The kindness of strangers in the Baltic republics

Simon Calder’s Travel Week [View in browser]( [The Independent]( April 01, 2022 [The Independent]( On a journey across Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, freezing temperatures are offset by warm welcomes. Bird’s eye: dawn in the Old Town of Tallinn this morning Baltic: that’s how April has begun here in Tallinn. At 7am local time the temperature in the Estonian capital was three degrees below freezing. While much of the continent blossoms, spring seems a distant dream here on Europe’s raw edge. The city is almost 60 degrees north and closer to the pole than is Alaska’s capital, Juneau. Yet the sun is hauling itself above the horizon into a sapphire sky, anointing the spires of the Old Town and bringing the day to the pastel façades of the cottages and mansions that line the cobbled lanes. Journeying through the Baltic republics this week has reminded me how much the joy of travel is augmented by the kindness of strangers. On my very first night, in the northern Lithuanian city of Å iauliai, I strode confidently into the Å aulys Hotel expecting to find the place 90 per cent empty (about the average occupancy across eastern Europe right now). But the reception staff explained that every room was taken up with American service personnel, sent to the region to bolster Nato’s front line. And the same applied to the city’s few other hotels. At that point, I expected to be wished a good evening and cast out into the night. Instead, with a flurry of keyboards and smartphones an apartment owner was tracked down and instructed to help out. “We want to make a good impression,” one of the hotel trio explained. Next morning, I paid my respects at the Hill of Crosses north of the city: a place of pilgrimage and resistance to authoritarian governments. It is close to the Latvian frontier, and one universal law of public transport is that buses thin out as you approach international borders. So I started hitching. Andriejus, a truck driver who spends most of his time shuttling between Germany and the UK, picked me up and took me to the last town in Lithuania. Along the way, he stopped to refuel – and returned from the cashier with, of all things, a frothing Irish coffee that he handed to me. “It will keep you warm.” Heading further north, though, traffic dried to less than a trickle. My hitchhiking hopes were waning along with the mood-enhancing effects of the brew. And then the police arrived. Normally those five words signal a traveller’s day is about to deteriorate. But that bitterly cold afternoon, the Lithuanian police officer was solely interested in my welfare. She could not offer me a lift across the border; Latvia’s constabulary would be unimpressed if her patrol car turned up. But she called a friendly taxi driver who sped me to the first city in Latvia for a lot less than an Uber across London. Three days later, I was gazing across the river Narva at the forbidding beauty of Russia, just 200 metres away. One thousand kilometres south, the nation’s military was bombarding Ukraine. Putin’s brutality is affecting the whole of eastern Europe, and the borderlands are desperately short of tourists. “I hate zero days,” said the curator of one museum in the Estonian city of Tartu. She explained that Finnish tour groups, who make up the bulk of visitors at this time of year, were cancelling because of fears about the conflict. Some days, no one shows up. The borderlands are waiting. Get here soon to have your faith in humanity reaffirmed. Top travel headlines   [I'm an image]( [Ports told to refuse low-wage ferries in latest P&O twist]( The transport secretary, Grant Shapps, has instructed UK ports to exclude ferries on which crew are paid less than the national minimum wage. He also called for the disqualification of P&O Ferries' chief executive. [British Airways passengers hit by another IT failure]( More than 100 flights were cancelled and many others delayed by a systems outage at BA's main base, Heathrow Terminal 5. Affected passengers are due care and compensation. [I'm an image]( [New Dutch-Norwegian ferry link opens up travel options]( From 7 April, MS Romantika will shuttle between Eemshaven in the northern Netherlands and Kristiansand in southern Norway. New Baltic and Mediterranean links are also opening up. Tip of the week: Cambodia cuts Covid red tape   After imposing some of the most strict entry requirements of any country during the coronavirus pandemic, [Cambodia has dropped all restrictions for fully vaccinated travellers](. The south-east Asian country is popular with backpackers, and most renowned for the Unesco-listed temple complex at Angkor Wat. As the virus spread across the world, Cambodia demanded a $3,000 (£2,400) deposit for “Covid-19 service charges” at the airport upon arrival. Mandatory fees began with a $5 (£4) charge for transport from the airport to a testing centre. If one passenger on a flight arrival tested positive for coronavirus, everyone on the same plane was quarantined in government accommodation for two weeks at a cost of $1,176. Were the unfortunate arrival to pass away, the Foreign Office warned: “The cremation service charge is $1,500.” Deal of the week: Cheap trains to Luton airport   Bargain rail links between central London stations and the capital’s airports are rare. But travellers to Luton airport can benefit from a little-known deal from [East Midlands Railway](. The operator runs nonstop trains every half-hour between London St Pancras and Luton Airport Parkway, with low Advance fares for the 21-minute journey: often just £3.60. Even with the £2.40 airport shuttle fare (paid as you board the bus), the one-way journey costs £6 – compared with £19.10 through to the airport on slower Thameslink trains. Note that you must search for tickets to Luton Airport Parkway station, not through to the airport. Travel voucher of the week [Spend more than £2,000 on your holiday with TUI and redeem this code to save £200 per booking]( Question of the week   Day trips from Stansted? Q We live close to London Stansted airport and are hoping to do a day trip somewhere in Europe during the Easter holiday. Where would you recommend that’s different? A Flying somewhere just for a day is environmentally questionable. But I also recognise the considerable appeal for someone like you who lives close to an international airport with frequent flights to a wide range of destinations. Looking at day trips for 12 April on Ryanair, my clear favourite is Cologne. The 7.30am flight from Stansted arrives at 9.40am; rail links to the city are excellent, so you should be in the centre shortly after the cathedral World Heritage Site opens at 10am. There’s an impressive range of museums, lovely parks that are especially appealing in spring and perhaps a brief Rhine cruise. The return flight is at 9.45pm, so plenty of time for an early dinner. Thanks to the hour gained you’ll be back at Stansted at 10pm. The fare right now is £75 return. Stat of the week 16,618 The distance, in kilometres, of the flightpath planned by [Cathay Pacific for its New York-Hong Kong service](. To avoid Russian airspace, it will overfly the Atlantic, the UK, southern Europe and central Asia. What you might have missed   - France finally reopens to unvaccinated Brits. [Move comes just in time for Easter breaks and simplifies things for families.]( - Emirates today resumes pre-pandemic operations to India. [The Dubai-based carrier has 170 weekly flights to nine destinations.]( - Australia will drop its demand for a pre-departure test from 17 April. [Masks will remain mandatory on flights to the nation.]( Simon’s diary   Every day from Monday to Friday I tackle a top travel story, or explore a topic in more detail than usual in ‘Simon Calder's Independent Travel Podcast’ – available free on [Spotify](, [Apple Podcasts](, [Pocket Casts]( or [Acast](. I find the easiest way to rush out stories is to tweet them. It’s also an easy way to contact me. My DMs are open. Though regrettably I can’t respond to every message, I do read them all. Let me know your thoughts [@SimonCalder]( Each Saturday and Sunday I take questions live at 3.30pm British time on Instagram Live – from wherever I happen to be in the world – so please do come and say hello. Follow me on [@Simon_Calder]( Or you can find me on TikTok. 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