The Parental Unit

For the last two weeks, Mom and Dad have been visiting me in Estonia. I am truly fortunate and blessed to have friends and family who love me enough to come and visit me nearly halfway around the world. Thank you.

I know that my parents had a great time, as do all of my visitors, however, they were not instore for my personal brand of big-city turism...Andrew Schmidt-Superturist. It's really more of a guide to life really ;) Here are a few ground rules:

1. You must walk everywhere. Only use public transportation for day trips and when you're too exhausted to walk another step. In the case of roadtrips, you must have a Mabel.
2. You must walk enough to be so exhausted you cannot take another step. This usually entails at least a good 5-8 hours of walking a day. In the case of raodtrips, see previous blog about my roadtrip.
3. Do you stop to eat?....NO! Eating is secondary to the turist experience. It is an afterthough usually thought of as a nuisance. The best case scenario is that there is a quick easy place to pick up food you can take with you on your walk.
4. You must see everything...and take a picture of it. Does this mean you have to go inside everywhere?....NO! After your 100th palace/castle and church many of them start to look the same anyway. I should probably go inside more often.
5. Follow the suvenier rule: You can buy one big item (preferably something that can be folded or light), or three smaller items (in my case, 2 postcards and a keychain).

Here are some highlights from the 2 weeks my parents spent with me. We spent 2 days in Tallinn, 1 in Narva, 3 in St. Petersburg, and 5 driving around Estonia. The other days were really travel days.