Reunited and it feels so good!

I'm so happy to be back in Estonia and reunited with my relatives! It's been a long weekend, to say the least, but worth every ounce of stress. Saturday night, I got back to the apartment around ten. and was informed that flights in and out of Frankfurt were being cancelled... Of course my 11h20 flight the next morning was cancelled but the 9h30 flight was not... How that makes sense, I didn't know, I just needed to get rebooked onto it! Knowing my frustrating tendency to cry in situations like these, I knew I couldn't fix it over the phone as a normal adult could. So I called my mom's cell phone using Google, which had her confused for a second... In tears, I begged my mom to fix things for me. As I knew only she could, she called, waited on hold and got me switched onto the earlier flight. A nervous ball of stress, I literally couldn't sleep at all. At 5h00, I jumped in the shower after seeing that both my flights were still scheduled. By 6h30, we were on our way to Brussels. 

Upon checking in, the agent at the desk told me there was a flight that was supposed to leave at 7h00 that was still waiting for the crew and that he'd move me onto that one "to guarantee that I'd make my connection." Sounded great until I got to the gate. At first, I was told that no plane from Brussels to Frankfurt had clearance to leave until after 11h00. Then at 9h10 we were told that we could board at 9h15, which then quickly changed... Soon after, we were informed that the first flight out of Brussels would be at 13h00 but that our plane would have priority... At 10h20 the Captain came out to say that Frankfurt wanted us to come and that we could board soon... Two minutes later I was inching my way onto the plane. We were slowed a bit while we waited for a crew to remove the bridge thing... but we were on our way to Frankfurt and I was going to have plenty of time to eat lunch and catch my flight to Tallinn. Getting out of Frankfurt was pretty seamless, the only delay was waiting for the plane to be de-iced. Through it all, Lufthansa was really sympathetic to the stress of it's passengers... They gave us chocolate bars on my first flight and I was later served salad and beverages on the second flight. The Captain's message clearly indicated that he was just as frustrated and eager to fly as we were. 

The snow in Frankfurt wasn't the problem... it was that airports in Paris and London were shut down and rerouted through Frankfurt, overloading their gates. There were tons of people at both airports that clearly were in store to wait much longer than I had to wait. Though it was a long and stressful morning, I only arrived in Tallinn about 45 minutes late. But at the baggage claim, I could tell something was up... There was clearly a difference between the number passengers I'd shared the plane with and the amount of luggage on the conveyor belt... My bag never emerged... I was able to make do using my family's things but felt bad for others who didn't have anyone to offer them clothing and toiletries. Lesson learned: always, always pack an outfit in your carry-on. Then, the only flight coming in to Tallinn from Frankfurt today was scheduled to come in at 17h15... but didn't arrive until 21h15. Only three of the bags from yesterday's lost luggage came through... I consider myself very lucky that mine was one of them! "Reunited and it feels so good! " 

I can't wait to put on a clean pair of underwear and brush my teeth with something other than my finger! Other than the stress of traveling, everything is great! Estonia is loaded with snow, it's freezing outside, and my family is wonderful. What more could I ask for? Not a whole lot. 

Bisous, 

-kelse  

And now for the main attraction...

This is it! I'm at the Tallinn airport waiting to head to Riga before my flight into Brussels. This is the whole reason I am in Europe! It's so exciting! Saying goodbye just now was really hard. I've spent nearly every moment with Jane, Scott, and Margo this past week and now I'm not going to see them. That's tough. But I have SO MUCH to look forward to! 

After the fiasco that I had in the Amsterdam airport on my way into Estonia, I was stressed about getting all of my stuff to France. AirBaltic has really low limits on the weight you can take with you in your suitcase (20 kilos/44 pounds) and carry-on (8 kilos/17.6 pounds). When you're moving for almost a year, you have more kilos than that! After having to pay 150 euro in overage fees in Amsterdam, I wasn't about to deal with that again! Before grabbing a quick lunch (Chinese food), we stopped at Eesti Post, to ship some stuff to my flat. For 8.2 kilos, it only cost 243 Estonian Kroons or about $21.50. We even brought my luggage into the post office to double check that the weight was okay! That's a lot cheaper than we were told before, too! 

Okay, I think they switched my gate, so I need to go figure out where to go so that I can board my flight! FRANCE - HERE I COME ! Au revoir, Estonia!

Bisous, 

-kelse

Bittersweet

I'm not ready to leave yet! This has been the most memorable trip I could imagine. Our relatives in Estonia are some of the sweetest people I've met. Yesterday, we spent our last day back in Tallinn and visited the old town, the president's house, and the arena for Estonia's many song festivals. 

The President's House - You can walk right onto the grounds! 

The best part of the day was going to Aunt Aino's flat for dinner and a Skype party. Gathered in a Starbucks in  Seattle were my mom, brother, Aunt Tracy, Nanna, Papa, Aunt Lydia, Doug, and Uncle Bill. Aunt Aino made us a lovely dinner, which included two kinds of lihapirukad - one with meat filling and a sweet one with an apple filling. It's only fitting, right? After dinner, we had a long conversation with our family via Skype. Papa couldn't hear too much of it but Aino was so incredibly happy to see him and had a lot that she wanted to say! It was great to see my family online but it did really hit me that I won't be seeing them for months on end. I mostly held it together... It was fun to get to introduce everyone to each other! And Scott and I finally got to meet Sirle, who Nanna talked about so much from her trip to Estonia fifteen years ago. 

