Today, booking a room anywhere in the world is pretty much a piece of cake. This wasn’t quite the case back in ’99 (Google was only seven months old, and still of little use). I don’t recall how I came to choose this hotel but it seemed like a suitable place at a reasonable price, which is what it turned out to be.
Pirita is an upscale community about 4 miles (6km) northeast of central Tallinn. The Pirita Hotell and surrounding facilities were built to support the 1980 Moscow Olympic sailing competition. Tallinn Bay was thought to be a proper alternative to the Moskva River for these activities. This, despite the 539 mile (867km) straight-line separation between Tallinn and Moscow.
My room was #364 complete with TV, desk, balcony and a nice view of the Bay. As noted, the price was affordable. Total for the four-night stay came to 4,496 EEK or about $310, including taxes ($487/€407, inflation adjusted to 2021).
In 1999 my Alaska home was in Fairbanks, 172o east of Tallinn. This is almost exactly half a world away. Yet, it’s only 3,800 miles (6,200km) over the Artic Circle. The time difference between Alaska and Estonia is 11 hours making it pretty much opposite my normal sleep schedule.
That first night, I stayed up as long as I could trying to quickly acclimate to the time change. Of course, I didn’t want to waste a single moment being on the opposite side of my natural clock. I finally turned out the lights at 10pm – early for me. Despite being bone-tired, I couldn’t sleep. I was eager to get the adventure started. After tossing and turning I got up at 6am – also early for me.
I watched some BBC on the tele, showered, dressed and went out for a walk. I couldn’t wait to see the sights. But, before we get to that, I recall being visited by a tiny bit of happenstance.
I figured ignorance may not be such a good thing to take with me. So, in preparation for my trip, I did a little reading. Clearly, the history of this small country was turbulent. Even violent. Recent history includes two world wars that left a mark as Germany and Russia battled for supremacy on Estonian soil.
It was in this context that I came to appreciate Dolores O’Riordan’s lyrics and vocals on a Cranberries song titled “Zombie”. While channel surfing that first morning in Estonia I landing on a music video program that, to my delight, played this very song.
I was very much a product of the MTV generation. But my keen interest in music videos expired with the ‘80s. So, I had not seen this particular video. But, the timing seemed eerily serendipitous. Of course, this was the moment I realized “Zombie” actually describes Troubles of a different kind and place. Oh well.
