Travel / Driving to Poland from England - any tips? [264]

Hi first time poster here.

my fiancee and i are planning to drive to katowice around Easter next year, the reason is that we are picking up our dog that we are having to leave here this summer for 6 months.

from what i have read so far on these posts, the drive from england to poland is an excellent one, i have used viamichelin.com to plan the router, i have also looked at aa router planner and rac route planer, they all pretty much go the same way and take about the same time.

i just have a few concerns if people dont mind giving some advice, first of all i will be driving from south england london area, so i was thinking of taking the euro tunnel. oh i will also have brought a new stanav by then, im looking at the tomtoms with europe maps included.

is it safe at the borders into and out of germany, i think i have watched to many tv shows and just want to make sure we are safe on the trip.

what would you say would be a safe speed to drive on the motor way in mph if you could please?

oh i should be doing this drive in a bmw 318is auto 2liter, i know that means my petrol used would be higher then a lower enginee size car. any guess at how much it would cost in a car that size, or more to the point how many time i might need to stop, the less stops for me the better, not so sure on the misses though lol.

erm any other advice or information you could pass on would be grately appricated.

Thanks

Travel / Driving to Poland from England - any tips? [264]

excellent thanks dude

Travel / Driving to Poland from England - any tips? [264]

Hey

i posted last summer on here, asking for advice and info as myself and my family are driving to Ustron, Poland beginning of June.

We will be taking the euro tunnel to calais, from Franch to Belgium on to Netherlands then through Germany and finally Poland.

One of you told me back then that there are not more border controls does that mean once i hit the motorway i can just keep going till i reach Poland?

Also the plan is to go through the euro tunnel for 6pm and drive through the night, every route planner says that the whole trip should take 16 to 17 hours, could anyone confirm this please.

any advice or info would be awesome

Thanks

Wire

Travel / Driving to Poland from England - any tips? [264]

Thanks DNZ for the info

could you just tell me if its safe to stop for petrol and pee breaks and stuff, i will have my wife and mother with me and i want to make sure that they are both safe?

Travel / Driving to Poland from England - any tips? [264]

Hey,

ok 2 months till i go. 4th june.

i have a eurotunnel ticket booked for 5am. i am aiming to be in ustron for no later then 9pm polish time. is it better to go early?

yesterday i brought my tomtom go 750 and got a years free live service which was awesome.

we have all tires the same brand, does that have to include the spare?

got the first aid kit, im getting the light converters in the next week or two and the rest of the little things for the car.

also brought a really nice electric cool box for the car to keep drinks in :O)

anything i missed out that i need to know, oh and if your interested in the route goto tomtom.com and calais to ustron and your will see the route :O)

Travel / Driving to Poland from England - any tips? [264]

yah i have breakdown coverage with my insurance company already done that.

i dont suppose you know of a site that i can get the speed limits for the places im passing through, just to be safe.

the route the tomtom take say its about 16 hours 30mins, is that about how long it will take? thats from my house to the town im going to. do you think it would be less time then that, as i believe you can legally drive up to 90mph in Germany?

im going the route that take me near Berlin i believe, have you been that route?

Travel / Driving to Poland from England - any tips? [264]

hey,

ok i have been back about week after doing my trip to ustron, poland.

i drove there and back with 8 days in poland, i drove an astra 1.6 2 people out, 3 people and a dog back lol.

In total we used 300 pounds of petrol altogether which is not so back when your car is full of bags and crap lol.

well my sat nav took me from calais toward hanover then via berlin then south into poland to ustron. we left my house which is hertfordshire (north west london area) at 2.30 got the euro tunnel across and was driving through france for about 6.20 local time. i loved the drive to poland the little wc stops they have are awesome. when we crossed into poland we had to drive on that very very bump road lol, but after that is was good again, untill lol the road works, the sat nav tolds us to take the right of the motorway we did but it was a new junction not on the sat nav we should of take the one after it was pitch black and we were lost as **** LOL, well i thought we were, i called up my girl friend who was already there and spoke to her dad we knew where we were and came and got us, other the last part i had and awesome drive out there and would recommend it to anyone.

