Day 1 - The Journey To Estonia

What a big 30hours or so! It started out at Sydney airport where we met a few fellow Estonians travelling to Estonia! We worked out we were on the same flight from Hong Kong onwards!! The first flight was a little bit interesting. Dad and I sat next to each other and we were talking about whole heap of things. My nephew Lekso is going on a tip very soon overseas, so I thought I would take some photos and videos to show him what it might be like on a flight. Dad and I built a small pillow forte to show him some games he could play, we showed him the food, and how it is all packaged and what it would be like on a plan, just to prepare my favourite little guy!

​We landed in Hong Kong and really just wanted to walk around and stretch out legs. Dad and I went on the hunt for some dumplings! We did find some incredible dim sum, even though we were fed so much on the plane! Of course I could not miss out on a photo opportunity with one of my tumblers in Hong Kong, next to some of the most amazing dumplings ever. We did have to ask some people at the airport where to get them. We then had to get onto our flight for almost 13hours, avoiding any air space over a war zone, so basically Russia and Ukraine. This does add more time, but better to be safe than sorry!! At the start of our flight, when they showed the flight path, I was so excited, I saw ESTONIA! I thought to myself, not long now!!! Thankfully I slept a fair bit on this flight and watched Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix a number of times, because I kept sleeping, but I did finish it in the end!

When we got to Helsinki, I remember looking out at the forests I could see from the sky in amazement. I felt I was really coming home. Being in the forest really calms my nervous system and is incredibly healing for me. I was getting excited at the idea that I would soon be in the forest. I then caught myself reflecting for a moment, that I will be in Estonia VERY soon, in a matter of hours. My life just before this trip was absolutely chaotic, almost a nervous system collapse from a whole range of things, and I already started to feel the healing journey begin.
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​We made our way through Helsinki airport and oh my, what a long walk it was. I am pretty sure I did about 3k steps in this part alone, incredible. Mum was regretting not getting a wheel chair, as we saw her friend Eva had smartly organised this service previously, as it was a VERY long walk. Dad and I felt good about it though. We did stop off at a famous jewellery store, which she went to last time to look at this stunning necklace, and it was still there! Still a very high price tag, so we left it there, until next time perhaps. We finally got to our flight with moments to spare and boarded. I was very lucky to take the window seat, thanks mum and dad for being gracious about this. We were in a little propeller plane, which dad reminded me, as he often does, when I was 16 and coming home in the middle of winter, they had to de ice the propeller in order to start the flight. Thankfully it was not the case this time. We then took off on the final leg of the journey and I could not be more excited, thankfully it was only a 20 minute flight, not even long enough for a coffee!

​As we were starting to descended below the clouds, I could see it, I could see Estonia!! I will say the decent was VERY aggressive, we almost had to hold onto the seat in front as we were falling forward. I was just overwhelmed with joy, connection, belonging, a little bit emotional and just so grateful I could be here again. I could see Vanalinn, pointed it out to dad, then we saw Lauluvaljak, which I did not expect and all the memories and feelings came flooding in. I felt like I was home. I even told mum and dad, we are home now. They both agreed. Nothing can compare to this feeling of being here in Estonia, where my ancestors fought, lived, loved and had deep connections to different cultural aspects Estonia has, deeply rooted in our rich history. I am home, this time it feels different, in a very beautiful way.
Until tomorrow
Marissa xx