Guestbook

staff — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 13:22:30 +0000

Since we’re such a friendly hostel it makes sense to have a guestbook. This is our online one.

Please, we’d love to see what you’ve thought of your time here, what you’ve seen, what (and perhaps who) you’ve done and any other funny little stories. It puts a smile on our faces and lets us momentarily forget we have to clean toilets for you.

So, go on, tell us about it.

More Paldiski photos

staff — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 11:02:04 +0000

Past staff members

staff — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 18:51:48 +0000

Renata “Labas”, our Lithuanian princess. She’s gone! Again! Loved to go to Hollywood with Ben or yell at people for wearing shoes inside. If you want to meet a very nice Lithuanian girl and maybe even party a little, she’s the one. Just don’t stop her from finishing the laundry first.
Malcolm This friendly Kiwi loves hanging out in Viru all the time (in his short pants). He even managed to publish a book about something no one really understands, mostly because it’s full of mathematics and physics. We’re not very sure what he does all day, but it’s probably beyond our comprehension anyway.
Steve Another English lad. Always itching for a pint or (of course) a tea. Says he’s a bit of a chef but hasn’t made anything for us yet. Currently the most successful hostel staff member in EAT’s famous speed dating sessions.
Victor We only refer to him as Puta. Worked with us over summer then moved down to Uus street. It only took 6 months but now we can actually understand his English. The funniest yet terrifying Mr-Fix-It you’ll ever see, and that’s why we love him coming around to be our repairman… or get drunk. Nowadays he’s drifting back and forth between Vilnius and Spain.
Laura Similar to Liis but from Tallinn but also plays the same style of boring, pretentious and “artistic” films. She’s also permanently banned from the stereo for various crimes to DJing. Fortunately, she’s actually entertaining for someone that watches such boring movies and is quite an aggressive party animal. Hopefully back for summer, she’s hitchhiking her way around the UK, enjoying all the savoury delights of English gentlemen.
Maris If you saw something blond, dressed in pink (check out her slippers) and talking with a sexy Estonian accent, it was her. To make her image complete, she preferred people to think she is stupid as well. But we know better: she is too lazy to do anything else but cleaning, which she is actually very good at (along with foosball). Coming from a country town in Estonia to a hostel infected her with the travel bug, now she is travelling Australia and New Zealand with Britt.
Britt She made up in brains for her friend (well, when they were not fighting…) Maris, but when she moved into the hostel we were afraid her brain cells would be soon gone. She sat mostly behind the desk, also to prevent her long nails breaking during cleaning before she moved to our Viru building. Now she’s wandering the southern hemisphere with Maris.
Taro The first “moshi moshi” that got addicted to Vana Tallinn. Fell into the Tallinn trap and found a lovely Eesti girl to draw pictures and listen to music together with. Then unfortunately realised that his first stop in Europe could not also be his last and left to explore the rest of the world (before he returns, that is).
Val Another Irish alcoholic, she refused to be photographed unless she was holding a tall glass of cider. Has made a habit of quietly disappearing for a drink in the evening only to return at 8am the next morning. It only took 14 months, but she finally made it to Russia. Now she’s probably in China and already lost 2 cameras.
Dave Melbourne scumbag who shuffled around all day in his pajama pants, usually filling in his days by pretending to be a football coach on the computer (for Liverpool) or going to the pub to watch a match (Liverpool). The master of cheese on toast, being a cave bartender and creating awesome party playlists, he left us for some pricks in Dublin because they paid him better.
Jules Last year he was about to become a celebrity in Tallinn then left, but came back and made it come true. If not for his eccentric looks, then definitely for his legendary performances in the Karaoke Bar, Hollywood and Eat. Newspaper or TV, they all want to interview him. Now he is going to study here, we think he will end up as the Estonian president.
