Author: Zooks

読み方は、Zooks（ズークス）。 2017年〜2019年（2年）：タリン大学に通った後、当初の予定通りに修士号を取得。 2018年～2020年（約2年半）：Timbeter勤務。 2021年1月からはエストニアの別の企業に勤めます。 卒業を機に（情報がごちゃまぜになって個人的に嫌なので）以前のサイトから移動しました。 学校に関することはそちらをまずご覧ください。 ご連絡はどちらからでも構いません。

Zooks Has Chinchilla in Estonia.

ZooksLeave a comment

Tere!

In my fifth year of living in Estonia, I decided to have a chinchilla. As of when writing this article, it was merely the beginning of welcoming a chinchilla, I cannot mention details on the chinchilla. However I will describe what I have done before and when welcoming the chinchilla.

Table of Contents
     1. Why I decided to have a chinchilla
     2. How can I get a chinchilla in Estonia?
     3. Initial expenses for welcoming a chinchilla
     4. When welcoming the chinchilla
     5. First-time dust bath
     6. First-time cage cleaning
     ★Summary

1. Why I decided to have a chinchilla

Why did I decide to have a chinchilla?

To be honest, I cannot remember why exactly.

However, the reasons not to have other animals are always the same.

If I have a dog, I have to spend one hour twice a day, so it would be impossible for me to go to the gym, and I don’t want to go outside in winter in Estonia. If I have a cat/kitten, I have a cat allergy and it appears to be hard to clean the toilet (because it’s sand). I’m not that interested in rabbits, guinea pigs are smelly, and hamsters are too small so they are boring. Then, (maybe) I had an amazing idea: a chinchilla.

Coincidentally, my Japanese friend in Paris also has a chinchilla in Japan. My Estonian supporter has experience of having a chinchilla too. However, these were not the major reasons.

I researched a lot:

  • Chinchillas are nocturnal, so they sleep during the daytime. → I can go to work.
  • 15 minutes is enough for a chinchilla to play with humans. → I can do my hobbies.
  • Chinchillas are neither too small nor too big. → If they fortunately get used to me, I can cuddle him.
  • A chinchilla lives long. → They don’t die like hamsters. (It’s said that a chinchilla can live around 20 years. The Guinness record is almost 30 years.)

There are only advantages.

I had to change my lifestyle a bit, and the initial expenses are quite costly, but it’s a relief to have a roommate animal.

Therefore, I decided to have a chinchilla in Estonia.

2. How can I get a chinchilla in Estonia?

Whilst I was mentally and knowledgeably ready to have a chinchilla in Estonia, the problem was where to get him.

In Japan, I have had a hamster, fish, insects (that my brothers and I caught somewhere) and chickens. (I barely took care of them.) I have never purchased any animal from a pet shop, and I didn’t have any relation to pet shops in Estonia, so I had to google where to get a chinchilla.

I tried to search “chinchilla estonia” or something like that, and I found that some chinchillas were sold on the Estonian website called “Soov.ee”. Considering the breeder’s residence, I decided to get a boy chinchilla from a breeder in Saue. Saue is in Harju county where Tallinn is, and it takes around one hour to go there by bus from the centre.

Since I am better at writing than speaking in Estonian, I contacted the breeder by message on Soov.ee, and she replied to me.

We did messaging for a while. As it took time to prepare the chinchilla’s living place, we agreed that I would welcome him in the beginning of September, 2022.

By the way, in terms of the price when buying a chinchilla from a breeder, the price is from the best to the worst. In the case of Collinn (who is my chinchilla), it cost 25 EUR, but some breeders sold chinchillas for 50 or 100 EUR. It sounds like they do business with chinchillas.

3. Initial expenses for welcoming a chinchilla

Before welcoming a chinchilla, I had to prepare for his living. It might be the same as welcoming a baby.

Here are what I got before welcoming a chinchilla:

  • a cage
  • food pellets
  • timothy
  • food bowl
  • container for timothy
  • a rabbit house
  • pee sheets
  • a thermometer and hygrometer
  • a transport cage to welcome a chinchilla
  • chinchilla dust
  • bathtub for dust bath
  • a hoover
  • cleaning liquids for pets

I didn’t prepare treats and toys as of this time.

I bought a rabbit house so the chinchilla can hide himself. It’s said that many chinchillas are uneasy for a while after moving to a new place, so I got one where he can be relaxed.

People say that it’s hard to train toileting for chinchillas, so they use pee sheets for pets, where they can pee anywhere. Plus, I personally didn’t want to use a plastic toilet for a chinchilla because they might nibble it. I wanted to get ones that suit the cage, so I bought a 60-sheet package on Amazon DE. It cost around 25 EUR if I remember correctly.

Chinchillas need appropriate temperature and humidity. Too hot and too cold isn’t good. Since I cannot measure such things by feeling, I bought a thermometer and hygrometer on Amazon DE, which cost about 7 EUR.

As for the transport cage, I bought one at a pet shop in Estonia called Zoomaailm. When contacting the breeder, Collin was just a two-month old baby, so as a temporary solution, I bought a small transport cage which was 6 EUR.

You cannot wash a chinchilla with water. Instead, they clean their body with dust. I bought a bottle of dust for chinchillas at the biggest pet shop in Estonia called pet city.

Let’s talk about a hoover. It was just great timing. Although I had lived in the current flat for more than 18 months as of when I was preparing, I cleaned my flat by non-wet and wet wiping. But! As long as there is dust in the room, there are no other good cleaning materials than a hoover. Luckily Amazon DE had a campaign with home appliances, and a good hoover was discounted, so I bought that one. It doesn’t use much space and has no code. Everything is perfect.

When it comes to cleaning liquid for pets, I bought one in case Collin gets able to take a walk in the room and pee there. You can buy this at Prisma or Rimi (supermarkets) in Estonia.

The expense for preparation to have a chinchilla cost 230 EUR excluding a hoover. It was cheaper than I thought, but it was hard to find something specifically for chinchillas.

4. When welcoming the chinchilla

Since I wanted to spend time with Collin in the beginning, I welcomed him on Friday after work. The breeder had two photos of two chinchillas on Soov.ee, so I had no idea which one I would get. For this reason, I didn’t care how he would look.

The chinchilla that the breeder gave me was bigger than I thought and in standard grey. (It was still a baby size though.)

When arriving at home, I let him go in the cage. He immediately hid himself in the rabbit house. Of course he must have been uneasy after travelling for one hour by bus with a stranger and arriving at an unfamiliar place, and being told that “this is your new home”. Even a human would feel uneasy.

This day I just gave him food and water, and let him alone as much as possible (by checking him once in a while).

5. First-time dust bath

I had a routine to clean the flat every Saturday morning. Chinchillas sleep for 12 hours (from 5 am to 5 pm). I didn’t want to wake him up, so I changed this routine to the evening.

What I wanted to do before cleaning was letting Collin take a dust bath. Since I thought he wouldn’t be out of the cage, I let him take a dust bath in the cage. Once I put the dust bath in the cage, he spontaneously started taking a dust bath. He repeated getting in and out, and it took around 15 minutes in total.

6. First-time cage cleaning

Now it was the time to clean the cage. It has to be cleaned every day (according to websits in Japanese). Besides, there was a pee sheet.

