In early July 2012, I flew with a friend to Tallinn, Estonia, and we stayed with some local people who were my friend’s friend’s friends somehow.
We had some really interesting conversations about the fact they work 65-70 hours a week to make ends meet with 7 people living in their small apartment, the GDP lists ‘per capita’ income well above the salary of anyone they know, and they can’t afford to eat anything at the restaurants/shops where they work, yet people are driving buy in Ferraris. The GDP is really skewed by the local mafia.
It’s crazy.
We were there right after Estonia switched to the Euro, and everyone was carrying calculators to check prices on things. Their friends were also moving to Poland for ‘better opportunities’. Poland’s economy was pretty bad at the time, so that tells you something.
However, we had great hosts, and we tried the falafel burgers at Hesburger (think of a throwback McDonald’s). We bought one for our host, and it was the first time she’d had one. Couldn’t afford it, but it was 3 euros for the sandwich + fries + Coke. Wild.
Tallinn was a cool city, and we were hosted by some really nice people for our 2 nights there, even if they were working a lot and couldn’t hang out much.
On the 3rd day, we took the ferry over to Helsinki. Short trip, but it was good.
This entry was posted in Estonia, Europe, Tallinn
