With no fanfare, no last supper and no five-strong mixed-gender band of travellers, two Nicks modestly set off to explore a different part of Europe for the remainder of July.

The trip to Stansted was easy enough – some might say a little too easy – we had checked in half an hour before our check-in was even due to open.  Emotional farewells also out of the way, it was off to international departures and the relative obscurity of the world beyond.  Or so we thought.  Ten minutes airside, and I’d already seen my RGS Spanish teacher, Ms. Lopez-Garcia, and her gaggle of pre-GCSE students eager to go on their homestay trip to Santander.  Well, that was a blast from the past.  I knew something was up when three 15-year-olds passed me and not-so-quietly remarked to one another “Isn’t that whatshisname….Stylianou?  Nick Stylianou?”

Finally!  Fame! Glamour! Celebrity status achieved!  Not quite.  Two ex-RGS boys travelling together for almost a month?  Tight t-shirts and jeans?  In retrospect, nothing spells out ‘homosexual holiday’ quite like us.

As for easyJet, they were all too happy to delay the plane for an hour in case we thought we’d started our journey a little too smoothly.

This was, of course, after the mandatory rush onto the plane, in which I was left stranded to find a seat. Luckily, I was spared sitting next to one of three screaming babies and ended up finding a place almost at the back of the plane, with Nick somewhere in the middle.

At around 1800 local time (we lost more time because these Estonians are two hours ahead) we touched down in Tallinn.  As soon as we got off the plane, our rabies vaccinations earned their money while a customs dog was waiting to sniff us as we walked past.  No sooner had we thought we were free from Tallinn’s canine security force than another smaller dog was wandering around the baggage carousel to sniff our luggage.  It seemed to be having a jolly old time, although reasonably confused when the carousel was moving as to why it was going backwards and covering less ground when it trotted forward…the hilarity of a dog being transported in circles around international arrivals wasn’t lost on us.

Finally in the brisk air of the early evening, we waited at the bus stop for a lift into the centre of the town,  Who was to be our first acquaintance, having only just left the terminal gates? Why, it was travelling postgraduate law student Jules, of course, from Oxshott in Surrey. We got chatting, and as he was looking for a place to stay for a night (because he’d arrived a day early), we made the relatively short journey on bus and by foot with him to our hostel.  Sadly, it was fully booked, and we left Jules to find another hostel, and to have a nice summer.  Or so we thought.  We ended up seeing Jules while we had dinner, and invited him to join us in a post-dinner er…food run to the local McDonald’s.  Hey, we’re all growing lads, with fresh Estonian currency burning a hole in our pockets.

Another farewell to Jules (have we seen the last of him? Who knows?) meant it was time for us to turn in for the night.  A return to the hostel after a wander in the twilight of 10pm (!) found us acquainted with one of our room-mates: a boozy American called Brendan who couldn’t quite work out why we’d want a cultural experience of the city, preferring to wax lyrical about the ‘beautiful women’ he had found.  Another, quieter gentleman from Norfolk, educated at Oxford, introduced himself and we all promptly went to sleep.  I think I’ve given up a tally of meeting people, let alone single-travelling Caucasian English-speaking men.  And it’s only the first day.