I thought if the floor is the cage’s part in metal, Collin might get tired with his legs, so I folded the edges of the pee sheet outside, covered the metal floor, and let him live for a day. However, he incredibly made a hole in the pee sheet… It got me worried…

This was a great mistake, so I started having a pee sheet under the metal floor.

Yet, even though I put the pee sheet under the metal floor, he found it, and nibbled it. Therefore, later I changed it to wood pellets. This way it’s easier to clean. (The only problem is that it’s too hard to carry because I buy a 15kg bag at one time.)

Chinchillas are good at hearing. However, it seemed Collin wasn’t afraid of the sound of a hoover. As for the washing machine, I always have the cage in the bedroom, and close the door, so I don’t know how he feels.

★Summary

He never showed up until I cleaned the cage, and yet if I didn’t move a lot or suddenly, he took a dust bath in front of me. By watching such a life, I felt maybe he was getting used to my place little by little.

Also, as I wanted to give him as quiet an environment as possible, I bought new earphones for the in-house use to watch movies and TV series on iPad. (However, eventually, the earphones that I used outside broke, and I started using the other ones, so there are some sounds in the room now. But It’s not too loud. And I stopped subscribing Disney+ too. 😂)

Aitäh! 🙂

Zooks Goes to Countryside Town Called Puka in Estonia.

ZooksLeave a comment

Tere!

This story is so trivial, but since Puka, a small town in Estonia, is not so well-known, I decided to write about it for my website.

Puka is a town in Estonia, which one of my Estonian friends is from. One day we were just talking, and the topic was changed to our birthdays. Then I came to know that on one Sunday in August, 2022 there was her birthday. She said “I don’t have a plan to have a big party, and I will just go to Puka. You are also welcome.” Therefore I immediately decided to go to Puka.

From Tallinn to Puka which is almost Latvia, there are only four trains per day, and it takes three hours one way. Even though I took the earliest one from Tallinn, I arrived in Puka at 10.30 am. I wondered what to do for the return trip, and eventually I decided to go back to Tallinn on the same day because the next day was Monday, I had work, I had to train a newly hired employee, and I had an Estonian language class after work. However, my friend suggested me staying at her parents’ place in Puka.

By the way, I thought that I hadn’t mentioned how to buy tickets in Elron, the Estonian train, in any article, so I will explain that too.

Table of Contents

     1. How to buy tickets on Elron’s website
     2. What kind of town is Puka?
     ★Summary

1. How to buy tickets on Elron’s website

It’s very easy to buy train tickets on Elron’s website. Open the website first. It totally depends on you if you create an account there.

After logging in or opening the webpage, enter the origin and the destination, and set the date. You cannot set the date no more than one week ahead. This probably means it’s not crowded that much usually. 😂 Once you enter them, click “Go”.

Let’s find the most suitable time. After selecting the time, click “Choose”.

Select the number of tickets that you need, and click “Next”.

Check the origin, the destination, and the date and time. If you don’t have an Elron farecard, hit ”Buy ticket to e-mail”.

Enter your email address, and go next by clicking “Add cart”.

Given that you need a return ticket, click ”Add return ticket”.

Then you will see the payment option so select the most suitable one.

Have a tick in “I have read and agree with terms and conditions.”, and hit ”Confirm”.

After the payment, you will receive an email with a PDF file which is your ticket.

If you buy tickets for a round trip, both tickets are contained in one QR code, so you will see only one page in the PDF file.

That’s it!

Easy peasy, right?

2. What kind of town is Puka?

Puka is quite a countryside town as you may imagine.

Tallinn has nothing, and it gets me fed up with it after living in Tallinn for five years. However, probably because it is still the biggest city in Estonia, my body and mind seemed to be fatigued due to the noisy environment in the city. Arriving in Puka in summer, it was full of green, and the air was so fresh. Those simple things just relaxed me physically.

The station in Puka had no one, and on the platform, my friend and her friend welcomed me. From there we went to my friend’s parents’ place by her friend’s car.

My friend has a black cat at home in Tallinn, so she brought her to her parents’ place where two other cats lived as well. There was one more black cat and one grey kitten.

When I visited the friend’s place in Tallinn, when I went to a cat cafe in Tallinn, and when I stayed at my boss’s place with a cat, I didn’t have any allergic symptoms with cats like I had as a child. However, at my friend’s parents’ place, I had some allergic symptoms with a cat.

Later, we found that the grey kitten was only three years old in human age, and his short hair was soaring in the air. Then I took it as dust in my body, and that is why I had the allergic symptoms. Without the grey cat, and if I didn’t move, I barely had a runny nose and my eyes were not so itchy.

It seemed I was okay with cats without soaring hair in a clean place.

At my friend’s parents’ place, we had her mum’s Estonian potato salad, had some snacks while watching a film, and ate ice cream in the garden with her two other friends. We didn’t do anything touristic in Puka.

Estonian potato salad

If you ask me about any adventure that I had in Puka, then I would say exploring her parents’ garden. 😂

I was aware that there are lots of private apple trees in Estonia (or even in the whole Europe), and yet they had a pear tree too. They also had tomatoes as well as cucumbers in their small greenhouse, and there were pumpkins, carrots, potatoes and strawberries too. Moreover, my friend showed me raspberries, plums, red currants, black currants, and aronias in addition to cherries. Yeah, there were literally a lot. 😂

Aronia juice

As for the potato salad that her mum made, the potatoes were their own ones. Brilliant.

They have a small lake in front of the garden, and my friend told me they swim there once in a while in summer.

That’s so good, they don’t need to pay for water to have a pool.😂

Also, there is a pharmacy from the station in Puka to her parents’ place. Before going back to the station, I came to know that an Estonian film called ”Sügis” which means “Autumn” in English used that pharmacy in the film. The story is based on an Estonian novelist, Oskar Luts.

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By the way, because I started watching “Talve” which is the continuation of ”Sügis” for learning Estonian, I watched the whole series including “Kevade” (spring) and “Suvi” (summer). 😂 I’m not a huge fan of Estonia, but still I watched all of them, so if you are a fan of Estonia, you should probably watch them. ✌️

★Summary

When I was about to go to the station in Puka with my friend and her friend, my friend’s dad told me to come there again, especially when I’m tired of Tallinn. Since it seemed that her mum was not able to speak English, I thought “I want to see them again with a better Estonian language skill next time.” Also, I reckoned that I would come there again when I have more time because it takes three hours by train from Tallinn…

Puka literally has nothing, but it was a good place to take a break.

A weekend trip might be good.

They also told me it would take 2.5 hours by car, so maybe you can drive a car there too.

Aitäh! 🙂

Zooks Goes to Narva to See Dermatologist.

ZooksLeave a comment

Tere!

In summer, 2021, suddenly my face began itching.

I thought “Perhaps pollen allergy”, and I used internal medicines and medical creams prescribed by a family doctor. In winter 2021, the symptom was still there.

This time I wondered “Maybe dryness?” (I know positive, right.)

The situation where the itchiness stopped with the medical cream but came back if I left had lasted for a while, and the summer came in 2022. I finally thought that this was unusual, and went to see a family doctor properly, but he also didn’t have any idea what the cause was. Anyway, I was prescribed antihistamine and nizoral cream. At the same time, he advised me to book an appointment with a dermatologist. This is because there was a long queue to see a dermatologist.

