This year, I took considerably more photos than I ever had chance to write about, so to surprise and delight just about no-one other than myself, there will now follow a few end of year things that I feel I should have written about so I don’t forget them.
This painting is by Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz (1885-1939) who is an intriguing character as he seems to have decided that merely being a painter, playwright, novelist, philosopher and photographer was far too sensible, and so set about turning his entire life into a sort of extended, slightly unhinged performance piece. He ran a formalised “Portrait Painting Firm” with price lists that varied depending on which drugs he was on at the time, annotated his works with cryptic notes about nicotine, peyote or existential despair, and wrote plays so strange that even other avant-gardists occasionally backed away slowly. In the end, he committed suicide shortly after Germany invaded his home country of Poland and it was perhaps fortunate that he didn’t see the destruction of so much of his country.
Back to the artwork, which he painted in 1912, it’s just called “Costume Scene in a Landscape” which doesn’t help with any meaning which the artist intended. I can’t work out what I’m actually looking at, which certainly adds some complexity to arrangements. Is the character on the left wearing an interesting hat or is that a halo? And what is the meaning between the two characters?
But, what reassures me is that the artist was known for trying to engender “the strangeness of existence” in the viewer, where it isn’t possible to establish what reality he was looking for. I’ve decided that’s all the meaning I need…..
I decided that it wasn’t worth leaving the airport as my inbound flight from Madeira reached Warsaw at around 22:45 and my outbound flight to London Luton airport left at 06:00. I would have only reached a city centre hotel by 00:00 and then had to leave it at 03:00, which felt a little wasteful.
There was an hour left in the landside McDonalds before it closed, so I used that opportunity to get a little snack and charge my devices up. Although, it transpired that there were numerous power outlets dotted around the landside area of the terminal.
Very Christmassy.
It was all a bit decadent for me, but they’d certainly made an effort with their Christmas decorations.
I had a little meander around the airport to pass the time, watching an Irish passenger having an argument with the armed airport police after they told him not to leave his bag unattended. They won that argument with their line “would you like to discuss this in an interview room?” in perfect English, which I felt was suitably friendly and he backed down.
I bought these from the shop as breakfast as the lounge didn’t open until 05:00 and it’s the other end of the airport from my gate, so I didn’t want to risk it.
I was one of the first people through to the airside area.
Who needs sleep when you can explore a mostly closed airside terminal?
I found a seat with a power outlet and made a determined effort not to fall asleep and miss my flight. There were clear announcements from the gate staff and the boarding process was once again clearly signed and operated efficiently.
The aircraft was around a five minute bus journey from the terminal, it wasn’t the most pleasant of transfers given how many people they’d shoved on the bus. It felt a little endless and I’m sure we went via the city centre.
It was aircraft registration 9H-WNW, another new plane for me. The seating Gods had given me an aisle seat and I decided that I would now have a little nap on the flight home. Everything went to plan with the flight, with helpful crew, clear updates from the pilots and the aircraft was clean and tidy.
With that, it was a walk to Luton Airport Parkway railway station, the one that I’ve decided is the worst run in the country, before getting a train to St. Alban’s, confusing the gateline staff, then returning to Norwich via London, Cambridge and Ely. All really rather lovely and that was the end of my travels for the year…..
I will return to some more Funchal posts, but to continue the year’s travel, here I was back at Madeira Airport, named after Cristiano Ronaldo. It’s one of the more beautiful vistas that I’ve seen from an airport terminal building.
There were no lounges for me to visit at the airport, so I popped to Burger King as there were some power outlets.
A beer and a burger, very decadent…. It was a very clean and organised Burger King, buying the burger and beer outside of a meal deal proved to be cost effective as well.
As the temperature was pleasant, I went back outside to have a little sit down in the sun.
