I booked this trip while I was sitting in an airport in Uganda, waiting to come home, already feeling that ridiculous panic my brain loves to create the second a trip ends: there’s nothing next.
That’s how it happens sometimes. Not a calm, sensible plan. More like desperation mixed with curiosity, plus a long-standing idea that’s been living in my head for years.
Because this route — Helsinki, Tallinn, Riga — is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. It just never happened. Life, timing, school, money, logistics… the usual. And then, in that airport moment, I thought: fuck it. I’m just going to do it.
And yes, it was intense. It was also kind of insane: four capitals in a week.
But before anyone starts with the “wow, you did Copenhagen too!” — Copenhagen doesn’t count in the same way. I’ve been to Copenhagen before. The reason it was part of this trip is simple: I engineered it. I booked the flights so we’d have a long layover and I could spend a few hours with one of my best friends.
So the real “new” part of this trip — the part that mattered in the way travel matters — was my first time in Finland, Estonia and Latvia.
And the whole point wasn’t to do them “properly”. It was to do them honestly.
To get a vibe.
Because I don’t have the old life anymore — the one where I could disappear for months, settle into a place, and let it absorb me. I have a child. I have school calendars. I have reality. So sometimes the way we travel now is: we go fast, we walk a lot, we take it in, and if we fall in love with a place, we come back.
That was the plan.
Helsinki: calm, walkable, and unexpectedly one of the best starts
Helsinki was the first stop and it immediately felt… easy.
Clean, calm, organised. The kind of city where you can walk for hours without feeling like you’re battling it. And when you’re travelling with a six-year-old, that matters more than people realise. It’s not just about what you “see”, it’s about how the day feels in your body.
We walked constantly. We explored without forcing it. We ate ridiculously well — vegan food that wasn’t an afterthought, but genuinely good, everywhere. It was one of those places where you don’t have to fight for options or plan your entire day around food.
And then there was Oodi.
I know, it’s “a library”, but it’s not just a library. It’s one of those places that makes you stop and think: this is what it looks like when a city actually invests in people. We spent loads of time there. It became a proper anchor of the Helsinki part of the trip — a calm space, a beautiful space, a place that felt like a statement.
And we got lucky in the way I love most: by accident.
We stumbled into a vintage American classic car exhibition happening in one of the main squares. Rows and rows of old cars, shiny and loud and completely unexpected. Romeo was obsessed. It was one of those moments that makes a trip feel alive — not because you planned it, but because the city handed it to you.
We also did a little 4D “flying over Helsinki” experience (something like Flying Cinema — you’re basically seeing the city from above). It was fun, a nice break, and Romeo enjoyed it. Not the main event, but a good little “why not?” moment.
Helsinki, Finland
The ferry to Tallinn: Romeo’s highlight
Romeo’s favourite part of the whole trip was the boat from Helsinki to Tallinn.
And honestly, I get it. Ferries feel like a proper adventure without the airport stress. There was space, there was movement, and there was a playground onboard that basically meant Romeo was thriving — playing, making little friends, burning off energy — while I got a rare moment of not having to be “on” every second.
It was one of those travel days that doesn’t feel like a travel day. It felt like part of the holiday.
Tallinn: the fairytale city (without the cringe)
Tallinn was beautiful. Properly beautiful.
The Old Town is one of those places where you don’t need to work hard to enjoy it. You walk, you look up, you turn corners, and it just keeps giving. It felt like stepping into a storybook — not in a cheesy way, in a literal way.
We didn’t over-plan Tallinn. We did what I like doing most in cities: we wandered. We soaked it up. We let the atmosphere do the work.
We found an amazing Portuguese restaurant (a random, comforting little discovery), had great vegan food, and even made some friends along the way — the kind of small travel connections that make a place feel warmer, more human, more memorable.
Tallinn is absolutely somewhere I’d go back to. Not because I feel like I “missed” things, but because it felt like a place you could return to and experience differently each time.
Tallinn, Estonia
Riga: the part where real life showed up
Riga was the last stop, and it was the part of the trip that changed tone — not because Riga was “bad”, but because Romeo got food poisoning.
Proper food poisoning. The kind where your child can’t eat, looks exhausted, and you stop caring about sightseeing and start caring about water, rest, and keeping them comfortable.
So Riga became slower by force.
We still saw the Art Nouveau side of the city — and yes, it’s beautiful, and it’s one of the most “Riga” things about Riga — but I’m not going to pretend Latvia was the same kind of experience as Finland and Estonia. It wasn’t. The last part of the trip was shaped by parenting reality.
Romeo’s only consistent request was playgrounds. And honestly? Fair enough. When you feel awful, you don’t want a walking tour. You want something normal, something light, something that makes you feel like yourself again.
That’s travelling with a child. Sometimes the highlight is not a landmark. Sometimes the highlight is simply that they start to feel better.
Riga, Latvia
Copenhagen: a few hours that mattered (and airport chaos)
And then, on the way home, we had our Copenhagen layover.
Again: Copenhagen wasn’t “new” for me. I’ve been before. The reason it was part of this trip is because I booked it that way on purpose — so we could see my friend Emma, who’s been one of my best friends for about twenty years.
We didn’t do tourist Copenhagen. Emma picked us up from the airport and we went to her house, had lunch, while the kids play at the house playground, and just existed together for a few hours.
But it mattered. A lot.
Because it was the first time our children met.
And it was one of those full-circle moments that hits you when you least expect it: you’ve been friends for two decades, you’ve lived whole lives, and then suddenly your kids are there — playing football, jumping around, becoming instant little besties, already making plans to meet again like it’s the most normal thing in the world.
We were only there for the day, and it went ridiculously fast.
And then we nearly missed our flight because Copenhagen Airport security was insane. The queues were genuinely wild. We got lucky — they let us go through faster because of Romeo — because otherwise we would have missed it, no question.
So yes: a beautiful friendship moment… followed by me internally screaming at airport logistics.
Friendship
The point of this trip (and why I’m glad I did it)
This was not a “do everything” trip. It was a get the vibe trip.
Three new capitals for me — close enough to combine, small enough to enjoy without rushing — plus one familiar city used for something that mattered more than sightseeing: friendship.
Was it intense? Yes. Four capitals in a week is not gentle.
But I don’t have the luxury of disappearing for months anymore. I can’t travel the way I used to, even if part of me will always miss that life. So this is what travel looks like now: we go fast, we walk a lot, we take it in, and if we love a place, we come back.
And I’m glad I did it.
Because now I know.
Now those countries aren’t just names on a map or “one day” ideas in my head. They’re real places with real memories attached — Oodi, old cars in a square, a ferry playground, Tallinn’s beauty, Riga’s Art Nouveau (even through the fog of food poisoning), and a few hours in Copenhagen that reminded me how lucky I am to still have a friendship that can hold twenty years… and now holds our kids too.