I thought “But the maximum should be three weeks or something”, and yet in Tallinn surprisingly there was no vacancy until December 2022 as of August. There were technically vacancies, but all of them were private, which cost around 100 EUR.

Then I thought:






It’s probably cheaper to go to some other city, even calculating the total cost.





Therefore, I booked an appointment with a dermatologist on the Estonian health portal.

Table of Contents

     1. How to book an appointment and how to use Digilugu
     2. Zooks went to Narva
     3. Outcomes after one month
     ★Summary

1. How to book an appointment and how to use Digilugu

You can book an appointment with a dermatologist in Estonia on the Patient Portal called ”Digilugu”.

First of all, log in there.

Click “National eBooking system”.

Click “Find a time without referrals”.

You will search available dermatologists. You can select all the counties. Since the booking queue to see a dermatologist in Estonia is extremely long, set the wide range of dates. Keep in mind that you may have to wait four to five months in Tallinn.

If you untick “Patient” in “Service paid by”, only free appointments are shown.

Let’s search.

Once you select the date and time as well as a dermatologist that seems to match your wants, click “Book”.

Enter your phone number and email address, and click “Confirm”.

Wait a bit after clicking, you will receive an email from the clinic that you selected.

That’s it! It’s very straightforward, but it’s irritating that every time we need to book one there. In Japan, you just need to go to a dermatological clinic, book on site, and see a dermatologist on the same day. Why is there such a long queue in Estonia?

2. Zooks went to Narva

Then on the last Friday in August, 2022, I went to Narva by taking a Health Day off which is my company’s benefit, and which I can take up to 10 times per calendar year.

You can take either a train or a bus from Tallinn to Narva, but the train is more comfortable in my opinion. Yet, it took around three hours to go to Narva as it is located at the end of Estonia in East.

I took the earliest train to Narva, and arrived there at 10.30 am. Since I didn’t have enough time to have breakfast, and in the first place I didn’t have much food at thome, I walked for half an hour, and had lunch in one shopping centre in Narva. I also studied until 2 pm there. I think I stayed there for 2.5 hours.

Then I walked to the clinic. Although I was mentally ready, everything was in Russian. The receptionist spoke only Russian too.

Just in case, I had downloaded Russian in Google translate app.

When the appointment time came, and I saw the dermatologist, she looked as if she had asked me

“In which language should we communicate?”

Of course she did. 😅

It’s perhaps unusual that an Asian girl visits to see a dermatologist in Narva. 😂

I asked her if she could speak Estonian in Estonian, and she said no. Sink or swim, I asked if she could speak English, and she said “A little”.

Such a miracle!!

Some people say I speak fast in daily life, so I explained as slowly as possible, but she could understand well.

It was actually an interesting time as she mixed Estonian and English sometimes. 😂 For instance, whilst she wanted to say “once a day”, she indeed said ”once päevas”. Or when trying to say “twice”, she said ”two korda”. 😂 It was all good as long as we were able to communicate. 😂

She prescribed me internal medicines for 30 days that I have used before, and two new medical creams.

betamethasone

By the way, the cause is unknown even now. The medical creams are betamethasone and pimecrolimus, the latter of which is for atopy. For some reason, I had a horrible red rash on my arm joint. I’ve had this one since I was a child, but it was more frequently itchy since my face began itching, I felt.

pimecrolimus

Personally, I wondered if mental health affects the skin. I don’t know for sure though.

3. Outcomes after one month

The next day after using the medical cream, my skin already got better. On the second day, there was less dryness. I don’t remember precisely after the third day, and yet on the around third to fifth day, the skin trouble was almost gone.

Since then, although from time to time my skin has been dry, with the medical cream the skin condition gets better in two days or so. Recurrence isn’t that often either. (It recurred once or twice in one month.)

It was a good decision that I went to Narva for this.

★Summary

If the medical system were like the Japanese one, I could see a dermatologist on the same day when I would book an appointment. And even in the dermatological clinic that is popular in my hometown, I could see the dermatologist by booking in the morning. However, here is Estonia where you need to book an appointment before visiting a clinic. Plus, the queue for the dermatologist is super long. I still wonder why this happens.

I have no idea why my face began itching, but anyway I’m glad that it’s better now. At the end of September, my mental health got better too, so I still think maybe the mental health was more or less related? I’m not sure though. Also, I was lucky to have seen a dermatologist who could speak English in Narva. (I was ready to speak Estonian in Narva where lots of Russian speakers live. 😂)

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As written above, on this day I went to Narva by using my company’s benefit called Health Day with which I can still get paid taking a day off. Therefore I walked around Narva a bit too. Since I didn’t want to use public transport in Narva, I walked over 20,000 steps. 😂

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For those who need to see a dermatologist in Estonia, why don’t you consider some other cities? (And let’s enjoy the town like a tourist too! 😂)

Aitäh! 🙂

Zooks Had Personal Training in Estonia.

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Tere!

I didn’t expect that I would do this in my life. My mum sometimes went to or still goes to a gym to have personal training, and yet it seems I have that gene.

In the middle of August, 2022, I had personal training with a trainer from the cheap gym chain called Gym!

Table of Contents

     1. Reasons and a plan of having personal training
     2. Training
     3. Fee for one personal training session
     4. Reviewing training menu in the gym
     5. Appendix
     ★Summary

1. Reasons and a plan of having personal training

When I had a body composition analysis, the trainer told me to have a bit more muscles, and I personally wanted to know how to use gym machines, so I asked a personal trainer in Gym!. The reason why I wanted to know how to use machines in the gym was that I wanted to gain more muscles by working out with the machines in the gym.

You may think

“You can watch YouTube to see how to use those machines.”

However, there are more men in the gym itself, and men basically use those hard machines more than women. I was too shy to use machines in the gym that I always went to… I wanted to use them on my own after learning how to use them. (Besides I would look stupid.)

There are some trainers in Gym!, and at that time there were around three female trainers. I received a reply from only one trainer who accepted personal training. The price was okay too, hence I requested her to have a personal training session.

2. Training

Then in the middle of August, 2022, I had a consultation with the trainer before the actual part of the personal training started.

I told her that

  • that I wanted to know trainings with which my croocked back (round shoulders) will be fixed
  • that I wanted to reduce fat from the legs
  • that I wanted to remove fat from the belly

Then we warmed up. Since We didn’t have that much time, we skipped running, and I just did some stretching and squats.

After that, we started using machines. I can’t remember the order of using the machines, and yet the list below is the gym machines that I learnt how to use as well as a training I had:

  • Leg press
  • Standing leg curl
  • Abductor
  • Chest press
  • Cable lowing rowing
  • Lat pull down
  • Back extention
  • Plank

Although I knew how to use the chest press and how to do a plank, particularly the plank that I had done seemed to be an incorrect form. When I did it in the proper form, I felt something in my belly.

With the machines I did three 10 to 15-time training sets whilst I had no-time-limit training for the plank three times.

I simply learnt how to train myself.

One session was one hour.

