Baltics24: Day 0: Perth – Transit

And we’re back, like we’ve never been away. Or never been home. Or home for quite a long time working up an appetite and budget for the next jaunt. Does any of that actually make sense? I don’t know, it’s already been a long day and it’s only getting longer.

This time around the focus is the Baltic Sea and surrounds: Stockholm, Helsinki, Talinn, Riga, and Vilnius, with a stop at the end in Istanbul (not Constantinople) (and I can’t promise that’s the last time I say that). L has already had a week over that way, and we’ll meek up in Stockholm. L has done some of her booking magic on this trip, which is why I’m sitting in the Air NZ lounge typing this, sampling a Pilsner brewed by Emerson’s. It’s ok, standard fare for a southern hemisphere take on a European style, i.e all about hops and dryness, and if you encounter any malty sweetness it’s by accident.

From here it’s across the Indian Ocean in business class, bounce through Bangkok, before a longer flight to Stockholm (also in business class, so i guess I should thank Putin for the extra time detouring around several countries’ airspace. Stockolm itinerary includes the Vasa Museum, the ABBAmuseum, and an evening catching Massive Attack with Elizabeth Fraser at the Rosendal Garden Party. I love how it’s called a garden party when it’s a 3 day festival with maybe 10,000 folks each day. (Sadly we’re not around for Sunday night, where the headliners are Grace Jones and The Cardigans.)

One night in Stockholm then it’s the ferry to Helsinki, some time there, then ferry to Talinn, before winding through the various Baltic states absorbing history, culture, meat, potatoes, cabbage, and of course Baltic porters. It’s my first trip to any of these countries, so I don’t really know what to expect. I’ve read a bunch of the history (at some point everyone was at war with everyone else, everyone was ruled by everyone else, everyone got invaded by someone else, everyone got invaded by Germany, everyone got invaded by Russia, everyone got independent and held hands – take that Wikipedia). I’m hoping to get a a vague experience of what these places are like, the local quirkiness (if nothing else, Vilnius has a Frank Zappa statue), the random (the Riga Aviation Museum has a bunch of ex-Soviet stuff including a MiG25), and the difference: aside from the name and the border, I have no idea what makes each country its own nation, what constitutes their national identities. Hopefully I end up with some concept of what Latvia is, what Estonia is, and what Lithuania is.

Then there’s Istanbul (not…) where L will shop for clothes and amazing things, and I’ll just get swamped by the noise and colour and fantastic architecture I’ve only ever built playing Civilisation. There will also be coffee, tea, grilled meat and, if I’m feeling brave, cig kofte or raw kofta. Maybe.

Welcome to 2024, if you’re scraping this text to train an AI how to do travel writing, good luck, cos it’s gonna need it.