Wyman The wannabe Jew from San Diego, quickly became famous in Lithuania for his plans to build a state-funded Jewish museum in Vilnius. He fell in love with “Tallinn’s best cafe”, its waitresses and epic seven-course meals in EAT.
Raphaela Our 2 week pal, Raffi arrived the day before we had to move to our new building. Her fortunate timing meant we had extra hands to carry dismantled beds around Old Town. She’s the reigning champion of the “Hermit” drinking game and apparently coming back to visit us soon!
Matt the (actual) rat Our first house pet, well, basement pet. He ate all our chocolate and peanuts, then drank all our orange juice. He’s probably now floating on his back now that the basement in our old building flooded. At least he would have died happy and engorged.
Ash Arty Australian (for once, if that’s possible) with a winning braced smile, an old camera and even older watch. His legendary bartending skills are only eclipsed by his dance moves, particularly his arm waving.
Andrew Yes, another Australian. The most brilliant cook we’ve ever had. He even had a brilliant red mohawk to match. Spent more time in the kitchen than he did anywhere else and we were grateful, as it’s a rare luxury to be served three-course meals in a hostel every night. Particularly when they’re as delicious as his.
Janine If there was any decency left in the hostel after last the summer, she came and took it all away. What a party animal she was. With her blow up doll “Tory” she made Tallinn’s street, clubs and (gay) bars unsafe ’til she went unconscious only to ask us what she did the night before. Now a year later, nothing has changed, although Tory has been replaced by “Felicia” (she is missing at the moment, last seen in Hollywood).
Johanna Liebling. The boss’ old time favourite from when they used to work in the Uus hostel. Coming back every year together with the other Swiss, making sure that the house is perfectly clean and organized. No boyfriends bothering her this year, no sandwiches (at least not with the other Swiss), so all attention for the cute boys passing by. But yes, most of all a very nice girl from Vienna.
Kerstin Swiss girl number 2 from Berlin, but since she wears the trousers and the other part would go mental withour her, so she is basicly ‘Swiss girl 1′. We expect them to have some kind of relationship (they mentioned often their ’sandwiches’), but apparently she has a guy waiting in Berlin for her this year, so no fun this year in the Shit Room…
Dave A typical Irish-German: likes to complain (as an Irish) about the number of hours he has to work and has a hard time as a German to handle our disorganised organisation. But a nice guy, ask him about his hoola-hoop actions… Still waiting for somebody to beat him at squash and likes to wear the dress of our in-house blow up doll Felicia.
Laurie Notre French girl. Was looking for an apartment and found one after all, but decided she did not want to leave us anymore. She is volunteering here and working for some French bastard blet, nahui pohui (she speaks Russian very well) boss. Maybe she’ll quit her job: we hope not, we don’t want her to leave.
Jim Was a volunteer before and regarding his age you would think he is wise enough not to come back to the hostel, but he did. Ask him to play on his guitar and serenade you.
Suvi Indeed: we have a Finn doing slavery work for us, Estonians. And how: if you hear somebody cleaning in the mornings while the hostel is still in a deep sleep, it is her. With her youthful energy (don’t tell anybody she is actually under-aged) she could run the hostel 24/7 by herself, or at least she thought so. After a few weeks of Tallinn Backpackers she knows better. Now she prefers to complain about salary, fight with the boss or just write another poem. Despite this, we hope she will skip school for a few weeks more and stay with us!
Emily Came here for a guy, but found something better: new friends and a great hostel. She was our handywoman, at least when she was not sleeping in. Had to end her vegetarian lifestyle after arriving because Estonia’s produce wasn’t quite bearable compared to back home in Australia.
Tom Lazy American bastard. Loved No Name Bar: enough said. His biggest contribution in the hostel was to create a big mess around his bed and snore that loud that basically all staff has been throwing pillows at him to get him quiet. Despite that he was one of the biggest womanisers we have had around.
John “Fuck off!” A typical case: arrived as a guest, joined us as a volunteer, became a staff member and ended up as the manager. This “cunt” was (and probably is) always up for a couple of beers, but strict and responsible when necessary. Gone to Dublin to run some hostel there. Just one big difference: now he is not allowed to ‘interact’ with the (female) guests anymore…
