I can’t lie: I was a bit nervous on the way to my first unfamiliar destination. I didn’t know a lick of Estonian, and I wasn’t sure what to expect. But Tallinn looked beautiful even as we landed in the regional jet from Paris.

I had read about taking bus 2 into town from the airport, but even with Google Maps confirming those instructions, I still wasn’t 100% certain I was waiting for it in the right spot. But I stuck it out, and the bus did arrive within about ten minutes.

After getting on the bus, I saw a sticker with ticket information, which would have been helpful to look at while at the bus stop. But I knew to give the bus driver €2 for my ticket.

An elderly man got on the bus where the farmer’s market is with two buckets full of freshly picked blueberries. He sat next to me, so I got to admire them and wonder what he was going to do with all of them.

I got off the bus at Reisiterminal D, but I had somehow made a note of the wrong address for my Airbnb, so I doubt that was the right stop. I wandered to the fictional address and only found a gas station around it, so I confirmed with my host over the app what the address was. Good thing the actual address was only a four-minute walk away from where I was! She and her young daughter were there to greet me before they left to join her husband on a family trip outside of town. I noticed a weird piece of artwork as I was settling in: why would this overly-developed girl hold a canary like that?

I went straight to the grocery store (Rimi Supermarket) to pick up some local microbrews: Põhjala Must Kuld, a porter, and Põhjala Öö, a Baltic porter. I’m in for some fun times!