...to Tallinn. Or at least thinking about it.
It's a hell of a long way. Fortunately, The Man in Seat 61 is on hand to help plan the journey.
As you can see, we'll (I say 'we' because at my advanced age I think I need a companion) have to take a long, but potentially exciting, route from Western Europe to the East then on to the Baltics. Here's a summary of my travel arrangements:
- Days 1 & 2, travel from London to Warsaw by train. Via Brussels and possibly Berlin
- Stay overnight in Warsaw. "The Polonia Palace Hotel is excellent"
- Day 3, travel from Warsaw to Vilnius by train. This involves a change in Mockava in Lithuania, takes about 12 hours and costs €25
- Stay overnight in Vilnius. "The inexpensive Stay Vilnius hotel is a 6-minute walk from the station". That's my kind of walk
- Day 4, travel from Vilnius to Tallinn by train, through Riga and changing in Valga. Another 10 hours
Sounds pretty straightforward, yes?
Of course, I could just get a direct flight from Stansted on Ryanair but where's the romance in that?
Nigel, why do you want to go to Estonia? I hear you say.
It's all about digital ID. When Tony Blair's government proposed compulsory ID cards back in the day, I was vehemently opposed to it. I thought it an intrusion on privacy, prone to forgery, Big Brother encroachment, generally illiberal. They didn't come in because the following coalition government ditched the proposals. But there is now talk of digital ID and it's possible my (and the public's) view has changed. Of course digital is intrinsically different to a paper version; we already have a myriad of digital identifications on our phones and we willingly give our details to the likes of Google and Apple. The government is moving towards a gov.uk wallet app for smartphones, able to contain driving licances, passports, birth certificates, Universal Credit accounts and the like. I don't think the intention is to make it compulsory but you can imagine that's the direction of travel. In time it might become a requirement for employment checks and immigration status. The Data (Use and Access) Act has already established the Office for Digital Identity and Attributes (OfDIA), which aims to ensure that digital identities are secure, trusted, and widely accepted across various sectors.
I'm sure there will be concerns about privacy and data security but I suppose you have to trust the government machine will sort this out.
An oft-quoted exemplar is Estonia, where the digital ID card is more or less mandatory and over 99% of government services accept them - for banking, taxes, voting, healthcare, signing documents, registering companies for example
What we don't know is how it works for the Estonian on the street, how happy they are about it, what are the pros and cons. Hence my desire to get on the train and go meet them.
Or - I could just check some of the liberty/human rights country comparisons.
Freedom House gives Estonia a global freedom score of 96/100, breaking that down as: Political Rights 39/40 and Civil Liberties 57/60. Estonia is very good on most measures of human rights and freedoms. It’s among the best in Europe on civil liberties, political rights, press & internet freedom, education, and quality of life on Freedom House's metrics.
So it's reasonable to suggest that the imposition of digital ID cards has not infringed the freedoms and rights of its citizens. Maybe we shouldn't be scared of them (the ID cards, not the Estonians).
I'd still like to see for myself. I'll check the train times.