Work / Advice on Teaching English in Poland [709]


I've seen offers for teaching in London at 12 pounds an hour. Given that 50zl/hour is easily achievable in Poland, you really have to wonder how much money the UK schools must be making.

Food / Organic Produce in Polish malls? [7]


What an utter scam those boxes are!

Food / Organic Produce in Polish malls? [7]


The thing is that the produce could very well be organic without it being explicitly labelled as such - but it's doubtful if the sellers in markets know or indeed care if it is or not. Remeber, farms here don't necessarily have the money to spend on expensive fertilisers.

Travel / Buying travel insurance for staying in Poland: Help needed. [3]

Why won't it cover her? Insurance usually covers EU citizens, not just UK (or whatever) citizens.

And yes, PESEL is effectively a social security number.

Life / Do you really have to pay for your dogs to live in Poland [15]


It's a dog licence. You can get a waiver if they're neutered and microchipped. Quite sensible - the money goes back towards dealing with stray dogs.


The money is going towards dealing with the consequences of irresponsible dog owners who would rather leave their dogs unneutered and not microchipped.


What does having a 4x4 and a big house got to do with the requirement to have a dog licence?

Work / Considering doing a PhD in Poland: ECTS doctoral studies [10]

I told you to come to Poznan ;)

Work / Considering doing a PhD in Poland: ECTS doctoral studies [10]


Did you actually get any credits awarded? I didn't know that they used the credit system for post-Masters courses - but if they did, it shouldn't be difficult to get it transferred. I think though, the Polish system relies on you going to the lecturer in question and asking for exemption rather than any formal transfer of credits.

Life / Ripped Off in Poland? - Expose here: [185]

We'll see how the owners of the apartments feel about him slandering them online - I've e-mailed them the link to the thread, along with his personal details... :)

(more jealousy on his part?)

News / Freezing weather in Poland, 42 people dead in winter freeze... and no-one cares? [140]


Of course it will.

(right...it'll actually more likely be around 10c by the start of March)

Travel / Credit / Debit Cards to use in Poland [37]


Obviously, I don't suppose you actually have any money to put into a bank account. Spamming Polishforums constantly obviously isn't very lucrative. How's the Adwords ban affecting you?

I can assure anyone on this forum that mbank is more than happy to open accounts for foreigners - the only condition is that you need to have an address in Poland that you can use, though you don't have to be registered there.


I doubt they'll fix it anytime soon - they've had what, 3-4 years to fix it and it's still a problem? Then again, even in the UK, Maestro/Switch acceptance has always been rubbish. Probably the best advice is simply to steer clear of Maestro full stop!

Visa is safe though, as far as I understand it - the only thing is that people should be aware that Visa Electron isn't accepted everywhere. To be fair, I have a Visa Electron card in Poland through mBank and have never had problems with it being accepted here - though I *think* PKP Intercity won't accept it for tickets onboard.

The best idea is as you say - always take a backup credit card.

Travel / Which cities in Poland are nice to visit [80]


I guess it's a miserable existence, sitting at a window and watching all the tourists having fun, while realising that you're stuck inside spamming forums to try and get the bitterness out, I guess.

Travel / Which cities in Poland are nice to visit [80]


Why do you live there then Mark?

Travel / Credit / Debit Cards to use in Poland [37]


Mostly Maestro is at fault - Mastercard have all but admitted that the introduction of Maestro was an absolutely cockup from start to finish, and they're scrapping Maestro in favour of Mastercard Electronic now. I'd actually recommend that anyone coming to Europe (or going from Europe) obtains some sort of Visa card - Maestro is all but useless in many cases. UK Maestro cards have had a hell of a time being accepted in Europe - mainly because they rebranded Switch but didn't bother to actually upgrade the infrastructure.

Never heard of any issues with Visa Electron mind you - apart from the usual problems of it not being accepted anywhere that uses offline terminals like on trains or planes.

Travel / Credit / Debit Cards to use in Poland [37]


Wrong. Period.

mbank.pl/en/guide/faq/#tabs=1

I quote.


Now, back into your cave!

Remind me, why does this forum allow guest posters again?

Life / Ripped Off in Poland? - Expose here: [185]


Not in all cases. I don't know if it's the same for all provinces, but here, if I want to get the EKUZ card, I simply visit the relevant office with proof that I paid ZUS this month (a print out does nicely) and voila, the card is produced on the spot. Compare this to the UK, where you have to wait weeks for the same thing.

Or we could talk about the instant access to many bureaucrats - this just doesn't happen in the UK.

Or what about the way that the tax office in Poland will take responsibility and will issue you with a formal decision on an issue that is legally binding? It's certainly not like that in the UK - in fact, the UK system is such that you can be issued with formal guidance, only for a tax inspector to rule that you (and the guidance) were wrong and that they are right.

Or we could talk about the way that you can actually deal with someone face to face with residency issues. In the UK? Forget it.

