Poland! The land of the poles… well only if the poles are tall skinny pine trees or old precarious looking smoke stacks! It’s more like the land of decaying concrete and rusting old factories! Ok, to be honest we have only seen a tiny slither from our train carriage, the scenery is similar to home but its littered with decrepit old factories, pipes, tractors, trains and anything else you can think of that rusts and is industrial! We have both been amazed at the flatness of the country, for hours we did not see a single rise in the landscape on either side of the train which makes that six hour stretch of Poland officially flatter than Belgium, who could boast of peaks at least 15-20 meters high! Being flatter than Belgium is quite something. So apart from the above, other notable observations include the huge vast pine forests (with tall skinny trees) and lots of very crap graffiti (it seems if you stand still for longer than 5 minutes then you get sprayed) All in all the 10 hour journey was very relaxing watching the countryside roll past and catching up with sleep from the last couple of days.
Arriving in Kraks we trekked with our stuff to the hostel (for which we had lost the map… we had a rough idea where it was and luckily we didn’t have to walk up and down too many streets to find it!). The hostel is much better than expected, it’s a huge old Polish flat with big rooms and high ceilings that’s been decked out in Ikea everything. Our dorm has 14 beds in, and luckily we are the only people staying. There is free Internet and huge kitchen we can use which is all good.
Tuesday, 29 January 2008
First day and a bit away...
Sarah’s start: With a bad nights sleep of sweat and nerves and a 4:30 am rise, my mental state for the start of this adventure was by no means good. We bundled me and what now seemed A LOT of stuff into the car. With nerves pushing me to endless chit chat down the M25/M20 (pushing the impending unknown out of my mind) we finally arrived at our final departure point.
Farewell to the parents were teary and heart felt. I have never been one for good byes, and will miss them very much. Never the less, we got in our car to the ferry and, pushing down the rising feeling of panic we stood on the deck of P&O Burgundy and waited for it to set sail from Blightys shores.
On the train from Calais to Brussels (via Lille) was when it finally hit home what we were doing. And what were we doing?!? And how were we going to achieve it?! Sam finally witnessed Sarah’s emotional attack of crying and laughing at the same time, it is a strange experience to have joy, terror, adventure, drowning in a sense of overwhelming unknowns and fear, and shear excitement coursing through you!
After calming down and getting sound advice and encouragement from my now slightly freaked out travel buddy (he’s so good!) We turned our minds to Brussels.
Brussels showed Sam and I just how good we are at not doing very much. With no map and the tourist information shut Sam and I have no idea what to do, or more importantly where to go to do it. So we hopped on the metro and hopped off at Sam's choice of station – Kunst Wet. Luckily for us this turned out to be a good stop (well done Sammy boy!) as we found, just outside the station CyclOcity! DIY Bike rental. So with a new spring our step we set off, the wind in our air as we raced, full speed ahead down the hill towards the palace – in the wrong direction….. The main part of the day was spent cycling through the surprisingly hilly and cobbly streets of Brussels, grabbing some steak and frites with mayonnaise. The remainder of the day was spent trying to find the darn bike rack at the main station so we could actually return our bikes!
Our overnight train to Berlin was mostly spent in a tropically heated cabin with two other French ladies. Sam spent most of the night on the floor of the cabin and I tried to stay hydrated in this nighttime, top speed sauna.
Our arrival in Berlin was very exciting for us and the train station is amazing; a multi-storey shopping centre and train station, spankingly clean and great air of efficiency. Before long, after a quick breakfast and purchasing of supplies it was time to leave this lovely station and keep heading east towards the BRAND NEW country of Poland!
Farewell to the parents were teary and heart felt. I have never been one for good byes, and will miss them very much. Never the less, we got in our car to the ferry and, pushing down the rising feeling of panic we stood on the deck of P&O Burgundy and waited for it to set sail from Blightys shores.
