A Magic Reunion: touring Europe with my best friend! 

Back in November 2024, Lucky Legends member Richard posted a fabulous competition on the Radio Comps section of the forum. In conjunction with the release of Moana 2, Disney were awarding cash prizes to help listeners reunite with friends and family abroad. You had to submit a written entry about your loved one, explaining where they were and why you wanted to reunite. There were five winners: four winning £1,000 on Monday to Thursday, then a £5,000 winner on the Friday. I entered with a story about my bestie Jo! 

I met Jo on the first day of University in Bradford, in 1992. We clicked immediately over a mutual love of indie bands Mega City Four and Swervedriver, and have been best friends ever since. In 1998 after living with me in Nottingham for a while, Jo took up a job teaching English in Japan. Then, she fell in love with one of her ex students, got married and settled there. Do check out the 193 Little Adventures Club, where Jo creates amazing creative learning packs for curious kids!

I’ve been lucky enough to visit Jo in Japan several times in the last 27 years (including two prize trips) and although Jo does comes back to England occasionally to see her Mum, our meetings are short and we’re always with our sons Leo & Ry. The opportunity to spend some time on a girls adventure with just the two of us was too good to miss! I sent off my entry and crossed my fingers. 

Within a few days Magic had emailed me to ask a bit more about our story, then told me that we would get a phone call if we were shortlisted. A few days later the show researcher spoke to both of us and confirmed that we would be on the breakfast show for the final day!

It was a strange situation to be in for a radio comp – there was no need for us to feel nervous, as we already knew we had won the prize! We recounted the story of how we met and how we hadn’t been on a girls trip together since the 90s. 

Rather than use the £5,000 prize money for me to travel to Japan, which wouldn’t have been much of an adventure for Jo, we decided we would have our reunion somewhere new to both of us! 

We waited until I had the £5,000 in my bank account in January before making our plans. Jo had always wanted to visit Mongolia, but after some research we realised the limited cuisine options would be a struggle! We also felt a little nervous about our elderly parents’ health, so decided it would be safer to plan a European adventure so we were close to the UK if one of us needed to get back. Then Jo came up with the great idea of visiting three countries – Finland, Estonia and Latvia – and the plan started to come together! I got the Google spreadsheet up and running and started adding travel, accommodation and notes, plus tracked the cost of the 2 week trip. 

We started our adventure in Helsinki on 1st September, and I thought the best way to share my experiences would be to share my highlights from each of the countries we visited (there’s also a fourth bonus country we added in at the last minute!). A few of you have messaged me to say you’re considering visiting the Baltic states so I hope this info might be useful.

You can see more photos and videos of the trip on my Instagram highlights (split into Part 1 and Part 2!)

Helsinki, Finland

In Helsinki we stayed at the smart Valo Hotel & Work which was out of town but really handy for regular buses and trams into the centre. It had two double beds in the compact room and although the bathroom was small, I really liked the design of the hotel’s communal areas and the breakfast buffet was fantastic considering it was less than £100 a night for the two of us. We bought a 3 day Helsinki Card for €73 which covered all public transport, the Hop On Hop Off Bus, the ferry to Suomenlinna, a free 90 minute scenic cruise and also free entry to various museums and art galleries. 

• Oodi Library – Helsinki’s free public library is in a wonderful curved building surrounded by landscaped gardens with swings and hammocks. In the library you’re free to explore the lovely kids area, the busy cafés, and mingle with the locals who have booked sessions on the sewing machines, 3D printers, musical instruments and all sorts of stuff (I should add that after our great experience at Oodi, we found Riga’s modern library very unwelcoming…)
• Yes Yes Yes – a vegetarian restaurant filled with houseplants – we splashed out on their lovely tasting menu along with the tasting wines. Highly recommended!
• Kiasma – a contemporary art space with a couple of great installations (free with Helsinki Card) 
• HAM – another art gallery, where I fell in love with the most amazing pink and green rugs! 
• Punk museum – less a museum, more a collection of memorabilia! The punk scene is still alive and well in Finland, and we went to a great punk gig at Bar Loose while we were there. I was amazed to see the merch stall was full of cassettes, which apparently are super popular again with the younger Fins! 

