Life / Why are the lines in supermarkets the slowest and the longest in Europe? Usually only very few employees work [18]


And British and Portugese.

Although Intermarche and small Carrefours ("Carrefour Market", if I remember well) are franchise branches, so they are not owned by Carrefour. Leclerc, I think, as well, although I am not sure about that.

Life / Price/wage ratio in Poland - shocked! [16]

But take also into account, how many people actually buy new cars in Poland. Poles usually buy second-hand cars, and rarely new ones.

Life / Price/wage ratio in Poland - shocked! [16]


Ukraine

Travel / Train from Poland to Serbia and car from Lithuania to Budapest [15]


If you can find a cheap flight (and you don't have to carry a big luggage with you), then WizzAir plane, if not, Lux Express bus. There is also PolskiBus, and, if I remember well, also buses of Hungarian companies: OrangeWays and VolanBusz, but Lux Express is the most comfortable and with prices comparable with the others. The second in the comfort row would be VolanBusz, then PolskiBus. OrangeWays - don't try to take it unless you really have to. I have read a lot of very bad opinions about this company.

The train is a little bit more expensive, but still worth its price. It has such a disadvantage that the ticket cannot be bought online. Interestingly, a train ticket from Budapest to Warsaw can be bought online (through the website of Hungarian railways), a return ticket as well, but not if you begin your trip in Poland. You have to do it at a ticket counter in Poland or in Hungary. Theoretically also in almost any other European country, but then it will cost much more (the special offer which makes the price 29 euro only will not be available). Maybe yet also in Czechia and Slovakia it's possible, but not anywhere else in Europe.

Some of the mentioned connections are from Warsaw, some from Cracow, some from Warsaw through Cracow.

In the Lux Express bus you have quite a lot of space for your legs (as for a bus), wifi (in my case it worked only in Poland, but even the drivers were surprised, so I assume that normally it works along the whole route) and an entertainment system.

Travel / Lublin to Tatra Mountains, Zakopane - via public transport in Poland [9]


Bus is faster even in traffic jam conditions, trains are just terribly slow on this route. The tracks condition is not good, the railway line winds much and the train has to change the direction a few times, which in case of long-distance trains means waiting until the locomotive will be transported to the other end of the train.

By train it takes 3-4 hours, while by bus - around 2 hours. Even if it will be 3 hours because of a traffic jam, it will be worth that.

I can recommend a train only in three cases:
- you are a fan of trains
- it's better for you to take a train for health reasons (motion sickness)
- you are going on a night long-distance train

Love / Baby naming in Poland - name chosen by the father? [48]


The only really neutral one of them is Adam (which is not weird taking its origin into account). With the others he will always have to explain the spelling being in another country than the one where his birth was born...

"Jestem Aleksander, ale pisze się przez x"
"I am Alexander, but spelled with ks"

Travel / Lublin to Tatra Mountains, Zakopane - via public transport in Poland [9]

I would recommend a train to Kraków and then a bus to Zakopane.

There are two trains from Lublin to Kraków in a day.

You can also take a bus to Kraków, probably there are also some direct buses to Zakopane. e-podroznik.pl

Law / How to get a Polish Police Certificate from overseas. [5]


I don't know how it is in this case, but for doing most administration staff that is available online, it's possible to use a "trusted profile", which is free, instead of "verified electronic signature". You must register on the website, send (through the website) an application for a "trusted profile" selecting a point to which you will have to physically go to confirm your identity (there are such points in Polish embassies and consulates) and go to this point with your identity card or a passport. Then you will be able to use those services.

To use this online administration platform (it's called ePUAP), you must have a PESEL number. If you don't have it, you can use only an electronic signature.

But it seems, you can also send the application for this certificate by post: bip.ms.gov.pl/pl/rejestry-i-ewidencje/krajowy-rejestr-karny/

bip.ms.gov.pl/pl/rejestry-i-ewidencje/krajowy-rejestr-karny/pytania-i-odpowiedzi/

You need this application form: bip.ms.gov.pl/Data/Files/_public/bip/krk/formularz_krk_osoba.pdf (PDF), bip.ms.gov.pl/Data/Files/_public/bip/krk/formularz_krk_osoba.rtf (RTF)

Fill it in:

- Nazwa i adres... (upper left corner) - your address (they will send it there)
- Data wystawienia - Current date
- Numer PESEL - your PESEL number, if you have it
- numer paszportu... - your passport number, only if you don't have a PESEL number
- Nazwisko rodowe - your original family name (before you got married, if you are not married or you didn't change it, and therefore you have never changed your family name, just put here the only one you have ever had)

- Nazwisko... - your current family name
- Imiona - all your "first" names (so not the family name)
- Imię ojca - first name of your father
- Imię matki - first name of your mother
- Data urodzenia - your birth date
- Nazwisko rodowe matki - maiden name of your mother (if she has never changed it, just put the current one)
- Miejsce urodzenia - City, town or village where you were born
- Obywatelstwo - nationality (if you are Japanese, write "japońskie" or: "Japonia")
- Miejsce zamieszkania - your current address where you live
- Wskazanie postępowania... - you may leave it empty, it's needed only if you apply for a certificate for someone else, which is allowed only in special cases

