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Gdansk Group Trip – Day 2 (Rest of Group Update)

Ross and I went to a football stadium tour and then bar today (more on which in a moment), whilst Steve was sitting in a traffic jam. I accept this is of limited interest to most people, but it’s important to prepare the scene for the weekend and the characters who are coming along.

Richard was fine dining on his private jet earlier today.

Bev is seemingly bringing a bag larger than her.

After his decadent flight, Richard has safely arrived at his destination ready for his specialist evening out. He’s going to have some local food first, but I’ve seen no evidence of this yet and so I imagine he’s just gone to KFC.

Bev when she was boarding the train at Norwich railway station.

Susanna looking glamorous once again, she’s now one of the London social set, so was getting the train from the capital.

Susanna safely at Stansted Airport looking even more glamorous than when she had left London.

It is far too hot in Gdansk, but there has been a hail storm in Norwich.

Bev arrived at Stansted and had booked herself a wheelchair to ensure that she can get a reserved table at the JD Wetherspoon outlet at the airport.

At their reserved table and they’ve got two bottles of wine to share between them before they get their Ryanair flight. Susanna was sent to go to the bar whilst Bev had a little lie down at the table, but she had a walking stick so the staff didn’t say anything.

And Steve, like Ross and I, has boarded his train from Norwich to London which is a thriftier option than going direct to Stansted. I can’t imagine what could possibly go wrong over the next few days. Such a shame that Gordon isn’t coming along, but I don’t complain…..

May 11, 2023
Gdansk Group Trip – Day 2 (The Rest of the Group Works Out How to Get to Gdansk)

It’s day two and Richard, Steve, Bev and Susanna are making their way to Poland today. Ross and I have had a leisurely breakfast at the hotel and will wait for updates of how the others are getting on. For anyone that’s interested, although I can guess the number, I’ve caught up on sleep after our overnight stay at Stansted Airport yesterday. I’m also pleased to hear that the bar billiards team I’m on had a victorious night yesterday, something that I think will happen quite a lot when I’m not there.

Steve sent this photo, he’s currently stuck in traffic in Norwich. Steve arrives in Gdansk later tonight and we’ll see him tomorrow morning (Friday). Richard has just boarded the British Airways flight to Warsaw after enjoying a morning in the lounge at Heathrow binge drinking Bell’s whisky and eating crisps. We’ll also see Richard tomorrow as he is having a specialist evening in Warsaw before getting the train to Gdansk in the morning. He’s planning to get some vodka to drink on the train, so I hope he doesn’t upset the local commuters.

Bev is spending the morning taking the rubbish out and then doing her headstands as she’s heard that it’ll help her back, whilst Susanna is looking like a Princess without needing to even try. They both get the Ryanair flight early this evening and hopefully we’ll see those two tonight. It’s all coming together now….

May 11, 2023
Gdansk Group Trip – Day 1 (Game Over)

Game Over is a new venue to me, somewhere that I’m not sure I had been aware of before, but it’s located just around the corner from Under Beer.

A bright and modern bar. The service was polite and efficient, with the atmosphere feeling warm and inviting even though we were the only customers.

A mural, with one of this bar’s USPs being the range of board games that they’ve got behind the bar which customers can play.

The blackboards are for shots and cocktails rather than beers, with the whole arrangement having something of a younger vibe. I can imagine that this is busy and rather more vibrant on a weekend evening.

The beer fridge. This is what is a little disappointing with so many bars in the UK, as any pub (if it’s not tied anyway….) can offer a selection of craft beers by just having a fridge in the corner. The best before dates are usually relatively lengthy and it allows a pub to have a wider offering than they might otherwise have. I was pleased, as ever, to see more Funky Fluid beers and there were plenty of tempting options here.

I was pleased with this, the Mello Jell-Oh from Browar Birbant from Zielona Góra. I’ve had their Fruitness and HBC GO beers before, they’re a classy brewery with a strong selection of sours and IPAs. The beer is a pastry sour and I thought it had notes of nectarine and mango, although it’s actually got nectarine, passion fruit and guava, but that’s near enough. Ross once again had some lager that he forgot the name of before he got back to the table. It’s perhaps fortunate that Ross isn’t on Untappd.

