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Posts by Farop  

Joined: 23 Mar 2012 / Male ♂ 		Last Post: 10 Sep 2012
Threads: Total: 3 / In This Archive: 3
Posts: Total: 16 / In This Archive: 14 		From: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Speaks Polish?: Nop
Interests: Maths, Football,history,Guga

Displayed posts: 17
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Farop   
23 Mar 2012
Travel / Traveling within Poland into my destination city - Lublin (from Warsaw airport) [43]

So i'll spare the long story and make it short

i'm traveling to Poland this coming summer and well i'm a bit worried about how to get to my destination. I'm arriving to Okecie in Warsaw and i'm supposed to go to Centralna and from there to Lublin, by train. Well the issue is that I don't have the slighest clue about how to travel in Poland, and since i also don't know Polski then it's double trouble.

A few weeks ago I managed to find a site that lets me book train tickets online, but i was lazy to bookmark it. Now i can't find the freaking site and all I get from google is is PKP site, which is in polish and uses "google translator" as it's english site, of course it's all rubbish and completely confusing to navigate. Aside all that i'm a bit suspicious of the security of this site, even though they claim it's "World class", i wouldn't want to input my credit card information in there.

Anyway any help on how to travel it's apreciated, many options would be nice as well.
Farop   
24 Mar 2012
Travel / Traveling within Poland into my destination city - Lublin (from Warsaw airport) [43]

Get the airport bus 175 from there to centrum then you can see Centralna and walk to it. ZTM-put it in google.

Yeah the airport part is the easy one, I rather take a cab to Centralna though. Because of...

If you take 175 stay alerted while on the bus as it's infamous for groups of professional pickpoceteers "working" it.Don't let anybody get to close to you and if possible take a seat.

So my problem is about trains, and cabs as well, are they safe? Can I take a cab from Warsaw Airport?

When you get to Warszawa Centralna, there are ticket machines which menu is also in english so it shouldn't be problem to buy a ticket.

That's quite a surprise didn't know such thing existed in Poland. Though I rather book the tickets(online) prior to traveling for two reasons.

a)Once im in Centralna I might find that there aren't seats available in any train to Lublin and I need to be in Lublin at some fixed time, for the scheduled check-in in hotel.

b) I would really like to have some "hard evidence" that i'm going to Lublin, just in case the immigrations officer requests. If I have a hotel reservation in Lublin but no ticket to Lublin he might be suspicious. Since i dont live in the EU I would really like to avoid any problems...

Rent a car at the airport and then drive wherever

Renting a card is tricky, first i would have to know about polish transit rules, which honestly i don't know. Then i would have to learn how to travel by route in Poland, seems harder and I have also heard that the roads are not particulary safe. On top of that my driver's license would have to be authentificated in Poland, and that looks fairly complicated.

Thanks people for the feedback, any more help is of course vastly apreciated.
Farop   
25 Mar 2012
Travel / Traveling within Poland into my destination city - Lublin (from Warsaw airport) [43]

From airport to city center cab is safe, just make sure you take a proper taxi, not just a random vehicle posing as a taxi.

Ok... but how can I tell them apart?

Immigration will not ask you for train ticket to Lublin, but they will ask you for the address of hotel in Lublin (only if you are arriving from outside Schengen), so I suggest you give them a copy of the hotel confirmation with the address highlighted.

Are you sure about this? I'm technically arriving from inside Schengen (Frankfurt) but my argentinean passport would be stamped in Argentina since i'm only connecting or in transit from Germany. My passport enables me to travel within Schengen area though. Anyway you never know what an inmigrations officer would request so I would really like to have all covered you know?

Make sure you buy a ticket that entitles you to a specific seat

You can actually be that specific when you buy a ticket with the expender machines? Or are you suggesting that I should buy the ticket online?

If it's the later one then could you suggest me a website that offers this service?
Farop   
28 Mar 2012
Travel / Traveling within Poland into my destination city - Lublin (from Warsaw airport) [43]

If you are really uncomfortable with the whole thing, I can meet you at the ariport, take you to the train station, and get you on your way. How you get back, will be your problem. But I think you will see that it is not very difficult.

Are you serious? XD I think i'm gonna take you up on your offer. By the way, where are you from?