- Rodzaj danych... - you may mark all three points and it's the safest option, it doesn't increase the price
- Zakres danych... - you may leave it empty, reason the same as two fields above

You must transfer 30 PLN to the following bank account:

Recipient: Ministerstwo Sprawiedliwości, Al. Ujazdowskie 11, 00-950 Warszawa
Bank name: NBP O/O Warszawa
IBAN: PL 77 1010 1010 0400 1922 3100 0000
Bank address:
Narodowy Bank Polski
Oddział Okręgowy Warszawa
Plac Powstańców Warszawy 4
00-950 Warszawa
The transfer title must contain the same date as in "data wystawienia" on the application form and your name (first name and family name is enough).

and attach the confirmation of the transfer to the application.

Send it to:
Biuro Informacyjne KRK
ul. Czerniakowska 100
00-454 Warszawa
POLAND

They have 7 days to prepare the certificate + the time for the post to deliver it in both directions + 20 days because if you are not a Polish citizen, they are obliged to ask your country if your records are clear also there and your country has 20 days to answer.

So if you need it quickly, try to contact both the Polish institution (Biuro Informacyjne KRK), as well as the institution responsible for issuing such certificates in your country (whom Poland will have to ask), and ask them to do everything quickly. And send it by a possibly fast kind of post service.

The certificate is actually just a stamp on your application. I am not sure how it is if you do it by post, but probably they will just send it back with a stamp.

Life / Hesitation to emigrate in Poland from Singapore with 8.000 zlotys a month job offer [9]

Most people in Poland earn no more than around 2000 zł.

I don't know what kind of job it is, but 8000 zł looks good. Even if it's the gross salary, after subtracting the taxes and obligatory health and pension insurance, it should be no less than 5000-6000 zł.

Law / "185 Days" Requirement for Applying a Driving License in Poland (Detailed Research) [5]

Relaying on the present/continuous tense in a text machine translated to English from a language which doesn't have such a division (ok, we have perfective and imperfective verbs, but they are not alwas equivalent to the English simple and continuous tense) is a stupid idea.

The Polish text says: (removed text in Polish)

You have to actually live in Poland, which means:

- either you are in Poland for at least 185 days every year (it's not said that it has to be 185 days one after another, you just have to be in Poland for most of the year) because of your personal or professional relations, or intending to stay in Poland because of your personal relations,

- or you "stay regularly" (so it can be less than 185 days, it's enough that you regularly return to Poland) in Poland because of your personal relations and due to your professional relations you stay in at least two EU countries,

- or you stay irregularry in Poland for your personal relations because you stay in another EU country to do a limited-time professional task,
- or you stay in another country due to studies or school education.

But I would say that these conditions refer to a situation when you don't have a driving license at all rather than to a situation when you want to exchange a foreign driving license. They are mentioned next to conditions such as that you have made a diving course or that you have passed an exam. And it's obvious that they are not the case when you have already a foreign driving license. The point about exchanging a foreign driving license says:

(text in Polish removed)

(sorry for this weird quoting stye, there is an error in the forum which I reported already a few weeks ago, the admin said it's fixed, but it is actually still not fixed...)

It says that it's enough to file an application. And, in some cases, to pass a theroetical part of the offcial exam.

But it seems that the offices actually interpret it so that those conditions refer to exchanging a foreign driving license as well. Don't ask me why.

You must just live permanently in Poland. If you were in Poland for at least 185 days within the last year, they shouldn't make any problems. In other cases - well, as you have written, no regulation says that you actually must have already been in Poland for 185 days, it may be your intention.

In my opinion - actually it is so that they cannot refuse registering you in the PKK system once you sign this paper. What they can do is check after a year if you actually stayed in Poland for at least 185 days within a year around the moment of signing that paper and take you to jail if it's not so.

What country are you from, so that they don't even issue IDP there?

Language / Polish flower that starts with T [7]

Tulipan (tulip) is the most common, but I wouldn't call it a Polish flower, rather a Dutch one...

Travel / Getting from Krakow to Warsaw [99]

You are right.

Travel / Getting from Krakow to Warsaw [99]

IC and TLK trains are cheaper, but most of the connections between Warsaw and Cracow are the more expensive EIC and EIP.

The tickets are the cheaper, the earlier you buy them. They are to buy online on intercity.pl
Train connections search - rozklad.sitkol.pl

If you change between two trains in the middle of the route, it counts as a single connection and you get a single ticket (cheaper than 2 separate ones), but not if you buy the ticket online. So try to find a direct connection.

The tickets are sold not earlier than a month in advance.

Life / A rumour about the need to give passport copy when you buy a prepaid sim number in Poland? [23]


Like in the communist times, or even worse - because in those times spying was much more difficult than with today's technology. In the past they had to find a suspect person first, now computers analyze everything.

USA, Canada / Flying Toronto- Warsaw with a small dog [4]

Ask the airline...

