Saturday, August 26, 2023

Tips for traveling part 2.0!


As I told you earlier on Facebook, today I will share some tips that may be helpful when you are planning your trip. I’m going to show you them on the specific example of buying tickets to Vienna - as this is my current most frequent travel destination!

Tak jak zapowiadałam wcześniej na Facebooku, dzisiaj podzielę się z wami kolejnymi tipami, które przydadzą się wam podczas planowania podróży. Przedstawię je na konkretnym przykładzie kupowania biletów do Wiednia – bo to jest mój obecny najczęstszy cel podróży!


To begin with, let's talk about possible types of transport. Practically every place can be reached in at least two ways - first by car, second (and here delete as appropriate) by train/plane/bus. Let's be honest, choosing the second option often involves possible transfers. Transfers and changes aren't bad, although personally I'm not their biggest fan, as in my case they involved various adventures - you'll read about it here. Nevertheless, I'm getting used to them and try to plan them in a way that they don't end up with a tragedy.

Na początku porozmawiajmy o możliwych środkach transportu. Praktycznie w każde miejsce da się dojechać co najmniej na dwa sposoby – po pierwsze samochodem, po drugie (i tutaj niepotrzebne skreślić) pociągiem/samolotem/autobusem. Nie oszukujmy się, wybierając drugą opcję często trzeba liczyć się z możliwymi przesiadkami. Przesiadki nie są złe, chociaż osobiście nie jestem ich największym fanem, bo w moim przypadku wiązały się z różnymi przygodami – poczytacie o tym tutaj. Niemniej jednak stopniowo się do nich przekonuję i staram się tak zaplanować, by nie kończyły się tragedią.


But, let's get back to the point - how to get to your destination Or more precisely, what to choose to go there? In my case, the matter is a little simpler, because I do not have a driver's license or a car, so I choose option number two. Here, however, there is a small complication, because I have three means of transportation. Considering the example of Vienna, I can go there by night bus from Lodz, by plane from Warsaw or by train from Katowice. Each of these options has its pros and cons, which later influences my final choice.

Ale, wróćmy do sedna sprawy – jak jechać? A dokładniej, czym jechać? W moim wypadku sprawa jest trochę prostsza, bo nie mam prawa jazdy ani samochodu, więc pozostaje opcja numer dwa. Tutaj jednak następuje drobna komplikacja, bo mam aż trzy środki transportu. Rozważając przykład Wiednia, można tam pojechać nocnym autobusem z Łodzi, samolotem z Warszawy albo pociągiem z Katowic. Każda z tych opcji ma swoje plusy i minusy, co później wpływa na mój ostateczny wybór środku transportu.


  1. Option number one "bus", is cool because I don't lose time during a day – it’s the night bus, direct from Lodz, so I don't have to go anywhere else to take the bus (because I currently live in Lodz) and I wake up the next day in Vienna. The inconvenience is that the bus starts late and thus I lose time waiting until midnight when I could already be moving towards Vienna just after finishing my studies/work at 4pm.
  2. Option number two "airplane" is the most convenient because it’s the fastest - the flight takes an hour. But (!) I need to go to Warsaw early enough to be at the airport at least 1.5h before departure. Unfortunately, this is the most expensive option, but it allows me to be in Vienna the same day.
  3. Option number three "train" is very nice, but long and requires an early departure from Lodz in order to get to Katowice and take the train to Vienna after 3:00 or 5:00 p.m. I prefer the train than the bus, because you can walk a bit, stretch your legs, work if you need and admire the nice route.

  • Opcja nr jeden „autobus”, jest o tyle wygodna, że nie tracę dnia – autobus nocny – jest bezpośredni z Łodzi, więc nie muszę nigdzie dojeżdżać (bo obecnie mieszkam w Łodzi) i budzę się kolejnego dnia w Wiedniu. Minus jest taki, że autobus wyjeżdża późno i przez to tracę czas na czekaniu do północy podczas gdy mogłabym już się przemieszczać w kierunku Wiednia kończąc studia/pracę o 16:00.
  • Opcja nr dwa „samolot” jest najwygodniejsza pod tym względem, że jest najszybsza – lot trwa godzinę. Ale (!) trzeba się przemieścić do Warszawy odpowiednio wcześniej, żeby być na lotnisku co najmniej 1,5h przed odlotem. Niestety jest to najdroższa opcja, ale pozwala być w Wiedniu jeszcze tego samego dnia.
  • Opcja nr trzy „pociąg” jest wygodna, ale długa i wymaga wczesnego wyjazdu z Łodzi, żeby z Katowic wyjechać pociągiem po 15:00 lub 17:00. Wolę pociąg od autobusu, bo można się przejść, rozprostować nogi, popracować miło i podziwiać ładną trasę.

