warsaw annoyance

I've been away these few days for a wedding. Fortunately it's not mine. And what better place to attend for a wedding especially for an alcoholic likes of me, other than Poland. Woo-hoo!! The wedding was held on the North East part of Poland nearer towards Russia. I've never been there and neither some of the guest that came from Blighty.

In fact, I have this sneaking suspicion that even some of the Polish guests have not touch that part of their homeland. I did ask and I was right! Anyway, the whole journey there was amazing. Train, plane, train and in total 13 hours of travelling. I loved it! Proper travelling experience and enough to soak it the journey. Well, why did I title it Warsaw Annoyance? It has nothing to do with the people I met there or the great abundance of delicious food or even the more abundant alcohol especially Bimber (more of that later) but it has more to do with the ignorant immigration officers at the airport. What they don't seem to understand is that an Italian-cum-Algerian-cum-Dutch-slash-Korean with an English residency is a normal [non-threatening] individual. I was made to wait 20mins arriving and departing Warsaw airport because they needed to make 'some' phone calls. WTF!!

Anyway, enough of the negativity. There were more positives to talk about. First of all, Poland is a beautiful country. Polish people were very warm (even better after a few vodka) and Polish food is tremendous. Who said their food is boring doesn't know anything! I was staying at a friend's family house and I was truly grateful for their hospitality. The day started slow but after meeting them in the evening, a few Bimber (5 bottles!), we all struck an agreement that I might have been a Polish in my previous life. One of life's pleasures is that, after a few drinks, no matter how different language we speak, we will always be able to communicate at a happy basic level that transcends all barriers.

There is more to write but I will post my experience in stages...[read on]...