Entries about poland

Warsaw to Vilnius – 10th September

The idea of travelling along the land being lazily dragged around on a comfortable train has had me anxious but yet excited for the last 4 months or so. I was going to see the world at a leisurely pace, I was going to see the transition between one country rather than land in some country, 8 hours from Heathrow anybody could be your next door neighbour. Don’t think that I am a train buff, but I do enjoy the comfort of a train. The first half of my journey from Warsaw to Vilnius, Lithuania was great, a cabin on my own until it became slightly cramped with the unwelcome invasion by the only two morbidly obese women in Poland.

I had to change at Sestokai, and this is where the fun began. Imagine a journey through the back waters of Lithuania on a train that is built by Tonka Trucks, with a suspension so hard I could feel the rail track smack my arse every minute. The train was leaning dangerously to the right, and on some corners when he nearly hit 30mph I could almost touch the ground. It squeaked, bounced, croaked, the only rest bite I had was when the damn thing stalled at every station.

I think if I had of at least known how long the journey would have been then I would have made the most of it, instead I was on high alert for the entire journey, ‘is this my stop?’, ‘Do I need to get off here?’, ‘Will my stop be next?’, I couldn’t ask anybody, they were either drunk or aged old farmers that had been out picking mushrooms. I had learnt that nobody spoke English outside of the main cities, and they are quite resistant to help. Repeating what you said slowly and louder is pointless, I tried that a few times already, and you might as well be talking gibberish. If I had of known that it would have been 4 hours then I don’t think the ride would have been any more comfortable, only I wouldn’t have been living in expectation of my stop. Instead, we bounced through Lithuanian countryside, picking up farmers and drunks and dropping them off in fields and breweries.

I landed in Vilnius battered and bruised. The bus from Warsaw on the other hand takes less time and only costs 3€. What was I going to do with that information? In Eastern Europe I will be recommending the bus.

Article By David Beattie of Rounton Coffee