israeli officials approach you and ask you where you have been, what you did in Israel and where you are going. They also ask to look at your passport. After looking at mine and seeing that I had been to other countries in the Middle East as well as my lack of an Israeli entry stamp led to extra questioning for me while in line. Not too much, but my favorite was "you've been traveling for about five months only with that backpack?" Yes lady, it's called "backpacking", you may not realize it, but people have been doing it for quite some time now. After she is done asking questions, she puts some sticker on my bag and I moved on to the super X-ray machine. There I had to take out my laptop, put it in some type of special case which opens it up halfway, then they shoot it thru this machine and it comes flying out in mid-air from the other side when they are done. Seriously, is that really necessary? Then at the next area, most people go on to get their boarding passes, however not me. I had to have my entire bag searched inside and out while they also rubbed it down with some type of scrubber that would pick up any explosive residue. After going thru all my stuff, removing it all from my bag, scrubbing it all down and then having me put it all back in, I thought I was finished with this shit, but no, I ended up having to do the entire process twice more at two additional checkpoints. I asked one of the officials why I was getting searched so much, I asked if I was "high risk". He replied with a laugh "yeah, something like that". I understand that Israel is in a unique situation, but how many fucking checkpoints do you need in an airport? It's not as if I am going to make it past one, enter the high security area then pull a fucking bomb out my ass. Because of all the time I ended up wasting with the security officials I had to run in the end to catch my plane since I needed every minute of the three hours to make it thru and now I am stuck with a bunch of Israeli money since I didn't have time to exchange it, which is now worthless to me since nobody will exchange it over here. Needless to say, the custom officials are the first and last people you encounter in each new country, and after having to deal with all the hassle of entering and leaving Israel, I have no desire to go back anytime soon. I've seen the things I wanted to see there and that's good enough for me.
Now I'm in the "promised land" of the Baltics, and having a blast! There isn't much to see here in Vilnius, but the people are super friendly (I haven't been asked to show my "papers" once, go figure), the beer is good and the nightlife is fantastic! I got here on a weekend and decided to really go out and party for once. I met a cool group of people at my hostel "The VB Sleep Inn" (VB Sleep Inn in Vilnius, Lithuania Review) and the first night we headed to one of the best clubs in the city named "Pacha". The place was pretty awesome and I have to say that the girls in Lithuania are very pretty. The guys are pretty cool to party with as well (sometimes you go to places where the locals are assholes to foreigners). The night at Pacha was cool, but towards the very end of the night I got kicked out for taking a picture along with friends with my camera. Seems like they have a "no camera" policy there. Whatever, it was close to closing anyways and I already got my video of the night when some European dude started "miming" on the dance floor. Seriously, a lot of Europeans dance fucking funny/weird.
The next night we went out to another place called "Prospecto Pub". It was a good time, especially since there aren't a lot of foreigners here which means you meet a lot more locals and they are pretty friendly because they aren't burnt out on dealing with travelers. One thing I noticed here in Vilnius was the number of "hen" parties (as they are called overseas, but in America we call them "bachelorette" parties). There were hen parties all over the fucking place! The guys in Vilnius must love it, being somewhere where there are always a ton of girls trying to party their asses off, especially since I didn't see a single "stag" (bachelors) party to even out the crazy ratio. I'm sure when word of this gets out, Vilnius will be inundated with dudes, but for now it's pretty awesome for any guys out there in terms of the ratio. Prospecto was fun, and I we had a good group with us from the hostel so we all had a blast. After the night wore on for a bit I ended up heading back to the hostel to crash out.
The rest of the time was spent getting work done here, except for one day when I went to go shoot some sub machine guns in an abandoned Soviet Bunker (Lithuania used to be behind the "Iron Curtain"). Shooting guns is fun, but I can do that back home for close to nothing money wise, but at this bunker you can shoot fully automatic machine guns like an UZI or MP5 and I most definitely can't do that at home right now, so I jumped on the opportunity. I ended up shooting an AK-47, M4, UZI and MP5 (both on full auto), a Glock and another pistol that I can't remember the name of.
I've been here in Vilnius for a bit enjoying my time and the cool weather, but now it is about time for me to move on so I am catching a bus (traveling by bus in the Baltics is the easiest and cheapest way to get around) to Riga, the capital of Latvia. I plan on shooting my way up the Baltics into Finland where I will cross over into St Petersburg, Russia (I hope). I still don't have my Russian Visa yet though since I couldn't get it back home since I left more than 90 days prior to my expected date of entrance into Russia (one of their Visa stipulations) so I have to figure out a way to get it on the road. I hear the Baltics and Finland are the best place to get it out so I'll see what I can figure out as I make my way North.
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