Short hair Francis

Part 35 – Rebuilding from Scratch, Warsaw, Poland


Time to take advantage of a 19 hours connection in Warsaw, noon – 7am the next day. A quick 15 minute cab ride and I was at the Hyatt Regency Warsaw.
A bit outside the city center but hey I badly needed my Hyatt hotel stays.

Hyatt Regency Warsaw



Weirdly got upgraded to the Regency Club Suite









I had to wait up in the Regency Club for about 15 Minutes since it wasn’t quite ready

Regency Club





A 15 minutes bus ride took me the Old Town, I know I could’ve pick a better destination in Poland but it was the easiest way to add a new country using a 23hr 59 min connection.

Castle Square


Sigismund's Column


Royal Castle






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Short hair Francis

Chapel of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary



Warsaw Old Town Market Place



Warsaw Barbican




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Short hair Francis

Part of the Old Warsaw Ghetto




Warsaw Monument to Insurgents




The Saxon Garden




Tomb of The Unknown Soldier





Air Conditioning required, was nice to visit Calgary and it was 12C since all my other stops have been warm places, 24C above


And Soviet like architecture is never too far away


Big Brother is always watching
Palace of Culture and Science




Views are ok at the top and a nice place to cool down





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Short hair Francis

As to the Science part, I gave up trying to calculate my carbon footprint

*All I remember back in College was that if everyone live liked me, we needed 12-14 earths to sustain my lifestyle and no one else in my major went above 6 earths.

The Subway was completely empty at rush hour

*Under Maintenance

Yet more reminder of the past


And finally at Pawlak







*Slightly disappointed it was closed on a Monday

And finally at the Monument to Ghetto Heroes


After pushing myself for a 5 hour walking tour and right off a TATL, I was done for the day, so headed back to the hotel for a some pegories.

*I know it’s room service but I was wiped out from the day.

Slight Catch up on the emails and off to Sleep
Yet another early start tomorrow at 4am to the airport and off to next stop, Croatia.


Next Part
Part 36 – Short Haul Lufthansa/Croatia Airlines Business, WAW – FRA – SPU

kaidus

puh - scrolling down 23 pages loaded with a great story and pics... awesome!

Short hair Francis

Thanks kaidus, glad to hear you've enjoyed the Trip Report

Short hair Francis

Part 36 – Short Haul Lufthansa/Croatia Airlines Business, WAW – FRA – SPU


When I was setting up my YYZ – WAW – FRA – SPU award ticket way back when, I was debating where to go in Europe, I had about 4 – 5 day span to choose a destination of my choice. At the end, SPU won out as I met a friend, FlyingNynaeve from jfkeze and I haven’t done Croatia or much Mediterranean travel anyway. Luckily I was able to also get the LO 788 and the quick stop in Warsaw as written in the last 2 section


Jul 5, 2013 – Friday
LH 1353 WAW – FRA 6:50am – 8:40am (319/J)
OU 413 FRA – SPU 12:05pm – 1:45pm (320/J)

Ah, how many of these early bird flights have I had in the last 30 days since I started the 1st RTW, the answer is too much
Wake up at 4am, out from the hotel at 4:40am, and back at Warsaw Chopin Airport by 5:05am

Warsaw Chopin Airport




Lufthansa Business Class Check-In


*Line were crappy even for J, luckily J security which was a separate side away from Y had no wait whatsoever

Warsaw LOT Polish Airlines Business Class Lounge










Reserved for HONs?!?


*What’s the point

Cold Cuts and Cheese, Breads, Cereal were available


While in Poland, do like the Poles, drink likes the Poles even if it’s 5:30am

*Vodka for breakfast


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Short hair Francis

Protein to start the morning


And at 6:10am, I made my way to gate 30 for the Frankfurt flight

Lufthansa Airbus 319-100



*41st flight, 98641 Miles flown since Apr 28
Lufthansa 1353
Warsaw to Frankfurt, Germany
Scheduled – 6:50am – 8:40am, 1 hr 50 min flight
Actual Departure – 6:38am
On Time Arrival – 8:25am
Business Class, Seat 2C>1A
Food – Continental Breakfast
Equipment – Airbus 319-100




Lufthansa Airbus 319-100 Business Class Cabin


Lufthansa Airbus 319-100 Business Class Seat

*These NEU seat are absolutely horrible, why not cost cut the plastic cover, I’m sitting on plywood anyway

Pillows do help the back support


Door closed very early at 6:38am as boarding was done, 3 J pax, and I moved up to 1A at door close, maybe 60% in Y, very light Tuesday flying

Pushback was also early at 6:45am

Mike Tyson and LOT


1 Hours 25 Minutes to Frankfurt as we were airborne at 6:52am, way ahead of schedule


Was hoping for a warm breakfast but sadly another Continental, guess the SENs lounge in FRA would do

LH 1353 Continental Breakfast


After the meal, I took some nap and by 7:55am, we started our descent into FRA, first flying past the airport and looping pass Zentrum back toward the runway





We landed on Runway 7L at 8:12am, so a quick speedy taxi was needed.
Finally parked at the A gates at 8:25am.

Where is the Croatia Airlines gates, B gates, not that FRA 1A – 1B tunnel again
And despite Croatia joining the EU on Jul 1, 2013, it wasn’t added in the Schengen Agreement yet so time to say good-bye to EU, well passport control wise anyway
The walk, the passport control all the way to B42 took about 25 minutes.

