Day 1: Travel Trondheim - Oslo (Rygge) - Krakow and Polish Pierogi

Flight from Trondheim - Oslo (Rygge) on 20.04.2011 by Norwegian Airlines (15:30 - 16:35)
Flight from Oslo (Rygge) - Krakow on 20.04.2011 by Ryanair (17:45 - 20:50)

One thing on the wrong side for me was that I did not make flight reservations well in advance...! On the other hand, I wanted to keep my expenditure to a bare minimum...hence I had to settle with the 'poor man's option' - Ryanair...! They do not provide the most comfortable journey you can experience, but then there had to be a compromise...and I went in to compromise some comfort...anyways it was only a 2hr long journey :))

I booked a hostel in Krakow barely two days in advance...it is advisable though to book well in advance, but then there are numerous accomodation options in Krakow...so I could probably afford to be a bit lazy... ;) though it was Easter time. Reason for booking a hostel was 2-fold. Firstly, hostel was very cheap...it cost me just about 55EUR for a 4-night long stay in Europe. But I have checked, if someone wants little more comfort, it is pretty cheap to book a room in hotel as well. Krakow, in general, is extremely cheap place to travel, especially since I am presently living in Scandinavia, all other places appear very cheap to travel across :) I stayed in a hostel AES Mosquito Hostel...my recommendation for this hostel is very positive. The staff is very supportive. They have some or the other special event, every evening...a very nice way to interact with more people, which brings me to the second reason for staying in a hostel...meet more people, from different countries, cultures and understand them (or at least try to do so...!). I met people from USA, UK, France, Spain, Turkey, South Africa, Italy, Polish, Sweden, Norway to name a few...! So my stay was very interesting overall...! In addition, this hostel is just 5minutes walk from the old city center and some other major attractions in Krakow.

Now done with the bookings, I will now start with the actual travel. My first flight was with Norwegian Airline. The tricky thing here was that my flight was from Oslo (Rygge) and not from the main international airport at Oslo. But I was kind of lucky here to find this flight with Norwegian Airlines direct to Oslo, Rygge and also that the arrival timing was well suited to the timing of my next flight. So it somehow, worked out...! The flight was pretty comfortable, no hiccups as such...!

Then it was turn of Ryanair. Well, my intention initially was to book flights via Norwegian Airlines, even for Oslo - Krakow journey, but, when I compared the prices with Ryanair, it did not take much effort to change my decision :) Anyways, also that flight timings for the Ryanair flight was apt for me...! So I went ahead with it.

Somtimes, it is just quite interesting to travel with Ryanair. Since they do not allot seats as such, so announcements like "The flight is fully booked. Please occupy the first seat you come across to avoid any commotion...!" are common. Another good one: "We do not allow smoking on our flights. But for our esteemed passengers, we bring about non-smoking cigarettes...! Each pack costs 6EUR only and contains 10 no-smoke cigarettes!"...very "passenger friendly" :)

Anyways, the flight departed about half hour late. So I was initially thinking that I might end up reaching half hour late to Krakow...but I was only about 10 mins which was a good feeling. I had already arranged for airport pickup which was fairly cheap - only 70PLN, though if someone does not want to pay that much, then there are frequent public buses available till old city center and they cost only 2-3PLN. So a very good alternative. It takes about 20mins to reach the city center...so not that
far off as well. I reached my hostel by about 21:30. The check-in was very smooth and the support staff was very friendly. They provided me with some very essential information, along with the city maps when I checked in. After that I just went out to have a quick look to the city center...and ofcourse, have some dinner...I was crazy hungry !

So I started walking and decided to try some Polish traditional food - Polish Pierogi (dumplings). The place where I tried it was U Vincenta Pierogi Restaurant at the Jewish District, Kazimierz. Since, I was very tired with all the travel, so I kept the sneak-peak of the city to a bare minimum that day and just passed by the Old City Center, Wavers Castle and the Jewish District, Kazimierz.

The next day and onwards, there was a lot planned to be done there.

Travel Diary to Krakow, Poland

Keeping up with my new year resolution to take up travels across Europe, I have kind of held on with it by starting my trip to Krakow (which follows my trip to Stockholm last weekend :) ). This trip will last for 5 days: From today i.e. Wednesday (20.04.2011) till Sunday (24.04.2011). I will keep on writing a day-to-day diary, each day as a new post, for all I experienced that day. I am really looking forward to this trip as Krakow hold so much history in itself.
Hoping to learn a lot and meet loads of new people.
And now another new journey begins.....

UPDATE: Sorry for the delay in updating my Krakow travel experiences as I have been very busy in the past few days. I will try to update it in the coming couple of days....happy traveling.....

All my Internet Friends - Amanda French

Really nice song I came across recently:
The lyrics are as follows:
(Let the geeks and nerds inside you have a bright smile...)


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Monday afternoon I gave a presentation to the staff
Kicked off with a knock-knock joke to liven up the charts and graphs
That crowd
Never laughs out loud
But all my internet friends were tickled pink
They put animated smileys when they passed around the link
They said, Hey, girl, here’s another awesome thing we found
Sarah Palin getting smacked down
With a Prince song in the background
Better watch it quick before they take it down

Wednesday night I figured I’d go out and buy a DVD
Walked into a store and walked right out again immediately
This sucks
They want thirty bucks

But all my internet friends give things away
They just really like to make stuff even when it doesn’t pay
They say, Hey, girl, here’s a picture, here’s a poem too
Here’s a blog post, here’s a podcast
Here’s a song and here’s a lolcat
And an iPhone application all for you

Saturday I had a date with Dave the software engineer
Told him bout the time I got my headphones wrapped around my ear
I swear
He just didn’t care

But all my internet friends they listen well
They make sympathetic comments when I say that I’m in hell
They say, Hey, girl, what’s your status? I say, Omigod,
I’m not sleeping, I’m not eating
I can’t take another meeting
With the clean, well-meaning morons at my job

There are those who say I spend a little too much time online
Sometimes I agree, but on the whole I think I’m doing fine
Click, buzz
I feel strong because
All my internet friends are here with me
Saying Love and information want only to be free
And we’ll take no crap from anyone who says that they know better
We won’t stand for that because we all came here together
We’re remaining interwoven
We’re a net, and we have chosen
To be knotted tightly to each other
You be client, I’ll be server
We won’t ever have to be alone

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Enjoy all out there... :)

Thought for the day...

"Every experience has one thing in common - an attached lesson...! It's upto us to be smart enough to learn in the  first take or be stupid enough to wait for a retake...."