Travel Notes: Gdańsk - Day 5
2025-04-06 04:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rodoTitle: Travel Notes: Gdańsk
Author:rodo
Chapter: 5/5
Length: 1167 words
Rating: 6+
Genre: travelogue
A/N: feel free to read; I wrote this mainly for myself, to better remember my time in Gdańsk
Summary: In the summer of 2024, I found myself with time and money to spend, and on short notice, decided to visit Gdańsk, a city I’d never been to, but had always wanted to see. Here, you can read all about my trip – the boring and hopefully not so boring details, illustrated by a couple of photos.
Day 5: Thursday, 1st of August 2024: … That Ends Well
I hadn’t looked forward to the trip back, and that had more or less ruined my sleep and left me with neck muscles so tense it was affecting my balance and making me dizzy. In that state, I swayed down to the buffet and had a hearty breakfast, considering I didn’t know if there would be something for me to buy on the way (spoiler: there wouldn’t be). Then I left the hotel at 9:40, without paying the city tax – the hotel didn’t collect it, even though it had said so on the registration.
My first hurdle was trying to figure out which platform my train would leave from. At the station, I was introduced to the Polish system of numbering platforms and tracks: there’s one platform that was numbered, and on that platform, there were two tracks on either side. I’m used to the platform having no number, while the tracks do. I found the platform, but since my train was ten minutes late, I got to see it being reassigned from one track to another a handful of times.
My train to Szczecin ended up being overbooked. Just my luck, since the seat reservation system had been down when I booked my travel. For the first hour and a half, I had to stand next to the luggage rack while the train started on its scenic route through the Pomeranian landscape, which is frankly very similar to the one back home. One difference was that a sort of violet flower whose name I don’t know was quite a bit more abundant here, making some of the fields look rather picturesque, especially since there were also a lot of storks (at least ten in one field!) and cranes about. My fellow passengers, meanwhile, were a curious bunch. A couple of teenagers looked like they were headed to Woodstock, circa 1968, while one woman had a lengthy argument with an insurance agent in English. For some reason, almost all my fellow passengers got out at a minuscule speck of a place in the middle of nowhere, as far as I could tell. Something was afoot, even if I didn’t know what. Much later, a colleague back home mentioned a famous music festival, which may or may not have been the reason for the village station being curiously popular.
As for the delay: the train caught up some, but then it grew again, and so I had no idea whether I would make my connecting bus. Yes, a bus. Again. In this case, I had to take the Schienenersatzverkehr, one of those lovely bureaucratic German words that means “bus that runs in place of a train when it can’t for some reason”. When the train doors opened in Szczecin, I almost sprinted out, as much as my backpack would allow me. I left the station and saw a bunch of bus stops under construction, but no buses. I very nearly panicked and hurried back inside, then back out again, and to my luck, I saw a bus leaving. The actual bus station was behind the one under construction, following a sharp drop, so I’d only seen the tops of the buses at first, without knowing what they were. I ran as fast as my giant backpack allowed and managed to catch my bus by a hair’s breadth.
The bus ride was my favourite part of the day. I didn’t take off my backpack and leaned back against the window with it, which was comfy, and also ended up being something of a massage. It wasn’t overly full, which came as a relief after the crowded train. There was no WLAN (despite being advertised on a screen), but I didn’t care. I watched the Uckermark and its sunflower fields brush past and allowed myself to relax. I didn’t even care that a woman changed her baby’s diaper next to my row of seats, nor that the police checked our IDs at the border (uneventful, except the baby did not have valid documents, so the parents got a warning). To my surprise, the bus was punctual (unlike most trains). Maybe I should take the bus more often.
Of course, once I’d reached Angermünde, I had to take a train again. It was late (because it didn’t get to finish its previous round trip on time). Not by a lot, but a little. The people occupying the row opposite me were having a mini work conference (a presentation, something to do with wind energy), and so we drove towards Berlin at a leisurely pace. Until the police stopped us dead in Berlin – Gesundbrunnen, that is. They walked through the entire train before any passengers were allowed to leave, and it took ages.
I checked the app and chose an alternative route back home. Then the frequent email updates informed me that I would be late for that one as well, so I chose an alternative to my alternative. In the end, I had to run again at Berlin’s main station, the most confusing train station I’ve ever seen, mostly because the platforms aren’t just spread horizontally, but also across three vertical levels (there might be more, but I just had to go up.)
