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Published: February 25th 2011
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October 24
By this time it seemed like it had been a year since my trip began. I had met so many amazing people and done so many things that I never could have imagined. I think I forgot to mention earlier that while waiting for my flight to Warsaw, I tried out some of the Polish I had learned on the lady sitting next to me in the lobby. Her name was Margorita and she was traveling with her little dog, Bonita. She didn't speak English but we both knew a little German so we were able to chat just a bit. At the end of the flight she had given me her email address and phone number. I checked in with her a couple of times during my trip. Emailing was easier than talking in person because we used a translator program on the computer. Since I was flying out of Warsaw in two days, I agreed to meet her at 5:00pm at a certain church in Warsaw.
I was well ahead of schedule for getting to Warsaw until I was only about about 100 miles away, when the traffic just stopped for no apparent reason,
way out in the country. I don't think we moved 500 feet in an hour and a half. Eventually it became apparent that I was not going to make it to the meeting place in time. After not moving at all for half an hour or so, I walked to the semi truck behind me and asked the driver if he spoke English. He did not. So I held up this torn piece of paper with Margorita's phone number and he was kind enough to call her. He gave me the phone but this didn't help much since I could no more say 'traffic jam' or 'late' in Polish than I could fly to the moon. Unfortunately, at about this time, the traffic started to move. So I ran to my car and started it up. So here I am, driving down the road, talking to someone who could not understand me one bit, on the truck driver's cell phone while he followed, After a couple of minutes the traffic stopped again and I was able to return the phone. He was very kind and refused the five or ten zlotskys (two or three dollars, give or take) I offered
him for his kindness.
I had no idea if Margorita had understood a single thing I had said on the phone. I got to this church about a half hour late and she was nowhere to be found. After awhile I went to a nearby fancy restaurant and explained my plight to the maitre 'd and he led me to an office where I could use the phone. I am not sure if he believed my odd tale. Of course Margorita still couldn't understand me so I went back out in the hall, found the maitre 'd again, put him on the phone and he translated for me. Margorita showed up about a half hour later with Bonita the dog. We ended up having coffee and dessert in this fancy restaurant as kind of a thank you for the maitre 'd's kindness. Margorita is a big jazz fan and she wanted to take me to this jazz club in Warsaw. But first she wanted to make sure I had a room for the night. She was thoughtful enough to have brought a list of hotels near the airport. We kind of picked one out and she called for me. Then she hung up and said it was all arranged. I got this weird feeling in the pit of my stomach because she must have put it in her name since she didn't know my last name. I was truly at a lost for words, I didn't know what to think. We drove to the hotel and went to check in. To my immense relief, she set things up with the hotel and then went back to the car while I put my bags in the room. Whew!
Then it was off to the jazz club. As a city lady, I don't think Margorita has ever driven. Many of the roads in Warsaw are one way roads, three or four lanes wide. When I would ask her which way to go she would say "Moment, moment, moment" while she thought about it. Then she would point right or left at the last minute and I would zoom over two or three lanes. It was not too fun. The jazz club was very nice. Apparently they are very strict in Poland because Margorita was insistent that I not have even one beer. So after another day of surprises, here I was on a Friday night in Warsaw, listening to jazz with someone who I really could not even have a conversation with, and drinking $5 coffees. Ya just never know what is going to happen and that is what makes traveling so fun!
October 25
My flight to London didn't leave until the afternoon. I was looking forward to sleeping in and some quiet time but Margorita insisted in showing me some of the town and making sure I got to the airport. So she took the bus in the morning (with Bonita the dog) and showed up at the hotel. Although her traffic skills were maybe lacking she really was very kind. She had gone home that night, thought of all the questions she might want to ask me regarding what I would like to do and ran them through the translator program. This had to take quite a bit of time but it really was helpful. So we went and saw a bunch of old buildings (actually most of them were reproductions since the city was pretty much leveled in WWII) and got me to the airport in plenty of time. Then her and Bonita took the bus back to town.
After landing at Heathrow in London, I kind of lurked around thee gate and didn't go through customs. Soon the area cleared out. I had a so so night's sleep on some chairs and wandered out through customs in the morning. I wondered if the customs agent would give me a hard time since I was there before any planes had landed but he didn't blink an eye and I was off to another terminal and my flight home. The wonders of standby travel got me all the way to San Francisco where I had to buy a dreaded full fare ticket to make it home and to work the next day.
The trip was maybe the most enjoyable of any I have taken. My blogs, although maybe too long, only touch on the highlights of my experiences. The kindness of so many people from so may walks of life renewed my faith in people in general and the amazing benefits of travel specifically.
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