However lol the return trip i wish i had a gun to kill my self. we left ustron 6am poland time to reach calais for 23.30. got out on the motor hit germany doing 90mph was 3 hours or more a head of time and bam 3 hour traffic jam near berlin, i was pissed lol we were sat there sooooo long people were getting out there cars and get food and drink from there boot lol.

so we got past that and we still had about an hout spare then close to hanover again 2 hours road accident lol, tried to call up euro tunnel to change our ticket, ops forgot it was sunday and the line was closed lol. so well after getting through that traffic, we were behind so i pretty much dont the rest of the trip driving at about 110mph we got there with 4 minutes spare to check in, i had been driving in the car for 18 hours and still had to drive the hour or so home, i got someone else to do that bit lol, but i still loved doing it, we are talking about doing it again next year but staying in poland for a month or so.

any thoughts comments or questions please ask.

Will

Travel / Driving to Poland from England - any tips? [264]

The Hitman,

yeah its is good to talk about it in over a nice cold beer in the garden :O)

which way did you take?

i read somewhere that the breast i mean best route to take is the E40 because its just one long ass motorway all the way to poland. if anyone has driven that to poland can they let me know how it was.

Hitman how many times have you done it? did you have any problems or anything memerible happen to you?

Will

Travel / Driving to Poland from England - any tips? [264]

Hitman,

do you drive on the weekends or on week days? which is best do you think?
also there seemed to a hell of alot of road works getting down in germany lol.

i am thinking about recording the whole trip on camera lol just the once lol

im going to get one of those roof racks cause we had no room in the car at all. is there any speed laws when having one of those ?

not many people seem to chat on here anymore lol

Will

Travel / Driving to Poland from England - any tips? [264]

well it would be a very boring book, i drove down a motorway and then turned onto another motorway lol.

i was thinking of getting my full motorcycle liecence and ride all the way to poland on a motorbike lol

any of you done that?

i guess it will be real nice if the weather is nice

Travel / Driving to Poland from England - any tips? [264]

wildrover,

i bow down to your awesomeness lol, that must of been one hell of a ride :O)

did you have any problems with the ride at all?

how much cash did you use for petrol?

how many stops did you make?

thanks for the info

Will

Travel / Driving to Poland from England - any tips? [264]

sounds like you do alot of travellering, are you not worried about safety, i mean being attacked?

Do you drive back to poland every summer?

i have been told by the wife that i do not have any choice of driving there every year now as we have a dog, crazy i know.

it sounds like you have gained alot of experince travellering, do you know of ustron in southern poland? if so do you know of any interesting place to visit?

Travel / Driving to Poland from England - any tips? [264]

so your alot futher north then us in poland.

if im correct your not to far from a place called Hel is that the correct way of spelling it.
have you ever been there, we were thinking of going there for a week to a hotel or something.

i hope everything goes to plan for you and your girlfriend :O) i was going to say lucky for me mine lives with me but then i thought about it lol.

she comes from poland her parents still live there so we visit every year, i am finding it very hard to learn the langauge lol

Travel / Driving to Poland from England - any tips? [264]

wildrover,

so where were you born, UK?

trust me having a polish girlfriend doesnt make learning polish any easier lol

so you own your own farm that call, can you not use that for work. that makes no sence at all.

Travel / Driving to Poland from England - any tips? [264]

scottie,

i assume that you have a polish girlfriend and that your trying to learn to speak polish

how are you doing with that ?

Travel / Driving to Poland from England - any tips? [264]

yeah and the go moooo, unless that do something else in poland lol

Travel / Driving to Poland from England - any tips? [264]

Hey everyone,

Ok i have been talked into driving to poland again, not sure when lol.

i wanted to ask what is the best route to take.

my route took me from calais to Hannover over to berlin then down into Poland.

one the way there i found the motorway petrol station is to get to, but on the way back the same route, you had to come off the motorway some what to get to a petrol station.

any thoughts would be awesome

Thanks

Will

Travel / Driving to Poland from England - any tips? [264]

Wroclaw boy,

i do have a tomtom sat nav, the device seems to plan the router that i described above, but when i goto the web site and use the router planner is gives me the one you descibe it is very strange.

