Long time no blog, I’m aware… school work piled up and there wasn’t much else to be done. There will be a blog about Warsaw and Vilnius at some point. I promise.

First, you don’t get to sleep at all the night before you leave. This is absolutely necessary when traveling across countries on a different continent. Who has time to sleep when there are good-byes to be had? Oh, this is the second part of the first step. You have to be leaving for Paris at the same time that all of your friends are leaving the country as the end of their semesters. This is of equal importance, because they have to come by for midnight breakfast, which is why you don’t get to sleep. But, it’s worth it, because they cook bacon, scrambled eggs and cheese, and Estonian bread. This is worth losing a few hours of sleep before a day of massive travel. I think.

Second, you have to be on a deadline for a paper that is worth fifty percent of your grade. This is imperative to achieve proper loss of sleep, because the citation alone will keep you busy until four, when you’re supposed to leave. You have to have at least eight sources whose author’s names are any number of different European nationalities that are almost impossible for you to spell. Without this, it won’t be nearly as fun.

You should have an amazing roommate from Moldova who reminds you of all of the things you might have forgotten, like where you should be putting your money (more than one place). The anxiety that you feel about traveling across Europe to a place where people are infamous for hating your nationality and language by yourself is completely normal, and instead of fighting it and trying to convince yourself that you are just experiencing the spill over from your hypochondriac tendencies, embrace the anxiety. It will most likely ensure that you don’t make any mistakes, as you’ll double and triple check every step of the way.

Flying from Tallinn is no big deal, and it really is the first stop of every bus from Tartu to Tallinn. Also, the express bus at 4:30 AM always leaves from terminal number 1, even though it isn’t written online or printed anywhere at the station.

When a bus is completely full and you still have to find a seat, those rules of “never sit next to an Estonian on a bus” have to be thrown out of the door. Yes, sitting next to someone who fell asleep sitting alone feels like a huge invasion of privacy and, indeed, it is, but when that is the only seat that isn’t being angrily guarded there really isn’t any choice. The best way to avoid the weird encounter upon his waking is to pretend to be asleep yourself and to make yourself as small as possible. This is why having had no sleep comes in handy. It is much more convincing if you really can’t open your eyes.

Be sure that there is some kind of alarm set to ensure that you are awake for the first stop at the airport, and let the driver know (as best you can) that you need to get your luggage from under the bus. He will not assume that you do.

Once inside the airport, assuming that the long line is where you belong is not actually the best plan of attack. Find the information desk for the carrier on which you are flying, all of which are conveniently located across from the check in counters. This person can assure you, without a doubt, where you should be going to get in the right direction.

Half full bottles of lotion that, at one point, contained more that 100ml of liquid are not OK by Estonian standards. Also, Estonia is as strict as US airports in its monitoring of water bottles from the outside. In the Riga airport, students have been known to get through to the ryanair flight without completely finishing their water (though I wouldn’t suggest that you rely on this method to get the water bottle through security). In the Tallinn airport, they do not play.

One great thing about the Tallinn airport that I cannot say for any other airport I have ever been in is that, like the rest of Estonia, there is free wireless in every part of the airport. There are also jacks to plug in your computer at every gate, though in some cases you’ll have to be that intensely tech person who would rather sit on the floor and have internet access and a juiced battery than a real seat at the gate in order to reach them. For this reason, if you bring your laptop with you into the airport, don’t pack your charger in your checked baggage. This just gets frustrating during flight delays.

Flight delays will happen. They always do. But, if you are flying a legit airline (as opposed to the likes of Ryanair) you do not need to worry about the implications of this delay. Simply try your best to focus on the Cher music videos that are playing to destract the angry passengers, including yourself.

The flight from Tallinn to Riga is literally forty minutes long. Don’t plan to gain back all of your rest through this flight alone, because it is impossible. Accept it for what it is: Way better than the bus ride.

The Riga airport is not nearly as awesome as the Tallinn airport, mainly because you may have to ride in a bus jammed like sardines to your plane that is in the middle of a plane parking lot and they do not have free internet for you. Hey, not every place can be Estonia. If you can just try to deal with the claustrophobia you will get through the bus ride fine. Also, the chairs in the waiting area are connected at the back to the ones facing the other way. Don’t try to pull them closer to the footstools. Especially if there are people sitting in the ones on the opposite side. This just makes for an awkward situation.

Once you’re in the air, you are good to go. You have at least two and a half hours to sleep, and unlike Ryanair, they stewards won’t interrupt your rest. The seats in coach are relatively comfortable, and by the time you’re on the plane, any stationary and relatively secure place feels like a feather bed. Let the sleep be, and enjoy.

Welcome to Charles De Gualle. Yes, that is the airport. Yes, there are underground tunnels. Wait until you’re on the automatic moving platforms that move through the center of Terminal 1 above the fountain. Talk about creepy. It isn’t true what people say about the French. If you have simple questions, like “How do I catch the train?” they will very politely tell you the correct directions and help you to get where you’re going. If they’re pissed that you can’t speak French, they hide it incredibly well. This is not to discourage you from practicing, if French is your language of choice, but this is just to assuage any communication fears you had. Also, all signs are in at least French and English, though the arrows for directions take a little while to get used to (Yes, that sign for the train station is at a downward angle. That is because you have to take the elevator around the corner.). The airport shuttle to parking and train stations (located in other terminals) comes about every three minutes and is incredibly fast and easy to understand. A guy with a great American accent will repeat everything that the French woman says to you, so don’t worry about getting confused. Also, everything is in a straight line. This makes it significantly more difficult to get lost.

If you are collecting a ticket from the machine that you bought online, be prepared that some American credit cards will not be accepted. This does not mean that you will never get your ticket and will be stuck in Paris forever. This simply means that you should find the yellow office where the TGV and SNCF ticket office (“billet”) is located. Let them know that the machine doesn’t like your card and hand over the offending credit card. It isn’t actually necessary to give them any other information, although it can’t ever hurt for personal reassurance.

If you’re at the wrong terminal, they will tell you when you pick up your ticket. If you picked up your ticket successfully from the machine and are unsure if you’re in the right place, go to any place with an “i” or head on over to the afore-mentioned yellow office. They’ll let you know if you’re in the right place.

Some disappointing things about the otherwise cool train station: I have yet to figure out how you know which gate your train departs from, but I’m planning on heading to the “i” stand as soon as I finish this entry to find out. Also, five hours is WAY TOO MUCH TIME to allow for getting off the plane to getting on the train. Though Charles De Gualle sounds scary, it is really excellently organized and easily navigated. Did I mention the incredible shuttle that gets you between terminals in three minutes? Yes. Five hours is way overkill.

Also, no one can seem to figure out the wireless in the waiting room, hence why this blog entry was first written in Word and not on blogger. But, there are nifty desks and plugs to rejuice your lappy, and if you have any homework (or travel blogging) that needs to get done that doesn’t require the internet, it’s the perfect opportunity.

And that is how you get to Paris. More on France later.