Estoniandiary. Day3. First rainbow in Estonia.

The day started quite early, as we had interview for the apartment. It went pretty well we think. So we are really looking forward to Sunday and signing of the agreement. Actually getting a proper apartment turned out to be really hard for us. And to our luck we found it via Facebook, offered by a cool guy and not some makler. So fingers crossed.

Roksana has a birthday today, but we didn’t celebrate it loud, as we left it for better times. Let’s say settled time.

And today, as we were about to go out, we saw our first rainbow in Tallinn. It was beautiful and a good sign we hope. Day is ending with watching Arsenals game. Go Gunners!

to be continued…

Estoniandiary. Day2. I see seaaa

Another day started with a heavy rain. But the excitement to explore the unseen horizons and places, after arrival to a new place is always hard to overcome. To our joy, we failed to do that, so we head out to see the surroundings.

While on a walk, I managed to open a bank account, which was quite easy and fast. You do not need to have any address registration or any other document, and it was for free. In two days I will receive my card. Thank you E-stonia.

Also today was our first meeting with an estate agent (“broker or makler” here). She turned to be a nice lady, who agreed to pick us up to give a ride to the place which she offered. She drives a black fancy Ford. Thus, anonymously with Roksana we decided that we want to be maklers too. But maybe someday later. The style of the apartment we saw was exactly perfect for a couple that would want to move in there maybe 30 years ago. As for the present time we decided we will be looking for our options, as it was also a bit far away from the city center, which made it less convenient for us. 

The thing, with which I was surprised during our first two days here, was the amount of Russian speakers. I think it went up, since my last time here. I honestly thought English would be spoken rather. If you refer to the people at any service, they would prefer to answer in Russian. No need to complain actually, as it will help us with our stay, however maybe ruin my plans to learn a bit of Estonian. Will be looking for language courses anyway.

Our walk took us a while, and we saw lots of nice places to enjoy calmness of Tallinn, to explore it secrets, feel the spirit of youth life and to make some great pics.

And the sea. We saw it today, made our greeting to it greatness and made a promise to come here very soon to cross it on our way to Scandinavia.

to be continued… 

Estoniandiary. Day1. The sweet beginning

I am finally here. I wanted to come here. I don't know why, but I felt that at some point of my life, I have to move to Estonia. Ideally with a purpose. After I found one, which also corresponds (actually a lot) with my academic interest, my move to Eesti was settled, and I just kept on waiting for my luggage to lend on the board of the bus for a trip to start. My girlfriend Roksana, accepted this #icemovechallenge with me.

The road was long. It took me a day. Day of sitting, waiting for arrival, staring in the window and thinking. Romantically thinking about nearest future, as well as realistically about some usual bureaucratic things everyone needs to settle whilst moving to a new place. Oh yes, and I still haven't agreed upon the flat where I suppose to stay. It turned to be kind difficult process, and even my optimistic approach towards everything was struck hard in the balls.

But getting back to being optimistic, I enjoyed seeing the same old views and streets again. But Tallinn changed since my last visit here. In my opinion, it became more fancier. And at the first glance, more scandinavically (there is such word right?) arrogantly beautiful. Oh yes, and lots of things are being repaired. Hope they will be ready until winter, so the transport will not be stuck and unreachable.

And the main factor to slightly influence daily life - weather. Summer is gone, winter is coming and it’s raining. Welcome to Estonia! Tere tulemast!

to be continued...

p.s. meanwhile I recommend to watch this video of Tallinn from the view of a bird drone (let’s not forget we are in e-country now).

Lifetrippin. Republic of Moldova

This is a story of my trip to Moldova and Eastern Romania. It took me 7 days to cover almost 1700 km with three means of transportation. The story will be split in three parts. First chapter is about Moldova. Starting point is city called Chernivtsi.

"- Good day, how can we get to Chisinau by train?

 - You can't. Good-bye"

The conversation was odd and happened to me and my girlfriend Roksana at the train station in Chernivtsi. The guy at the information desk, was clearly having a bad day, or maybe he was not a big fan of Moldova. Anyway, his manners were even more far away than Moldova is. Unable to receive much information from him, I went to another ticket window, where woman did or at least tried to give me some advices.

9 obscure places in Western Ukraine, which are worth to visit

Everybody knows and usually visit the most famous cites. However there are lots of hidden beauties, pleasure from exploring which, will for sure bring more excitement, than from usual cites. Here is a short-list of 9 places worth visiting in Western Ukraine.

1.      Tunnel of love (Klevan, Rivne region)

This tunnel was formed by thickets of trees, bushes, which weaved together in the form of arch. Seeing this impressive green miracle at the very first time, it is hard to believe that it was created by mother-nature , not some landscaper or enthusiast. Local legend says,

Lifetrippin. "In the land of Lukashenka" pt.2

part one of my story here.

9th of May in Belarus is a special day. Victory Day over the fascists. It is celebrated with a huge military parade, together with a variety of events for young and old as a follow-up. One of our goals for this trip, was to see this parade, as it is quite an extraordinary experience. Unfortunately, in order to make it for the start, we had to leave Grodno at 5 in the morning, as the parade had to begin at 9 a.m. and to last only for 4 hours. We decided to skip this possibility, as it would influence our further plans. So around 11 a.m., we headed to the bus station, and were lucky to be offered a place to go in a private mini-van, for a cheaper price (120 000 Belarussian rubles), together with a possibility to arrive to Minsk a bit as faster. There were 5 passengers all together with us. The quality of the road was good, we drove quite fast, and again, the surroundings looked very clean and ...green. On our way we also noticed, so-called agro-villages, those specially focusing on the production of groceries. I think super-eco-natural as well. 

Lifetrippin. "In the land of Lukashenka" pt.1

Three days. It took me just three days, to finally, fully and forever realize one very easy point– „Don’t be a victim of someone’s opinion. Prove it by yourself “.

Belarus. Land which seemed always so close to me, yet somehow so far. For me, as an Ukrainian, living in Western Ukraine, it would take me around 4 hours to get to Belarus (distance is small, but road is awful, and I mean really awful). However, my road seemed always not on the right way. Only once I have travelled through Belarus whilst I was going to Estonia. Surprisingly, during that trip I have no memorable flashbacks stored, that is maybe due to the fact that the trip was quite tiring with lots of custom check-ups and so on. The fact that we don’t need visa there, and it would be relatively cheap trip as well as one full of surprises, seemed not persuading enough. „Lukashenko is watching everyone“, „You will get into trouble“, „What will You do there?“, „They have nothing but potatoes“, „It's communism out there“. These and many other popular stereotypes and media paradigms seem funny, yet again they can influence your attitude, thoughts and expectations. Cannot say, that it was totally in my case, but somehow I didn't go there. But finally, having found time and most importantly perfect traveler (Roksana), as well as purpose, I managed to make a short time acquaintance with this „last dictatorship in Europe“.

Travel tips. How to get from Banska Bystrica to Krakow?

Having spent lot of my time in Banska Bystrica and in Slovakia in general, and having travelled a lot to Poland and Krakow in particular, I might have some travelling tips for You. First one - the connection is really bad, if you don't have a car). Banska Bystrica, being, in the middle of the route between Krakow and Budapest, unfortunately now, is out of business. Some years ago, there was a Hungarian company which served this way via Banska, but now it’s gone, for some reasons. The company is called "Orange Ways". The good thing, is that it has buses from Budapest to Krakow, for a relatively cheap price (around 25 euros).

So...what possibilities do You have??