I started a post on solo travel several years back but abandoned it. As so many seem to view travel without a partner incredibly brave, I’ll share photos and observations about my recent trip here. I’ll break into parts for those who might only be interested in parts.
Part I War in the Neighborhood
May 2022 Vladimir Putin had ordered Russian troops to invade Ukraine three months earlier. I had a trip planned to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland – all of which border either Russia or Ukraine. Friends ask are you sure that’s a good idea. They’re all NATO countries so an expansion of the war into any of them would be a major escalation. And the Baltic state part of the trip was with Road Scholar. I was pretty sure they wouldn’t be leading tours in the region if they didn’t think it was safe. Still there were unsettling reminders of the hostilities like President Biden’s visit to Rzeszów, my former Peace Corps site in Poland just a few weeks prior to my departure.
We Are With You
Strong anti Putin sentiment was evident in the Baltic states. I created a video with photos from the Russian embassies in Tallinn and Riga as well as some of the signs around town. At the end you see examples of Ukrainian flags flying in front of businesses, monuments, libraries in Poland as well as a pro Zelensky poster for sale at the University of Warsaw.
People in the Baltic states seemed more openly defiant of Putin than did the Poles. Of course, I didn’t go to the Russian embassy in Warsaw to see if protests were evident there as well. They seemed to be going about the business of coping with the increased foreign military presence and three million Ukrainian refugees in their country.
We heard from one of our speakers in the Baltics that they felt they’ve done all they can do to integrate into the west. They joined NATO. They joined the EU. They joined the Eurozone and they became part of the Schengen Area so one can freely travel between these countries. Now, they’re just waiting to see if they’re considered expendable should Putin make a move against them. I guess it doesn’t hurt to let it be openly known that any incursions will be met with resistance.
One of the other members of my tour mentioned being surprised by not seeing Ukrainian refugees in the Baltics as he had expected. I was credulous. I’d seen many. But then I realized I hadn’t “seen” as many as I’d heard. As I have at least a limited proficiency in Polish and Russian, i soon learned to recognize Ukrainian when I heard it spoken. I think many have an expectation of what a refugee looks like from newspaper images of Syrian refugees trying to get into Europe. Or those on boats picked up coming from Haiti or Africa. No, Ukrainian refugees are generally white and look and dress pretty much like the people in the neighboring countries hosting them. Nor are they necessarily destitute. My aunt pointed out to me a late model Mercedes with Ukrainian plates which drove by while we were waiting outside a grocery store near Gdańsk. But they are all displaced from their homes and many of their family members and friends. One telltale clue as to a refugee family was the absence of men as they had stayed behind to fight in the war. I saw one young woman in the Kraków train station waiting for the same train I was. She had a baby in a stroller and two large suitcases she was trying to manage. I presumed she was heading back toward Ukraine. Many were. My train was packed. It’s final destination was Przemyśl, on the Ukrainian border. Why would people be heading back into a war zone you might ask? As I understood it, the employment situation was not an easy one for people who don’t speak the local languages. Most of the conversations I witnessed between Ukrainians and Estonians, Latvians, Lithuanians and Poles were in English. That may get you a job in the service industry but probably not too helpful for professionals. And as the war drags on and becomes a war of attrition, it is increasingly difficult to accommodate the large number of refugees. Initially, many were put up in four star hotels. The hotels need paying guests the governments can’t foot the bill on an on going basis. Some of the refugees were being moved into student dormitories when they emptied out for the summer. I can see how it might look like a better option to take your chances at home especially if it’s been quiet there for a while. That’s why these seemingly random missile attacks seem particularly sadistic.
A Single Mind 