The gaming element here wasn’t quite what I expected, although that wasn’t the main reason for going or indeed any part of the reason. There was no video gaming element, it was primarily board game based, and we didn’t have time to faff about with that. It’s a comfortable place to have a drink even though there are limited draft options, but I was sold on the canned selection so that worked out. The mezzanine level gives views over the bar and there’s plenty of seating available across the two floors. I quite like the thought of a long Sunday afternoon drinking craft beer and playing board games, it would be all rather pleasant.

May 11, 2023
Gdansk Group Trip – Day 1 (Under Beer)

Although hunting for bars that I haven’t been to before, one of my favourite locations in Gdansk is Under Beer and I felt the need to pay it a quick visit since I was nearby. As I’ve visited before, I won’t add much here, but this repeat visit didn’t disappoint.

I was delighted to see a beer from Funky Fluid’s Gelato series that I haven’t had before, this one is Dekadent Banana Parfait brewed in conjunction with Pühaste Brewery of Tartu in Estonia. It’s an ice cream sour (and can there be a more summery drink?) with a fruity aroma which has the flavour of banana and lime running through it, without it having an artificial edge. And any beer with the word decadent in its title is of course worth trying. A beautiful beer, I’m positively excited to visit Warsaw Beer Festival to continue to work through whatever delights Funky Fluid come up with next.

Ross had some lager, but he had forgotten what it was called by the time he arrived at the table, although I’m sure it was delicious…. I suspect I might be back here later on in the week with the rest of the group.

May 11, 2023
Gdansk Group Trip – Day 1 (Farina Pizza)

Ahead of the mass of people arriving tomorrow, Ross and I went out for a peaceful pizza at Farina, located at ul. Szeroka 89.

The drinks menu and I had been attracted here by the effort they make with their bottled beer selection. They do have a beer which seems to have been brewed for the restaurant but I couldn’t find it on Untappd and so I decided it couldn’t possibly exist at all.

And the pizza menu. Prices in Poland have been rising like everywhere else, but they remain reasonable (divide by five for the approximate UK price).

There was an air of Italian authenticity to the internal design, or at least, as much as you can realistically get in Gdansk. Clean, comfortable and quiet since we were visiting in the late afternoon.

The Czarny Bez from Amber Valley, a lager cut with elderflower syrup which gave it quite a pleasant floral feel to it.

The n’duja pizza, suitably delicious with leopard spotting to the edges. The N’duja had its usual spicy edge complemented by the creamy mascarpone along with a deluge of greenery on top.

All was well with the on-line reviews with very little negativity, although they picked up a ridiculous 1 star review a few months ago, with someone commenting:

“They took money from the child for the toilet”

I liked the owner’s response which I think is reasonable given that public toilets aren’t free in Gdansk (well, the ones in shopping centres are, which is always handy).

“Write the truth . not from a child, but from you. you asked if you could use and we informed that the toilet is for customers. otherwise it is payable. 50 m away is public toilet, also paid.”

Anyway, I digress. Given their positive reviews, I had high expectations of this pizza restaurant and I wasn’t let down by the service, food or the atmosphere. All rather lovely.

May 11, 2023
Gdansk Group Trip – Day 1 (Bus Journey to City Centre with Sam North of Youtube Footy Adventures)

After having ninety minutes of sleep on board the aircraft, I decided I was good for the rest of the day in that regard so it was just the bus journey into the city centre to manage in the morning. We were in the queue to buy tickets from the machine when the bus came and promptly left again, but they’re every half an hour so the wait didn’t feel too onerous.

Then Ross, who knows nearly everything football related, noticed Sam North of Footy Adventures and very bravely for him went and introduced himself. I’ve now added Footy Adventures to my YouTube subscribed list and he is a very friendly guy, I like his ideas to come out and make 24 hour videos of cities around Europe. Travel content is always exciting to me and I think Ross is particularly engaged with football travel content. Hopefully he wasn’t entirely bored about my riveting travel stories from around the world and I just know that he’s going to enjoy Gdansk.

I navigated Sam to the city’s main street and let him get on with his adventure and he was initially off looking for coffee which didn’t seem a bad idea at all. It all added a touch of glamour to the proceedings although Ross and I decided not to appear in the YouTube video as I don’t like being filmed so I wouldn’t have watched it back anyway. But here’s a photo instead.