I reached the platform for the alternative to my alternative, but it was nowhere to be found. What I did find on the opposite track was the original alternative. It hadn’t left yet because the train driver was late (he was on a different train). So I thought to myself: What the hell, I’ll just get on. It worked out alright. During this leg of the journey, I started watching the Netflix movie I had downloaded for just this purpose (Godzilla Minus One) and it kept me entertained for most of the rest of the way. We were late to Hanover, but still in time for my connecting train (but too late for buying food – the food service on the train was out of order, of course). Then we left late because a passenger was blocking the door until the annoyed driver scolded him.
We were late in Bremen too, naturally. I don’t think I’ve been on a train that didn’t get stopped approaching from the south in a while. They just stop shortly before the station, every time. I was the one who annoyed the train driver this time, by accidentally hitting the “talk to the driver” button with my giant backpack, but I was pretty happy to finally be within reach of home. It was almost 10 o’clock.
I caught the last train. I shouldn’t have, because we arrived too late. But the train I had to catch was late too, and so I managed to reach home with a delay of two to three minutes and a couple of new grey hairs. And a very empty belly, but that was quickly remedied.
In conclusion: train travel in Germany is not for the faint of heart, even if things do turn out alright in the end.
Fin
Previous Chapter: Day 4: Wednesday, 31st of July 2024: A Walk and Another Museum
The Chapters
Day 1: Sunday, 28th of July 2024: All is well… | Day 2: Monday, 29th of July 2024: Getting Started | Day 3: Tuesday, 30th of July 2024: Something New(ish) | Day 4: Wednesday, 31st of July 2024: A Walk and Another Museum | Day 5: Thursday, 1st of August 2024: … That Ends Well
Author:
rodoChapter: 5/5
Length: 1167 words
Rating: 6+
Genre: travelogue
A/N: feel free to read; I wrote this mainly for myself, to better remember my time in Gdańsk
Summary: In the summer of 2024, I found myself with time and money to spend, and on short notice, decided to visit Gdańsk, a city I’d never been to, but had always wanted to see. Here, you can read all about my trip – the boring and hopefully not so boring details, illustrated by a couple of photos.
I hadn’t looked forward to the trip back, and that had more or less ruined my sleep and left me with neck muscles so tense it was affecting my balance and making me dizzy. In that state, I swayed down to the buffet and had a hearty breakfast, considering I didn’t know if there would be something for me to buy on the way (spoiler: there wouldn’t be). Then I left the hotel at 9:40, without paying the city tax – the hotel didn’t collect it, even though it had said so on the registration.
My first hurdle was trying to figure out which platform my train would leave from. At the station, I was introduced to the Polish system of numbering platforms and tracks: there’s one platform that was numbered, and on that platform, there were two tracks on either side. I’m used to the platform having no number, while the tracks do. I found the platform, but since my train was ten minutes late, I got to see it being reassigned from one track to another a handful of times.
My train to Szczecin ended up being overbooked. Just my luck, since the seat reservation system had been down when I booked my travel. For the first hour and a half, I had to stand next to the luggage rack while the train started on its scenic route through the Pomeranian landscape, which is frankly very similar to the one back home. One difference was that a sort of violet flower whose name I don’t know was quite a bit more abundant here, making some of the fields look rather picturesque, especially since there were also a lot of storks (at least ten in one field!) and cranes about. My fellow passengers, meanwhile, were a curious bunch. A couple of teenagers looked like they were headed to Woodstock, circa 1968, while one woman had a lengthy argument with an insurance agent in English. For some reason, almost all my fellow passengers got out at a minuscule speck of a place in the middle of nowhere, as far as I could tell. Something was afoot, even if I didn’t know what. Much later, a colleague back home mentioned a famous music festival, which may or may not have been the reason for the village station being curiously popular.
As for the delay: the train caught up some, but then it grew again, and so I had no idea whether I would make my connecting bus. Yes, a bus. Again. In this case, I had to take the Schienenersatzverkehr, one of those lovely bureaucratic German words that means “bus that runs in place of a train when it can’t for some reason”. When the train doors opened in Szczecin, I almost sprinted out, as much as my backpack would allow me. I left the station and saw a bunch of bus stops under construction, but no buses. I very nearly panicked and hurried back inside, then back out again, and to my luck, I saw a bus leaving. The actual bus station was behind the one under construction, following a sharp drop, so I’d only seen the tops of the buses at first, without knowing what they were. I ran as fast as my giant backpack allowed and managed to catch my bus by a hair’s breadth.
