Our European Quest
CNN team goes in search of the EU's new citizens
By CNN's Richard Quest
 |  CNN's Richard Quest is headed east on a journey of European discovery. |
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| | YOUR SAY | Send your comments and questions to Richard Quest at europeanquest@cnn.com.
Click here to read a selection of your replies.
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(CNN) -- My instructions could not have been clearer. Go east, young man ... and discover. Visit the countries about to join the European Union on May 1 and find out.
Choose whichever countries you like. Take as long as you need and come back with "something" that tells us something about the people who are soon to be the EU's new citizens.
So for two weeks that is what I am doing -- and you are along for the ride.
We are going through Hungary to Slovakia. Across to the Czech Republic and then up to the Baltic countries of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.
We will end up in Poland just days before these countries join the EU.
(We are not going to Slovenia, Malta or Cyprus, which are also joining the EU on May 1. No slight is intended to these countries, just something had to give.)
For me, this is truly a journey of discovery.
My professional life has been spent covering the United States and the Americas. My experiences of Europe are the major capitals and seaside resorts.
These former Soviet countries and satellites are completely unknown to me. I arrive with all my prejudices intact and ready to have my eyes opened.
It is probably better to say what the following two weeks will not be about.
I am trying to avoid pompous grand statements of what "A New Europe" means, so I hope sweeping discussions of major political issues will be few and far between. Others far more qualified are reporting on the large issues affecting the EU such as the constitution, monetary union and immigration.
Instead I want to get to the spirit that moves the people in countries like Hungary and Slovakia.
It will be the footballers playing for Slovan in Bratislava and the autoworkers at the revamped Skoda factory in Prague. Eurovision winners in Estonia, artists and freethinkers in Lithuania.
As they go about their daily business, do they perceive that the EU means anything in their lives? Or is it all hot air and fury from politicians?
We have heard from those politicians. I believe it is time to see what it all actually means on the ground.
I can't promise not to digress into observations, and I ask your forgiveness from the start.
But I hear you say, "Why are you bothering? What difference does it make? After all, like it or not these countries will be in the EU on May 1."
Fair point. Except so much has been written on the large issues that frankly, I want to see what is actually true and what is speculation.
Are they really just in it "for the money and the jobs" -- or is there a deeper ideal behind it?
We can only do that by visiting the nitty gritty of everyday life. Anyway, we've bought the airline tickets now -- so we are going!
|  The "European Quest" team: From left, Quest, producer Rachel Brown and cameraman Woj Treszczynski. |
Please, this is a journey that you are taking too. So send your comments directly to me. Your questions, if there is something you are burning to know, are welcome as well. We will do our best to give you an answer, and if we don't know, we will find someone who does.
The e-mail address is europeanquest@cnn.com. Click here to read a selection of your messages.
So, with my American producer Rachel Brown and Polish cameraman Woj Treszczynski, we start tomorrow in Hungary, just 5 kilometers from the Austrian border, where they have built an entire industry on teeth.