3. Fee for one personal training session

When I contacted this personal trainer, she told me one hour (one session) would cost 40 EUR. It was a decent price.

She asked me to pay in cash, and yet I didn’t prepare 40 EUR in cash, so I requested her to let me do a bank transfer. (When it comes to personal or private financial communication, it’s better to check if the payment is in cash or bank transfer beforehand even in Estonia.)

Since I have lived in Estonia for five years, I almost lost the habit of having cash… Rather it’s a bit difficult to have cash. 😂

Prices of personal training differ, depending on a trainer because they have different styles and systems (like how many times per week, how many hours per session, etc). Therefore, you should check such things before booking a session.

4. Reviewing training menu in the gym

After experiencing the personal training, I reviewed my training menu in the gym.

So far I did either the chest press or deadlifting, and then I did a run or bike exercise for half an hour.

After the personal training, I changed this training menu.

Since I didn’t want to bring three bags such as one for the Estonian language class, one for the morning gym and one for a lunch box one the days when I had the Estonian language classes, on Mondays and Wednesdays I started doing belly exercises at home. The training is based on a trainer whose name is saki whom I happened to find on Instagram. I use her videos on YouTube. The body part that I train is always the same: my belly.

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On Tuesday I do a leg press, standing leg curl and abdoctor. On Thursdays, I use a back extension, lat pull down and do deadlifting. On Fridays, I use a cable rowing machine, a chest press and do some planks.

Since it’s less effective to train the same parts every day, I decided to train in this order: belly → legs → belly → back → belly. However, it seems that it’s still recommended to take a two-day break.

The personal trainer told me to take a short break of one minute or two between the sessions, so if I do three types of training, it takes 20 to half an hour. Therefore, I can run only 10 minutes in reality now. 😂 It’s a bit sad for me.

Of course, I can’t do these menus every week, so if I can’t I do something I couldn’t do + running on a weekend.

5. Appendix

By using the gym machines, I noticed one thing:

I will probably have solid hands if I keep using those machines…!

So, I bought a pair of gym gloves on Amazon DE! I measured my palm size, but it still felt slightly bigger. Maybe those stretch well.

★Summary

I was very satisfied with the personal training. Like the body composition analysis, I want to take one again if needed whilst I’m more into the body composition analysis.

As for the machines in the gym, I use three types of machines basically at one time, I actually don’t often have to queue for anything because I can do something else while someone is using a machine that I also want to use on a day. This is simply good. I’m so glad that I can use more gym machines because I learnt how to use them in the personal training.

Aitäh! 🙂

Zooks Had Something like a Hemorrhoid.

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Tere!

One day in July, 2022, I felt something wrong with my anus while I was working. It was a bit painful, and I felt a slight pain if I didn’t sit on a chair gently. I could sit on a sofa and bed normally.

I noticed this during my work, and I timidly touched the painful spot, looking for it. I found something slightly swollen.








Hemorrhoid?

No way.

However, I wouldn’t have been surprised.

I was so into my work that I forgot to take a break, and I was constantly sitting on the chair to work as I didn’t have energy to stand and work. I tended to skip going to the gym because I hadn’t felt good. In other words, I didn’t move my body enough, so it was not surprising to get a hemorrhoid.

In this article, I’m talking about something like a hemorrhoid that I had in Estonia. (It’s nothing special.)

When googling hemorrhoids in Japanese, it seemed that having a hemorrhoid was pretty serious. If you leave it as it is, you will maybe need to get surgery…

No, I don’t want that.

(Well, first of all, I couldn’t bear with the pain.)

I was so worried so I emailed my GP, and they told me there were ointments.

On receiving the reply from them, I went to a pharmacy, and asked a pharmacy clerk.

For the hemorrhoid in the first stage, the ointments are effective enough. As the pharmacy clerk recommended one to me, I bought an ointment called Mastu. It cost around 11 EUR. (Yeah, it was a bit expensive.) My GP also recommended candles to me, but due to the fact that the ointments are easy to use, the pharmacy clerk told me only the ointment is sufficient treatment. Therefore, I bought only the ointment.

Reference

The instructions of how to use Mastu were surely written in Estonian, and yet I checked it. It’s straightforward – use the ointment twice a day to the painful area. My GP told me to monitor myself for five to seven days, so I did it. If it didn’t heal even after one week, I was told to see my GP.

However, on day five, I felt much less pain and something-wrongness. I kept using the ointment until day seven, and found out that day five’s feeling was not anything random. After that, my anus condition turns to be good. 😂 Even now everything is alright.

By the way, Mastu contains an additional tube too, and you can use it if your hemorrhoid is in your anus. I didn’t use it because the wart was outside. (However, it’s still unclear if it was really a hemorrhoid or not.)

Besides, since I put the ointment outside the hemorrhoid, I got the ointment on my underwear when I wore the underwear directly. Then, I used a panty liner for periods. It prevented getting a dirty ointment on the underwear.

Reference

I think even men can use this idea. Though perhaps it might be a bit embarrassing to buy period products…

Anyways, nothing big happened, and I’m glad that I had a new experience in Estonia. 😂

Aitäh! 🙂

Outdoor Activities You Can Do in Summer in Estonia.

ZooksLeave a comment

Tere!

In Estonia, once a year, there is an event called “summer days” held by a company. If a company is too startup and has little money like sometimes they struggle with even paying for their employees’ salaries, “summer days” may not happen, but in many companies in Estonia it seems they have. Based on my own experience and bias, the majority of the companies in Estonia hold summer-day events with leisure activities and stays, and yet some companies include work…

In Timbeter, which was my first company to work in Estonia, during 2 and half a year, I had this summer-day event only once, and it included work. I had to give a presentation with a few of my colleagues, and after that, we went to an adventure park, had dinner and had BBQ after dinner. Next morning, we checked out after the breakfast. This company had only 10 employees at that time, but they checked only CEO and CTO’s schedules in summer, and the summer-day event date overlapped with my vacation, so I got compensative vacation days later.

In the company which I worked for in 2022, we went to Võhandu river and Partisi lake as our summer-day event.

Table of Contents

     1. Where on earth are Võhandu river and Partsi lake!?
          a. Võhandu river
          b. Partsi lake
     2. Activities we did
     3. Accommodation
     ★Summary

1. Where on earth are Võhandu river and Partsi lake!?

Estonia has been popular among Japanese people since I came here, and there are lots of famous places for them compared to the time before 2017, but still they or even you may think:




Where the hell Võhandu river and Partsi lake. 😂


Both Võhandu river and Partsi lake are located in a county called Põlva which is sotuhern than Tartu. I wasn’t involved in planning this summer-day event (and it was not my job), so I still don’t know why Võhandu river and Partsi lake were chosen.

a. Võhandu river

We gathered in the office in Tallinn, and went to Võhandu river and Partsi lake by van chartered, spending three hours.

If you want to go there by yourself, it would be difficult to go there unless you charter a van by yourself or rent a car or drive your own car, I thought.

b. Partsi lake

Partsi lake has an island in the lake, and an accommodation is just beside the lake. The island in the lake was full of trees and grasses, so I didn’t land there or do anything. On the summer-day event, we actually arrived at Partsi lake first, and then headed to Võhandu river as we needed to drop our luggage.

