I couldn't find the time to go a shooting range when I was in Moscow and Saint Petersburg, so I popped over to Russia's neighbour to the West - Tallinn, Estonia - to fire historical Soviet and contemporary guns.
The minute I landed in Tallinn (via a speedy transit in Helsinki - in a petite plane with propellors reminiscent of old-school flying machines, no less!) I dropped my bags off at Schlössle Hotel before dashing off in the night to the biggest indoor shooting range in the Baltics - Tondi Lasketiir. I must say, Baltic firing ranges - I also practised at Riga Shooting Range in Riga, Latvia - really are a treat compared to the gun clubs in England and Malaysia: neither in London nor Kuala Lumpur can you fire Kalashnikovs! If you're interested in the sport and practising your marksmanship, or just curious about Russian firearms (Mosin-Nagant, anyone?), you should definitely make a trip to a Estonia. I had a blast at Tondi Lasketiir - not only were my shooting instructors (a lovely married couple and their gorgeous dog) thoroughly professional and experienced; their humour, friendliness, and great energy made our session the most fun I've had with guns. Also, their dog Breeze - a wrecking ball-of-muscle who lovingly tackled us in the reception then escorted us to the lift when we left the firing range - is the silliest and most adorably-obnoxious sidekick in the world! Oh, and in case you have any safety concerns from the pictures where I pointed our weapons right at the camera, don't worry: I took those photos when our shooting session was over, after all the firearms were unloaded, checked and double-checked to be 100% sure that I was not packing.
In the interest of balance, because not everybody appreciates that my blog (and most lifestyle blogs) somewhat serves as aspirational content, here is the reality behind the glamour of my seemingly effortless ease with firearms...
...I may not be great at guns, but I'll give it a shot. *badum-tsst*
Actually that's not entirely true, as my targets will agree.
Flights from London to Tallinn start from less than £50 which if you ask me, is an absolute steal. Stay in medieval, UNESCO-heritage Old Town (I'll be blogging about my hotel tomorrow!), and get a cab for less than €10 to Tondi Lasketiir. Shooting packages start from as little as €30 for 'My First Bang' (aww, bless!) but of course you're going to want to go big or go home, am I right? I chose the 'KGB Premium' package and added more firearms as I went along - the shooting range are very reasonable and flexible like that! Suffice to say, everyone had a blast.
Do you shoot? If you do, are you a member at a club or do you stick to estates? What are your favourite firearms?