Public Transportation in South East Poland To Be Avoided

AIRLINES:  I tried.  I really tried.  I took Polish LOT to Warsaw.  When we were delayed for two hours in O'Hare Airport, I asked the stewardess if it would be a problem making my connecting flight to Krakow.  N
o problem she said, but when we landed the story changed.

Silly me.  When I saw the stewardess holding the sign saying Krakow, I thought how nice of them to help us make our connection.  Not quite.  After much haggling in Polish, I eventually learned that not only had we missed our flight but the next flight would be another five hours around 10 pm that night.  We were given the option of waiting at the airport all that time, staying overnight at a local hotel and trying again the next morning, or taking a bus for five hours to Krakow.

Since I had booked accommodation that night in Krakow at the Elephant on the Moon Hostel (isn't that a lovely name) and I wanted to see the countryside, I chose the bus option.  It took quite a while to arrange all this and to retrieve our luggage before we finally set off in a minibus.

Before it got too dark, I did get to see some fields dotted with mustard colored houses with red clay roofs.  I tried to find out if there is some significance to this prevalent color scheme, but no one seemed to know why.  Mostly, however, I saw a lot of
McDonalds and KFCs along the two lane highways.

By the time I finally arrived at Krakow airport and took a taxi to my hostel, it had been almost 24 hours of traveling and I was exhausted.  Thank you, Magda, for staying up so late to welcome the weary traveler.

TIP:  If they offer you an upgrade to Business Class on Polish LOT, take it.  There is much more leg room and the flight attendants treat you much better.  Personally I won't be taking this airline ever again.

TRAINS:  Aga, the manager of the Elephant on the Moon Hostel, warned me that the trains were really slow and she was right.  I expected that the train station in Krakow would be old world elegance, but instead it's a platform in the parking lot of a mall with an elevator that doesn't work.  Thank you to the taxi drivers who helped me carry my luggage down the many stairs to the train platform and the friendly Polish guy who helped me carry them up the many stairs in Rzeszow.

TIP:  Avoid the trains, which seem to date back to the old Communist regime, and take twice as long as the private buses.

BUSES:  While very cheap, be prepared for delays.  I waited three hours at a bus stop on the side of the road in Nowy Sacz and was starting to eye the bushes in case of an emergency pit stop when the bus finally arrived.  When I asked what happened, the bus driver said he had to change a tire on the side of the road.  Very unsettling.  Three hours later we arrived in Zakopane.

You would have thought I had learned my lesson, but I thought what could possibly happen on the well-traveled route between Zakopane and Krakow.  I got a bus right away, stowed my luggage in the compartment at the rear of the bus, keeping my laptop and bag of souvenirs on my lap in the seat right behind the driver.  What could go wrong? 

We almost made it too, but just as we pulle
d into Krakow, the bus in front of us stopped suddenly and the bus driver had to slam on the brakes to avoid running into it.  Unfortunately the truck in back of us did not have such good brakes and slammed into the rear of our bus, pushing us into the rear of the other bus. OMG.

As we all stumbled off the bus, I could see that the rear window glass had shattered.  The bus driver had to pry out luggage out of the side of the dented luggage compartment and we all waited for the ambulance and police to arrive.  At that point I became the Ugly American and demanded they call me a taxi immediately.  Seeing I was adamant and not going to move off  to the side of the road like a good little passenger, the police called me a taxi and away I went.

TIP:  Avoid the buses if you can except for short day trips.  The best way to travel in southeast Poland is by taxi.  They are very reasonable and you can prearrange personalized city tours or travel between cities for a set price.  Don't expect much conversation if you don't speak Polish, but they are usually willing to stop for photo opportunities.  The cost is usually the same as if you rented a car for the day and you don't have to worry about how to drive a gear shift car, cope with roundabouts, gas, or parking. 

One more thing.  The best way to see Krakow is by electric golf cart.  They have tape recordings in English that give descriptions of the historic sites and interesting college students as drivers.  Krakow is apparently a Mecca for college students.