Aunt Aino, my Papa's younger sister

There was a fiasco the night before when we tried to Skype with them and couldn't get the video to work on their end. They could see and hear us but we couldn't see or hear them. One way conversations are hard - especially when there's so much you want to say! We had some other family with us that night that weren't with us last night, which was too bad because they were really looking forward to seeing Arno and his family. At least it worked last night! After the long awaited Skype party, we enjoyed the rest of the evening looking through old photos of the family, being spoon-fed her homemade apple sauce, talking about Obama and getting a lesson in our pagan roots. I loved that Aino would look directly at me to talk and then we'd both look to Jane or Signe to translate. She's very excited that I will be a teacher, as she taught for chemistry for nine years before becoming an award-winning chemist. She emphasized that there are jobs available in Estonia and even an international school if I wanted to move here and raise a family! I really wish more of our family from home could have been on this trip with us. Note to any Salu family reading this - write to Aunt Aino! Mom, she wants to know why you stopped? 

Skype fiasco night - Lembit,  Rain, Margo Scott, Jane, Tiina, Liivi, Sirje, Marju, me

Saying goodbye to family is hard, whether you've been around them your whole life or only a week. I definitely have a wonderful family here that I will be back to visit - hopefully in the spring with mom and Tracy! 

Singing festivals are a major cultural event in Estonia and are held here

So now I get to pack up my things and move to France! This afternoon, I fly from Tallinn to Riga to Brussels, where I'll be picked up by my roommates Cody and Sébastien. I can't wait but it's very, very bittersweet. 

Bisous, 

-kelse

Off and running - literally

Well, I made it! The gate agents gave me a very grim outlook on getting onto the 12:45 Seattle-Amsterdam flight. They even took a few volunteers to bump to the next flight. At the final minute, I heard them say there were two passengers missing. With bated breath, I crossed my fingers that I heard correctly and it meant that I would have a chance. They called my name and told me to run - that's exactly what I did!

There were two of us on standby and we both made it on, in business class, no less! We sat together and were probably the two happiest people on the flight! I had an aisle seat and she took the window; Linda was a very friendly travel companion. I also made friends with a gentleman in the security line, Dick, who was very pleased to see me on the flight! It all went smoothly and before I new it, we landed in Amsterdam.

I'd prepared myself for not making it on the first flight, so I didn't actually make any plans in Amsterdam! Actually, I didn't even eat lunch or do anything before boarding the plane! Luckily I was fed lunch two hours in and also breakfast before landing at 7:30 am Amsterdam time. Let's hope I have enough adrenaline to keep me up today!

I've checked into a hostel, The Flying Pig, and will spend the rest of the day exploring. That is, once I've freshened up. Pictures to follow.

Bisous,
-kelse

Big mistake!

If you know me well, you know I'm a planner. I need to know what I'm jumping into in advance. While there are some things I'm excited to leave to fate, if information is available about what I'm doing, how things will play out, how long something will be... I need to know it. Luckily, Cody is also a planner, so we'll live together well! Anyways, while procrastinating at work today, I decided to figure out how long my flights were in the next few weeks... BIG MISTAKE! Yes, I know it will all be worth it but BIG MISTAKE!


Seattle > Amsterdam = 9h50m (Luckily I'll have a jet-lagged day to spend in Amsterdam before the next two flights!)
Amsterdam > Riga = 3h15
Riga > Estonia = 55m
Total flight time to Estonia: 14 heures
Tallinn > Riga = 55m
Riga > Bruxelles = 2h25
Total flight time to Bruxelles: 3h20 


It will be painful, but my Kindle, iPod, and maybe a deck of cards will get me through it! Ça vaut la peine!
Bisous,
-kelse


Ca vaut la peine! - It's worth!

Falling into place

Things are starting to fall in place and I'm feeling much more confident about what's ahead.

• Visa appointment scheduled? √
• Flight to San Francisco for said visa appointment? √
• Day off work for visa appointment? √ (no questions asked!)
• Decide when to leave? √

Finally, I've figured out when I plan to leave for the adventure of a lifetime!! And it's going to start with a once in a lifetime trip, to boot! I'm going to meet up with my cousin Scott on the tail end of his European adventure... in ESTONIA! I'm stoked! I've always wanted to visit Estonia to see where my Papa is from and to meet the family he left behind. Now I have the chance to do just that and share it with my cousin, who I'm very close to! (As I'm writing this, Jeopardy has a whole category on Estonia. Coincidence? I think not!)

My cousin in Estonia, Jane, and her family have graciously offered to take us in and show us Tartu, the city where she lives and the area where the Salu family is from! Now I just have to figure my flight out and book it. My god-dad is helping me out with buddy passes through the airline he's a pilot for - cheap!

September 13th is my planned departure so I can arrive in Tallinn on September 14th... that's less than 2 months away! Then I'll meet up with my roommate and explore the Loire Valley in France! Don't be too jealous of me!

Bisous,
-kelse