Tallinn Estonia International Bus Station

Naked Statue
Originally uploaded by kden604.

One of the beautiful things about Tallinn is its size. The entire city centre can be navigated easily in short order. Most Tourists stay in the "Old Town" which coincidentally is located right next to "New Town" or rather the modern city centre.

The bus station is one step further.

To get to the International bus station you walk from old town, through the city centre and then about 10 more minutes. From the edge of Old Town it takes roughly 30-35 minutes (approx 3 kilometers) to walk to the Bus Station.

The bus station is known to locals as "Tallinn Autobussijaam" and is located at Juhkentali (street name) 46-11. The station is at the corner of Tartu Mnt and Juhkentali.

The bus station has a restaurant, casino and there is a grocery store about 2 blocks away along Juhkentali for some cheap eats. There is also a currency exchanger that gives really horrible rates, nearly 2-2.5 EKK below market value. Additionally there is several ATM machines in the station too.

Please keep in mind this is the International Bus station as well as long haul domestic buses. Inner-city and suburban buses depart from the big Viru Plaza basement bus station which is just outside of Old Town.

Saving Money on Long Haul International Flights

Northwest Airlines Boeing 757 N538US
Originally uploaded by WrldVoyagr.

The most expensive part of starting that travel adventure is normally the initial flight to take you to the area of the world you are interested in visiting. For most North Americans it means the flight to Europe or Asia.

Long Haul flights don't have to break the bank. There is many low-budget no frills airlines that takes you between major hub destinations. It's important to read the fine-print and baggage allowances on sites like these, but even mainstream carriers have the occasional seat sale.

It's always best to try and book between big international hubs. If you are flying from North America to Europe look for destinations like Paris, Frankfurt, London or Amsterdam. If you are flying from North America to Asia look for flights to Hong Kong then get another flight from Hong Kong to your Asian destination.

Long haul international flights tend to be booked well in advance, at least 2 months a head of time for saving the most money. Under one month and you will almost certainly pay more than you should. Make sure when you are looking for flights you search each day of the week, you would be surprised how often companies have a cheap flight on the same day of the week, every week.

The only destinations that really seem to be expensive to fly to are African destinations. I find it rather annoying and a bit troublesome. You can get to Egypt for a decent price but most other places are going to cost you.

Personally for long haul flights I would check out the main stream travel websites like Kayak, Condor, Expedia, and Orbitz.

Once inside Europe the world is really your oyster, there are many low-budget airlines between the different European countries. Very cheap fares on air travel even on short notice bookings (under two weeks). Ideally the prices are best around the 2.5 to 4 weeks in advance for booking short flights.

If Asia is what you are interested in there isn't a much better hub airport than Bangkok. You can easily fly daily to almost every other major city in Asia.