We left Russia. (Long journey!)

I want to thank you for your videos that highlight your family visits to Russia. As someone who raised in the 1970s, my perspective of Russia (USSR) was molded to be distrustful. I eventually grew up to recognize the irrationality of this feeling. But still, I never had any real sensory proof of how genuinely human the people of Russia actually and truly are until stumbling across your channel. Thank you.

I wish you would have told us the border crossing story, since you mentioned it in your title.

Clickbait guffy BS. Why emphasise the “stressful border crossing” on the title if you aren’t going to go into details of the “stressful border crossing”?

I love your videos. We are from Chicago and have been lucky to travel the world extensively. I laughed out loud with your comments about going from St. Petersburg by bus on your way to Tallinn. We had EXACTLY the same experience at that crossing, which I recognized because of the medieval fortification at Narva. I can't wait to see your video about the crossing to compare your experience with ours. Keep up the good work.

I really dont know how you both manage to keep travelling.I understand how hard it must be for you leaving your gran each time and it must get more painful the more you do it. Safe journeys. From UK

Hi, guys! Julia, I totally understand how hard it is to leave your family, especially your gran. I have/had relatives that live in ex-East Germany. They were caught behind the wall when it was built. Until the wall came down, we were allowed to visit them and it was sooooo hard to say goodbye and cross over the border to freedom at that time. It broke my heart. I think it is especially hard when your loved one is older because we don’t know how much time we have. It’s still hard for me when I say goodbye to my 88-year old mother. Many big bear hugs to you! I know the feeling, sweet Julia!

How did Estonian and Finnish come to be? In the simplest of terms we (I'm Finnish) belong to an older layer of people/languages stretching from Norway and Sweden across Russia towards the Pacific Ocean. Russia/Russian is a newer layer that exists on top of these older cultures. Russia conquered these people, but some Finno-Ugric languages survive in pockets in what is today Russia, including for example the Mari and the Komi that are ethnic minorities in Russia. Many languages in our family have gone extinct, those also include Finno-Ugric languages that were spoken south of Estonia. Hungarian is our furthest linguistic relative in the south.

I love watching your videos. It brings back so many memories and emotions of when we were traveling and adopting our children from Russia. So grateful for the family I have and the support I’ve had along the way.

Thank you for your video. All of us in the audience feel like we are part of your family, because of your warm personalities. Such a pleasure traveling with you two.

I wish you had posted something on your border crossing problems.

It is really nice to see how close you and your family are and how hard it was to leave, brought a tear to my eye. Matt and Julia, all the best!

Always happy to see you both. Hope your well. You show the world how people should be. Kind and caring no matter who we are. Jo

Loved the video! I can't even imagine how hard it was for you to leave. It is so cool to get to watch your journey. I always look forward to your videos. I'm glad you are safe. Look forward to hearing about the border crossing. Stay safe!

I once visited Talin, Estonia back in 2018. Beautiful city. I just loved it ❤️.

Nice job on editing the video. Nice pictures and good transition. Made watching your trip enjoyable. Please add a video with details of the border crossing. Glad you made it.

I enjoyed a two-way contact with an amateur radio station in Tallin. I'm happy you included the map. It makes the world seem like a smaller place to live.

Love watching your videos guys. I was frustrated that you didn't tell us about the border crossing! Looking forward to the next adventure.

Oh sweetheart, sending you a great big hug. You'll see your family again in no time. Remember how much you are loved and how proud they are of you. Xx

When my wife moved with me back to the UK, I still remember her saying goodbye to her Mother in the airport. Emotional.