Tallinn - for a daydreaming wanderer

Ly
Apr 6, 2023
3 min read

Tallinn was my last hope to get away from the complexities of life and put a halt to the clutters in my head, because I had been trying different ways to improve my mental health, in vain. So, along with my personal items, I packed a huge expectation that the trip would make me purely happy.

It did, and I was!

Tallinn was so great that even when I got back to Helsinki, I still recalled my steps on the rocky road in the old town. My feet hurt, but my eyes and heart were eager to move forward. To explore every nook and corner of the maze-like old town. Half of the time, I used my bare eyes as a compass; I did not care where they led me, because every place was worth a visit.

This was my first solo trip. To a dumb person like me who cannot make sense of left and right on Google Maps, it was a humongous headache. On the night before the trip, my friend spent around 10 minutes instructing me how to get out of the building to the metro station (which was like a 5-minute walk away). We both decided to wake me up at 6, even though my cruise started at bloody 9 AM. Fortunately, I made it.

But that seemed to be my only issue on the solo trip. I was glad that I didn't invite anyone else to travel with me (sounds mean LOL). Because spending time alone and not being bothered by anyone or anything was exactly what I needed for healing.

On the cruise back home, I was fast enough to reserve for myself the seat next to the window where I could view the sea just with a glance of my eyes. And to prevent memory from escaping from my head, I started jotting down every single thing that happened during my trip on the physical Tallinn map I brought with me (of course, it couldn't be more useless). So I do not have much to say here, just a few points to recap.

There were three “goals” that I set and achieved for my Tallinn trip:

Have no plan

I think this is one of the pros of being on a solo trip: freely messing out with your plan, or not having it at all. But don’t get me wrong, I did some research though. I marked down the restaurant I would like to visit and a few attractions in case I had nothing to do (but I actually couldn’t find them even though they were right in the Old Town, so they were crossed off the list).

It was super fun and relaxing just to slowly wander around and be amazed at the little details I found on the route.

Chat with the locals

This is a huge achievement for me because you know how introverted I am. This might be the second privilege of a solo traveler, I believe, as you don’t have any friends to physically communicate with. Thanks to talking with the lovely woman at a restaurant I tried, I found a charming local market located about 1km from the Old Town. Thanks to starting the conversation with a street performer, I received a friendly hug full of happiness. Thanks to exchanging some words with the staff before leaving the hotel, I learned how to say “thank you” in Estonian. The experiences of feeling the “community spirit” from strangers were so amazing!

Spend as much as needed

Everything on the trip was for the purpose of recharging myself, so spending for happiness was an obvious thing. I did not set a tight budget because I knew it would be useless. But the things I spent on were worth it, and I did not regret any silly expenditure. I bought locally-made products, dropped in a restaurant when I was hungry, grabbed bubble tea when I felt like it, had a lavish dinner and an extravagant breakfast. I lost money, which can be earned again, for satisfaction, which I desperately needed. So, I would not call it a trade-off, I call it (irregular) therapy.