Pilot Guides are an awesome series! This one features Neil Gibson traveling through the Baltic region and Finland.
Lithuania - Lots of soviet era toppled statues and monuments.. very communistic & dark feeling. One extremely eery was the scnene when Neil stops off in Siauliai where a hill exists with hundreds of thousands if not millions of Rosary crosses.
Latvia is the Neil's next stop. Travels to a concentration camp, more gloom & doom.
Estonia follows on his Baltic tour. Not much to say, except for more of the same.
He takes a ferry from Estonia, one thing I noted he neglected to mention in regards to transportation options between Estonia and Finland are the high-speed hydrofoils operated by Silja Lines. The take considerably less time to make the crossing (a few short hours instead of 8 or however long it took).
I did enjoy the Finland segment the best, I think all of Scandinavia is really beautiful and well cared for. The forests are magical and the mid summer nights, when it is light out 24 hours per day.
The final stop on the journey was in Sonkarjarvi, and happened to arrive when the annual Wife Carrying Competition was underway. He found a loaner in order to compete in the competition. The best part about this contest, is the winner receives their wife's weight in beer!
I didn't like this one as much as the other ones I've seen, maybe its because I saw Ian Wright's segments first and was just burnt out on travel-video journalism. The Baltic region reminds me of the former USSR... the people shown in the video seem like their locked in a time capsule from another time, technology isn't as wide spread as other areas of Europe and it just looks gloomy in general. I'm not sure the best way to put my finger on the phenomena, but a lot of Eastern Europe gives me this feeling.