Travel / Driving to Poland from England - any tips? [264]

Hey all,

ok me and my Girlfriend have just informed her parent's that we will be driving there again next summer. we plan to leave 9th july which is a saturday. would you recommend driving on a weekday or weekend?

also i decided to by one of those train passes that gives you a 24 hour window of travel, because of the last time i travelled.

also not the best thing, i will be doing it in a citreon c3 1.4 ROFL i can only go about 80mph tops in it lol, better fuel consumption. i will be doing over 1 day again and staying there for 2 weeks. will be going to ustron.

anyone else planning to drive there next summer or soon?

Language / Bought "Rosetta Stone" software and trying to learn Polish... [59]

Hi

i have recent got my hands on a copy of rosetta stone v3 level 1 polish, i seem to have some issues with the voice recognition, when i try to pronounce the words it doesnt even pick up, my girlfriend is polish and even when she says the correct word it just doesnt seem to pick it up.

Have any of you had this issue and if so how did you resolve it?

kind regards

Will

Language / Bought "Rosetta Stone" software and trying to learn Polish... [59]

Hi Vincent,

i know the microphone works correctly cause we use it for skype to speak with my girlfriends parent in poland every night and i use it for gaming.

right now its not a legit copy, i wanted to try it and we are looking at buying all 3 levels in january. What happens is the mic doesnt want to seem to pick up what im saying most of the time.

i might just wait till i get the legit copy then speak with them, has anyone had any exp with the customers support from rosetta stone, are they any good?

kind regards

Will

Travel / Driving to Poland from England - any tips? [264]

Stu:

its not about getting there quickly, its about the journey.
having an adventure.

i have only driven there and back once and flown there about 6 times.
i would drive there anytime over flying.

its soooo much fun and and easy really.

have you ever driven there Stu?

Travel / Driving to Poland from England - any tips? [264]

Stu:

awesome, just they way you posted first, you didnt say you had done the drive or not.
what do you drive there?
how long does it normally take you?

i prefer to drive at night first thing, as in i will sleep the in the day before i set off
and then drive from calais from about 1am so i get to ustron for 5 or 6pm

i do use a satnav, i go via hannover and berlin as thats what my satnav takes me.

Travel / Driving to Poland from England - any tips? [264]

Hi Stu.

Yeah you are correct about the location of ustron,

we left calais about 6am and got to hour hotel in ustron at about 10
distance is about 1457km 16 hours driving. however i just want to point out i had only my
mum sharing the driving with me on the way out and shes old and had to **** every freakin
hour lol.

i want to save up and get a 4x4 diesel so i can do it it one fill up lol

i think we are planning to spend 30 to 37 days in ustron in the summer next year.
i cant make up my mind if i should drive through most of the night as less traffic
any thoughts anyone?

cheers

Travel / Driving to Poland from England - any tips? [264]

Wroclaw:

hi again, yeah thats why i have been thinking about driving through the night because of small amount of darkness and well would you say there would still be less traffic on the roads at night?

it should be safe to stop for petrol at night right?

thanks for any advice

cheers

Travel / Driving to Poland from England - any tips? [264]

antek:

thanks for the advice :O)

i dont suppose anyone knows of any web sites that show petrol stations on maps or anything like that?

thanks again

cheers

Travel / Driving to Poland from England - any tips? [264]

Wildrover, Wroclaw and antek:

Thanks so much for all your advice, I think i will drive though out the night.

im going to do a search for all the petrol stations in europe and see
which one are on my route.

cheers :O)

Travel / Driving to Poland from England - any tips? [264]

wroclaw boy:

10 hours, dude you must have had your foot down lol
how many petrol stops do you normally make?

do you take small stops other than for petrol?

i still cant get over it 10 hours, thats awesome lol

cheers

Language / Rosetta Stone Polish Level 1-3 (my personal experience) [17]

Hi CatSoldier,

Thanks for the response.

To answer your question, no her parents do not speak any English at all.
My Girlfriend would normally translate for us if needed.

Thats one of the reasons why i want to learn, so i can speak with her dad
and be able to goto the shops and look around with out need her to follow
and translate for me.

Thanks