And after that excitement of looking at the Atlantic, it was time for the flight. Going through security had some drama as a guy with his family decided to open the barriers up and cut through. The guy at security called over “sorry, I didn’t know you worked here”, to which the barrier mover said “I don’t, I’m a passenger” and the retort was “if you don’t work here, why do you think you can change the security process?” before making him go all the way back around. This amused me, but I don’t get out much.
The airport has a viewing terrace so I went to record an easyJet flight land, with this being the Wizz Air aircraft I’d be taking to go back to Warsaw.
The boarding process was organised and efficient, with a staff member checking that passengers weren’t boarding with excessively sized bags.
Given that this was a five and a half hour long flight, I was so delighted that the seating Gods gave me an aisle seat that I purchased a chicken noodle from the trolley to help break up the journey a little. A flight this long in Wizz Air seats with a bag at my feet was a bit long, I’ll be more cautious of this in future.
The crew were, once again, professional and personable, quietly going up and down the cabin a few times with the trolley and collecting rubbish. The aircraft was clean, the announcements were clear and I can’t say that the flight went quickly, but it didn’t feel too onerous and I had paid only £8.99 which felt like a bargain.
And landed safely in Warsaw, although I wasn’t leaving the airport as I had another flight to catch a few hours later.
Back on the rail network from Warszawa Śródmieście station and every time I come here I wonder when they’re going to renovate this as it’s getting ever more rickety. The train signage here is a bit basic, but fortunately Google Maps informed me that my train was running eight minutes late.
I’ll just add here that a train ticket to the airport costs about 85p.
Now this was exciting as there was a ticket check, as the inspectors do monitor this line reasonably frequently. To my right were what I think were a Polish mother and daughter, the former was quite elderly. I, as I may have mentioned, cannot speak Polish of any merit, but I was able to understand enough of the conversation to hear what was going on.
It boiled down to this:
ELDERLY WOMAN : “The ticket machine was broken”
INSPECTOR : “So you have no ticket?”
ELDERLY WOMAN : “I’d like to buy a ticket now”
INSPECTOR : “Yes, you can, that will be 580zl [about £120] including the fine”
ELDERLY WOMAN : “But the machine was broken”
INSPECTOR : “You have no ticket”.
This went on until the train pulled into the airport and it was clear that the pair thought they were getting off and the inspector would forget it. No, the doors opened and he locked the one they were standing by.
I sat on those seats to watch the whole affair unfold, as I don’t get out much. And indeed, the two ladies weren’t getting out much, but their card did and they paid the penalty fares. This is why fare evasion on the Polish rail network seems to be so low, the inspectors will enforce those without tickets.
Very Christmassy. Airport security was interesting, the lady in front of me took a ridiculous amount of time to put her things in the bag. Fortunately, Polish airport security is friendly, calm, collected and told her to hurry up. She got annoyed and so she found herself being interrogated for the entire time I was at security. I like a bit of drama.
Anyway, I reached the lounge and got myself a Greek salad, chicken wrap, coffee and an early morning beer which was to fortify myself for the flight which would take over five hours to get to Madeira. This is another one of my favourite lounges, as there are power outlets, unlimited chocolates, unlimited olives and unlimited Feta cheese.
Mine was the 11:20 flight.
Boarding at the gate was uneventful as it was organised, fast flowing and there were plenty of seats around. Fortunately, Madeira is in Schengen, since it’s part of Portugal, so I didn’t have to faff about with any border control.
This is aircraft 9H-WNS, yet another one that I haven’t been on before. The flight lasted for five hours and thirty minutes, which is quite a strain on a budget airline if I’m being honest. I normally like having my bag under the seat in front of me, but after five hours I was getting annoyed that it was in the way of my legs that needed stretching.
The seating Gods gave me an aisle seat which was very fortunate for a flight of this length, so that did give a degree of comfort. The couple in the window and middle seat were very agreeable and didn’t barge into my seat space, with the crew merrily plodding up and down with the trolley a few times.