2. Activities we did

As for the activities, the main activity was rafting in the Võhandu river. It was my first time rafting, and I had an impression of “we just go down the river by boat”, which was excessive optimism.

We were splitted into two groups, and I joined the second one. However, while we were going forward, we accidentally overtook the first group on the way to the goal, and since then we had competitively gone forward to progress as fast as possible. Besides, rafting required lots of physical power. Therefore, it was so hard to row a boat.

Furthermore, it got me pretty wet. I believe it wouldn’t be too uncomfortable if you wear swimwear under the shorts and the tshirt. I personally didn’t bring any digital devices by the way. (There was a pocket in front of the rafting jacket though.)

It took us two hours to reach the goal by rafting itself. When arriving at the goal, and getting off the boat, my body was so stiff. The following day, of course I got muscular pain. 😉

Also, there was no femininity seen from my side. (I enjoyed myself though.)

Later we heard that one of my previous colleagues who brought her phone for rafting checked the map while rafting, and the Võhandu river was actually connected to Latvia.

It might have been fun if we just went to Latvia with that small boat.

😂

We also experienced sup boarding after coming back to Partsi lake where our accommodation was from Võhandu river. It was actually quite a relaxing activity. If you are afraid of falling down into water, you will fail. ✌️

By the way, it was my first time swimming in the lake (though I have done it in the sea and rivers), and I was so surprised that water in Partsi lake was so black. One of the other previous colleagues and I googled later, and we found that it was not because of something chemical but natural. I remember the flashing water in the toilet was coloured too…

The accommodation beside Partsi lake had a tiny sauna and jacuzzi (?)/ a small warm pool (?) as well.

We laughed ridiculously a lot and enjoyed ourselves a lot, so I guess it could be an option for your private vacation plan in summer. It seems glamping is also possible. Since I personally don’t like camping, and want a proper bed to sleep in, I didn’t do it. I can sleep while camping, but it’s just continuously uncomfortable the whole night.

3. Accommodation

The accommodation beside Partsi lake seemed to have both a small house and a big house. It seemed we were supposed to occupy the big house with a larger group, and yet suddenly there were lots of cancellations due to sickness, etc, so we all stayed in the rooms on the second floor only. (Or maybe originally only the second floor, but there were still lots of empty beds.)

Each room has four or five beds, and that bed was quite small even for me who was 162 cm tall in order to move during the sleep. (In addition, because of rafting my arms were too tired, so it was difficult to fall asleep even though I was physically tired.)

In summer there are lots of insects (particularly flies and mosquitoes) in Estonia, so we closed our room window during the night, but luckily it was not hot as it was cold summer in July, 2022.

The accommodation’s bathrooms were shared (but of course separated for men and women!), and there are a few more toilets outside. For some reason, there were two showers in one shower room for women… There were also bottles of shampoo, conditioner as well as showergell.

As for meals at the accommodation, we had lunch on the day we arrived there, dinner, and breakfast the following morning. Also, they provide us with lots of snacks.

It appeared to be fine to bring alcoholic drinks, but I’m not so sure.

Later we found that if we stay there with a group of more than 10 people, it costs only around 30 EUR for each person. The website says only “breakfast included”, so I have no idea on lunch or dinner. Anyways, it was way cheaper than I thought…

★Summary

The summer-day event I experienced in this company was only this time, but everything was much better than the one I had when I worked for Timbeter. The best point was there was no talk about customers or what we do daily, and no presentation for work. But I think this depends on the company you work for. I loved the point that work is work, leisure time is leisure time in this company. Whilst we had company events including this summer-day event, there was nothing about what to improve at work, how to approach in business, etc as the purpose was to have fun, not meetings outside of the office, or work-related training. The balance is important indeed.

I have no idea if any other European countries have this sort of summer-day event.

However, anyways I believe anyone can do what we experienced in our summer-day event. There were few people in those areas, so if you are fed up with cities and famous/popular places in Estonia, perhaps you should go there.

Aitäh! 🙂

How to Get the EU Long Term Residence Permit in Estonia.

ZooksLeave a comment

Tere!

When I moved to Estonia, I didn’t know and didn’t think about the EU long-term residence permit. In the first place, I thought I would go back to Japan right after graduating from the university, and would have to work in Japan before knowing it. However, since I got my first job in Estonia when I was a second year student in Estonia, working in Japan has not been my option anymore. 😂

In addition, I have continued learning Estonian, and eventually my level reached to the one with which I became qualified to apply for the EU long-term residence permit. However, there are some other conditions to get an EU long-term residence permit.

This time I’m going to talk about the EU long-term residence permit.

Table of Contents

     1. Estonian citizenship vs. the EU long-term residence permit
     2. Advantages of the EU long-term residence permit
     3. Conditions to get the EU long-term residence permit in Estonia
     4. Case study: Zooks
     ★Summary

1. Estonian citizenship vs. the EU long-term residence permit

I will discuss detailed conditions on the EU long-term residence permit, and yet if you meet all the conditions, you can apply for Estonian citizenship or the EU long-term residence permit. I guess that without any strong will or lots of advantages, few Japanese people would want Estonian citizenship.

This is because we have to lose our Japanese passports once we get another citizenship in Estonia. Japan doesn’t allow us to have double nationalities.

People from Pakistan, Bangladesh or other African countries whose passport ranks are relatively low seem to tend to get Estonian citizenships. That makes sense as then they can travel to more countries.

On the other hand, as of 2022, our Japanese passports are stronger than Estonian ones, (or even the strongest in the world), getting Estonian citizenship is rather disadvantageous for me in my opinion. However, the EU long-term residence permit is the option for such people.

With the EU long-term residence permit, we can get similar rights as other EU citizens whilst we can keep our Japanese passport as we are not EU citizens. In addition, it is said that we can freely live and work in other EU countries except for Ireland and Denmark. Moreover, (perhaps) depending on the university, the tuition fee appears to be free… (This information is questionable according to my own research. I need to research further. However, it would be more than pleasant if the tuition fee is free or discounted.)

2. Advantages of the EU long-term residence permit

According to EU Immigration Portal, there are several benefits of the EU long-term residence permit. Here is a list (but excluding some):

  • Access to employment and self-employment (this may not apply for some activities which are only for nationals or EU citizens, such as access to some positions in the public administration);
  • Education and work-related training, including study grants;
  • Recognition of diplomas and qualifications;
  • Social protection, social assistance and social security as defined by national law (EU countries can limit social assistance to basic benefits only, such as the minimum income);
  • Tax benefits;
  • Access to goods and services (e.g. transport, museums, restaurants, etc.);

and so on.

As an example, I contacted the Swedish Migration Agency, and figured out that even if I move to another EU country, the EU long-term residence permit is moved to Sweden, which does not mean that I would lose the EU long-term residence permit itself.

This makese sense.

I highly recommend you research as this kind of information should be searched on one’s own.

3. Conditions to get the EU long-term residence permit in Estonia

There are basically two big conditions. One is the residential period, and the other one is the language level.

Let’s talk about the residential period first. This is determined by the EU, and 5 years are minimum. If you come to one EU country as a student, you should probably ask the migration agency or something . (I’ll explain later on.)

The other one is the language level. This seems to be dependent on a country, and yet in Estonia Estonian B1 is necessary.

