I admit it. It’s horrible. Completely uninspiring. Maybe even a bit crooked. Nonetheless, I will always treasure it. As boring and bad as it may be, this will always be the first photo I ever made in Estonia. Since then, the shutter release on six different cameras has been activated at least 35,000 times on 13 trips to Estonia from 1999 to 2019. Many of these photos are complete garbage. But, there are a few I kind of like. These are the ones shared on this site.
The above snapshot documents the hotel I booked for the first four nights of my 17 day stay in Estonia. This was an adventure that was already well outside my comfort zone. Since I wasn’t completely certain things were going to proceed as planned, I hedged my bet by firming up the first few nights ahead of time. This would give me an opportunity to secure arrangements for the remainder of my trip if necessary. As it turned out, it was completely unnecessary.
My travel started with a flight from Fairbanks Alaska to Seattle Washington where I boarded the international flight to Copenhagen. With a stop in Stockholm, I finally arrived in Tallinn mid-afternoon on 26 April 1999. A long day to say the least. It’s much easier now, Anchorage-Reykjavik-Helsinki only takes about 12 hours, followed by a 50 mile (80km) ferry ride south across the Gulf of Finland to Tallinn.
I disembarked the DC-9 directly onto the tarmac. No modern jetways for Tallinna Lennujaam (Tallinn Airport), at least not until major renovations were completed later that year. So, after making my way through a rudimentary passport control station and collecting my checked bag, the burning question was whether or not a familiar face would greet me on the other side of the “Arrivals” door.
I shouldn’t have worried. Viki and his business partner, Villu, were both there. I knew Villu as he, too, was a member of the Estonian group I guided five months earlier (standing third from the left in the photo seen in Post 1). So far so good. But there was the small matter of the hotel. I hated to break the news to Viki. He was thrilled I had come. Nonetheless, he couldn’t quite hide disappointment that I hadn’t trusted him. I don’t blame him. I should have kept the faith.
Viki, I would learn, has a big heart. He is the type who would literally give you the shirt off his back, if not the last drop in the bottle. So, it was settled. I would stay at his place once my booking at the hotel was completed.
A final word about the flights. Interestingly, the roundtrip cost of the Fairbanks – Seattle leg was $429 ($682/€572, inflation adjusted to 2021). The Seattle-Tallinn-Seattle portion cost $642 ($1,020/€855). I was expecting the international portion to take a bigger bite out of my budget. Evidently, I booked at a good time.