The flight cost me £8.99, so I can’t really complain and I find spending this amount of time without a phone signal to be quite relaxing in many ways. I have rather decided, that despite Wizz Air being a perfectly competent and comfortable airline, that flights of this length are perhaps just a bit much.
Safely in Madeira, which is my first time to the island. I understand that pilots require special training to land at this airport as there are strong winds and there’s not a huge amount of space to work with. The landing was sudden but seemed smooth, although I’ve never doubted the competence of Wizz Air pilots as they always seem professional and calm to me.
The view from the runway and the winds were certainly getting up at this stage. I had intended to walk to the hotel, but events meant that didn’t happen….. But more of that in the next ‘riveting’ post.
I would show a photo of the clear exterior of the Novotel, but it was too foggy to see it, but it is to the right hand side of the photo.
I’ve written about this hotel numerous times before, it’s one of my favourites. It’s a towering great affair near to the Palace of Science and Culture and a short walk away from the railway station.
One downside about the incredible growth of Poland’s economy is that hotel prices are routinely much higher than they were, so it’s rare that this hotel is an affordable option now. Luckily, Sunday rates are much lower and there was a friendly welcome at the front desk and they’d kindly upgraded me. They also mentioned it was a while since I’d visited, so I was secretly pleased that their computer hadn’t entirely forgotten about me.
My welcome gifts, local apple juice and chocolate biscuit things.
I arrived at the hotel just five minutes before the bar closed, which had the advantage that I was able to get my welcome drink. Żywiec Porter is always a favourite of mine, malty and rich, certainly good to eat the welcome chocolates with.
The view from the window over Warsaw and the Palace of Science and Culture is sort of visible on the right. I find watching the trams going through the roundabout quite peaceful and relaxing, I always get Sim City vibes sitting up here.
This might not have been the longest of stays, but the room was clean and there were no internal noise issues. I like traffic noise so I opened the window and the sounds of the city didn’t disappoint, Warsaw always feels like a vibrant place. And I use vibrant here in the positive sense, I sometimes refer to pubs as vibrant, by which I mean I feel that they’re close to having a riot.
I had initially intended to stay in Warsaw for a few days, but I accidentally booked a return flight to Madeira. This meant that my intended relaxing stay in the Novotel was rather cut short as I had to leave the hotel at 08:00 to get the train back to the airport. It was foggy, slightly cold and nicely refreshing.
Another day, another trip by train to the airport. I went from Norwich via Cambridge due to work being completed on the Norwich to Ipswich line, with a change at King’s Cross railway station. Surprisingly, the first section of the journey wasn’t that busy, despite it being on a two carriage train that can be really quite packed.
I picked up my free Greggs sausage roll and then boarded the Thameslink train to Luton Airport Parkway.
At Big Smoke, the chicken tenders and freshly squeezed orange juice were a beautifully paired meal. Who needs anything more decadent than this? This is always a handy restaurant as it’s included with Priority Pass and they have plenty of power outlets to charge devices.
Mine was the 19:35 flight to Warsaw, all looking on time. It’s not a bad timed flight, it gets into Warsaw at around 22:30 their time, which is fine as long as I get out of there by the time the last train leaves at 23:45.
A pint of Menabrea and some olives at Nolito.
Some bloody awful non alcoholic Heineken alongside some odd chicken thing at My Lounge. Nice teas though, alongside the usual dirty cutlery. I’ve noticed they’ve had a few negative reviews about the cutlery, it feels odd that they haven’t made any effort to fix this.
Boarding was announced early and then they were swiftly dealing with passengers at the gate. As usual, it was clear where non-priority passengers such as myself needed to go, I like clarity.
Boarding and the seating Gods had given me a middle seat which is never ideal, but wasn’t too problematic on this flight. The aircraft was 9H-WDX, an aircraft that I have been on before when doing this journey the other way around.
The flight was very busy with nearly no free seats. I will write the same as ever about the flight, which is that the crew were friendly, the service was efficient and the pilots made clear and appropriate announcements.