• Design District – the DDH covers a large area but on Fredrikinkatu in particular you’ll find loads of pre loved vintage clothes shops as well as current Finnish designers. A great place for a wander. 
• Rock Church – sadly it got its name because it’s carved from rock, not because there’s a rock concert every Sunday! I absolutely loved the 1960s design and purple seating. It was a nice place to sit down and chill out (I can imagine it’s a bit different when the tour parties arrive…). 
• Suomenlinna Fortress – the ferry ride to this island is about 15 minutes from Helsinki. It’s a must-see for most visitors, but to be honest I wasn’t that impressed. We took our torches down mysterious tunnels, but really we needed a couple of inquisitive kids with us to make the most of the castle walls and cannons! 
• Trillby & Chadwick – this cosy speakeasy is on Katariinankatu, but there’s no sign, you have to ring the special bell to get in (I tried using the antique phone before realising this!). The menu is actually a detective mystery story which you need to try and solve (we didn’t manage it). The cocktails were excellent – but no photos allowed, and you must leave via the back door. 

Tallinn, Estonia

The frequent ferry from Helsinki to Tallinn only takes two hours, so you could do a day trip from one place to the other! Our room at the CRU Hotel couldn’t be more different to the Valo. It was a handy location at the back of a restaurant in Tallinn’s old town, looking out onto a cobblestone alley, with a huge four poster bed and dressing table. This cost £120 a night including a minimal buffet breakfast. 

• Fotografika – wonderful photography museum with a rooftop bar and restaurant with beautful food. On a Friday evening you can get a cheaper £10 ticket for entry after 8pm, they dim the lights, play music and have special events. 
• Telliskivi Creative City – this district is out of the old town, across the train tracks. There are loads of bars, restaurants and indie shops here to browse for clothes and gifts.
• Seaplane Harbour – huge aircraft hangar which has been turned into a maritime museum. The interactive displays were excellent, and the highlight for me was the section full of old maps and globes. Oh, and sitting inside a yellow submarine with lots of little kids…. The nearby waterfront area Noblessner is worth a visit afterwards too, it’s lovely to walk round with some cute cabins at Iglupark that you can stay in. 
• F.Hoone – We loved the atmosphere at this large restaurant in Telliskivi: fabulous menu and I just loved my Chanterelle mushroom martini!

• Raeapteek – Tallinn’s Old Town Pharmacy is still a working chemist. Look for the entrance off the main square and pop upstairs to see cabinets full of medication and mementos from the past, including a jar of ‘sun bleached dog faeces’ (I’m sure you can remember what we called this in the 80s!) 
• Ülase 12 – this is a tiny gig venue out of town, we went for their #PunxForPalestine fundraiser after a recommendation from one of the Finnish bands we had been to see. It was covered in graffiti and stickers, cash only, the bar was a fridge of cans, no windows and it was like being back in 1990! The bands were all local, and the teenagers were all enthusiastically pogoing and moshing! They even did my favourite moshpit routine, sitting on the floor and leaning back and forwards (remember we used to do this to Oops upside your head at parties in the 80s?)  – a fun night out, even if Jo & I were thirty years older than everyone else!
• Kalamaja Museum – we visited this museum for free as it was the first Sunday of the month (lots of Tallinn museums do this, but you do need to book your free ticket online beforehand). It was essentially a house full of interesting clutter with all items donated by local people, and you could just wander about picking everything up to look at it (I would advise NOT taking a toddler with you!)
• Look out for the Lucky Chimney Sweep statue in Tallinn Old Town – if you rub the buttons on his jacket it will bring you good luck!

Kuressaare, Estonia

From Tallinn, we caught a bus to the Estonian island of Saaremaa (£15 each including ferry crossing) and stayed at the Meri Spa Hotel in a top floor suite with a big corner balcony, lounge and a private sauna. We had the most beautiful view of the sun and the moon rising behind the castle from the sauna window!

• Kuressaare is small, with a beach, harbour, and a small castle – and it’s full of spa hotels. We spent most of our time here eating and drinking!
• Saunas – these are incredibly popular in this part of the world. Our hotel had six to choose from (plus the one in our room!) – the hotel saunas were mixed and swimsuits were required but I’m not sure if the locals are naked in public saunas!
• Good Mood Food – a charming café with tables in the courtyard, I had the most incredible Chanterelle risotto here! 
• Kuu Kuu – this fish restaurant has a nice terrace with tables overlooking the castle moat. Watch out for all the midges though! 
• Saaremaa Veski – a very popular restaurant, go inside and explore the windmill, then sit outside in the lovely courtyard and eat cheesy balls and pickles! 

