Every time I wander aimlessly through the streets of some strange town with the knowledge that I have enough money to go to any bar, pub, coffee shop on my way and buy a little something for myself without a second thought, I feel the need to thank someone. History? Fate? Someone higher and mightier than we here on this earth? I want to thank someone that I have been blessed to have the life that I have. To born into the Soviet Union and nevertheless acquire a good upbringing and background, which allowed me to feel little embarrassment during the first years of freedom.  I acquired the ability to wonder, the ability to feel inspired and grateful. I still have a slight shiver going down my spine – the scenario that all THIS would not have been seen, was a likely option. My world would have been limited to only 1/6 of the planet.

   The first time I went abroad was 1983 to Czechoslovakia and in 1989 I went to Finland. This meant a lot. Finland, this was already the West, to where travelling was the biggest a soviet citizen could dream of. A lot of my contemporaries in Western Europe had travelled half the world by that age. I was in a mad hurry to catch up. If the Soviet Union would have lasted, I would probably never have known how much I love to travel. By representing Estonia in FECAVA and WSAVA, I’ve had the opportunity to travel more than most, but there is still lot to discover and so many places to go back to. I would like to travel willy-nilly from city to city with just a backpack and no plans or reservations. Where can I find a madman who would be willing to do it with me?

   My daughter Silvia graduated from high-school in the spring. Last year, she started preparing us for the possibility that she might not go to university just yet. “Mum, may I skip a year and go travelling?” “Yes, you may, but only if I can come with.” – I saw the opportunity straight away. And my intelligent and wonderful child agreed to let her mother join her. Here is the place where many of our acquaintances shake their heads and to be honest we have no idea how everything is going to go, but we hope for the best. Generation gap.

   Looking at the map (Tallinn – Pärnu – Riga – Vilnius or Kaunas – Poland) I realized that I cannot travel through those towns without visiting my colleagues (Lita is in Riga and Saulius is in Kaunas and in Poland we should definitely visit Jerzy in Krakow).

“Mum, are you planning on visiting every veterinary clinic that comes our way?”
“Yes.”

   And then our plan came to fruition – we will visit as many animal clinics in Europe and report back on our experiences on the FECAVA webpage. We will write a blog titled “United Vets” and wait for feedback from our colleagues: what should we turn our attention to, what should we write about, where should we hop into and who should we visit if we’re nearby?

   In a pinch our original route Tallinn – Riga – Kaunas – Krakow changed completely to Tallinn – Helsinki – Uusikaupunkki – Vaasa – Oulu – Nordkapp – Stockholm – Turku – Helsinki – St. Petersburg – Rostov – Yerevan – Tbilisi – Istanbul. Between Helsinki and St. Petersburg there’s a little bit outside of Europe – the WSAVA congress in Cape Town.

   Veterinary conferences are held in St. Petersburg, Rostov and Tbilisi during our time there. Therefore we have double the reason to go. From Istanbul onwards our plans aren’t exact (whether to visit Varna and Constanța or head south through the Greek islands towards Athens). The next exact destination we have to arrive at is Munich in the beginning of November, where the FECAVA congress is held at.

Stay with us,
Tiina and Silvia