There are some other conditions such as financial one or health insurance, so you should perhaps check these before or when thinking of applying for the EU long-term residence permit.

4. Case study: Zooks

In my case, I came to Estonia in August, 2017, although I received my first TRP card in September in the same year. Then it expired in June, 2019 when I graduated from the postgraduate school, and the second TRP card was issued in the beginning of September in the same year. In short, I had been a student for approximately 20 months. However, such a period is counted only 10 months. (In other words, they count legal stay as a student by multiplying 0.5.)

Since I got the second TRP card in September, 2019, it means I would legally have been staying in Estonia for literally three years in September of 2022.

Therefore, as of the time I was getting information, I have lived in Estonia for three years and 10 months. I need to stay in Estonia one year and two months more, so in November, 2023, I should be able to apply for the EU long-term residence permit.

I took an Estonian B1 exam, and passed it in June in the same year, so all I need to do is just wait. However, they also have some limit that I can be away from Estonia, hence I need to be careful with that. It has to be no more than six months in a row and no more than 10 months in five years. In Estonia, usually the annual leave is around one month per calendar year, so if you work for one Estonian company, then you will get one-month annual leave five times. Because I had been a student for “10 months”, I will definitely not exceed 10 months in total anyways.

★ Summary

Waiting one year seems long, but considering my career, I still want to be in Estonia at least one more year. Therefore it was good timing. Due to the fact that I still don’t understand a few things, I think I will update this article from time to time whenever I get information.

Aitäh! 🙂

Total Expensese on the Trip to Ireland 2022!

ZooksLeave a comment

Tere!

You may wonder about expenses before moving to another country or studying abroad, but this should not mean that we can ignore how much it costs for one trip in a country that you want to visit. There may also be some people who want to go to a fascinating country that is expensive, but still care about their finances.

I always search budgets before deciding a destination or before going to travel there. Then decide how much I save for that trip per month from the point that I searched until the point I travel, depending on how many months are left. I always use a website called ”Budget Your Trip”. They show budgets not only in the destination country’s currency but also in the currency that I use (i.e. in my case euro). (If you use an ad-block add-on on your browser you always see some pop up like I see, so I use this website on the browser that I don’t have the ad-block- add-on.)

In the case of Ireland, the budget trip costs 44 EUR per day and 309 EUR per week, per person, and the mid-range trip costs 109 EUR per day and 766 EUR per week, per person. However, in my case, I decided to save 1300 EUR which was my budget.

Therefore, this article shows the result.

Table of Contents

     1. Flight tickets
     2. Transport in Dublin
     3. Car rental
     4. Accommodations
     5. Food expenses
     6. Travel insurance
     7. Others
     8. Total expenses
     ★Summary

1. Flight tickets

First of all, let’s talk about our flight tickets. We bought flight tickets on Ryanair. This expense is marked in the tab called ”Travel fees” in the spreadsheet that I share every month on Twitter. The flight tickets for two people cost 281.79 EUR. My boyfriend paid 140 EUR and I paid 141.79 as he was going to drive a car almost a whole week, and splitting 1.79 EUR seemed to be very stingy.

Perhaps because of the season, the flight tickets weren’t cheap.

2. Transport in Dublin

Next, here is about transport in Dublin. I bought a 24-hour Leap card which cost 8 EUR. My boyfriend didn’t bring sufficient coins, so I gave him one ride on a Dublin bus from the airport to the city centre, which cost 2.60 EUR. Also on the first day, a taxi drive to my friend A’s place cost 10.20 EUR. Moreover, we took another taxi from the accommodation on the last day to the airport and paid 24.60 EUR.

3. Car rental

In terms of car rental, renting a car cost 936.42 EUR, and charging the fuel (diesel) twice cost 144.65 EUR, in total of which it was 1,081.07 EUR. However, since my boyfriend paid for all of these, we decided that I would pay for accommodations. But still there were some differences of 350 EUR. He didn’t care, and yet I paid him back 174 EUR because I even couldn’t help him drive, I wanted to pay him back.

4. Accommodations

This is about the expenses on accommodations. I’m pretty sure that it wouldn’t have cost that much if I travel by myself or my Japanese friend S who has travelled with me before. Even if I had chosen private rooms, I’m sure we wouldn’t have had to pay that much. 😂 Since we booked the accommodations right before heading to the destinations, it cost a lot…

Two nights in Galway required 238.56 EUR, another two nights in Mayo was 180 EUR, and two nights in Dublin cost 314.64 EUR, so in total the expenses were 238.56 EUR. I paid for all of these.

In addition, it cost 248.35 EUR for the hostel in Dublin, where we were supposed to stay. This was also supposed to be two nights. If you read the article about the accommodations in Dublin, you will see the details…

Adding all of these, the expense is almost the same as the car rental fees and fuel fees, but I didn’t want to include the hostel cost for the first day in Dublin personally, I deal with it as my own expense.

I will triple check whatever it is from next time when travelling with whoever they will be. 😂

5. Food expenses

When it comes to food, we always paid for two of one by taking turns. This rule? culture? was created because I stopped him paying for both of us at restaurants twice in a row. 😂 By taking turns to pay for food, I paid 179.90 EUR in total. However, this includes a few cups of coffee for him while he was driving.

6. Travel insurance

When you travel abroad, you should have travel insurance. If we have a Japanese credit card, it often has travel insurance too whilst Estonian debit cards don’t. For this reason, I always purchase travel insurances on Swisscare. If a Japanese person who travels to Ireland from Estonia for eight days, it cost 14.70 EUR.

7. Others

Other than the above, I paid for Harry Styles’s concert which was 104.65 EUR as well as the goods which was 35 EUR, for parking and highways which were 10.30 EUR in total, and for souvenirs which totally cost 7.88 EUR.

//www.instagram.com/embed.js

Hence, the total expense for other stuff was 157.83 EUR.

8. Total expenses

Now, let’s add everything I explained above.

Item

Expenses

Flight tickets

141.79

Transport

45.4

Car rental

174

Accommodations

981.55

Food

179.9

Travel insurance

14.70

Others

157.83

Sum

1,695.14

Yeah, it’s way over my budget. 😂

It’s for sure because of the accommodations. Plus, I wish we could have booked a car for rental. This is because we could customise later on.

★Summary

Although almost 400 EUR was over my budget, the trip was also over now. We can’t take anything back. What I learnt from this trip were;

  • Let me plan if you are not good at it.
  • I should triple check everything including facilities and locations for accommodations.
  • I need to be able to drive a car in Europe too.

There may be more, and yet it was a bit difficult as it was our first time travelling together abroad.

I swear, I will plan a trip with whoever I travel after understanding all the points that the travel companion and I cannot compromise. 😂

I cannot plan a detailed day schedule way beforehand though. 😂

In conclusion, it was a story that a trip to Ireland isn’t cheap.

Aitäh! 🙂

7 Souvenirs You Can Buy in Ireland.

ZooksLeave a comment

Tere!

Some people (particularly Japanese people) feel like buying and bringing souvenirs when travelling. Or, you might feel like giving something specific from your travel country that one of your friends or someone wants to go somewhere?