On the train from Calais to Brussels (via Lille) was when it finally hit home what we were doing. And what were we doing?!? And how were we going to achieve it?! Sam finally witnessed Sarah’s emotional attack of crying and laughing at the same time, it is a strange experience to have joy, terror, adventure, drowning in a sense of overwhelming unknowns and fear, and shear excitement coursing through you!
After calming down and getting sound advice and encouragement from my now slightly freaked out travel buddy (he’s so good!) We turned our minds to Brussels.
Brussels showed Sam and I just how good we are at not doing very much. With no map and the tourist information shut Sam and I have no idea what to do, or more importantly where to go to do it. So we hopped on the metro and hopped off at Sam's choice of station – Kunst Wet. Luckily for us this turned out to be a good stop (well done Sammy boy!) as we found, just outside the station CyclOcity! DIY Bike rental. So with a new spring our step we set off, the wind in our air as we raced, full speed ahead down the hill towards the palace – in the wrong direction….. The main part of the day was spent cycling through the surprisingly hilly and cobbly streets of Brussels, grabbing some steak and frites with mayonnaise. The remainder of the day was spent trying to find the darn bike rack at the main station so we could actually return our bikes!
Our overnight train to Berlin was mostly spent in a tropically heated cabin with two other French ladies. Sam spent most of the night on the floor of the cabin and I tried to stay hydrated in this nighttime, top speed sauna.
Our arrival in Berlin was very exciting for us and the train station is amazing; a multi-storey shopping centre and train station, spankingly clean and great air of efficiency. Before long, after a quick breakfast and purchasing of supplies it was time to leave this lovely station and keep heading east towards the BRAND NEW country of Poland!
Tuesday, 22 January 2008
Polish healthcare anyone?
Something funny I red today about Poland..
Poland health system has not had the best press in recent years; in 2002 the country was rocked by revelations that ambulance crews in the city of Łódź were deliberately letting their patients die, sometimes even murdering them out right, in return for financial rewards from funeral parlours...
Poland health system has not had the best press in recent years; in 2002 the country was rocked by revelations that ambulance crews in the city of Łódź were deliberately letting their patients die, sometimes even murdering them out right, in return for financial rewards from funeral parlours...
Friday, 18 January 2008
Sarahs resaons for travel
It seems every time we speak about our plans or reasons for travel to Sarah's parents I have this slight niggling internal paranoia that they think I have destroyed her carrer plans and will be dragging her off for a hippy lifestyle in the slums of India. To make them (and myslef feel) better I asked her to write a paragraph on why she wants to leave the endless joys of the Linde group...
The chance to travel the world? See new sights, Hear new things and Smell new smells? Pass through amazing countries full of new experiences, adventure, and maybe even the chance to 'make a difference'? Well, who could pass up an oppurtunity like that?
Conditions for travel: Arrange a saving plan, learn a new language, save, decide on a route, navigate german and russian websites, keep saving, change route, decide on a new one, quit our jobs, change route plan again, keep on saving!
With these conditions accepted and the prospect of not having to work another Monday morning for a good while, we threw ourselves into preparing our trip into the blue. What we are hoping to get out of our journey or what we are expecting to be when we come back are issues which we often discuss.......Prehaps a new fire in our bellies, an enthusiasm and energy for any task we set ourselves, a more open mind and I am sure a new level of patience and calm.
The chance to travel the world? See new sights, Hear new things and Smell new smells? Pass through amazing countries full of new experiences, adventure, and maybe even the chance to 'make a difference'? Well, who could pass up an oppurtunity like that?
Conditions for travel: Arrange a saving plan, learn a new language, save, decide on a route, navigate german and russian websites, keep saving, change route, decide on a new one, quit our jobs, change route plan again, keep on saving!
With these conditions accepted and the prospect of not having to work another Monday morning for a good while, we threw ourselves into preparing our trip into the blue. What we are hoping to get out of our journey or what we are expecting to be when we come back are issues which we often discuss.......Prehaps a new fire in our bellies, an enthusiasm and energy for any task we set ourselves, a more open mind and I am sure a new level of patience and calm.
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