nomaDZ: How and Why the Heck Did You Start in Estonia?

I’ve had so many people ask me, “Why in the world did you decide to go to Estonia?” I’ve had so many others ask me, “What the heck is an Estonia?” but that is a whole different thing! (Don’t know? Click the link or use the wiki widget on the right side of your screen). There were numerous reasons, but this post will explain the financial reason… a post specifically about Estonia later on will touch on why we chose it from a cultural standpoint.

When Jessica[i] and I decided we were going to travel together, we basically just tried to figure out where we could fly for cheap to start this adventure. We knew that we wanted to go to Eastern Europe, but hadn’t decided on which countries to visit or what route to take. We didn’t want to go straight to London, Dublin, Paris, Madrid, etc. We wanted to get off the beaten path and see something different; something we hadn’t seen 400 pictures of on Facebook. It isn’t that we didn’t want to visit these places (I want to visit everywhere!), but after two years in West Africa, we felt adventurous… and broke. We knew Eastern Europe was cheap, fun, and not frequented by Americans. We knew that your mid-twenties are the perfect time to visit Eastern Europe. You’re still young enough to be completely foolish and wake up in somebody else’s bed, hitchhike, and stay out until the sun comes up, but old enough to understand your surroundings and not get robbed, end up missing a kidney, or get sold into the sex trade (not making light of this, be aware!).

We looked into flights to Prague, Budapest, Berlin, Helsinki, and St. Petersburg, even Kiev[ii], all over the place really. I figured that the main tourist cities would be the cheapest to fly into. I was quite wrong. The absolute cheapest one-way ticket from Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso was, shockingly, Moscow It was less than $500! I looked into getting the Russian visa and not surprisingly, it is extremely difficult to get as an American[iii]. I moved over a country and discovered Tallinn, Estonia. The direct flights were not cheap, but after months of researching how to travel for less, I had more or less given up on direct flights, and instead found the absolute cheapest place to fly to and connect from. From Ouagadougou, this flight paradise was Milan, Italy.

Fresh off the plane in Malpensa, Milan

Milan has numerous airports, and when you search for cheap flights out of a city, it is often . In Milan, the cheap airport was Bergamo, but we flew into Malpensa, the main airport, located about an hour outside of Milan by train, which connects directly with the airport.

cheaper to search for airports just outside of the city. Keep in mind there is usually a fairly expensive trip to and from an airport, so factor that in when researching if this is the cheapest option. For us, it was about a thirty-euro train ride when we flew in (from Malpensa), and a maybe 15-euro bus ride when we flew out (to Bergamo)

Once I had figured out that Milan was where we’d have to fly from, I started researching into what budget airlines flew from there. The logical progression is RyanAir, the extremely low-cost airline based out of Ireland and famous for their cheap tickets and even more famous tricks[iv] that screw your wallet after buying said ticket. Luckily, RyanAir flies to numerous places from Milan (only from Bergamo!), and Tallinn, Estonia is one of them. The more flexible you are with dates when you travel, the more money you are likely save. Again, keep in mind how much you’ll spend on train/bus tickets to these airports as well as what you will pay in lodging and sustenance costs. In terms of Milan, nothing is cheap, so it is important to factor in how much money you are going to blow and decide if it worth saving that 50-100 euros. In this case, it was absolutely worth it to stay one night in Milan, go exploring, and drink some fine wine after two years in West Africa!

[i] Jessica is the girl who traveled with me on the first leg of the journey and was in the same group as me for Peace Corps

[ii] When we finished our Peace Corps service, Ukraine had just ousted their president and Crimea was just being annexed by the Russian Federation… it was not a safe time to visit Ukraine; Kiev especially.

[iii] You can still go to St. Petersburg without a visa for three days if you take a ferry from Helsinki. You cannot leave St. Petersburg, but still, you can visit Russia without a visa!

[iv] RyanAir (alongside most budget airlines) has outrageous baggage fees. If flying with them and checking a bag, always pay the baggage fee with your ticket instead of at the airport where the fees will soar. Also, print your boarding pass before arrival at the airport; it is yet another fee if they do it for you. Always read the fine print with budget airlines!

Photo blast time from Milan!