Travel Diary 01: Road Trip To Keila-Joa on a Budget
Traveling is a great excuse to take more photography.
Who said traveling has to be expensive? I got to be honest, there is a growing trend in the world you should travel to be considered successful. What is the point really if you do it for the others? Fancy destinations might not actually be your best bet. There second misconception is you have to spend a lot of money to get value in return from traveling.
I say travel smart not expensive!
Find a destination is interesting for you not the others. There is a common misconception you must travel far to have it good. The truth of this matter is some of my best trips have been only couple of hundred kilometres away from home. It is more about the emotion, adventures and a bit of pre-planning than burning tons of cash to swim in the hotel pool.
Some people actually spend thousands of dollars to travel to your country but you havent event used privileges to explore it. Let that sink in.
I understand personal budget is a sketchy topic but you can travel with almost no money at all. My message to people out there is there are ways to have a solid weekend getaway with a tiny investment.
I would like to share a little road trip i just had to my neighboring country. I want to prove the my point you can have adventurous trip on a budget. Cost summary will come at the end.
I had this idea for a while already – to go on a small but saturated road trip. Everyone can buy a plane ticket or get on the bus and take predetermined route. A road trip presents a bit more of a challenge, a bit more planning and for sure a lot more unknown. In my opinion this ads to experience drama and doesn't cost you anything. I find it extremely fun to plan trips like this.
To plan a solid weekend getaway, especially to unknown place there are some important steps to consider which i will now share.
- Think of place you have never been to and start googling some of the must-see spots. Most countries have a special homepages. I used Visit Estonia to find destinations for me.
- Have a buddy. Even though i have traveled alone and find it cool, road trips are more fun when you have a company. Your friend might have an idea of his own.
- Start checking out the fastest, cheapest or best quality routes. We always use Google Maps since its free for all and offer calculations made for you. In my case i was interested in good quality roads because my car has a tight suspension and low profile tires. Not the most practical decision but what do you expect, beamer guy.
- Start checking the budget. Take into consideration fuel consumption. Check average prices for night home. It is safer to make a reservation before leaving. We wanted some more options later on so we booked our guest house only couple of hours before bed time in some pizza place in Parnu. Dont forget you will have to eat and keep some money for attractions.
- Be realistic. Think about unexpected situations.
It was recently, in April, when we decided to go and check out Estonian places. Estonia is a small Baltic State located in Northern Europe. With just 1,4 million citizens it is not to be considered big. Not being overpopulated provides great wildlife spots, nature parks to explore.
Close relationship with neighbouring Finland and economic help from EU has allowed Estonians to develop welcoming circumstances for tourists. By Visit Estonia data 3,54 million foreign and domestic tourists stayed overnight in the establishments of Estonia.
Just couple of kilometres into Estonia we found ourselves in a deep and moisty morning fog. I got to say, this is one of my favourite driving conditions. Dark green forest, black tarmac and fog all over, the look is surreal. This doesn’t happen often, only when time and temperatures are right. Sight visible only to early birds.
Can’t praise enough the amazing road quality and easy cruise in the 6th gear. When you have a lowered sports car, there is nothing better than being able to enjoy it. I love driving on early Saturday mornings when streets are empty. This was the case. Roads were chewed with ease. Every now and then trees get thinner and through a glimpse of Baltic see visible. This morning, however, it was covered in deep fog.
If you do decide to be by the wheel there are some things to remember. Estonian police are strict and is not to be negotiated with. Even mentioning money to avoid penalty will most likely get you into more trouble. Be careful if speeding. Knowing that I was a bit more aware of my speed even though I was speeding anyway, guilty I know.
We arrived to Parnu in the middle of the day. Weather was not on our side since it was a bit cold and it rained occasionally. Nevertheless, we reached the first mandatory stop on our little traveling map. Parnu Coastal Meadow Hiking Trail.
A small wildlife reservoir located next to the beach. It had a wooden trail shaped in a circle. Length of the hiking trail is officially noted as 600m which was just enough to stretch our legs after some hours in a car. In the middle of it a stood relatively low sightseeing platform with a map. Hiking trail is located just over backwaters and presented a look for unique and protected plants.
I got to admit, visiting it in April probably wasnt the smartest thing since most of the birds have not yet returned after a long and cold winter and not much of vegitation has had time to grow. You can se me trying to imagine what would it be if all of this was here.
