A personal reflection on peace
Originally posted on Substack on Oct 23, 2025
I’ll be honest; until maybe a couple of years ago, Estonia barely entered into my thoughts at all. After 8 years living in near-tropical Hong Kong, which saved my life and reawakened my fascination with the sea, I would never have imagined a burning desire to spend time in a cold, isolated Baltic state. And yet here I am, in late October, in Kuressaare on the beautiful island of Saaremaa, and I’ve maybe never felt more me.
Of course it started with people. Through social media, I started to get to know people from all over the world. Portugal to the Philippines, Iceland to Iran, Lithuania to Laos, and Eritrea to, yes, Estonia. I made some truly beautiful connections that will stay with me, as memories at least, for a long time. Sadly many connections were severed by Meta’s irrational account purges earlier this year, but that’s a whole other rant. Communities can exist in many forms these days, and shared interests in freedom, authenticity, faith, friendship, combatting media misinformation and body shame, these things transcend race, gender, age, location. So I’m grateful to all those I got to know, and especially in this case the handful of Estonians. But still, I had no idea what the country was like…
Then, when planning this summer’s vacation, I had a slightly mad idea. We’d already done two long road trips, one in the US and the other across Europe, so why not try driving around the Baltic? Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland… and so that’s what we did this July, plus a few more countries for good measure!
As someone with significant Scandinavian roots, and who’d already been to Denmark twice, I had good feelings about the start of the trip, but the rest was a step into the unknown. Still very much love Copenhagen, and Stockholm felt immediately like home, a sensation I’ve lacked for at least four years. Then we had some lovely stays in Jönköping, Umeå, Oulu, Helsinki (slightly mixed feelings about that, amazing city but where we stayed wasn’t great)… but what would Tallinn, a short ferry ride away, have to offer?
If you’ve never been, the Old Town is like being in a fairy-tale: cobbled streets, quaint squares, very little traffic, old churches, a very distinct “upper town” where the gentry lived. But it’s also a very modern city, with leafy suburbs, busy docks, and a trendy up-and-coming waterfront neighbourhood called Noblessner that’s gorgeous. But with only a couple of days scheduled there on our trip (and a lovely lunch stop-off on the beach at Parnu on our way down to Riga), I was curious what else this country had to offer.
One advantage of working in schools, at least that follow the British system, is fairly regular breaks in the terms. So, the first available opportunity to travel again arose in mid October. My wife and a friend had booked to go to London to sightsee and do musicals and museums, so after my initial idea of going back to Lanzarote became a little economically unviable, I managed to find cheap flights via Germany to Tallinn (with Lufthansa, not a budget airline) and quickly booked!
I soon discovered that I could get a very affordable coach from Tallinn to Kuressaare, on the western island of Saaremaa. Even managed to score a discount ticket each way! And because I’d got a deal on 6 nights for the price of 4 at my Tallinn hotel, I figured I’d leave my big case, spare shoes etc there, and travel light for 2 nights in a spa hotel. Why would I want to travel to somewhere so obscure? Well, some of the aforementioned friends used to (but no longer) live in the area, and spoke warmly of how pretty it is. So with a heart full of hope and second-hand memories, I boarded the coach with mixed emotions but an open mind.
And what I found? It’s a cute little town, about 13,000 inhabitants I believe, so twice the size of the village I grew up in, but 40% of the nearest town. It’s right on the waterfront, with a beach, a small yacht harbour, and a fort overlooking the Gulf of Riga. There’s an assortment of small shops, cafes and hotels, a nice park, and trees everywhere, in every colour as autumn has very much fallen this far north! I came here for peace, and I certainly found it, whether in my sea-view hotel room, sweating it out in the Finnish sauna, or walking around the town and surroundings, taking in the vibes. I had some lovely food too!
But what I think struck me really hard was just a sense of belonging. I posted on Instagram about how I never felt lesser for not (well, barely) speaking Estonian, but was made to feel very welcome, in a quiet northern way that I appreciate. I found that sense of belonging in Stockholm, too, but that’s an expensive capital city where they speak a language I kinda understand… but I’ve also only experienced it in summer. It’s easy to get a rose-tinted view of much of Europe if you only visit in July! Chilly October days are a very different vibe indeed! And in a year full of turmoil, that deep peace has been a little tricky to come by. Until I came here.
By the time you read this, I’ll be at least back in Tallinn, which I love, but not the same. But it somehow mattered that I wrote this piece on paper first. So yeah, an unlikely paradise, but I think I’ve found somewhere that my soul can call home. Love it!
