21/8/2008

I left off at the part where we took the money and ran off to Poland. Yeah, sure this was the end of June when we did this and it is currently the end of August and I’m typing this on a place back to the U.S.A., but the story is good so read along, or just skip down a couple paragraphs.

After having the travel agency make a royal screwup in the visa process, we changed plans and looked at places to go in Poland, which Ira had the visa for already. I wanted a beach, so we headed north to the Blatic Sea city of Gdansk. There was a brief stopover in Warsaw to look around a bit, we had our first experience couchsurfing. For those who don’t know what couchsurfing is, it is a website that allows you to contact other individuals and meet up with them in cities you are traveling to or you to meet them traveling through your city. This can also be used to find places to stay. I had hosted one person at my own place before this experience and had met other people in Lviv before. But this was the first time I had traveled and especially stayed with people I hadn’t met beforehand.

The first experience was with a couple who had this small house on the outskirts of Gdansk and it was an experience just getting there. We made it onto a bus without a problem and rode it to the final shop taking us to this cement plant where they met us. We found it a little odd, but then we proceeded to walk straight through the plant and out the other side and into a wooded area. At this point it was getting interesting where exactly we were being taken, but we shortly came out and up to their newly built house. After a delicious vegan meal, we looked at going out and meeting up with some of their friends that evening. (Side note: I don’t think I could ever be fully vegetarian after the experience. While it was tasty, it never seemed as filling as I might prefer.) The evening ended at about 5 in the morning and included going to a club and fire shows, lots of fun stuff.

After several days of Gdansk, Ira and I planned on heading to Lublin, east of Warsaw and see a small town there that still has its medieval wall. The train was late and we made a split second decision to jump on a train and off we headed to Krakow. Original plan was either Gdasnk or Krakow. This way we got both. Fun times! You can see pictures I posted from Krakow at Flickr.

More on the summer and start of school soon!