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Where did you travel and why did you choose an environmentally friendly way of travelling?

Jian: I travelled from Tallinn to Porto and back to study at Lusófona University. I had always wanted to explore Europe, but I needed a reason to do it. I realized that green travel was the perfect opportunity. Since it was winter break, I had enough time to take a slower route and practice the languages I had learned at school and on Duolingo.

Eliine: This spring semester I travelled to Croatia. I chose to go by car because I live, travel, study, and explore together with my dog Mocho. I didn’t like the idea of him being alone and scared in an airplane cargo hold. Luckily, my plans aligned with friends who were heading in the same direction at the same time. As a bonus, travelling by land meant I could bring things I wouldn’t be able to take on a plane.

Jaanis: I travelled to Prague. For relatively short distances, like trips within Europe, it makes sense to travel by land. The only real bottleneck is getting from Estonia to Warsaw, but from there you can continue with fast trains. Even faster connections are available further west, toward Germany and beyond.

What transport did you use and what was your route like?

Jian: My original plan was to travel by train. However, after several delays and cancellations, and watching my budget shrink, I switched to buses.

My outbound route was:
 Tallinn → Warsaw → Berlin → Cologne → Brussels → Paris → San Sebastián → Salamanca → Porto

And return route was:
 Porto → Lisbon → Évora → Madrid → Barcelona → Marseille → Milan → Zurich → Munich → Prague → Kraków → Tallinn

Eliine: Our route was quite direct: through Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czechia, Austria, Slovenia, and finally Croatia. Simple as that! We didn’t rush and took four days, enjoying the journey along the way.

Jaanis: I took a bus from Tallinn to Warsaw and then a train to Prague. I returned the same way. In both directions, there was just one transfer and about an hour of waiting.

How easy was it to plan the route and book tickets?

Jian: Planning the route was easy. I simply chose cities I had heard of before. I also used AI for help. For example, when I missed a ferry from Barcelona to Milan, I asked Gemini to suggest alternative land routes. I used AI throughout the trip for translations and recommendations, but always double-checked the information, since I would have to deal with any mistakes myself.
For booking tickets, I started with official websites but later switched to third-party apps like Omio and Trip.com to find cheaper options. The downside was that these apps didn’t always notify me about cancellations, which made claiming compensation more difficult.

Eliine: I didn’t need to book tickets. We booked accommodation through Airbnb, and the route was guided by GPS. So overall, it was very easy.

Jaanis: Booking tickets was very straightforward. However, when using Polish railways, it’s worth doing some extra research, as different platforms may offer different prices.

Did you experience anything new: something fun or surprising?

Jian: There were too many experiences to list, but I’ll share two.

“Ceramic Tiles”

When I entered Portugal, the landscape changed noticeably. It looked like something out of an old Spanish film, but it also reminded me of rural southern China, where ceramic tiles are used to decorate houses.

Interestingly, older generations in China consider this a “Western” style, while younger people think it looks outdated and reminds them of bathrooms. In Portugal, however, tiles are everywhere.

Historically, the Portuguese were among the first to sail to China, and they adopted tiles as a symbol of wealth, seeing them as ‘Eastern’. Now, centuries later, Chinese people think of them as Western. Today, information spreads instantly, so we may never see such cultural misunderstandings again.

“Global village”

I hadn’t planned to visit Marseille, but due to ticket issues, I had to pass through. I had been warned it was dangerous, even with references to The Count of Monte Cristo, a novel written nearly 200 years ago.

In reality, I found a lively, diverse city where people from many backgrounds lived together. When I left, the bus driver, who was a woman, clearly loved her job. She helped every passenger with their luggage, and everyone thanked her warmly. It felt like a true “global village,” where people appreciated one another. Marseille was calm - very different from the conflicts often portrayed on social media.

Eliine: One nice thing was realizing that Europe is still very much the same. In Latvia and Lithuania, there are long single-lane highways where you have to drive slowly behind trucks.

In Poland, we encountered a giant dumpling, and also a strange scene at a random gas station. There were heavily equipped police officers (with shields, helmets, and weapons) standing near McDonald’s, while a young man in an Adidas tracksuit casually ate a burger beside them. Nearby, men in black coats shook hands next to cars with open trunks, seemingly negotiating something important, their gold teeth flashing - all while police sat just 20 meters away with flashing lights. There were about 60 cars and just as many officers.

We decided not to stop and continued to the next station. In Czechia, we had the greasiest potato pancakes ever, and in Slovenia I saw a beaver right in the middle of a city.

Every slow trip is enjoyable, you always experience something new.

Jaanis: I didn’t experience anything frightening. One minor inconvenience was that the train from Warsaw to Prague (operated by Polish railways) lost Wi-Fi after crossing into Czechia.

If you’re travelling by Czech railways, it’s worth bringing along Jaroslav Hašek’s “The Good Soldier Švejk”. In the book, Švejk travels by train to České Budějovice, partly along the same route I took. In one scene, he even pulls the emergency brake. I’m not sure if it happened between the same stations, but one stop had a fitting name - “Kolin” (for reference, word ‘kolin’ means a loud bang or clatter in Estonian). It almost felt like Švejk could have been Estonian.

Overall experience - would you do green travel again?

As an old Chinese proverb says:  “Travelling a thousand miles is better than reading a thousand books.”

 

Jian: I would rate the experience A+. Despite the train issues, I would definitely choose green travel again if I had the time.
As an old Chinese proverb says:  “Travelling a thousand miles is better than reading a thousand books.” 

Travelling slowly allowed me to experience more history and culture, and it’s better for the planet. Using Gemini, I estimated that I saved around 500–800 kg of CO₂, roughly what a tree absorbs over 50 years.

Eliine: I’ve always preferred travelling by land, and I would do it again anytime. Given the choice between highways and small scenic roads, I’ll always pick the winding country roads, even if it adds hours to the journey. Sometimes the space between point A and B is full of beauty and wonder.

Jaanis: I would definitely choose it again. The extra time required for green travel is not a major drawback.

Respondents: Jian Gong (School of Digital Technologies), Eliine Paulette Laas (School of Natural Sciences and Health), Jaanus Prii (School of Humanities)

Interviewer: Janeli Adermann, Student Mobility Centre

Erasmus+ and green travel

The Erasmus+ programme encourages students to choose environmentally friendly travel options by offering additional financial support. Students receive extra funding if they use low-emission transport such as trains, buses, or car-sharing. Additional travel days may also be covered to make slower, greener journeys more feasible.

Read more about additional financial support for green traveling from here.

There are also helpful initiatives like the platform, which connects train travellers across Europe, and the Interrail , offering flexible rail travel options for Erasmus+ travellers (both students and staff).

Sustainable travel is no longer just an ideal - it can be a practical and supported choice.