This should be a relatively simple travel day, two legs flying on LOT Airways for the first time. While I am sad to be leaving Estonia, I am looking forward to a new adventure and this time its back into the Balkans I go. Here is my travel day Tallinn to Belgrade via Warsaw, the good, bad and ugly.
Tallinn (TLL)
I decide to take a Bolt to the airport early in the morning at a cost of €14.80, a reasonable fare. My driver is from Nigeria and is so friendly and kind, a real gem and a pleasure to speak with. Tallinn Airport is a good representation of the city. Clean, efficient and well laid out.
This is the first airport I have ever been to that has a gym for public use at no cost! Simply sitting there in the middle of the departure terminal, is a well laid out gym completely with treadmills and such. There is even a vending machine dedicated to fitness and protein drinks and snacks. Incredible!
Tallinn to Warsaw
Flying on a Boeing 737 Max8 I am shocked by how quiet the plane is on takeoff! I’ve been on Airbus’s almost exclusively for the past few years and the noise level is shockingly different. I keep waiting for that rev up, being forced into the back of my seat rocketing down the runway and it never happens! 😂 While it is cloudy leaving Tallinn, the sky arriving into Warsaw is clear but heavy with pollution or smog.
Warsaw (WAW)
The airport is not as large as I expected. I have a five-hour layover and decide to head towards my gate early. There is a lounge inside that section that I have my eye on. Good decision too, because I have to go thru border control as I am leaving the EU, and the line takes well over an hour.
Once inside this wing of the airport, there really isn’t much room to roam and walk. I head to the lounge but they won’t let me enter until exactly three hours before my flight departs! Every single other airport lounge I have ever visited allows you a complete three-hour visit that has no connection to your departure time. Setting it up like this, means that now the customer has closer to two hours to spend in the lounge.
Etiuda Executive Lounge
Once I’m finally granted permission to pay and enter by the surly female staff at the front desk, I find a seat. Not a large lounge, there are limited options. Food is minimal, without flavour and unappetizing. A real disappointment. There is a female staff member walking around clearing plates and dishes who is continually coughing. This lasts the entire duration of my two-hour visit. Drinks are sparse and desserts even more so. Oh well, they can’t all be great, can they?
Warsaw to Belgrade
Leaving Warsaw I am flying this second leg with LOT Airways on an Embraer 190. A much small aircraft and a nice change. The isle seat beside me is empty and I am thrilled. 🤭 Like on the previous flight, a small flavoured bun is offered and a glass of water. I tuck the tomato bun inside my bag to have for dinner if I can’t get out again once I arrive.
Belgrade (BEG)
Arriving into Belgrade 1.5 hours later, the landscape is brown and dry. I believe I am arriving into a heat wave, its currently 38 degrees Celsius outside. Immigration is once again a long line in a warm terminal and takes just about two hours.
My Airbnb host has offered to pick me up to which I am most grateful for. He says he works close by, and I am arriving at the time of day when he is finishing work. Once I have my suitcase I head through the exit doors and see him standing there with my name on his iPad. And we are off, into gnarly traffic exiting the airport and into a huge Balkan concrete city. Welcome to Belgrade Serbia my dear readers!