I think many people in Poland don't seem to realise how accessible their bureaucracy actually is, compared to the system in the UK. Even the unemployment situation is far superior in Poland - just look at the help given by the Urzad Pracy compared to the UK Jobcentre Plus! Heck, the UK Jobcentre Plus even runs job ads for lapdancing clubs - is that what people think is desirable?

Work / Why Poland employers are afraid of hiring any foreign nationals? [171]


And this is one of the things that I think is often underestimated - I've taken on a new job with six different groups, all of which need to have a plan for 6 months with a final exam at the end. And **** me - it's difficult. I've never had to do this before (always followed textbooks) and it's safe to say that it's one of the more difficult things to do. I'm just getting to grips now with it - but it's not been easy!

Having said this, one particular trait of Polish directors seems to be a complete and utter inability for them to understand that sometimes, you have to drastically change from the set programme. I'm really not sure why - especially when the students are happy!

Life / Ripped Off in Poland? - Expose here: [185]


Please do, might finally sort out the spamming troll once and for all.

Language / Use of A/An/The ...... Articles [186]


An interesting case is why we say "I'm going to Stary Rynek" - but we also say "I'm going to theOld Market Square" - even when talking about exactly the same place.

Real Estate / Flat prices in Gdansk Old town? [21]


Sorry, but if you're flogging property at a ridiculous markup, you're anything but independent.

What's with the vast amount of English speaking clowns working in property in Poland?

Law / Setting up small business in Poland? [191]

Hi Rahul,

You can contact me at office@lindenia - I'll be happy to give you a free opinion on the feasibility of starting a business in Poland.

Travel / Travelling from NI to Poland [32]


Yep, all opened now.

Life / Ripped Off in Poland? - Expose here: [185]


He's fabricating the story. It's not uncommon to see people try to push an extra 20% on foreigners, but he's speaking nonsense. It wouldn't surprise me if one person tried it, but it's not normal at all.

Life / Ripped Off in Poland? - Expose here: [185]


You're not British, you're American. And under this username, you previously claimed to be from Estonia. Make your mind up!

News / Poland: In Top First 15 Countries in the WORLD by the number of CRIMES [286]


Shouldn't you be outside with your daughter rather than spamming this forum yet again with your nonsense?

There's been no 'explosion in violent crime' in Poznan - if there was, don't you think that Gazeta Wyborcza would be screaming about it?

Travel / Travelling from NI to Poland [32]


3 hours? That must be absolutely nailing it through Denmark!


True, but you're also facing an extra 12 hours on a ferry - by the time the ferry docks in Esbjerg, you could already be in Wroclaw.

It's a shame they cancelled the Harwich-Hamburg connection, it would be perfect for trips like this...

Travel / Travelling from NI to Poland [32]


Really? i had a great experience on it not that long ago.

The problem with the Esbjerg connection is that you lose an exceptional amount of time and money to not get that much closer to your destination. Looking now -

Harwich to Esbjerg - 18 hours 15 minutes.
Esbjerg to Wroclaw - 932km

Harwich to Hoek Van Holland - 6 hours 30 minutes.
Hoek van Holland to Wroclaw - 1029km


It does the job if you just want to sleep overnight. The boats are dull, but functional. Nothing wrong with the facilities though.

The useful thing with the Hoek connection is that you can take it as a day ferry too and then do the driving at night - and of course, if you miss the Hoek ferry, you're not waiting 2 days for the next one.

I like Wildrover's suggestion of Hull-Rotterdam too though - Stranraer to Hull is a doddle of a drive.

If I recall correctly, there are special fares for doing Belfast-Liverpool and then Dover-Dunkerque by ferry too as it's the same operator. There may very well be some sort of promotion on Stena too.

Travel / Travelling from NI to Poland [32]


Hideously expensive though!

The most sensible in my opinion is to do Harwich-Hoek van Holland - it's 6 hours on the ferry, but you can do this overnight. Wroclaw is easily doable in a day from the Hoek too :)

Holyhead-Harwich is a doddle too.

Travel / Credit / Debit Cards to use in Poland [37]


It's the same, but mBank uses residing to mean "currently living in Poland' without any reference to the legality of the person in Poland. Of course, most people use "residing" to mean "legally resident".

Work / Why Poland employers are afraid of hiring any foreign nationals? [171]


Quite normal - as far as I can gather, there's a weird thing in language learning where many poorer students want to have someone that is native to their language. I don't understand it, and the vast majority of such students are awful - but it's the way it is.

It may simply have been that the parents felt unable to talk to their teacher - which is fair enough, they're paying for the class.

It's no different to the way that some students will complain and moan about male teachers because all they want is to drool over the female teachers.

Travel / Credit / Debit Cards to use in Poland [37]


Nonsense. It even states clearly on their website that you can open an account provided you declare your residency in Poland. This isn't thes ame as having residency papers - just you have to say "yes, I live in Poland".