{"id":2503,"date":"2016-09-26T09:00:19","date_gmt":"2016-09-26T13:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.leucht.com\/blog\/?p=2503"},"modified":"2017-07-10T11:26:37","modified_gmt":"2017-07-10T15:26:37","slug":"my-trip-to-krakow-poland-the-travel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.leucht.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/my-trip-to-krakow-poland-the-travel\/","title":{"rendered":"My Trip to Krakow, Poland: The Travel"},"content":{"rendered":"

I just returned from a trip to Krakow, Poland<\/a> last week where I was speaking at a software developer conference. \u00a0I posted details of that experience here<\/a>. \u00a0I also posted details about my sightseeing experiences here<\/a>. \u00a0Then I posted details about all the wonderful food I ate here<\/a>. \u00a0This final post, however, is dedicated to the trip in general. \u00a0The flights, the hotel, and other stuff I noticed about Poland and Krakow.<\/p>\n

I don’t travel all that much in general, and this is my first time outside of the United States, so I may have been surprised or excited about things that are very common and everyday in Europe or other parts of the world. \u00a0So please take that into consideration while reading this.<\/p>\n

Here is a photo of the big Lufthansa<\/a> 747 jumbo jet<\/a> that took me across the pond. \u00a0It was about an 8 hour flight from Orlando to Frankfurt and then another couple hours from Frankfurt to Krakow. \u00a0The 8 hour flight started at about 8pm Florida time, so it was an overnight flight.<\/p>\n

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I chose a window seat towards the very back of the plane. \u00a0The Economy class seats were 10 across. 3 seats, aisle, 4 seats, aisle and then 3 seats. \u00a0But in the very back where the tail of the airplane starts to get thinner, there were only 8 seats across. \u00a02, 4, 2. \u00a0So I chose a window seat where there were only 2 seats to choose from. \u00a0My thinking was that the likelihood of another single passenger to take that single seat next to me was less likely than a couple who would take an available 2 seats next to me. \u00a0And I was right. \u00a0Nobody sat next to me in the aisle seat.<\/p>\n

Each seat had a complimentary\u00a0entertainment system mounted in the forward\u00a0seat’s headrest. \u00a0The system had lots of music, TV shows, and feature films\u00a0to choose from. \u00a0It also included a live animation of the flight as it progressed, which I thought was pretty cool. \u00a0Since this was an overnight flight, I didn’t use the entertainment system very much. \u00a0I tried to sleep instead. \u00a0Poland is 6 hours ahead of Florida, so I tried to go to sleep earlier than normal in order to get used to Poland time.<\/p>\n

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As I mentioned, there was nobody sitting in the aisle seat next to me, so I tried to lay down across both seats and get some sleep. \u00a0I usually don’t have much trouble getting to sleep. \u00a0But two seats is just not enough room. \u00a0Not even for me. \u00a0Not even when curled up into the fetal position. \u00a0I tried. \u00a0I really tried. \u00a0I tried on my back. \u00a0On one side. \u00a0On the other side. \u00a0It just didn’t work. \u00a0So I sat upright and slept like pretty much everyone else on the plane. \u00a0I ended up getting about 4 to 5 hours of sleep. \u00a0Not bad considering the conditions.<\/p>\n

Here is a photo of Germany about 30 minutes before we landed in Frankfurt. \u00a0You can see quite a few of those giant modern wind turbines down there.<\/p>\n

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I snapped this photo out the window of what turned out to be\u00a0Oberwesel, Germany<\/a> which looks like a cute little\u00a0village with a cute\u00a0little port there on a dogleg of the Rhine River<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0Click here to explore this area using Google Maps<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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We got basically a pilot’s view of the approach on the entertainment system as we came in for a landing in Frankfort.<\/p>\n

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Once we landed at Frankfort, I had to walk quite a ways around the airport to get to my gate for my flight to Krakow. \u00a0And I had to go through immigration, which had quite a long line. \u00a0I also had to go through the x-ray scanners again.<\/p>\n

Speaking of the x-ray scanners. \u00a0I don’t travel much, so forgive me if this is common. \u00a0But both Frankfort and Krakow had a nice automated system for getting the plastic bins back to the start of the line after those bins were used to carry\u00a0bags and purses through the x-ray scanner. \u00a0At Orlando, workers have to manually stack up these plastic bins and haul them back around to the start of the line. \u00a0A completely\u00a0manual and highly labor intensive process.<\/p>\n

Once I got to my gate in Frankfort for my short flight to Krakow, the gate was automated. \u00a0Each passenger just scanned their boarding pass and a little gate opened up for you to walk through. \u00a0Pretty cool. \u00a0I love automation. \u00a0When it works.<\/p>\n

So I thought I was walking down a ramp to board my plane to Krakow at this point. \u00a0But I was wrong. \u00a0I was walking down stairs to a ground level garage of sorts where there were several busses waiting for us to climb aboard. \u00a0These busses took us to our planes which were parked way out on the tarmac away from the terminal. \u00a0I guess this is necessary if your terminal cannot handle all the planes and flights. \u00a0But I thought it was dangerous. \u00a0I had already scanned my boarding pass and there was no way to make sure passengers didn’t get on the wrong bus or the wrong plane at this point. \u00a0I got on the right bus and the right plane, but there was nothing stopping me from doing otherwise.<\/p>\n