Travel / How does wizz air compare with ryanair? [32]

In Ryanair: 2 bags, one up to 55x40x20 cm, the other one up to 35x20x20 cm.
In Wizzair: one bag up to 42x32x25 cm

For me it looks like Ryanair is more generous. But it depends. In Wizzair you can pay not much extra for priority boarding and be allowed to take an extra small bag. You can also pay for a bigger hand luggage. In Ryanair the only option is to buy checked-in luggage.

Going from Łódź in Poland to Karlsruhe in Germany I can take Ryanair from Warsaw Modlin to Cologne or WizzAir from Warsaw Okęcie to Basel, and WizzAir is always much more expensive. But maybe it depends on the route.

Travel / How does wizz air compare with ryanair? [32]

Once. Another time it could be just on the contrary. I don't say so that it's never so the delay is the fault of the airline and not the weather conditions, but I think they are comparable.

Wizzair is more expensive.

Study / How long can students stay in a university in Poland? [11]


And this way it works :)

In Poland you don't have entry exams, so it's easier in terms of this.

And the university gets paid for a student from the government, so for them it's so that the more students, the better.

Study / How long can students stay in a university in Poland? [11]

Even if you don't have the money for the tuition, you can start your studies from the beginning however many times you want. And nothing can stop you.

You pay if you need to repeat a course (exactly, if you don't pass the exam just after it and neither a semester later), but you can always repeat the whole study and you don't have to pay for that.

Travel / London to Krakow travel by Road [22]


Still not proper border checks, but random ones. There will be, however, permanent control just at the border, they will just select random cars, not check all of them. So there shouldn't be queues.

Study / How long can students stay in a university in Poland? [11]

He could stop his studies and start them from the beginning. Even for a few times.

Feedback / Stupid limitation on the quotation length [20]

It has already been proven that there is such a need.

When I refer to a piece of text, the whole point of quotations is to quote the whole text I refer to. Otherwise I could just use no quotation at all and put the nickname of the person the post of I answer to... Who else disagrees with that?

Unfortunately the error is still not fixed.
See here: polishforums.com/law/poland-days-requirement-applying-driving-license-78336/#msg1559579
I had to cut the quotation from the legal act, because it was impossible to quote it in a standard way, as on each other forum...

It is not an error -it's a feature. There are limits of quoted text.

Feedback / Stupid limitation on the quotation length [20]

Ok, if it's fixed now, I will confirm after checking it, but in a topic created on Wednesday this problem was still present.

Is it no way to fix it also in the older topics?

Before a moment I had to slice into half even such a short quotation:



!

Language / How do you literally translate Home Sweet Home in Polish [22]


Yeah, and here you can see how Polish family jumps into competences of the English home.

Feedback / Stupid limitation on the quotation length [20]

Unfortunately, the problem still hasn't been solved. Even in new topics I cannot make quotations longer than 1-2 lines.

Language / Polish keyboard 214 is best [34]



But sometimes you want to write something, like a headline, using capital letters only. And then it's a problem.

I have seen headlines in capitals, where ą and ę were small letters (it doesn't usually happen, because, as qwertyuiop mentioned, noone in Poland uses 214 - maybe only some people accustomed to typewriters, where it was the standard layout, and learnt to type sightlessly) - and it looks just weird.

I don't know if any company even produces keyboards with the 214 layout.

If you are a foreigner, then:
- if you are accustomed to the English or the American keyboard (or any other similiar to them), you should use the "programmer's" layout (with Polish letters under right Alt, or left Alt+Ctrl, at least in Windows - in Linux with Mate desktop that I use just now it's right Alt or left Alt, but I use the right Alt only anyway)

- if you are accustomed to the German keyboard (or any other similar), you should use the "214" vel. "typewriter's" layout
- if you are accustomed to any other keyboard layout, I recommend the "programmer's" one, since it's the standard used in Poland, actually I don't know anyone who would use the "typewriter's" keyboard and even in Germany I always switch to the "programmer's" layout, not "214", because the latter is just annoying for me. I have always used the "programmer's" layout.

Language / How do you literally translate Home Sweet Home in Polish [22]


No. Not "Guest at home, God at home", but "Guest to the home, God to the home".

Compare it with German "in" + accusative or dative.

Now we don't say "w dom", we say "do domu", but it's a fixed expression.

Love / A surprise visit to Poland - need a general advice? Have no idea.. [4]

I wouldn't call myself a specialist in the love matters, not at all, but I don't think a gril from any country would be happy with so direct approach. Although it depends how well you know each other. If you come to Poland, meet her, I think she would be very happy, but about a surprise kiss - I am not sure about that.

Language / How do you literally translate Home Sweet Home in Polish [22]

Yes, of course, but it seems that meaning of "home" in English is somehow wider than of "dom" in Polish. We, basically, don't have difference between "house" and "home" (although "dom" has, on the other hand, a narrower meaning than "house", it's very rarely used for just any building, "dom" will almost always be a house in which people live), we have a single word: "dom". That's why not all the connotations of the English word "home" can be transferred to the Polish word "dom".

Although the differences are so tiny that it won't probably matter at all.

Language / How do you literally translate Home Sweet Home in Polish [22]

Yes, it's more a scientific or specialistic term.