On the trip to Ireland in June, 2022, I didn’t buy a lot of souvenirs, and yet there are some recommendations of souvenirs even for yourself as a traveller when going to Ireland, so I made a list.

Table of contents

1. Barry’s tea
2. Rich tea biscuits
3. Cadbury’s chocolate
4. Tayto
5. Carol’s products
6. Pennys
7. Butler’s
★Summary

1. Barry’s tea

Barry’s tea is an Irish tea brand.

When I started living in DCU’s (Dublin City University) student accommodation in 2015, as a welcome gift, one small package of Barry’s tea was on the kitchen table, which was the first time I knew Barry’s tea.

Reference

At that time, Barry’s tea package in the accommodation was a green box, and it seemed to be a normal version of Barry’s tea. Later my Irish friend told me “Red Barry’s tea tastes richer,” since which I always buy red Barry’s tea. There is also a black version.

The sizes of packages are small (20 tea bags), medium (80 tea bags) as well as big (160 tea bags).

In 2019 when I travelled to Ireand, I bought the biggest one (160 tea bags). At that time, I flew to and from Dublin by Lufthansa, and they allowed a bag up to 8 kg for free. However, We flew by Ryanair to and from Dublin this time so we could bring only the small one (20*25*45 cm) for free, so I couldn’t buy the biggest one. (Strictly speaking, I could have bought it as my boyfriend had more space in his bag.) Therefore, I bought the medium size. Personally I was still satisfied. I got ready for a boring winter in Estonia!! 😂

Plus, while you are travelling in Ireland, and if you are not lactose intolerant, I recommend drinking tea with Irish full fat milk.







Super tasty!!





It’s a bit irrelevant, and yet even milk only is super tasty!!!!

2. Rich tea biscuits

Rich tea biscuits are not Irish, sorry, but British. Recently I came to know that in Nigeria which used to be the British colony, they can get rich tea biscuits. So envious!!! Therefore, if you go to an African shop in Estonia, it’s said that you can get rich tea biscuits. (I want to try it while I’m taking a break from the ketogenic diet.)

Reference

Unlike cookies, rich tea biscuits taste crispy (?). Given that you are interested, check out a scene in Dalkey island in the film called “Sing Street”, where two characters eat rich tea biscuits.

The thing is that the rich tea biscuits match tea. 🤭

What I bought was cheap Tesco’s (British supermarket chain) private brand rich tea biscuits, and yet it was still good.

I often ate rich tea biscuits while I was an exchange student in Ireland. (Usually I ate rich tea biscuits or digestive biscuits.)

3. Cadbury’s chocolate

Cadbury is also from the UK as a brand, and yet there is a company called Cadbury Ireland in Dublin. I was shooting an independent film when I lived there, and one of the actors was from Northern Ireland. He said

“Cadbury is tastier in the Republic!”

Really? 😂 Does it differ that much? 😂

Reference

Since I came to Estonia, I have eaten dark chocolate more often, so I felt it was super sweet, but it was really tasty.

I happened to encounter a new flavour of Cadbury’s chocolate in Dublin, which was orange, hence I chose that one as a souvenir for my coworkers. Since there are more products such as chocolate bars and other chocolate products from Cadbury, you may want to check them if you are interested. Ultimately, you can buy some small chocolate bars in Dublin airport.

4. Tayto





Tayto is something Irish!!

Tayto is an Irish crisps brand. It’s thinly sliced, and there are three flavours. Personally I love salt and vinegar. However, it seems many people prefer smoked bacon.

Reference

I didn’t buy this time, and yet in 2019 I bought one big bag, in which there were two small bags of three flavours. If you calculate, there should be six small bags in total, shouldn’t there?

Surprisingly, there were seven. 😂

I counted multiple times, but there were seven. 😂 I don’t remember which flavour had one more bag though. Then I told my Japanese friend A in Dublin by messaging, she said “I’ll buy and try too~”. 😂 So, if you are lucky, you may get one more?

Ireland is a super easygoing country. Estonia is rather more serious. 😂 Therefore, I think it’s less stressful to live in Ireland. Easygoing processes for immigration, repairs, etc are inconvenient though. 😂

They are easygoing, and that’s why they don’t care how many small bags are in one big bag. 😂

You can buy small bags of Tayto at Spar (kiosk) or convenience stores in Dublin airports.

Also, this is pretty common in Ireland that each kiosk has some meal deal consisting of sandwiches, a bottle of drink and a bag of snacks. You can get a small bag of Tayto in that way. It’s like a side “dish” of a sandwich.

There might be just big bags with one flavour like crisps you can see in Japan or in Estonia, and yet I don’t know as I ‘ve never seen or I’ve never paid attention to such a type of product in Ireland. Perhaps you can look for it in Tesco.

5. Carol’s products

When it comes to Ireland, some people think of Carol’s which is a souvenir chain shop. There are a lot around in Dublin.

If you want to buy some classic souvenirs like magnets, postcards, etc, go to Carol’s. They also sell garments and accessories.

In my case, before ending my exchange student life in Ireland, I bought a big Irish flag. I’ve still decorate it in my bedroom. 😂

If you have no idea what to buy for souvenirs, just go to Carol’s just because they have classic souvenirs. You can also ask for duty free there.

Except for the purchase when I lived there, I’ve never bought anything in Carol’s. I prefer something specific and local such as Barry’s tea. 😂

6. Pennys

Pennys is Irish Primark which is a fashion product chain shop that sells clothes, accessories, and housewares. I’m not sure about Primark in the UK, and yet Pennys in Ireland has products with “Irish designs”. The price is low, so maybe you can save more money than buying souvenirs in Carol’s? As an exchange student in Dublin, I bought T-shirts with the Irish flag or something like that for my brothers.

Reference

By the way, I still have a pair of socks from Pennys. 😂 (Purchased in 2016. 😂)

This time I didn’t buy anything in Pennys. Last time in 2019 I bought a knapsack, and I use it as a gym shoes bag even now (2022).

7. Butler’s

Reference

Butler’s is an Irish chocolate brand. When being the exchange student, I often saw many Japanese exchange students buying chocolate souvenirs there.

Me?

I didn’t buy any, of course.

This is because it was boring and too ordinary to choose chocolate as souvenirs, particularly from some brands, famous ones. I feel like giving local chocolate that we can get in supermarkets as the flavours are extraordinary. (I personally don’t choose anything ordinary for gifts because I want to see how the receivers react. 😂 Of course sometimes it’s ordinary. 😂) If you want to give basic souvenirs, Butler’s could be an option.

★Summary

From my point of view, Irish souvenirs are just for my self-satisfaction. However, hopefully this list could be some reference for those who want to travel to Irealnd. Perhaps my perspective is strange because I used to live there.

My personal strong recommendations are all of them except for number five and seven. If you are fond of something local or something that is probably not in normal souvenirs shops, get those products and/or go to Pennys!

Ah, I’m so glad to have bought Irish tea, and I’m so looking forward to enjoying a boring winter in Estonia with hBarry’s tea! 😂

Aitäh! 🙂

Use Public Transport in Ireland to Save Money

ZooksLeave a comment

Tere!

Here is a summary of public transport in Ireland. Besides the transporate I am going to mention here, there is a coach called Bus Eireann or long-distance trains in Ireland. However, the transport that I am going to mention here are only those I used in real life or I considered using, which are mainly transports in Dublin.