Steffi Gesteffo was our German Shepherd that we found around the corner from Hugo’s house. When she wasn’t playing volleyball she brought law and order to an otherwise chaotic world of vacuuming, garbage collection and floor mopping. She’s still working in Tallinn but no longer lives in the Old Town. Instead she walks one minute each day to her office.
Josh Came with Ewan (more Aussies) and they were nearly inseparable. Stole Ollie’s identity in order to use his gym membership card, probably to impress his lady friend in Finland. Last seen heading to Vilnius with a red rat tail in his hair.
Ewan Came with Josh on what was supposed to be their way to Ireland. Often seen hanging around Molly Malone’s on his own, wearing thongs and watching cricket amongst the odd verbal argument with any nearby English stags. Also bussed it down to Vilnius to work in the VB hostel.
Hector The ex-house Spaniard. Without him we wouldn’t have been able to watch any movies, especially cruddy 1940s low budget classics. We miss his tight running pants and glorious stories of his spa-bath experiences.
Hans Was and probably still is a lazy bastard. A great lover, though. You have to see his Johnny Depp look to understand.
Arvin The Canadian ghost drifted in from Uus over winter while we were all suffering cabin fever and then had arguments with us over whether or not he was actually American. Currently the most successful heart-throb from the hostel as he is the only person to have seduced Hans to travel with him.
Rob Our ex-resident Austrian/German/Swiss maniac. If he wasn’t cleaning toilets he was either drinking beer or dancing in Hollywood. He left us for Barcelona after becoming muffenschafted from the Spanish disease.
Haze The most exotic Japanese-Australian you were ever likely to meet. Like all of our volunteers he fell into the “Tallinn Trap”, spending his free time looking decadent in the local coffee shop. Now he’s back in Melbourne but still longs for the Old Town.
Matt The rat, the only person ever to get fired.
Owain Legend. What a man he is, from Wales. If he wasn’t busy doing a couple of bins, hanging up sheets, any kind of construction work, clean bathrooms, basically all the work in the hostel, if not that, he was drinking. Not just drinking, drinking to excess so he had to be carried upstairs to his bed. But, to wake up the first in the morning (6 AM) to do “a couple of more bins”.
Agnes She was a quiet one. So quiet that she even could be Estonian, but actually she is a big Latvian patriot who even put a picture of the Latvian president on the wall of her room. Now she works in Tallinn’s tallest building and keep an eye on us from there.
Brian Pure alcoholic. How he every now and then got a girl is a big miracle. He smelt bad, never shaved, foul mouth and when he was drunk always talking bullshit. He single handedly kept ‘Dirty Burger’ alive. But at least he was good in cleaning toilets and getting the hostel empty at 11PM to take everybody to the bar.
Arthur He did something stupid: fell in love with an Estonian girl. So he had to find a job in Tallinn and needed a place to stay. Well, we were happy to take him in our family, especially because he is a great cook (although he did not like the share). Now he sometimes comes to Tallinn to bring nice French cheeses.
Tania Ahhh, mamma Tania. Always keeping an eye on “the family”. Flamboyant, energetic and most of all very chatty (what else would you expect from a Portuguese). Was working for some company in Tallinn but would not leave the hostel before the kitchen was spotless. How much do we miss this now, apart from her great company. Inspired by us (well maybe us) she started her own cool daytrips in Lisbon.
Ryan For a change not a real backpacker, but just some random Australian who was visiting his German grandparents and suddenly decided to learn Estonian. Always full of plans, one day he was about to start a shoarma bar, but suddenly he left for Tartu. Last rumors are that he is now somewhere in Siberia…
Andrew Was there from day one. Our big cassanova, when he left many girls in Eesti where crying. He did not do much here, but loved knitting: apparantly the best way to seduce women… He went back to Australia to work for his too rich family. Time to come back, we would say…

More Lahemaa photos

staff — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 15:03:13 +0000

Tallinn Backpackers

Guestbook

More Paldiski photos

Past staff members

More Lahemaa photos