With that, I walked Ross and I in a slightly circuitous route to the hotel and I’m pleased to note that not only did they give me a room with free early check-in, but Ross was also able to check in early to his room as well. I’ve been busy doing work whilst Ross has been sleeping, but I guess we can’t all be tough travellers. It’s all been a suitably exciting day today, we’ll be on the hunt for pizza and beer shortly, those staples of the Gdansk food and drink scene.

May 10, 2023
Gdansk Group Trip – Day 1 (The Ryanair Flight to Gdansk)

All this telling me to relax is very stressful. I just want to know when and where the aircraft is going from, I like being in a state of heightened tension before a flight and certainly not relaxing. Things have moved about since I was last at Stansted a few years ago and my favourite seating area has gone, but I found a quiet seating area a level below the main terminal which was rather peaceful and delightful. Or as much as these things can be anyway.

Safely at gate 49 and I have to comment positively that Ryanair are incredibly efficient when things go right. The signage is clear, it’s obvious where to stand, the process is managed well and they do this better than British Airways which often is either organised chaos or not organised at all.

The big long queue to board, but the wait was for only five minutes or so.

At least with no airbridge I can take a photo of the aircraft. The aircraft is SP-RNA which was brought into use in 2008 and has a few weeks ago been transferred to Buzz, which are a division of Ryanair. What I find fascinating is that this aircraft will be used for seven flights today, from Stansted to Gdansk to Prague to Gdansk to Oslo to Gdansk to Dublin and back to Gdansk. They get their money’s worth out of these Boeing 737s.

The flight was nearly full and I cannot fault Ryanair for the service today. The cabin crew were pro-active and polite, the pilots made clear announcements, the aircraft was clean and everything was organised and on time. This flight cost £25 and I have to note that I’ve been surprised and delighted by Ryanair. I was asleep for most of the flight, but I received exactly what I paid for which was simply a glorified bus journey and they don’t pretend that it’s anything more than that. I’ve never actually had any problems with Ryanair after over a decade travelling with them, but when things go wrong they do have a poor reputation of fixing the issues.

Safely at Gdansk Airport where three shuttle buses swept passengers away to the main terminal.

Where we had to wait of course because we’re not in Schengen and the border guard, who was very amenable, spent some time adding up the number of days that I’ve been in the European Union. But it’s good to be back in Poland and the weather is warm and frankly too hot. But I don’t complain.

May 10, 2023
Gdansk Group Trip – Day 1 (The Overnight Wait)

As it was now nearly 03:00 we thought that we’d locate from the quietness of Stansted coach station to the rather more busy terminal. This is my first Ryanair flight in years and I’m already pre-annoyed about it, but to be fair it might surpass my expectations.

The barriers were removed and a stampede of excited passengers surged towards the security lines unable to control their excitement at entering the airside area of the airport.

I’ve never noticed this interesting military history which is rather hidden away but contains a list of the units which have been stationed at Stansted when it was a military airport.

The anticipation…… The whole process was efficient and we were through to the airside area by 03:15 with only a brief wait in the queue for security. The staff were enthusiastic and helpful, full credit to them given the early time of the day and the inevitable many hours before their shift ended.

After spending what seemed to be half an hour meandering around the compulsory trudge through duty free we reached what was, for now at least, the tranquility of the airside area.

There were tens of these USB chargers in the seats and I couldn’t find any that worked. Very sub-optimal as I watched numerous people trying each one in turn in the hope of being able to charge their devices. Given how airlines encourage passengers to use boarding passes on their phone, the airport do perhaps need to provide more working charging units.

Here was our plan (which I suspect was mostly my plan that Ross went along with), I spent £3.25 for three hours worth of unlimited hot drinks at the Windmill, the JD Wetherspoon outlet at the airport. More importantly there was a power point so that I could charge my devices to my heart’s content. Everything fully charged for the flight, that’s my nerves settled.

The history of the pub’s name and I remember the old JD Wetherspoon outlet at the airport, it was tiny in comparison to the cavernous pub they have now.

The pub’s interior and it’s located over two floors, with a windmill design in the centre. The service was helpful, immediate and polite, it was all stress-free which is just as I like it.

As my friends know, I’m easily pleased, and I was very excited and delighted to see the cold milk option for the first time. That will save me countless minutes over the course of the year, perhaps as many as twenty, getting the milk jug refilled.