Table of Contents

     1. Dublin Leap card
     2. Apps you can use in Dublin
          a. Dublin bus app
          b. Journey Plan app
     3. Public transport in Dublin
          a. How to take a Dublin bus
          b. How to take Luas
          c. How to take DART
     4. Taxis
          a. Bolt
          b. FREE NOW
     5. GoCar
     ★Summary

1. Dublin Leap card

If you seem to use public transport in Dublin , you should probably count how many times you may use public transport, and how much you may need to pay during your stay in Dublin, beforehand.

Leap cards are used by the locals, and it’s available among the travellers too.

When I travelled to Dublin in 2019, I was visiting places where an Irish movie “Sing Street” was shot, and I had some other visits, so I bought a Leap card valid for 72 hours. It cost 16 EUR.

Reference

This time on the trip to Ireland in JUne, 2022, I bought a 24-hour Leap for 8 EUR. Only I bought, who knew that the frequency of using public transport is high enough. My boyfriend didn’t buy a Leap card.

2. App you can use in Dublin

When you move around by using public transport in Dublin, the following apps may be useful.

a. Dublin bus app

The UI is antique, and it looks the same as in 2016, and yet it does still work.

Reference

However, you shouldn’t trust any timetables basically. It’s always delayed. (Or maybe I should say it doesn’t follow the timetables. It looks like no one cares about the time as the Dublin buses’s speed is too fast.)

On the other hand, it’s still useful when the Journey Plan app below doesn’t suggest any good routes, or when you look for bus numbers.

b. Journey Plan app

The Journey Plan app is more recent. The UI is up-to-date, and yet the suggestion isn’t that good. However, basically it’s an OK level, so not problematic.

Reference

If you are a bit worried, compare the suggestions from the app and from Google maps.

3.Public transport in Dublin

Since Dublin’s public transport has some characteristics, I summarise in this section.

a. How to take a Dublin bus

On a Dublin bus, they accept only Leap or cash. If you don’t know this, you may need to use a five-euro note or even more than that for one drive.

This is because they don’t give changes.

If you want to take a Dublin bus, you need to show that you want to get on when the bus is approaching you. Otherwise they don’t stop in front of you. Also if there is no one to take on, the Dublin buses just keep going without stopping. (Plus the speed is very fast. 😂)

When riding on the Dublin bus, and tell the driver where you want to go, they tell you how much it costs. It cost 2.60 EUR from Dublin airport to the city centre of Dublin (as of June in 2022).

Reference

My boyfriend, who doesn’t like buses, doesn’t use buses even in Tallinn. Besides, since it was a different country, he had no idea how to get on the Dublin bus. (Of course.) Plus, since I brought a bunch of coins, I paid for him, and he got on the Dublin bus by using my Leap. Therefore, everything went smoothly.

Since buses require passengers a faster speed than any other public transport, it might be profound for beginners. However, since you can calculate fares in advance, if the environment is well enough, you can prepare cash, particularly coins. (I did before going to Ireland as an exchange student. Thanks to it, everything went smoothly.)

On the Dublin bus, you need to get on from the front door, and get off from the back door. Don’t mix this.

b. How to take Luas

Luas means “fast” in Irish. However the real speed is as “fast” as bicycles. 😂 It’s basically a tram, and yet it’s easy to take one.

There is a Leap card-reading machine at Luas stops, so Leap card holders just need to read the Leap cards there. If it makes a sound, it’s OK.

Reference

Given that you need to buy a ticket, you can buy one at a Luas stop. You can pay by card, so no cash is needed.

You can get on and off at any door.

In Dublin, you should buy a Luas ticket. It’s really random to get inspected. Unless you have any tickets, you will be kicked out from Luas. (I’m not sure if they really charge fines. This point is the same as Tallinn.)

c. How to take DART

DART is a Dublin train. You can use it when you go to Dún Laoghaire. Aviva Stadium’s nearest stop/station was DART. Given that you travel around only in the centre of Dublin, you may not need to use it.

Reference

With a Leap card, you can get on DART easily too.

Since my boyfriend didn’t need to go anywhere by DART, I don’t know how to buy tickets at a DART station…

By the way, some Dublin buses have USB charging ports, and yet DART doesn’t have any. (At that time, my phone charge was very low, and I wished there had been.)

4. Taxis

We used taxis in Dublin too. I usually don’t use taxis wherever I am. However, we had no choice but to use a taxi at some point in Dublin.

a. Bolt

Bolt is from Estonia, and yet we could use it in Ireland too. Therefore I didn’t need to download any other taxi app additionally ,which was a good point. (Eventually I did though.)

Reference

In Estonia, when taking Bolt, the fare is shown in the app, and when getting off, the price never goes high or lower than that. If it shows 5 EUR, the final price is 5 UER.

However, in Ireland, even if you used Bolt, they used a metre system, so the app showed the price range.

In fact, when we used the Bolt taxi, it was more expensive than the shown price range.

Because of that, I thought “I probably won’t want to use Bolt again even if I need to use a taxi again.”

b. FREE NOW

FREE NOW seems to be used in other countries including Ireland. However, it’s not available in Estonia, so even though you can download the app, you can’t use it in Estonia.

Reference

FREE NOW was like Bolt Ireland, and it showed the price range. FREE NOW’s price range was more trustable. I eventually paid the cost between the actual price range.

Therefore, from my experience, if you want to use a taxi in Ireland, perhaps FREE NOW is better than Bolt.

By the way, when I lived in Dublin in 2015 and 2016, Uber was the only option. Has Uber gone anymore? Anyways, in the first place, I deleted the Uber app from my phone… (a long time ago.)

5. GoCar

GoCar is an Irish car sharing service. There are different cars. Although it’s not that common in general in Ireland, AT is available there too.

Reference

Due to this fact, we planned to use GoCar to travel to Ireland, and yet I found that the driver’s verification might take 48 hours one week before the trip. Because of my occupation, Compliance verifies sometimes manually, so if there are lots of registrations, it would take a longer time than it’s written there, I thought. Therefore, I immediately shared that information with my boyfriend, but

he registered on the first day in Ireland…

I thought:







You didn’t check my message properly.


😂

Of course it took more than 48 hours to get verified.

(I thought like that because I was able to guess thanks to my occupation. However, from a pure customer’s perspective, taking more than 48 hours may be unexpectable. In the web page, they mention “We try to verify within 48 hours”. My friend A’s husband also said “They verify within 48 hours”, so they cannot guess. Of course people tend to take it as written because in any page it was written “it may take more than 48 hours”.)

Eventually the car rental was cheaper, and the trip style was that we decided where to go right before going, and this is why the car rental cost more cheaply. If you have a determined destination, and the route is determined too, then car sharing may be cheaper in my opinion.

★Summary

When going to Irelna, I wanted to take aDublin bus at least once, so I was happy to take one. As for Luas, it is easy for travellers, but boring for Dublin bus fans. 😂 This is just because the Dublin buses have two floors! (In the Continent, long buses are more common, but the two-floor buses are more fun to ride, and I think it needs less space.)

I would encourage you to try Dublin buses!

Aitäh! 🙂