Saturday, August 20, 2011

BEDA 20: Day 1 in Poland.

There were a couple of excited comments from people on my blog post yesterday saying they're coming to the YouStars event -- I can't wait to meet you guys! As for tonight though -- I've spent a whole day in Warsaw now and I am beyond exhausted.

Leaving London was the worst. I blearily said goodbye to Liam around 3:50 in the morning, left the flat with Alex and walked with him the 10-15 minutes to the bus station I was being picked up at. Luckily I am moderately familiar with London public transport, because as soon as I said my final goodbye to Alex when the bus pulled up, I was on my own for the next two hours during my journey to Heathrow.

The bus ride was relatively easy. I think my body was so confused as to what time I was trying to tell it to adapt to that it just assumed 5 AM in London was a normal time to be awake and functioning normally. I got to Paddington Station, bought my ticket for the Express train to Heathrow, and situated myself in the comfy train seat for the 25 minute journey back to the airport (it was easy to stay awake at that point because there was free wifi on the train, which meant I could spend that leg of my trip complaining about my lack of a Pottermore email on twitter with my friends back home who were actually awake at a decent time).

I didn't start really fading until I got to my gate (and also, Heathrow doesn't the same free internet luxury as their public transport). I nodded off a few times as I sat there waiting for the flight to board with my clunky black boots up on my suitcase. I was joined eventually by my new YouTube friend Dan Dobi, who happened to be on the same flight as me from London to Warsaw. The flight was only about 2 hours long, and somehow we tricked the flight attendants into giving us each two bacon-and-egg salad sandwiches (for airplane food, it was pretty good) so all in all it was a relatively painless flight. I even dozed for about 40 minutes or so before landing in Warsaw.

Once we got into the airport, I had another one of those moments where I rehearsed my speech in my head before going and talking to the customs people because I know my reasons for travel always sounds a bit fishy when it involves YouTube. But in Poland, they didn't even ASK. They just stamped my passport and sent me on my way. Why did I have so much trouble in foreign countries before?? It's been a breeze this time around.

We were greeted by our two contacts from FEEL IT Communications, the company that is putting on this whole event (two women named Karolina and I don't remember how to spell the other girl's name but we are calling her "Alex" for short). We walked outside and saw the biggest limo I have ever seen in my entire life. Picture a hummer limo? Yeah, got it? Okay, it's twice as long as that. No joke. There were disco balls (yes, plural) inside as well as one wall with a screen for playing DVDs and literally everything was made of color changing lights. Everything about this would have been a lot more exciting if I wasn't still running on fumes from Thursday at noon on Friday. I don't think I have ever gone that long without sleeping before.

Our rooms at the hotels weren't ready for us, so Karolina and Alex took Dan and I to this park where the name translated to "Toilet" in Polish. We walked around along the pretty paths and looked at statues and flowers and a big pond before stopping to get milkshakes at a little outdoor café. The Dan and I both had to use the bathroom and both simultaneously got yelled at for not paying when we left (paying to use the bathroom! How bizarre!). After an hour or two of this, I was literally dead on my feet so we headed back to the limo-extravaganza and began finally making our way to the hotel.

The next few hours were a blur because I was too tired to even really process what was happening. Between more hotel room mix-ups and getting yelled at for sleeping on a couch in the lobby, being dragged to the mall to get food while they stalled with our rooms and then getting VERY STERNLY yelled at for wearing our shoes in the pool area (I have now learned that such an activity is NOT OKAY in Poland) I just can't even tell you what a long day it was.

After the shoe-wearing-pool-debacle, I trudged downstairs and saw that Meghan, Jimmy and Cat had arrived… but I was so over-tired and grumpy and shuffled-about that they took one look at me, hugged me, and totally understood when I grabbed my suitcase and high-tailed it up to my room. The next two and a half hours were spent in exhausted napping bliss alone in my room.

I wasn't quite refreshed at that point per se, but I was at least more of a functioning member of society. I met up with the whole group downstairs in the lobby (we had since been joined by Will (thewillofdc), Corey (smpfilms), Kate (Katersoneseven), Greg (mediocrefilms) and a few Polish vloggers who'd be spending the weekend with us as well. We were then off to dinner, which we walked to, which was something like twenty minutes away in the part of Warsaw called "Old Town".

We were in a cute little restaurant called "Phucker" or something (I bet you can already imagine the jokes we made about that name) and we all sat along a single long table with candles decorating it. The menu was in English as well as Polish but that only helped so much -- I ended up ordering something that was half made of words I didn't know, but I wanted to be daring so I went for it. One of the things I ordered, a mini dumpling dish, came with something called "lovage". I still don't know what it is. I also ordered a main dish with a name like "Tenderloin in the Woods" or something, which was honestly too funny NOT to order. Kate and Meghan and I shared a dessert that was a type of pancake with blended something or other inside.. I think it was a sort of pureed nut filling. It also came with ice cream. It was delicious. We spent the evening laughing at our food, sharing bites, and getting to know each other and our new Polish friends. As tired as we all were, it was a really nice way to spend our first evening in Warsaw.

