As y’all know, I went on a two week trip back to the motherland; Poland. I wanted to upload this post last week, but I had such a hard time adjusting to the time difference. I’m pretty sure I still haven’t fully adjusted and am still jet lagged. For those of you who don’t know, Poland is 6 hours ahead of me (I’m in NJ: EST) so when I was getting to the end of the day at work it was already time for me to be sleeping in Poland, so that first week back was pretty brutal. Not to mention I had a training/class on Wednesday until 8pm. Anyway, I wanted to write this post to show y’all where I went. I feel like Poland is a very underrated country when it comes to tourism. I’ve only known a handful of people to visit Poland as a tourist (not as someone who is from there or has family there because I know a lot of those people haha). Most of them wanted to visit because they knew of someone who visited and loved it. Last year the fiance went with me to Poland and when we came back a lot of people didn’t know that Poland was so beautiful because he was posting so many pictures. There’s a lot of history in Poland and I highly recommend anyone going to visit. If you do decide to plan a trip to Poland, just let me know so that I can tell you my favorite spots to go!
This picture was obviously taken while we were flying over NY right after we left Newark Airport. I must say that after my experience this year and last year with SAS Airlines, I’m not sure I will ever fly with them again. I’ve been traveling with SAS since I was about 12 or 13. There were two times where we had to use Lufthansa because the prices of tickets were much cheaper (almost $500 cheaper!). I had one bad experience with Lufthansa over 10 years ago, but two years ago when my mom and I flew with them we were so pleasantly surprised at how much they had improved. This year was terrible with SAS. They cancelled our flight a week before we were supposed to fly to Poland and I had to figure out a new flight, and on top of that we had to pay double for seats that we had already paid for from the previous flight. When I asked the customer service rep if they could maybe either waive the fee, or at least match what we paid previously, and she said no. Then we actually got onto the flight and I swear the seats are much smaller than last year, I felt like I could barely breathe and both my mom and I are pretty small. On the flight back I went through Poland’s SAS check in with no problem, however when I got to Copenhagen, when we were going to where the gate was they told me that I couldn’t have two carry ons (even though my backpack was my personal item and my carry on was my small suitcase) and they forced me to check in my carry on. I paid $120 for a carry on that weighed maybe 10 lbs. When I asked why the lady was extremely rude and she said it’s policy so when I asked if anything has changed in the past few years, she said no nothing has changed. I told her I’d been traveling like this for the past 10+ years and was never told I couldn’t bring my personal item and carry on and she just gave me an attitude again and asked me how I would be paying for my carry on. How the hell did Poland let me go through but Copenhagen had a problem? I don’t want to sound paranoid or like a crazy person, but I noticed this particular woman who was checking everyone’s boarding passes was being extremely rude to Americans, and there were a few carry ons that had to be checked in that belonged to American’s because I sat by the door and observed. I’m not going to yell discrimination, because this could’ve been a massive coincidence, but I will never recommend SAS airlines again, and I will do my best to avoid using them, even if it means having to pay a few hundred more to fly with another airline.
This picture was taken when we finally got to Poland. I could see Gdynia, which is where my family lives instantly.
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Within the first few days of being in Poland, my cousin in Warsaw had set up a train ticket for me to come to Warsaw on the bullet train, and he even got me first class! He was awesome for doing this because I got my own meal and drink and it was so nice and roomy. I got to Warsaw within 3 hours which is great. I’ve been on the old school trains in Poland before, and they were so uncomfortable and long. I’m so happy they have the bullet train. If you ever go, it’s called the Pendolino. Also, when you use the currency exchange, the price for first class is $32. Totally worth it!
While being on the bullet train, we passed through Malbork, Poland which is home to Malbork Zamek aka Malbork Castle. I have been there before when I was about 7 or 8, and had a bad experience with what I believed was a paranormal encounter, however maybe I also just had an active imagination haha.
“The Castle of the Teutonic Order in Malbork is a 13th-century Teutonic castle and fortress located near the town of Malbork, Poland. It is the largest castle in the world measured by land area and a UNESCO World Heritage Site” (Wikipedia)
On the Pendolino train in first class, they hand you a menu and you pick whatever you’d like from the menu. I chose to go with a salad, because my stomach had actually been hurting me all morning so I wanted to stay safe.
My first night in Warsaw my cousin and his girlfriend took me for a walk around Warsaw. The above picture is the president’s house. Which I thought was cool.
This was in the middle of the square. I thought it was so beautiful. Also, you can see more from my trip to Warsaw on my IGTV channel. Just click here to be redirected to my Instagram, and the video is in my IGTV.
One of the many things I love about Poland is the food. Everything is so fresh and tastes amazing. I always eat a lot of tomatoes, because they actually taste like tomatoes. Even when I was growing my own tomatoes, they didn’t taste this good. The above was a spread that my cousin’s girlfriend left for me the one morning because they both had to go to work. The hospitality in Poland with my family was incredible also.
My other cousin took me to this park in Warsaw. It was absolutely beautiful, and I think it’s the prettiest park I’ve ever been to in my life.
After the park my cousin took me to this place called Regina, and their food was delicious!
This is when I left Warsaw and went back to Gdynia. I absolutely loved Warsaw and wish I could’ve stayed longer to explore more.
I go to this very same stand at the flea market in Gdynia (Hale) every single year. I get my slippers from there and always get a pair because at this point it’s tradition.
This is part of the end of the main street in Gdynia called Świętojańska. They’ve done such a great job with this street, because I remember what it looked like a long time ago and the street just looked a little not taken care of. They did a beautiful job with it!
This is the beach by the Baltic Sea. It was really cold this year, so I only walked on the beach and didn’t even get my feet wet haha.
Now, we are moving on to the food! The above is from an ice cream place called Mariola Cafe, which is the best ice cream I’ve ever had in my life!
If you ever go to Poland, EAT THE PASTRIES. EAT ALL THE PASTRIES. They are all so good and I can’t choose which one is the best.
These are called leniwe piergoi which translates to lazy pierogi. They are so delicious!
The waffle was the breakfast I had on the bullet train on the way back to Gdynia. Soooooooo good.
The above two dishes were at a restaurant in Gdynia called Serio. Really delish!
After my mom’s and grandma’s pierogi these are some of the best pierogi I’ve eaten. Although, the dough is a little thicker than it should be, BUT it’s delish.
The above three things are from F. Minga right on the beach in Gdynia. The first two were my favorite for sure.
I hope you liked all of my Poland posts this year! They were very short and simple this year.
