Beware of Polish Trains --Slice of Life

For those of you who are familiar with our Writing Workshop last year we wrote slices of life. This is my slice of life on a Polish train. (This is why it is longer than a normal blog entry.)

Beware when riding Polish trains! Our train ride from Warsaw to Krakow could have only been made worse if we had had our luggage stolen. We rushed to the railway station in Warsaw planning to take the 2:15 train to Krakow only to find ourselves stuck at a ticket window with a woman who spoke no English. She told us we could not take the 2:15. Were there no more tickets? Was the train cancelled? Did we read the timetable incorrectly? Did she know what we wanted to do? Clearly irritated by us she barked at us to go to the international window up the stairs. As we ascended the staircase we were enveloped by many different ticket windows and Polish words. Our eyes darted everywhere as we searched for an international window but we could not see one clearly labeled. We saw an information line and proceeded to get in what we thought was the line, but after a while we realized we were not actually in the line. We then spotted a sign that had in English “Information” so I went over and tried to ask the people in line if this place will help us to buy tickets. I got no where with that. We resigned ourselves to taking a later train and found another ticket line and after a few minutes, finally I spotted the long international line which the lady told us to go to. We waited there for a while and some men who also spoke English asked us if this was the right line to buy tickets to Krakow. We told them we were not sure, but that we were also looking to go to Krakow. They continued to ask others and we followed them with our attentive eyes and ears hoping to catch a bit of information. They found a Polish woman who spoke English and she said that this line was only if you were going out of the country. They caught our eyes and told us to change lines. The men left and we asked the woman why the other ticket lady would send us to this line when she knew we were going to Krakow. She guessed it was because the woman thought that these ticket sellers would speak English.

Confused and filled with trepidation that we would not get a ticket, we decided to go back to the original ticket line and try to buy a ticket for 3:15. The Polish lady volunteered to come with us and aid in purchasing the tickets. We told her that was too much trouble on her part, but she insisted. We descended the stairs and got back in line. When we approached the window, this time with a different woman, the Polish savior did all of our talking, and then we had to pay. Of course they only take cash and we did not have that much on us. I raced to the ATM which was about 20 feet away and got 200 zlotys. I came back to the window to confirm a 3:15 train to Krakow. We got our tickets, thanked the Polish lady who gave up her time to help us and went back up to wait for our train.

We sat down finally feeling more at ease. But when we looked at our tickets, it looked as though our departure time was for 5:15 not 3:15. In despair I left Ms. Guiney with our bags and went back down to the ticket line and got to the window with the original ticket lady. I wrote on a slip of paper Departure 15:15? I wrote departure in Polish, or at least what I thought was Polish based on what was on the ticket, and she shook her head. She then proceeded to put the tickets through a machine, stamp them, take out new tickets, she had me sign something, and then she handed back tickets along with 111 zlotys. Why was I getting money back? Did she understand me? “15:15 to Krakow?” I asked. She nodded. “Receipt?” She shook her head, and I left.

So I went eagerly back to Ms. Guiney and we surveyed the tickets. Where was the departure time? What platform were we supposed to go to? We looked at each other with desperate looks in our eyes. I then heard a man speaking to his family in English with an American accent. I asked him if he knew how to read the ticket and he gladly tried to help us. Another man who spoke English also came to our group to see if he could help. In the end none of us could figure out the ticket. Then the American man took out his notebook and wrote out in Polish what we should ask the lady at the information window. It turns out he is a professor from Ohio and was here in Poland for two years doing research. I waited in line at the info booth, and handed over the message to the lady, and she told us our platform.

At the appropriate time we headed to our platform and asked 3 people if this was the train to Krakow. Well, it was more like pointing to a track and saying, “Krakow?” The train arrived and there was a mad rush to the doors. We each were carrying suitcases that weighed at least 40lbs and small bags, and purses. People kept squeezing by us. We turned into the first car and it was the dining car, so we kept going, but people stopped all of a sudden in front of us. We looked around and soon realized to our chagrin that the train was full and there were no more seats! The train was hot and we were standing with all of our luggage in a small space right at the doors between cars. In the end we ended up standing or sitting on the floor for 3 hours. We could not eat, rest, read, nothing. It was the worst train ride we could imagine. We asked each other what we could have done to avoid this, but there was nothing. So, when traveling in Poland, beware of the trains, and rush to the doors when the train arrives so that you get a seat.