Law / Bank Account in Euros - Is it possible to negotiate exchange rates to zloty with a Polish bank? [24]

I've tried Mbank and they finally have come back and said they can offer preferential rates. They robbed me on my first few exchanges so now are chasing business.

I've taken my business to a private Kantor that gives MUCH better rates than Mbank ever offered, I also have a business partner that says in his experience Alior Bank offers the best Bank exchange rates.

Life / Watching a movie in cinema (Łodź), without Polish dubbing? [9]

Most adult films here are shown in the original language here with subtitles in the cinema. Only the kids movies get dubbed.

Food / Can you buy HP Sauce in Poland? [20]

Piotr i Pawel have some HP sauces too, Likely closer to you. I'm not sure if the offer the original but I remember seeing the

piotripawel.pl/a/63/firma/znajdz-sklep

these guys distribute I think.

abworldfoods.com

Study / Studying in University of Lodz as an Indian student? What's the city like - is it safe here? [56]

Lodz has plenty of foreigners that stand out like Arabs, Asians and Africans. The city is multi-cultural, just look at the variety of restaurants. Yes like all Polish/European cities there are idiots who think they're patriots, and have nothing to do. No more here than I have seen elsewhere. There are loads of Multi-national companies here, for language skills they often hire abroad.

At the main University there is a large tower block dedicated to overseas students in their first year, hundreds if not thousands of them. Lodz University is well regarded and has good facilities. The residential area near the university is full of foreign students.

Work wise you will have very limited options (if any) to work legally. Your visa will state this.
Travel wise I doubt your visa will allow you to leave Poland, even though it is in Schengen. I know of one student who traveled to see his brother in Denmark and was stopped on a train in Germany. Deported directly back to his home country.

Study / Studying in University of Lodz as an Indian student? What's the city like - is it safe here? [56]

Yes I live in Lodz.

It never fails to amaze me the hate Poles have for Lodz. How is Lodz the "dirtiest" city in Poland? It is not even in the 10 worst large cities for air quality in the country. Every city was neglected under communism, some cities got more of a handout than others. With the investment underway here now Lodz will have the best transport infrastructure in the country in a few years (New rail stations, new ring motorway, new underground, inner city relief roads).

Multi-cultural, I'm not claiming the city is half non-Poles. I'm not even saying it's 10% non-Poles. However, it is just about as multicultural as any Polish city apart from Warsaw and Krakow. There are thousands of foreign students, studying for anything from a few months to years here. The are concentrated around their universities obviously. In traditionally poorer areas like Baluty there are almost none.

Also Lodz has a fantastic variety of restaurants of all kinds of ethnic origins run authentically (Kazak, Azerj, Armenian, West African, Montenegran I can think of right now)

If you think your city is better than Lodz state that. Inaccurately criticising another city is just childish.

Study / Studying in University of Lodz as an Indian student? What's the city like - is it safe here? [56]

Deported directly back to his home country.

Technically he was on his way back from Denmark. Whether it was the Germans or Danes that deported him he was never seen again in the class I shared with him, and his room mate had to box his stuff to ship back.


That bridge is absolutely necessary and feeds directly into the new cross city road tunnel. Will have no impact on city centre traffic. It's not blocked yet AFAIK.


Another load of bull. A recent large order has been placed for new trams with a Bydgoszcz firm. There is a program to completely refurbish and modernise (wheelchair access etc) all the oldest trams.


Is it not good to separate cyclists and traffic? Cyclists are so spoiled in Lodz there is now an anti-cyclist campaign. Piotrkowska has NEVER been quieter or more cyclist dominated.


A whole new road through the main rail station will be taking most of the traffic off this street.

Law / Biggest supermarket chains in Poland vs Germany [23]


You could not suggest a more unpopular idea. It is detested by the Irish and all parties are committed to abolishing it.


Ditto. And why should the unemployed drive for free. Or employees pay for their employer to use roads for work?


There is nothing to stop either entering this market. The Germans are very price concious and have poor brand loyalty. Put simply, they are smarter than the rest. The mighty WalMart entered and then left with their tails between their legs. The discounter format is wiping the eye of the hypermarket. The Germans invented the discount format. Discounters have gone from 0 to 16% in Ireland in roughly the same number of years, just broke 10% in the UK. No sign of slowing either.


They would want to make a profit for once in Poland before taking on expansion.


+1. If Pis think they can solve an issue of competition by tax they are just proving themselves to be morons. The biggest issue hindering the independent grocery sector is competition, and in particular access to international brands for smaller wholesalers. Major manufacturers have a warped system here of selling huge volumes only (P&G do it globally). The massive players can buy directly from them, but everyone else must buy from agents. This creates layers of costs. There is extremely poor competition in the wholesale/cash&carry trade. I have often seen promotions where supermarkets were cheaper than wholesale. I'm not talking about loss leading either. Selgros, Makro and Eurocash (which is a franchise) are the only operators. In a country this size there should be hundreds of independent cash & carries. They can't get a foot on the ladder.

The simple reason there are almost no Polish chains is that cash was needed for the gold-rush of the 90's, no Polish company had it. The westerners did however.

