Starting on Thursday afternoon, here is the course of my journey to Poland:
Thursday, Noon: had a can of soup: my last food until Friday evening.
5 p.m. Took Uber to O’Hare airport for 10 pm flight, supposing there would be traffic. I forgot it was Thanksgiving. The Uber was early, so I got there at 5:35, with four hours to wait until boarding. Did not want to read my book as I’m saving it for the five-hour train journay from Wroclawek to Katowice.
10 p.m. Thursday to 1:15 pm Friday: Plane flight to Warsaw’s Chopin Airport. No good movies, so I had to watch “Ocean’s 11,” which was okay for a crime movie, but I hoped for better. There was nothing better on tap. Food was dreadful, so I refused dinner and breakfast. Had two glasses of blackcurrant juice, which I always drink on flight to and from Europe. I do not understand why Americans have not adopted the blackcurrant, which makes terrific jams and juices
The flight was more than half empty, so I tried to sleep on the three seats in my row. I was unsuccessful, as I always am when trying to sleep on planes.
Friday, 1:30-1:45. Because our flight was empty, I got through customs in just a few minute.
1:45-2:30: Long taxi ride from station to the new train station in Warsaw, as the one I usually use is under renovation
2:30-4:15: Wait in cold waiting room for train to Włocławek, the town nearest Dobrzyn. Bought ticket but was told that the train was full and that I would have to stand. Boarded train after a nearly two-hour wait on an uncomfortable bench. Still no food, though there was a McDonald’s and KFC in the station, heavily patronized by the travelers.
The train was packed and people were sitting on the floor. I couldn’t find space on the floor and so stood for half an hour with my bag and daypack. Finally found floor space for 1.5 hours when a traveler debarked. A truly uncomfortable journey. Andrzej told me I should have purchased a first-class ticket with a reserved seat, which doesn’t cost much more than my senior “standing only” ticket.
4:15: Arrived in Włocławek, picked up at station by Malgorzata’s and Andrzej’s lodgers, the kindly Paulina and Mariusz.
5 p.m. Arrived at Dobrzyn, where Malgorzata had held a tasty dinner for me. First food since I left Chicago. I chatted with Andrzej and Malgorzata, worked a bit, petted the cats and went to bed at 9:30 pm.
Saturday. (today) woke up at 2 a.m., started with the brain-racing anxieties and was worried that I wouldn’t get much sleep. But my body put me to sleep and I woke up at 7 a.m., well rested. Made coffee and had a big piece of cheesecake for breakfast.
Readers can figure out how long my journey was and how long I went without eating given the 7-hour time difference between Chicago and Poland.
Now, into a shower!
Andrzej was right, you should have bought first class ticket. It’s possible that first class carriage was also full, but at least it would be not so packed with standing passengers. First class “senior” ticket (for people over sixty) costs more or less the same as standard second class. Also for your future trips to Poland – try to avoid travelling on Friday and weekends. Friday trains from Warsaw are always packed. Please buy your ticket to Katowice in advance!
How to avoid bad food flying to Poland. Spend a few days before or after Poland in Vienna and fly on Austrian Airways. Eat well on the plane and in Vienna before or after. Also a good coffee menu on the plane, nice Apple drinks.
This means nothing to me.
Was it necessary to make this comment?
I believe Jeremy was making a humorous musical reference.
Glad you made it. I almost never travel with just one book.
I used to get paranoid about the possibility of running out of things to read on holiday. eReaders have banished that particular nightmare.
At least there was cheesecake waiting for you when you got there.
The cheesecake for breakfast was, I’m sure, an excellent choice!
Man, I get the impressions of WWII epic fiction, darkest undercover solo espionage/adventure, train steam swirling around the protagonist hero amid the gray, asphyxiating crowds… (woah, I got carried away).. glad to know there was cheesecake for breakfast!
Looking forward to delightful photos of the cherry trees/countryside!
Re the Greater War’s epic writing, I just got a library notice for my request for Vasilii Grossman’s The people immortal. I’ve mentioned VG before, and am rather a fan despite having read just one of his books. A New York Reviewer’s review:
“Set during the catastrophic first months of the German invasion of the Soviet Union, this is the tale of an army battalion dispatched to slow the advancing enemy at any cost, with encirclement and annihilation its promised end.”
Thanks for that pick!
If you have the time and inclination, comment on Bhattacharya as NIH head?
I’m lucky because I almost always fall asleep on the plane, even when sitting upright (having wine with dinner usually helps). But the problem with overnight flights from eastern North America to Europe is that they’re so short – you hardly have time to sleep between dinner service and breakfast service. I admire your ability to function after landing on no sleep!
Jerry, I don’t think I’ve ever seen your thoughts posted on the website about kindles or other e-readers, and you’ve surely considered them, but it’s for situations exactly like this that I bought mine.
I much prefer a real book, and I’ll take one or two on a holiday, but my kindle is a backup. Also use when putting my boys to bed in the dark, at work (I cycle and a real book would get ruined), etc.
It’s not displaced my real books at all, and I still read them if I have any choice at all, but buying a kindle has been one of those things that falls into the “life changing” category of purchases for me.
E-readers are great! But you do have to worry about keeping them charged.
E-readers are great! But you do have to worry about keeping them charged.
Number of tries to post comment: 3
E-readers are great! But you do have to worry about keeping them charged.
Number of tries to post comment: 4
E-readers are great! But you do have to worry about keeping them charged.
Number of tries to post comment: 5
Oops! I didn’t realize all those attempts to post would actually work, after I got the error message. Sorry!
Vigorously seconded! I too used to be terribly paranoid about not having enough to read when I traveled — I shipped a box of books to myself when I was on sabbatical a long time ago. Having a kindle has completely changed that, and I can even check out and download books from my public library from anywhere I have wifi. Definitely life-changing.
“I do not understand why Americans have not adopted the blackcurrant”
It’s an invasive species, one that’s a host and spreader of forest-killing fungus controlled by heavy fungicidal applications and/or careful monocropping of tree plantations?
I can sympathise about the lousy food. A couple of times, flying British Airways from Seattle to London, I was offered a “breakfast” of a cheese and Branston pickle roll. Now I like a good cheese and pickle sandwich, but it’s not a breakfast food, darn it. Fortunately, one of the food concessions at Sea-Tac’s south terminal sold enormous and very tasty bear-claw Danish pastries, so I took to buying one before boarding my flight to London and eating that as my breakfast.
My only experience of Polish Railways is the Warsaw / Krakow line. I found it comfortable and relatively high speed. Does anyone know if that is the only high speed line in Poland?