Next to trail was located Aloha Surf Club, unfortunately closed during early spring. I don’t have a picture of it from the trip but I am sure you guys can imagine what would it look like. A wooden house next to the sea with lots of surfer guys. Maybe have to return there to try out the surf during the summer.
A well-known resort town on the west coast of Estonia. Famous for its warm sea water, medieval Castle and cute little hipster cafes.
We were lucky enough to book a nice holiday guest house just by the seaside, just couple of minutes from city centre. The place was called Väike Liiva Villa if anybody is interested. The hostess was a very nice lady and could tell us more about the must-see places. We also got a map which made life much easier.
Villa was built in very early 1920's as a summer house and still holds this title. Since then has been renovated a few times but still held a lot of wooden touches so common to old houses in Baltic and Scandinavian regions.
Villa was rated 9.6 as an accommodation and had everything me and my traveling friend could want. Included WIFI, free parking, actual kitchen, separate bedroom from kitchen area, food, balcony. All this cost us 40 Eur per night which is nothing. That said, it was an offseason. I believe in summer months prices can reach up to 150 Eur per night, depending on events held in the city.
Even though late in April, weather was chilling with freezing air coming directly from the sea. At some point temperature had dropped to only +5C.That didn’t stop us to take a side tour by fisherman’s beach and explore good photoshoot areas. We were lucky to find an old boat which gave as some amazing shots.
City itself gave impressions of very cosy and quiet place. Walking through city was a joy. Especially getting away from the wind. I even caught myself thinking where the hell is everybody. I was surprised to notice everybody was inside different cafes. Seriously, there were about 10 different cafes in the old part of the town. Cafes were packed. Nobody was on the streets. Coming from a place where people rather stay home, this was something new to me such a little city have so busy café and restaurant life.
Like I mentioned before, there also is a huge castle ruins left from medieval times. It was one of the must-see objects although I must say watching castle ruins is not my favorite thing. I’m a bit more interested in other things. Nevertheless, we checked it out to scratch it off the trip plan.
Castle was built in 1228 as a stone stronghold for Bishopric of Osel – Wiek. The truth is this kind of history is not very interesting to me, but the fact is they built it for three hundred years. What it would feel like to build something and not even be able to see it finished.
Next day started with a plan to check out one of the biggest waterfalls in Baltic States, Keila-Joa. It was an one hour drive which seemed like nothing after leaving beautiful city of Haapsalu.
Water fall on Keila River in Harju County was impressive. It is not easy to surprise me but I didn’t expect that here. A 6m high roaring waterfall which you can pretty much access from every side, including sitting on the side of it or almost going underneath it was experience I had never had before.
These were highlights of the trip and I hope you found something interesting in this. Some of you might even put in on your traveling plans if visiting Baltic States. I wasn’t disappointed and want to back and explore the western part of Estonia.
Visiting close destinations with car is a blast and I will for sure do it again. Some interesting statistics of the trip you might find useful planning your own getaway.
- Distance driven was about 1200 km. To put it into perspective, this is about average cars range with topped out tank.
- Average fuel composition was just 5.6l diesel /100km. Fairly low consumption considering we were driving a BMW. Also have to keep in mind high speeding penalties which made us drive within the rules most of the way.
- Summer Villa cost us 40 Eur for the night. This includes WIFI, parking, kitchen, living room and bedroom, shower, balcony, prime location and coffee/tea as much as we wanted.
- Food was about 60 Eur in total for two people for two days. That is not a lot. We stopped at pizza place and a supermarket to buy something for later in Parnu. Remember, you don't have to eat in a restaurants to feel great. If you have a guest house with a kitchen it can be cheaper as you can always find something on a discount at store. Even vine. Red.
- Our destinations themselves were free of charge.
- Overall cost was around 180 Eur. This includes everything above. Divided by two people its a pretty good price for a two day getaway, visiting different places.
Like I said. It doesn’t take much to have a enjoyable weekend getaway with a friend or lover. We didn’t have to travel far and spend much to visit some cool places, have a laugh and have something to remember.
Depending on where you live, maybe there are amazing places you haven’t even been to. It is not smart to complain about not being able to travel far if you haven’t even visited something close to you.
I hope you enjoyed this. I would like to mention we visited some more places on the way but at that point i didnt know i will have a need to present my trip to others. I will post other experiences from trips I had and will have.
I am not yet sure on which traveling review format would be most appreciated so we just have to wait and see.
Please feel free to comment on you rather see pictures or there is something else to improve.