News / Cameron's EU reform good for Poland [95]

To paraphrase Monthy Pyton. What has the EU done for us?
The roads. Aside from that?
The rail. Aside from that?
Free-movement. Aside from that?
Human rights. Aside from that?......

You can claim the EU is German-centric. However outlying countries like Poland and Ireland have been transformed by central investment.

I picked a Polish woman up after a nasty fall in Ireland yesterday. She had her EC card to had all her costs covered. What would have happened if she fell in the USA?

The Court of Human rights ensure localised prejudice, racism and downright judicial stupidity is prevented throughout the bloc.

Can I also maybe mention the EU has created an era of peace never seen in European history. I don't know about you lot, but I don't find it patriotic sending my son off to war.

PS, about UK contributions to the EU pot. If they leave the EU they will have no choice but to join EFTA. The proportional cost of that will be about 2 billion (versus Norway). Co-incidentally a similar figure to the nett UK contribution to the EU. In EFTA they will be obliged to implement EU laws, and have no say in their creation.

It is priceless that on this forum the most vociferous opponents of the EU don't even live here, have no clue about how it really works and benefits its citizens. Massive problems and all.

News / Cameron's EU reform good for Poland [95]



I don't disagree that there are massive problems with it. However the positives far, far outweigh the negatives. I also think it is no more corrupt that the average national government at worst. Bureaucratic, yes - hugely.

It is a multi-national democratic system that is far fairer that that of many national systems, including the USA and any monarchy.

Do you live here?

P.S. name calling is a great way to start an argument.

News / Poland to return to Catholic tradition? [177]


Why does there HAVE to be any future war? What strange world do you live in that wars are acceptable/desirable/necessary? Why do national/races have to be fictionalised by your or any definition? Are you incapable of have a discussion or disagreement without resorting to violence to get your way?

News / 60% of Poles say Szydło's government should resign [238]

The inforamtion going round is that Chopin is barely able to handle existing traffic and the forecast pressure will be more than it can deal with.

A first for everything, never thought I'd agree with P3.

Chopin's RUNWAY has a capacity of 25mil pax, as does any full size runway. The busiest single runway airport in the world is Gatwick with about 35mil. That is bursting at the seams. The smallest aircraft using that now is about 120 seats, smaller aircraft too expensive to run there given fee structure. LOT's runs a load of 70-90 seat aircraft.

Chopin's issue is terminal capacity, which it is close to reaching. There is also limited space for building expansion.
Modlin is an utter disgrace, a shambles of a 3rd world airport. It should be shut ASAP.

A new twin runway airport on the Lodz side of Warsaw would provide capacity for 50+ years, and get rid of stupid vanity projects haemorrhaging money like LJC, BYD, MOD. Overnight an extra 4mil of feeder flights would be added in a new unified Warsaw airport. LOT could grow services without restrction, and WAW could develop into a proper hub. Lodz regional railway could use the savings to fund a huge investment to improve Lodz-Warsaw railway services via the new airport. Better rail and air services for the city, not nett job losses. Win win for everyone.

PS. amazed/delighted that Duda finally grew a pair. It is horrible to watch the slide in this country over the past few years from the inside.

Travel / Anyone here use/used Ryanair? Flying from/to Poland [31]


Some utter nonsense being spouted here.

Ryanair have in the past grounded planes for months when it suited them, particularly in the winter months. He will have no problem doing again. They have plenty of planes over 10 years old fully paid for and written off in accounts.

Yes they made a mess of things last year, and the guy responsible walked. They are now realising unionising will not solve all their problems, and there will be strikes. There is a massive global shortage of pilots, and they were caught out.

As it stands, post-brexit the UK will revert back to bilateral rights with each country. That will cause havoc, not so much for Ryanair, as it will for the EU shareholder owned BA. The Brits can try tax and punish MOL all they want. He will just move his planes elsewhere. He has markets like the Ukraine, Finland, France, Israel, Albania, Croatia, Serbia, Austria, Slovenia, Switzerland, Denmark where they have zero bases yet.

You might think he is complaining about Brexit to reverse it. Really he's looking for publicity as always (it's free), and highlighting the UK government is sleepwalking into a disaster. If brexit is to happen in March 19, then airline schedules for that time are planned NOW, and will be announced this summer - about 9 months ahead. Given the UK govt haven't a clue, how can an airline.

PS It has emerged this week that the buddies of the UK, the USA, are sticking it to them in back room air access negotiations. May is a complete joke.

Travel / Anyone here use/used Ryanair? Flying from/to Poland [31]

More ill-informed, biased twaddle. Ryanair operate over 400 aircraft across Europe every day, and are about the largest airline in Europe. They have NEVER had a fatal accident, as opposed to virtually every other large European airline. Every LLC operates in the same way, I have had far worse experiences with WIZZ. Both are value for what you pay for, all LLC's are.

Modlin is an overcrowded kip, and I aggressively avoid it. In fact, I never take my family through it even though it is close to us. Ryanair have being publicly campaigning for an extension to Modlin, but PiS are blocking in anticipation of their new central airport. When they moved domestic flights to Chopin they were treated like dirt, and given distant cargo stands to load passengers, as they were destroying LOT on these routes.