Once I arrived in Krakow, there was a car and driver waiting for me holding a sign with my name on it. \u00a0That was pretty cool. \u00a0He drove me about 20 minutes to the hotel in Krakow and I gave him 2 US dollars as a tip. \u00a0He said that was highly uncommon but\u00a0he was very excited to get it, though.<\/p>\n

Checking into the Novotel Hotel Centrum<\/a> was quick and easy. \u00a0Everyone in Poland speaks pretty good English.<\/p>\n

When I got on the elevator, I noticed that the lobby floor was labeled floor zero. \u00a0This was the only elevator I used during my entire trip, so I don’t know if this was common or not.<\/p>\n

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I loved the design of the hotel bathroom. \u00a0It was very simple and clean. \u00a0I loved the fact that the toilet didn’t actually touch the floor. \u00a0I’m thinking that this is a more sanitary situation than a toilet that goes down into the floor.<\/p>\n

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During my 5 day stay in Poland, I noticed that none of\u00a0the toilets actually touched the floor. \u00a0I also noticed that all of the toilets used the water efficient two-button system of flushing. \u00a0A small button for number 1 and a large button for number 2. \u00a0In theory, this conserves water. \u00a0But in practice, I noticed that the light number 1 flush was seriously powerful and used quite a bit of water. \u00a0And the number 2 flush was just crazy. \u00a0Stand back, people!<\/p>\n

I will admit that when I got into my hotel room I had to go to the bathroom in the dark because I could not for the life of me figure out how to turn the lights on. Afterwards, after the pressure was off, I figured out that this little electronic thingy mounted on the wall just inside my hotel room door labeled “Hotelcard” was for me to stick my room key into. \u00a0And magically it allowed all the lights, and apparently also the air conditioning, to work! \u00a0Genius!<\/p>\n

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While experiencing Krakow, Poland for nearly a week, this historical dude riding a fake horse kept coming up. \u00a0Literally several times each day. \u00a0Apparently it’s a Krakow tradition called\u00a0Lajkonik<\/a>. \u00a0There are several stories and explanations, so I’ll let you read them on your own<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Here is a flight of stairs combined with a ramp for cyclists. \u00a0Very cool.<\/p>\n

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Almost all the streets I encountered while in Krakow are cobblestone. \u00a0Some were even quite decorative and beautiful.<\/p>\n

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One thing I noticed right away when walking around Krakow is that people only cross at marked crosswalks. \u00a0I also noticed that there were very few crossing signals for pedestrians. \u00a0Like in the photo below. \u00a0Pedestrians just wait for a clearing and they go. \u00a0And if cars happen upon pedestrians crossing in these marked zones, they always stop. \u00a0I get the feeling that if you try to cross outside one of these marked crosswalks, the cars would just run you over, though.<\/p>\n

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Many Polish words are very close to the English version. \u00a0Like “alkohole” for “alcohol”. \u00a0The word “alkohole” just cracks me up every time I see it, though.<\/p>\n

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And here is a selfie I took in the Krakow central town square. \u00a0It was chilly that day. \u00a0The high was only 60 degF. \u00a0Several days while I was there, the high was 75 degF which was unseasonably warm.<\/p>\n

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I did not drive while I was in Krakow, but I don’t think it would have been bad. \u00a0It’s not a very big city and there appeared to be some parking available. \u00a0I noticed that gas was about 4 US dollars per gallon, while back in Florida it was right at 2 dollars. \u00a0Yes, I did the conversion for liters and also for\u00a0Polish Zloty.<\/p>\n

I didn’t get the\u00a0green running-man exit signs<\/a> at first. \u00a0Probably because I’m used to exit signs being red instead of green.<\/p>\n

One of my random observations of Poland is that everyone there smokes like a chimney. \u00a0I didn’t see very many electronic cigarettes. \u00a0Just old fashioned tobacco ones. \u00a0And lots of them. \u00a0Sometimes I even had trouble getting\u00a0away from the smoke and finding fresh air.<\/p>\n

Another random observation is when you order a Coke in a restaurant, you never\u00a0get a big glass or a big cup like in America. \u00a0You get a teeny tiny little 6 or so ounce glass. \u00a0Barely enough for a meal. \u00a0They drink a lot of water and beer here. \u00a0Mostly sparkling water, which I’m not a fan of.<\/p>\n

Well, that about covers my trip to Krakow,\u00a0Poland! \u00a0Thanks for your interest!<\/p>\n

Kurt<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I just returned from a trip to Krakow, Poland last week where I was speaking at a software developer conference. \u00a0I posted details of that experience here. \u00a0I also posted details about my sightseeing experiences here. \u00a0Then I posted details about all the wonderful food I ate here. \u00a0This final post, however, is dedicated to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[573,574,575,278,576,498],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.leucht.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2503"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.leucht.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.leucht.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.leucht.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.leucht.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2503"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/www.leucht.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2503\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2619,"href":"https:\/\/www.leucht.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2503\/revisions\/2619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.leucht.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.leucht.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.leucht.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}