The bus ride was my favourite part of the day. I didn’t take off my backpack and leaned back against the window with it, which was comfy, and also ended up being something of a massage. It wasn’t overly full, which came as a relief after the crowded train. There was no WLAN (despite being advertised on a screen), but I didn’t care. I watched the Uckermark and its sunflower fields brush past and allowed myself to relax. I didn’t even care that a woman changed her baby’s diaper next to my row of seats, nor that the police checked our IDs at the border (uneventful, except the baby did not have valid documents, so the parents got a warning). To my surprise, the bus was punctual (unlike most trains). Maybe I should take the bus more often.
Of course, once I’d reached Angermünde, I had to take a train again. It was late (because it didn’t get to finish its previous round trip on time). Not by a lot, but a little. The people occupying the row opposite me were having a mini work conference (a presentation, something to do with wind energy), and so we drove towards Berlin at a leisurely pace. Until the police stopped us dead in Berlin – Gesundbrunnen, that is. They walked through the entire train before any passengers were allowed to leave, and it took ages.
I checked the app and chose an alternative route back home. Then the frequent email updates informed me that I would be late for that one as well, so I chose an alternative to my alternative. In the end, I had to run again at Berlin’s main station, the most confusing train station I’ve ever seen, mostly because the platforms aren’t just spread horizontally, but also across three vertical levels (there might be more, but I just had to go up.)
I reached the platform for the alternative to my alternative, but it was nowhere to be found. What I did find on the opposite track was the original alternative. It hadn’t left yet because the train driver was late (he was on a different train). So I thought to myself: What the hell, I’ll just get on. It worked out alright. During this leg of the journey, I started watching the Netflix movie I had downloaded for just this purpose (Godzilla Minus One) and it kept me entertained for most of the rest of the way. We were late to Hanover, but still in time for my connecting train (but too late for buying food – the food service on the train was out of order, of course). Then we left late because a passenger was blocking the door until the annoyed driver scolded him.
We were late in Bremen too, naturally. I don’t think I’ve been on a train that didn’t get stopped approaching from the south in a while. They just stop shortly before the station, every time. I was the one who annoyed the train driver this time, by accidentally hitting the “talk to the driver” button with my giant backpack, but I was pretty happy to finally be within reach of home. It was almost 10 o’clock.
I caught the last train. I shouldn’t have, because we arrived too late. But the train I had to catch was late too, and so I managed to reach home with a delay of two to three minutes and a couple of new grey hairs. And a very empty belly, but that was quickly remedied.
In conclusion: train travel in Germany is not for the faint of heart, even if things do turn out alright in the end.
no subject
Date: 2025-04-06 08:58 pm (UTC)I've never been to Gdańsk, despite being to a lot of places in Europe. I used to love to travel a lot but have done it a lot less since living in the US.
no subject
Date: 2025-04-06 11:16 pm (UTC)Any particular reason you're travelling less now, or just the normal "being an adult" stuff?
no subject
Date: 2025-04-06 11:22 pm (UTC)Somewhere like Gdańsk would be on my radar in that my idea of a holiday never involves lying around on a beach.
The US is vast and while I've travelled to quite a few places in the country, you don't get the same vastly different experiences you do while travelling across Europe. The language and culture don't change that much at all.
The main reason though is that Americans get very little vacation time - I'm up to 4 weeks a year at this point and at that the envy of many of my friends here - and I've always spent nearly all of it going home to England to visit with family and friends.
no subject
Date: 2025-04-07 04:26 pm (UTC)And yeah, I totally get prioritizing people over places when you've only got so much time and resources to spend elsewhere. Mostly, I just travel to stay with a friend in the city I lived in when I went to uni these days. And not just because it's cheap.
Four weeks? I think that's minimum in Germany. Coupled with the concept of sick days, I really pity Americans.
no subject
Date: 2025-04-07 09:57 pm (UTC)It's extremely rare to ever get more than four weeks and it took me a few years to climb to that number!
no subject
Date: 2025-04-09 05:10 pm (UTC)