Frankfurt Lufthansa B42 Non-Schengen Senator’s Lounge








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Short hair Francis

FlyingNynaeve was already waiting for me in the lounge as she was doing JFK – FRA – ZAG – SPU so we caught up a bit prior to seeing her later in the day in SPU.

Spotting seems to quite good in this lounge





Back around 11:15am, I made my way to gate B54.

Another bus gate, what did I expect, I’m in FRA, boarding was a complete mess with these sun/sand destination flights, and there were no J line, so I went to the gate agent and got a nice bypass boarding.


*42nd flight, 99220 Miles flown since Apr 28
Croatia Airlines 413
Frankfurt, Germany to Split
Scheduled – 12:05pm – 1:45pm, 1 hr 5 min flight
Delayed Departure – 12:15pm, Late Boarding Complete
Delayed Arrival – 1:59pm
Business Class, Seat 1C
Food – Lunch
Equipment – Airbus 320-200



Croatia Airlines Airbus 320-200


Croatia Airlines Airbus 320-200 Business Class Cabin




*What’s with the FA leaving her stuff on a passenger’s seat


Croatia Airlines Airbus 320-200 Business Class Seat

*That’s better, so is the seat, at least it had some padding

Pre-Departure Beverage


It took 3 buses including a late bus with 2 pax and door were finally closed 10 minutes late.

Flight time of 1 Hour 22 Minutes to Split, in the meanwhile a nap to compensate for the early wake-up

I woke up just over Munich Airport


And the FA promptly served lunch

OU 413 Lunch

*What’s with all the cold food, why bother having plane ovens if you don’t use them

And around 1:40pm we made our descent into Split




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Short hair Francis

Flying above the airport over out towards the Sea then making a 270 left turn lining up to Runway 23









OU 413 finally landed at 1:55pm, with a U-Turn at the end of the runway and a short 4 minute taxi to the apron





Finally parked at 1:59pm, welcome to Croatia




Next Part
Part 37 – Searching for Roman Treasures, Trogir, Croatia

CzeSEN

What's the point? Well, especially in the late afternoon, the lounge does get crowded. And, in the absence of FCL at WAW, it's quite convenient to have pretty much guaranteed spot.

Also, last time I was there, it has provided me with one of the most ridiculous travel moments of my life. So, there I am, totally minding my own business. Certain Polish "celebrity chef" (God, I hate that phrase) enters the lounge with big fanfare. She makes her way to the HON section and tells me, in a very unscrupulous manner, to pack my stuff and get out. Apparently, "it's her spot." I personally can't stand that woman but the reason prevailed and I've politely invited her to take any other seat, assuming she was a HON Circle member. Long story short, she threw a hissy fit comparable to, well, an electrocuted mouse. She even invited the lounge dragons (more like angels in this case) to facilitate my ejection. Imagine her face when she was informed that she actually didn't have a right to even access "her spot" (FTL travelling in C). So, instead of picking any other seat in the lounge (and there were seats available), she left. So, if anything, the point of the HON section is to piss off pseudo-celebrities .

Oh, and what a report and a journey, Short hair Francis. Keep it up ^.

bnarayan1511

I spent 5 days reading and digesting this most phenomenal TR.

This held my attention more effectively than anything I did for my MS and PhD Thesis...

This thread alone deserves a nomination for "Most Inspiring to Inspire Travel"

Bravo! I'm in awe and speechless (after my brief words above)

hau cheng

Its taken me days to get through, but I enjoyed every minute of it. Well done SHF.

thisiswilks

What a great TR. Thank you SHF

Short hair Francis

Oops, hail to the HONs CzeSEN
I agree they could use a SEN lounge in WAW, the lounge space isn't enough for the all the long haul flights they are adding. I wasn't sure how all the Schengen vs. Non-Schengen setups work there though.

Card waving FTL in C, geez what an idiot
Hell, my A3 *G in C is more worthy in terms of status and even Mama SHF can fly 30K BIS blindfolded
Then again, by having a HON section, as your example about the Polish chef show, it is clear for open abuse.
I think the chef only wanted those White Sofas, the rest of the chair weren't comfortable and plugs are somewhat hard to find as well.
I'll keep up the effort for sure
The Zagreb section will be very good and witty for sure, I'm still debating on some Last minute changes about how to incorporate the Museum of Broken Relationship into the part.
Their website probably gives a very good sneak peek as to what will be posted
http://brokenships.com/en/visit/the_exhibits

That said, there is a fine line as to what is publish-able on FT @:-)


Oh boy, wow bnarayan, I'm not sure how to feel, joy or sorrow, 5 days of reading, damn!
Wasn't my intent to keep someone busy for 5 whole days for this report, must have really kept your attention for reading that long
And I agree, this is a better read than my BA Thesis too lol

And Thank you for the nomination "Most Inspiring to Inspire Travel"
I'm wondering if the TR forum will ever have a "Trip Report of the Year" poll, would be an interesting concept although I doubt I'll ever win it.
The competition alone would be very heated, just thinking of SFO777, Seat2A, Moomba, MattHandy, eightblack products among others...

Thanks hau cheng
Again I'm happy people are enjoying this mega report, but scared at the same time if I can't hold people's attention.
Hope you are enjoying the 9C/48F HKG is enjoying tonight and bring on Winter.
If only HKG will ever snow

Thank you thisiswilks, again happy to hear folks are enjoying the TR, and thank you for the feedback