I had decided to visit Poznan when I was already in India preparing my itinerary. Why ? Well long back on Couch Surfing (CS) I had filled up a survey from a girl who was doing her thesis on tourism and she had included Couch Surfing in it. And going through her profile few things that I saw made me write a message to her informing about my Europe trip starting from Poland and might visit Poznan. Weronika Nowicka, she was in Spain when we exchanged our first CS message. I love meeting different people from different places and that is a big stimulant for me to visit some place. For me its the people whom I meet make the place very special and enjoyable. So I was very much looking forward to be a CS guest of her. I had send her a CS request while in India itself. It was the 2nd day of my trip that I had planned to go to Poznan from Warsaw. Dorota had explained to me everything about the station and tickets.
So I left for Poznan at around 06.00 in the morning for Warsawa Centralna railway station. Saw the ticket window and showed the small piece of paper that Dorota had given to me for getting the ticket. Now the tough part of finding the Peron (Platform). I asked the guy behind me and he showed me the train notice board where platform nos. were mentioned. So I looked there, saw few train names and tried to find the name of my train on my ticket, but the ticket didn't mention the train name. So I went ahead and asked one lady, but she said something to me in Polish which I understood that she doesn't know English so I should ask someone else. Finally met one guy who spoke English and he told me my train will arrive on Peron 4. So I rushed to Peron 4 and waited for my train to arrive.
That time Warsaw - Berlin Express was there on Peron 4 which left at 07:10 hours and my train was to depart at 07:16 hours. I see on the indicator next train was to depart at 07:22 hours. So I was like f**k, where did my train disappear ? I started to look again on the train chart and was looking at my train and trying to find the Peron when one guy next to me also looking at the train chart told me that my train is already standing on Peron 3. OMG, I rushed to the nearest stairs which unfortunately took me out of the railway station. Again I took the same stairs, crossed the whole Peron 4 and started descending the escalator on Peron 3. Just than the guard blew the whistle and I was running towards the train. I raised my hand and shouted wait, wait and the guard said in Polish which I understood that he was yelling at me to get into the last compartment, which I eventually did. Thank God I finally boarded the train to Poznan........
So I left for Poznan at around 06.00 in the morning for Warsawa Centralna railway station. Saw the ticket window and showed the small piece of paper that Dorota had given to me for getting the ticket. Now the tough part of finding the Peron (Platform). I asked the guy behind me and he showed me the train notice board where platform nos. were mentioned. So I looked there, saw few train names and tried to find the name of my train on my ticket, but the ticket didn't mention the train name. So I went ahead and asked one lady, but she said something to me in Polish which I understood that she doesn't know English so I should ask someone else. Finally met one guy who spoke English and he told me my train will arrive on Peron 4. So I rushed to Peron 4 and waited for my train to arrive.
That time Warsaw - Berlin Express was there on Peron 4 which left at 07:10 hours and my train was to depart at 07:16 hours. I see on the indicator next train was to depart at 07:22 hours. So I was like f**k, where did my train disappear ? I started to look again on the train chart and was looking at my train and trying to find the Peron when one guy next to me also looking at the train chart told me that my train is already standing on Peron 3. OMG, I rushed to the nearest stairs which unfortunately took me out of the railway station. Again I took the same stairs, crossed the whole Peron 4 and started descending the escalator on Peron 3. Just than the guard blew the whistle and I was running towards the train. I raised my hand and shouted wait, wait and the guard said in Polish which I understood that he was yelling at me to get into the last compartment, which I eventually did. Thank God I finally boarded the train to Poznan........
next time learn a few polish words, because luck might not help you every time. I'm glad u had made it.
ReplyDelete