There wasn’t much of a wait at border control at Warsaw airport, so I made good time and was able to get a train to the city centre. It was then just a ten minute walk to the Novotel hotel where I was spending the night, which is one of my favourite accommodation options in Europe.
I had only decided a couple of days before what I’d be doing this week and I ended up on a route that was perhaps not entirely well thought through, but there was adventure and so that’s sufficient to keep me functioning.
I’ve created myself a precedent now by merrily writing about Müllermilch whenever I try a new flavour, so I don’t want to end that routine in case it’s unlikely. Anyway, for my long rail journey from Warsaw to Budapest, I had a couple of these and they were both really rather lovely.
The Angel Hair one tasted of pistachio and was really quite sweet (who would have thought….), although there’s a place for such things…. I preferred the Apple Pie style one, a richer and more decadent taste.
And they’re about 90p each, seemingly with some addictive qualities as I keep finding myself drawn to them…..
After a quick visit to Carrefour for snacks, I embarked on what was the longest rail journey that I’ve taken in Europe (I went for over 24 hours in the US….) from Warsaw to Budapest. Here’s the display screen at Warszawa Centralna, with the departure being second from top on the right-hand screen.
Waiting at Platform 3.
Here’s the train layout, and I had gone for first class as it wasn’t much more expensive as I’d booked it at the last minute.
It’s all happening now with the departure board on the platform updating to show the train. I had a flight booked for very early the next morning, so if something went wrong here, it would be hard to resolve. Well, hard to resolve cheaply anyway.
The train after it had pulled into the station and I was glad to see it.
I was disappointed that it was a compartment train, it wasn’t meant to be and I assume it was swapped in at the last minute. These are old fashioned and being removed from the rail network with a preference for open seating which feels safer. It transpired that the lady in the window seat (who had briefly left the compartment when I took the photo) was only going a short distance, so I had that window seat with table for nearly all of the journey. This did make me happier at matters as I do like a table for my laptop.
I switched this down to cold at the first available moment.
A view down looking at the compartments. There was a refreshments carriage next door, but it didn’t look very exciting.
For a long time, it was just me (and my bag and laptop) in the compartment, although a couple came in later on and were annoyed it was a compartment train.
Being in First gives no luxuries other than a free bottle of water and a little more space. It was a nice bottle of water to be fair as far as these things go.
Not only was I going from Poland’s capital to Hungary’s capital, but the train also stopped in Slovakia’s capital of Bratislava. I must admit that I was tempted to get off here as it’s one of my favourite cities, but that would have caused me some logistical issues….
And here’s the train in Budapest Nyugati railway station at the end of the journey. I did take a lot of photos of stations en route, to remind myself I quite fancy going to some of those locations (Ostrava in the Czech Republic looked interesting which has the nickname of Black Heart which I like), but there were no great pieces of scenery that I felt the need to photograph. There were a lot of fields though.
And safely in Hungary.
Overall, I rather enjoyed gazing out of the window for hours, but there was no wifi and the phone connection was poor for much of the journey. It’s generally cheaper by plane, it’s obviously quicker and ultimately much more convenient. Flying isn’t though very environmental and there is a push towards more long-distance trains, although this was 11 hours in total so it’s hardly a fast-paced arrangement.
The cost was relatively expensive for European rail at £50, although as an experience it was worth it. But, there’s going to need to be modernisation here, basic things like allowing for ordering food and drink on the train for either collection in the refreshments car or delivery to the compartment. I had no idea when meal service was, they needed to be clearer about that. They also do need wifi, although they did have power outlets and they were useful.
I had eight ticket checks during the journey, which is excessive by any means. The US system is better here, they check tickets on entry and write the journey on a card above the seat. I also didn’t like the compulsory reservation system, I was lucky to have a quiet carriage because there were no-shows, but I’d rather just sit where there’s space and not be tied to a certain seat (although I had moved across one from my middle seat I had been allocated). I thought that it all went quickly, so I certainly enjoyed the restful nature of the whole arrangement.