If you're arriving via Germany, your passport will be stamped in Germany. When you arrive in Poland there wont be another immigration check.
You will collect your bags and walk out :)

I wouldn't be so sure about this. If for example you don't get out of the plane to the transit lounge there won't be any checkup nor stamping

Generally Poland is much safer than anywhere in Latin America in terms of pickpockets and thieves targetting foreigners. Stay generally aware and you should have no trouble.

Are you sure about this? Have you been in ALL PLACES of Latin America? Mind you the whole place is like the size of 6 Europes.

I should tell you that there are poorer and unsafer countries and some more developed and safer. I don't want to make generalizations like you did but Imo most metropolis have safety problems, be it New york, London, Bogota, Sao Paulo or Beijing. The thing about Poland is that it doesn't really have a "big" city, thus I would assume it's safer, but then again I heard otherwise. Althought people's feedback on this thread (specially on 175 bus) is making me realize that perhaps people are just ill intended when they write.

You can buy PKP InterCity train tickets online on those two official PKP IC websites, both in English:
intercity.pl/en/
bilet.intercity.pl/irez/?lang=PL

Thanks for this, although I already knew about these sites, I'm sure there is another site though. This one i'm talking about would let me book a train ticket 6 months in advance....
Farop   
30 Mar 2012
Travel / Traveling within Poland into my destination city - Lublin (from Warsaw airport) [43]

I'm not traveling for business. It's just that i'm arriving really late, around 16 (4 pm)... plus 2 hours of traveling to Lublin. I don't wanna lose valuable time which I could spend with my girlfriend.

So the sooner i'm in Lublin the better. Plus there is the check-in thing in hotel. I think the check-in schedule is over by 10 pm.

Well anyway. It's a long time til August so we'll see if you still want to escort me by then :p

I don't mean to be disrespectful by insisting but... are you native from Warszawa?

Thanks for the help !
Farop   
16 Jun 2012
Travel / Złote tarasy in Warsaw [5]

Hey guys.

Anybody knows the Złote tarasy in Warsaw well enough? I need to confirm whether there exists a Victoria Secret shop or not.
Farop   
16 Jun 2012
Travel / Złote tarasy in Warsaw [5]

hope its done by AUgust, when im visiting Poland.

Sad I heard the store should have opened in May. But couldn't find it in the website of the mall. hence this topic. Thanks for the info man
Farop   
20 Jun 2012
Travel / Traveling within Poland into my destination city - Lublin (from Warsaw airport) [43]

So im reviving this.

Mainly because the date of my trip is just around the corner :D

So new questions which i haven't considered before. How long would I take between the moment my plane arrives and. I get to Centralna ready to take the train. I'm asking this so I can better know at what time should I reserve the train ticket. Is Warsaw Airport busy? Will they hold me there for long?(Take into account that im coming from inside a Schengen country) Also consider that im a total noob when it comes to Poland, so finding the right streets, entrances, train platforms, etc could take me some time.

My plane arrives at 15:55. So any estimates? 1, 2 extra hours?

Thanks :p
Farop   
3 Aug 2012
Travel / Kantor and using credit cards in Poland [12]

Hello.

I was wondering. Is there something like buying currency at a kantor with a credit card? Or am I just dreaming?

If the answer is no then

Is there any other way to aquire a foreign currency with a Credit card within Poland?

Thanks!
Farop   
4 Aug 2012
Travel / Kantor and using credit cards in Poland [12]

To the OP: I've never seen anybody use a credit card in a kantor, but I'm not sure.
One thing you can do with a credit card is to take some PLN out of it in an ATM and then go to kantor or a bank and exchange it to another currency, but it won't be the best deal.

Thanks for the answer. I thought about this option but concluded the same as you, it wouldn't be the best deal. Any other ideas? I thought about going to a casino, buying chips with a credit card and then changing them back for banknotes but then im not really sure if there are casinos in Poland.
Farop   
4 Aug 2012
Travel / Kantor and using credit cards in Poland [12]

I will do that, but even though this is a plausible option, i would have hoped there would exist something better, but i guess this is all I have. And just in case you are wondering, I do have a debit card and cash but this, what im asking, is completely unrelated to my solvency in Poland during my stay. There are other reasons as to why I need to use my credit card to buy zloty or US$
Farop   
10 Sep 2012
Real Estate / Poland's apartment prices continue to fall [1844]

The economists have no idea, otherwise they would have predicted the crash and know what to do about the Euro crises now, today!!!

And I guess you do have an idea.