Several coffees later, I was suitably refreshed and recharged. Ross didn’t go for such coffee extravagance, he only likes slightly posh soft drinks. Ross also had to try and avoid the friendly team member at the entrance to the pub who was in danger of making conversation with him, but that crisis was averted by Ross’s sneaking in and out. There’s quite a lot of frivolity at this pub before 5am which I suppose is understandable as it’s a primarily leisure airport, but I’m naturally grumpy in the morning (and indeed throughout most of the day) and it’s all a bit exciting for my liking.

We are now ready to depart for the gate and it’s evident how bored I am by how I’m now writing up the most tangential of things. But, Poland is getting ever closer, it’s light outside and all we have to do now is not miss our flight.

May 10, 2023
Gdansk Group Trip – Day 1 (Stansted Shanty Town)

A couple of years ago the decision makers at Stansted Airport decided that they didn’t want people staying overnight in the terminal, but there appears to have been a compromise where a small section has been begrudgingly turned over to passengers. God forbid that the passengers that Stansted serves might have any chance of getting some crumbs of comfort. The airport has poor early morning public transport connections and limited affordable hotels, so it’s not clear what the management are actually expecting to happen here. Perhaps the whole Sleepless in Stansted arrangement is a complete surprise to them, bewildered that their lack of forward planning in enabling more accommodation options to be available has become part of the problem. But anyway, I mustn’t digress into such matters because I’m being very positive for this entire trip, I’ve decided.

They’ve cordoned their seating area off in case anyone might get comfortable. They’re trying to avoid people sleeping, but it also means that people use the seating areas at places such as Burger King, so customers of their fast food delights then can’t get a table.

The confined area is inevitably full of people, some trying to sleep and some just trying to find a wall to lean against. They’ll be lucky in this terminal to even find a pillar to lean on.

The main area of the terminal is closed off and there’s a sign saying that it’s open at 03:00.

Fortunately, most people don’t seem to know about the nearby coach terminal which is peaceful and quiet. I don’t travel from Stansted Airport very much, but this is always where I go as it’s calm and there’s relatively comfortable seating. The only slight issue for me is that the airport appears to turn its wi-fi off overnight, which is sub-optimal when I was trying to save my phone battery. Anyway, not long now before the terminal re-opens and the delights of Stansted airside will become available to me in all of their glory.

May 10, 2023
Gdansk Group Trip – Day 0 (Norwich to Stansted Airport via London Liverpool Street)

After a successful little sojourn in the Queen of the Iceni we meandered back to Norwich railway station amidst a deluge of torrential rain. There were no issues with late running trains, whatever issue there had been at Romford had been resolved. I do little some adventure when things go wrong, but on this occasion I was just keen to get to Poland without too many issues. It’s more interesting to watch other people have random adventures when things go IRROPS anyway.

There’s our train on the right, ready to board half an hour before departure.

A suitably decadent meal deal from the Co-op of roast beef monster munch, a prawn sandwich and a Dr Pepper, for only just a little bit more than the Tesco version would have cost. I intended to save all this for when I got to Stansted Airport, but I finished the crisps before we left the railway station and the sandwich by the time we reached Ipswich. All the food and drink met my expectations and I also successfully completed the Gogen puzzle in the Evening Standard. I was going to do the cryptic crossword as well but I didn’t know any of the answers.

Our train arrived in at 22:55, just five minutes before the Greggs at Liverpool Street station closed. Fortunately, they were still opening with no early closing going on here. This is the first time that I’ve been here (at this outlet, I’ve obviously been to Greggs before, I’m not a heathen), I was surprised and delighted at the friendly service and how much they had left just before closing which I think goes off to the homeless. All very efficient.

And a sausage roll safely acquired.

I toasted the King’s Coronation weekend with my sausage roll.

I mutter and moan about the Stansted Express train operating the Norwich to London Liverpool Street mainline, not least because it has no tables. This is though its natural home and I thought this would be a good time to eat my sausage roll, I had waited long enough.

I can cope with this lack of table provision on the relatively short journey from London Liverpool Street to Stansted.

It wasn’t overly busy fortunately.

And safely at Stansted Airport railway station just after midnight, with only several hours left before we can go through security. This isn’t the ideal situation, but who needs the luxury of hotels at Stansted when you can meander around the terminal and coach station for a few hours to amuse yourselves? The main thing is that we had arrived safely, ready for the flight in the morning and the delights of Gdansk.

May 10, 2023