The whole thing felt a little old-fashioned and there’s a place for that, but I can’t see passenger numbers ever soaring for services like this unless they can speed them up a bit and make them more comfortable and modern. However, there is a sleeper version of this service so you get a choice between the two trains and that makes more sense in terms of time efficiency. However, I wanted to look out of the window at things as this was more of an experience.
The train arrived into Budapest just twenty minutes late, which isn’t bad given the complexity of going across four countries, namely Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. There were announcements throughout the journey, just about all of them in English. The service is run by České dráhy, who are the national rail operator in the Czech Republic, and I’d say that this sort of long-distance train service is certainly an experience worth trying at least once. So all really rather quite lovely and a reminder that I’ll take more trains on the European mainland.
After flying back to Warsaw from Genoa, I was able to catch one of the last trains of the evening which got me into central Warsaw by midnight. There was a ticket check of everyone on the train, but in typical Polish fashion, everyone had one.
Safely into Warszawa Centralna and the ticket cost about 90p.
Walking past the Palace of Culture and Science….
Free fries in the late night opening KFC…
I had had a long day….. And Polish KFC is much better, and cheaper, than KFC in the UK.
After getting through the main door entry panels this was the entrance to the hostel…. It looked a bit much at first, but they did send clear instructions in advance, so it didn’t take too long. Incidentally, the main door downstairs to get into the building was also the entrance to Thai Me Up and PiwPaw, two rather lovely food and drink options in the city.
I paid just under £30 for a private room for one person with two beds. They’d run out of those so they gave me single occupancy of a room with eight beds. It felt like slight overkill….
It’s certainly spacious and I wasn’t going to run out of power outlet options either. There was free wifi and the beds were sufficiently comfortable.
As for the hostel, it’s a particularly good option for larger groups as they can just book an entire room for themselves and the prices were very reasonable. I’d never stayed here before, but it was sufficiently clean and there were no internal or external noise disturbances. It was just a shame I couldn’t have arrived back in Warsaw an hour earlier so that PiwPaw was still open….
After two interesting days in Genoa and environs, it was time for the next £8.99 adventure and it was back to Warsaw. I had taken the train to the nearest station and enjoyed a pleasant ten minute walk to get here.
They’re reconstructing the lounge here and that reopens next year, but the airside space was sizeable and had power points. I think that there are plans to increase the size of the airport and make it a more important one, so there are a series of renovations taking place.
This is not a major international airport and Wizz Air have quite a limited presence here. There’s certainly potential for more passengers to use this airport, there is a decent public transport link, the terminal is large and Genoa would likely benefit substantially from more tourists and commercial connections.
I’m conscious that I’m very much repeating myself here, but, yet again, the boarding process was well managed with friendly gate agents. Everything was clearly signed, it was efficient and it felt organised.
Boarding the aircraft, which was registration HA-LXS which I last went on in February 2022. Boarding was smooth and efficient, with the aircraft being clean.
The seating Gods had given me a window seat and my bag is visible there having a little rest. But, since the entire row was clear, I moved to an aisle seat. The aircraft was about 60% full which makes matters more comfortable.
I nearly never get anything from the trolley on flights as it’s far too decadent, but I was hungry and so felt the need for some noodles. These are around £4, which doesn’t feel unreasonable for an aircraft.
Delicious, although I won’t get used to this level of decadence.
And safely onto the bus to take us to the terminal and as this was a Schengen flight with no border controls it meant I went from here to the train in just five minutes.
The flight cost me £9 and once again I was surprised and delighted by Wizz Air. Everything was smooth, well managed, comfortable and organised, with plenty of space on board. I accept that my splashing out on fine dining took the price of this to £13, but that still feels decent value to me.
