Poland Travelogue - 1

After a long hiatus, i finally decided to write my travelogue. Thistime, instead of highlighting the specialities of poland , I thought iwill write down all the interestinge xperiences I go through and allthe random thoughts that cross my mind while i go thru theseexperiences.

As told by my colleagues, Poland dint have much for a tourist and thework at office was too much. This was enough for me to lose interestin this travel. But I thought, irrespective of all these reasons,there is nothing wrong in me blessing Poland with my presence and wentto bangalore airport to catch my first Lufthansa flight.. This is alsothe first time, I will be travelling with 2 passports... yessssss...the first one is full :) :)....At the checkin queue, one lufthansaemployee looked at my passport and approached me asking, "Do u havemiles and more a/c?". I replied "no". With a raised eyebrow, sheamiled and said,"oh, u have wasted one passport without miles", forwhich i replied "I just wasted my miles.. passport was usefulthough..".. she smiled again and filled a miles&more form for me andmade sure that i make use of my miles from now on. When I moved to thecounter, I was told that my seat number from franfurt to warsaw isconfirmed, but my seat number from bangalore is not, and would begiven at the time of boarding. This sounded strange. I thought, I willhave to wait till all others sit down in the flight and then go aroundlooking for an empty space :) :) ...

As always, I dint carry a pen this time also. So, I looked around forsomeone who could give me a pen without a wierd look. Saw a 50+ unclechatting with his wife and based on my experience, I decided that hewould be the one who wud let me go thru the immigration :) ... Iapproached him and asked, "Can you pls give me the pen?". He firstgave me a wierd look for coming to airport without a pen and then gavethe pen staring at me... hmmmn.... my choice was wrong and I realizedagain that experience doesnt matter when time is bad :) :) ... While Ifilled the form sitting next to him, I could hear the uncle speakingto aunty in kannada...wondering how their girl will manage alone in US.. Once I was done, I made it a point to thank them in kannada...Bingo...experience does help.. Uncle smiled and said happy journey...Aunty asked where I was going.. I told her "poland" ... She askedwhere it was and then the conversation continued with loads ofquestions shot at me like which company... how many countries... whichplace i was from... parents...studies.... :) :) ....Aunty said herdaughter was going to US for work thru INFY for an year. SHe hadgraduated from RV college in 2007 and was in INFY fom 3 yrs... It wasall dejavu types for me....had such conversations beforemarriage....but, no point having such conversations now...It was timeto say TATA byebye to uncle/aunty and move ahead for immigration......

While standing at the immigration queue, I could see that auntyhugging a girl and almost crying...uncle was busy blessing hisdaughter... i cud understand what the parents were thinking .. but iwonder if their daughter also thought the same... there cud be 3cases..either she is thinking similar to her parents... OR she iseagerly waiting for a brush with freedom from everything in life forthe first time OR some other thought which me and u don't know....Strange that even though many people are involved in the samesituation, each think differently based on which side of the situationthey are in !!!! ... My turn came and moved to the immigrationofficer.. He asked me why I was going to poland... and I told him thatI will test one of our products in poland. He asked me where I wouldsell that product later.. I said the client was in Sweden... Hisimmediate question was,"If you want to sell your product in Sweden,then why are you testing in Poland?" ...interesting question...i likedhis intelligence..I smiled at him... he gave a sarcastic smile at meand stamped on the passport....:) :)

Finally boarding was announced for my flight. Soon, I could see peoplestanding in long queues waiting for their turn to get in. I dontunderstand y people stand in queues when they have their seats booksand the flight wont take off till they get inside !!! Once I got mychance, I was in for a surprise.. My tickets were upgraded to Businessclass... wow... finally i got my chance to start and end my trip withchampagne :) :) ...everything is different in business class..seating.. choice of food... quality of food... choice of movies...hospitality...not that they do it for free... but, still i got theseextra things for free....for the first time in 5 yrs, I had a verygood sleep in flight....The seat had a massager inbuilt... what moredo u need for a sound sleep? :) :)....I watched UP IN THE AIR duringmy flight... one of the very good movies i have seen till date...interesting storyline...i suggest u all to watch it....There is onescene in the movie which which reiterates a commonly seen point...smart guys like witty / agressive girls.... smart girls like guys whoact dumb :) .. its debatable, not generalized , but easily observedaround us :) :) ... Next to me in the flight was an uncle who workedas an airline consultant for Lufthansa.. His only job during thisflight was to observe everything on the flight and give a feedbackonce he gets down at frankfurt ... it was obvious that the entire crewwas at his service during the flight...Since i was sitting next tohim, I took the oppurtunity to make sure that I was also taken careproperly.... All thru the flight, he was keen to know abt myexperience of the flight, comparison to other flights i have been in,my suggestions, etc etc... During the dinner, i loved on of the sweetsthey served as a part fo the meal.... i wanted it again...which doesnthappen in flights... but, i had a chance today... i just startedconversing with him and told, " In other flights, if I ask for asecond serving of a specific item, the response would not be good. Iknow they have limited meals and might not be able to do it, but theway they respond shud also be taken care..maybe I can check thathere..." ...It was just a minute before I got the second serving ofthe sweet which I wanted.. :) :) .. there is a saying that,"when inrome, be a roman".. I think we shud change it to, "When in rome, grabeverything possible in rome" :) :)

Frankfurt is supposed to be one of the busiest airport in the world...its huge.. but it's shopping facility is very ordinary compared toother airports...its no way near the singapore airport, which is thebest i have seen so far. WiFi is not free...coffee is damn costly ....very boring airport if u r wandering alone...and nothing great in theinteriors either.. All in all, it was a disappointment to me.. maybe iexpected too much out of it as the busiest airport... strangely, notmany Indians or chinese were seen in the airport, which is a very rarescene in an European airport these days :) :) .... Need to get insideGermany some day to see how it is....

Nothing much to write about my next flight from Germany to Poland....ordinary flight.. shorter journey....only thing was that I was sittingnext to the emergency exit, which means that in case something happensto the flight, I would be given the first chance to escape :) :)...Though unintentional, I liked the extra care which Lufthansa wastaking on me.... I have decided to choose lufthansa whenever possiblein future :) ......All thru my flight, I was eagerly looking outsidethe window to see if there is any volcanic ash approaching so that Ican jump off before it brings down the flight.... luckily, there wasno need for me to do it ...:)

Finally... poland was blessed with the touch of my feet on itsground.... Clouds showered on my arrival and it was pretty cold....Nothing much to write abt warsaw... its just another city in Europefilled with grass and trees where ever there is no building ...peopledont know english much.... I arrived to my apartment which was on the8th floor of an age old building...and there was no internet in theapartment.... This was a very very strange situation for me.. I am ina foreign land sitting alone in my apartment and am not able toconnect with anyone as i neither had a polish sim, nor internet... Ifelt like I was tied down.... felt suffocated....We are soooo addictedto staying connected with people that we somehow dont understand thewhat we can do without connectvity....And, thats how I ended upwriting such a long mail.. Staying isolated helps you think away fromthe routine and put down your thoughts on paper. I did it and sharedit with u. Though it's long, I hope u enjoyed it.... will keep uupdated on more about poland soon :) ...