Riga, Latvia

Leaving Kuressaare, it took us two long bus trips to reach Riga in Latvia, where we caught an Uber to our home for the final five days of our adventure – a converted boat! We booked Float House nr 659 via Booking.com and it was great – loads of room, with decent wifi so we could get our work done. The downside was that it was out in the sticks – there was a great convenience store and a tram stop not far away, but at night it was poorly lit so didn’t feel safe (particularly so close to the water!). There’s currently a lot of redevelopment of Riga Waterfront going on, so in a few years I bet it will be ever so glamorous around that area!

• Anatomy Museum – the museum had hundreds of specimens in jars from around a hundred years ago, which were used to teach medical students. It sounds rather gruesome but it was absolutely fascinating. 
• Riga Art Space – not far from the main square is an underground art gallery, that only costs 5 Euros to get in. I won’t lie, some of the artworks didn’t impress me at all, but there were creative, fun and thought provoking works too. I enjoyed the machine that created a cloud around me! 
• Rundāles Palace – using Viator, we booked a day trip to the palace, which has been reinstated to its former splendour and is absolutely gorgeous. Each room had an interactive screen where you could tap to find out more about every object and painting in that room. I loved it but I wish there was some way you could hire glamorous period drama clothes to prance about in. Instead, we had blue plastic shoe covers…. The garden here is just wonderful. Don’t miss the shop, which is hidden under the stairs outside – they had some hilarious postcards!
• Mulberry – a café with two branches in Riga, we ate a lovely brunch here on our first day, and had to visit the other branch in the Art Nouveau district to try the handsome cakes too! 
• Albert Street – walk along this street to see the amazing Art Nouveau Buildings. I could spend hours looking at all the little details of each face and carving!
• Riga FC – I always try to see a local football match if I travel abroad so I picked up some cheap tickets to watch Riga FC at Skonto Stadium (about €6 each). They won 6-0 but it wasn’t the best quality football. They do have an entertaining DJ at half time and the café sells huge cheese croissants!

• Skyline Bar (in the Radisson SAS) – this bar has an amazing view and loads of seats, plus lots of quirky and reasonably priced cocktails. If you want a city view I recommend you spend €25 on a couple of cocktails here rather than paying €8 per person to climb up the crumbling Academy of Sciences! (Which actually made me feel a bit sad because it’s so unloved!) 
• Markets – we arrived a bit too late in the day at Riga’s central market but I must give a mention to the cheese stall. The lady there recommended three local Latvian cheeses for us and they were all delicious (washed down with Riga’s version of Prosecco!). Across the bridge, Agenskalns market was smaller and full of locals – we sat outside to eat pizza (don’t miss the lovely gift shop upstairs which has fabulous candles and hair accessories!)
• KGB Museum – book in advance for the guided tour of the museum, it’s immersive and excellent, describing how the Latvians suffered during the second world war under occupation.
• Riga Black Balsam – the famous local drink tastes a lot like cough medicine, but that’s understandable as originally it was created to help ill people recover quickly! We had a taster of 4 shots at the cute Riga Black Magic bar (go downstairs behind the fake bookshelf to find the alchemist at work – I believe you can also do a chocolate making workshop here)
• Parks – Rīgas parks are scattered across the city and absolutely lovely. Our favourite was Victory Park because it’s designed so well for families (even though our kids are now old we still appreciate this!). Lots of wooden play equipment, little trampolines build into the grass and even a lake with a sandy beach in the middle for kids to play. It was super chilled out. We also went to the Father’s Day celebrations in Vērmanes Garden, and ‘enjoyed’ a glass of kvass!

Hill of Crosses, Lithuania

Our Viator day trip also took us to a new country, crossing the Latvian border to Lithuania to visit the Hill of Crosses! This is an incredible sight. The first cross was left there around 200 years ago and it’s estimated there are more than 300,000 crosses there now. When Lithuania was under Soviet rule, the Russians kept trying to destroy the crosses, but the locals simply crept back overnight to replace them! It’s not only a place of worship but represents Lithuania’s defiance. A great place to wander for an hour or so, but make sure you take mosquito spray… 

Whew, what an adventure! I would probably never have chosen to visit these countries had I not won this prize, but I loved them all and would certainly visit again in the future. Thanks again Magic Radio for allowing Jo and I to spend this special time together!