To sum up this analysis, the answer to the question of what to choose? is it depends. It depends on what time I can and want to leave, how much money I can spend, how much time I have for possible transportation from Lodz and how much time I want to spend in Vienna. As you can see it's not always that simple :p

Podsumowując te rozważania, odpowiedź na pytanie czym jechać? brzmi to zależy. Zależy od godziny, o której mogę i chcę wyjechać, ile pieniędzy mogę wydać, ile mam czasu na ewentualne przetransportowanie się z Łodzi i ile czasu chcę spędzić w Wiedniu. Jak widzicie to nie zawsze jest takie proste :p

Here I am showing a specific example, but such an analysis can also be useful in any other case. When you are facing a trip and wondering how to get there, check all the options that exist. Maybe there is a flixbus with convenient hours and relatively cheap tickets? Or a plane from an airport that is easy to get to? Or maybe there are other people who will go with you by car? What time do you want to get there? Is overnight travel worth the price? As you can see, the options are many and so are the choices you can make.

I'm curious how you guys make your travel decisions - do you consider several options or you don’t check it? Or do you have a different approach? I'd love to know, so be sure to leave a comment below!

Tutaj rozważam konkretny przykład, ale taki schemat rozważania może się przydać również w każdym innym przypadku. Gdy stoicie przed wyborem wyjazdowym i zastanawiacie się jak tam dojechać, sprawdźcie wszystkie opcje jakie istnieją. Może jest flixbus o wygodnych godzinach i stosunkowo tanich biletach? Albo samolot z lotniska, na które łatwo dojechać? Albo może znajdą się inne osoby, które pojadą z wami samochodem? O której chcecie tam dojechać? Czy nocne podróżowanie jest warte swojej ceny? Jak widzicie opcji jest wiele i tak samo wiele wyborów, które możecie podjąć.

Jestem ciekawa jak wy podejmujecie decyzję w sprawie podróżowania – rozważacie kilka opcji czy może nie sprawdzacie? Albo macie jakieś inne podejście? Chętnie się dowiem, więc koniecznie zostawcie komentarz pod spodem!

with love
Basia

Saturday, August 12, 2023

July moments & August plans


It’s already a tradition on my blog that whenever I publish a podcast episode about last month's essentials I write an English version of this podcast episode for my blog. On one hand it’s for my English speaking friends so they can also enjoy this part of my content but on the other hand it’s a good moment for me to go back to all those beautiful moments and reflect on my new month plans. So here we go with some beautiful moments from July and cool plans for the rest of August!

July essentials

July was an “internship month” so it was all about my internship at a cosmetic laboratory. Actually I did more paperwork but still I was very happy I could help the team and my work was really needed. All in all I’m happy with what I’ve learned! And a little bit upset that I didn’t have enough time to see the real laboratory work but still. Experience is experience and what you’ve learned is good whatever it was.


It was also a month of a new challenge – I’ve started my driving license! If you follow me on Instagram, you could see it was really a challenge for me. I mean I had some ups and downs (as everybody) and learned a lot about myself too. For example I thought that I had already overcome this “you must be perfect in this in two seconds” but actually I still expected myself to be perfect at driving after two lessons… so it was a good moment for me to rethink and reconstruct my inner voice. My driving course is not over yet but I had to stop for a while because of my August voyage!


What else? It was a moment of some food goodies! In Poland we have a kind of a… sweet bun? Muffin? I don’t know what to call it but it’s like a bun filled with blueberries and we call it “jagodzianka”. It’s de-li-cious! And if you have a chance to try it, try it! Also it was a moment for my first iced latte :) ah what a beautiful month with amazing food! I think that summer is my favorite time of the year when it comes to food and fresh veggies and juicy fruits… love that.

August plans

On the 3rd of August I took a plane to come to Vienna. It was one of my favorite moments because it was the beginning of my vacation and the beginning of a very long moment that I’m going to spend with my beloved one. Being in a long-distance relationship makes you look for some opportunities to live together. I’ve already had this chance twice – for the first time it was in September 2022 when we went on a trip together for three almost four weeks and then in February 2023 when I had a longer break in between my studies. Having this opportunity to come to Vienna and actually live there is a huge thing and I’m very grateful for that! So what I’ve planned for this time?


Well, as I had a memory of me in February feeling lost in my routines and everyday life, I decided to plan my days, more or less, so I have some checkpoints that can help me organize myself and give me a feeling of having a purpose on an everyday basis. I wrote down all the things I can do during the day and I try to put them in my routine but without any pressure that “I must/have to/need to”.


Also I will come back to Poland for my birthday and then for one week at the end of August. Once I wrote down all the plane tickets I had already bought or still needed to buy and wow it was a real list of trips. And you know what? I’m very proud of myself to have this opportunity. It's a self-appreciation moment to tell myself “you did well and you’re doing well, congrats!”. Do you do it for yourself too? Highly recommended, self-applause is needed and it gives you this feeling of accomplishing a great job. Actually inner appreciation is more needed than this outer one. Okay I need to stop this Basia Coello talk, haha :p

That’s it for today, hope you had a great time in July and have an amazing time in August! Cheers!

with love
Basia
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