We all piled back into the hummer-tastic transport device spectacular after dinner and on our way back to the hotel, we discovered that the limo had fog machines installed inside. Fog machines. It was at that point that this trip passed "surreal" and went straight into the realm of "seriously, what on earth is my life?". When I finally crawled into bed that evening, I was more than happy. It was a really wonderful (albeit exhausting) day, and I couldn't be more happy right now to have the life that I do. :)


Flights taken: 19

18 comments:

Sarah said...

The first thought I had from this was "How can a fog machine in a car lead to safe driving!? How on earth can these fog filled limo drivers be operating safely?!"... Then I remembered limos probably have fancy partitions :') Apart from that, Poland sounds amazing Kristina!

StarrySkyPixy said...

I still haven't gotten my Pottermore email either, so don't lose hope. You have to pay to use a bathroom at a café in Poland? That is bizarre. Also, how dare you wear your shoes by the pool?! I really don't see any problem with it. What was the reason for it being a problem? Also, why would someone install a fog machine inside a limo? Laser lights aren't enough? Well, I guess you have to get that night club/concert effect. Glad you're having a good time in Poland, and remember that you don't have to blog 2 pages worth of stories/notes/etc. everyday (not that I don't like reading them, I do). Have fun. :)

Manar said...

I haven't gotten my Pottermore email yet either, and I am so upset! The majority of my friends are already in and I am SO FRUSTRATED BECAUSE I SIGNED UP ON DAY ONE. And, like, you know, I'd be cool with waiting if everyone weren't talking about it. Also, I want to get sorted. xD I'm a Gryffindor, but, you know, who knows what Pottermore will say...

Your day in Poland sounds awesome. It's great that you get to do such unique and exciting things. :) Youtube ftw.

Eve S. D'ropper said...

I really need a Tenderloin in the Woods now. Either that, or someone needs to write a musical based on that. Kind of like a sequel to Into The Woods, but tastier.

~Eve S. D'ropper
(P. S. Contest on my blog! Win books/candy/gift card! Check it out: http://wordsfromthehallway.blogspot.com/2011/08/anniversary-more-or-less-contest.html)

Kendall said...

Man, the only time I have been in a limo was for a funeral, and it sucked. I guess I need to go to Poland or something.

Anyway, sounds fun so far! :)

Amie said...

If I had to pay to use the bathroom, I would either never leave the hotel or spend all of my money on bathrooms, haha.
In elementary school, one of my friends had a limo for her birthday party. It just took us to wherever we went and it didn't have fog machines. As ten year olds, we were all duly amazed.
I hope you have an amazing time in Poland!

SM said...

I've gotten my Pottermore email but to be honest, after you are sorted and have gotten your wand it's a little boring.
Haha paying for bathrooms is actually quite common in Europe. I think it is so that people can continuously clean them throughout the day. It was like that in the countries I've been to anyway.
Poland sounds quite cool though :D Hope you are enjoying yourself, despite your tiredness :)

Alex Dahlberry said...

ahahahaha. That LIMO. It sounds a bit excessive. But in the most wondrous way. Like, you're youtubers. xD but that actually sounds amazing.


and yeah, about the whole yelling thing, I have heard a LOT of negative things about Poland. So, i guess you'll see how that goes. I'm sure it'll be fine though. xD

Also, COREY. Ohmygod. He was my first youtube crush, back when I was, like, 13. lolol. just sayin'.

have fun tomorrow!

Darrow said...

Funny story about the paying for toilets:

I needed to vomit really badly, so my counselor took me to a bathroom, but she realized that she didn't have any zloties, and so we were just kind of standing there with the woman refusing to let me in. We tried to mime that I needed to throw up. She still refused. At that moment, I puked all over the floor.

Lucie said...

They didn't question you at the customs in Poland because you took a flight inside Europe. I don't know if it is the same inside America, but as long as you travel inside Europe you barely get questions. And yes, paying for public bathrooms and no shoes in the swimming pool is normal in Europe :) I can't imagine that you can wald around with your muddy shoes in the swimming pool in the US.

parparim. said...

Will You pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease vlog in Poland? ;).

StarrySkyPixy said...

I've had "Don't Unplug Me" stuck in my head the whole day, and I blame you. That is all.

Anna said...

Hey! So I don't know if anyone from Poland commented on here (it;s pretty late but I am that tired that I don't even feel like go to bed) ANyway Alex's name's Aleksandra. The park is Łazienki Króleswkie, Okay now I'm going to read the other post... ;)

Anonymous said...

Hi :). I've never left a comment before even though I read your blog fairly often, but I just thought i'd let you know that lovage is a herb/leafy vegetable, that I believe was used often in ancient roman food!

Anyway, hope you have a nice time in Poland!

tomek said...

the name of the park is not "toilet" in english. whoever told you that must be very ignorant. it is "royal baths". i'm sure you will find places like this i.e. big parks with some building turned into museums or spas in other countries that used to have kings or queens.

Shelby said...

One word: JEALOUS

Rose24 said...

seems like you got yelled at a lot :S but its awesome that you're still enjoying with all the constant moving around!
& yeah, i'm a little upset about my lack of a Pottermore email too :(

Campbell said...

I was in the YouStars event, it was few years ago and there I saw Indian Pharmacy personnels that were giving a exposition of their medications