May 25, 2015
Train: Krakow, Poland to Warsaw, Poland
Hotel: Courtyard Warsaw Airport ($98)
Today I planned to visit Auschwitz. Originally I debated renting a car but I was still feeling pretty wrecked so decided to catch a bus into town then catch a bus from there. Caught a 6:30AM bus from the airport as the trains currently are suspended from the airport until later this year. Arrived at the central bus station and found a bus leaving at 7:50 for Oświęcim (12PLN). Good thing I joined the line when I did as the minibus filled up and there were people standing in the aisle all the way there. The trip took about 90 minutes and they dropped me off a short walk away from the museum. Today was a cold, grey and drizzly day.

There was already a bunch of tour buses here and a large crowd waiting to get in. I had to check my backpack at the luggage room. I had a 10:30 English tour ticket I'd already paid for but didn't want to wait around for another hour so just waved my ticket at the gate and they let me in. There was a screen overhead with the number of slots available for each tour. When I'd booked my ticket, there were only 2 English tour slots open for the 10:30 tour but now it was showing 20. Not sure if they added a new tour or they had a bunch of noshows.

What can you say about Auschwitz... the levels of horrors that occured here are unimagineable. The entry is through the famous 'Arbeit Macht Frei' - Work will Set you Free gate. Several of the barracks were setup as displays of prisoners effects, treatments and medical experiments. Prisoners would have to stand for up to 12 hrs at a time for roll call. Some sections of the curved cement barbed wire supports still remained. I wandered off into a quieter section of the complex before returning to the exhibit halls. By this point most of them were completely packed with other tourists and it was hard to move in some of them. By the time I came to Block 10 (the medical experiments/death block) the line was out the door and stretched past several other barracks. So I decided to give it a miss. I had spent about two hours here by this point.
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Auschwitz I

Auschwitz-II or Auschwitz-Birkenau is the larger extermination camp built several miles away. There is a free shuttle bus that runs every 15-30 minutes. I had gotten my bag back from the luggage storage but when I arrived at Birkenau gates they made me walk back to the giftshop to store my daypack. There was a guy there grilling sausages and I was pretty hungry by this point so bought one and sat down for a few minutes. Wandered back to the gates and through. Birkenau is huge.. nearly a square km. Unlike Auschwitz-I most of the original buildings are in ruins or completely gone, destroyed by the Nazis as the Red Army approached. A few of the barracks were open showing the cramped living quarters inside. At the far end was a monument in multiple languages.
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My feet were hurting a bit from walking so headed back to the bus stop. Since I had to get my bag again I just missed the shuttle. Still ended up having an hours wait for the next bus back to Krakow. I was pretty knackered and emotionally drained after seeing Auschwitz so slept most of the way back to Krakow. I hopped off the bus on the west side of the old town and wandered through the streets, luckily the rain had stopped at this point. I had about 4 hours to kill before I needed to catch my train to Warsaw. Krakow has definitely become a touristy town. There were kiosks everywhere selling the local-style pretzels and tourist shops selling souvenirs. I wandered to the main square and found the Hard Rock cafe. Krakow wasn't damaged during WWII so its historic center is quite atmospheric. Many of the streets are pedestrian-only. There were lots of tourists wandering around the main plaza.
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Krakow

I headed south off the main square, stopping to get a gelato. Still hungry though so asked around for a good place for local food. Ended up at Restauracja Miód Malina. Ordered a plate of meat pierogi and a Krakow-pretzel with boar meat and venison sauce. Quite good! Wandered around a bit more down to the castle but was still pretty exhausted and just decided to head towards the train station. Luckily it's only a mile from the old town. There was a huge shopping mall next to the station, and bonus they had a Starbucks so I sat down for awhile to relax and get caffeinated then down to the platform to wait another 40 minutes.
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Pierogi and Cracovian pretzel w/boar

The Intercity trains run at up to 200km/hr and only take 2h30 to reach Warsaw. I started talking with a businessman who had come in on the morning train from Warsaw. Eventually the train pulls into our platform. I had booked First Class as it was only $3 more than 2nd class! Seats were arranged 2-1. The cabin was mostly empty. They served snacks and drinks onboard (included). The cab was seemingly brand new and the ride was very smooth. Arrived into Warsaw just after 11PM and I collected my bag from the locker. The airport trains had already stopped running so I had to wait for the next bus which only run every 30 minutes. I had problems (again) trying to get a ticket out of the kiosks so managed to just miss the bus and had to wait.
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The night bus stopped at the airport and I walked over to the Courtyard which I had managed to score a good deal on my corporate rate. I wouldn't be getting much sleep though, it was nearly 1AM already and my flight tomorrow morning departed at 6:20AM!
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Marriott Courtyard WAW Airport

Thank you for posting your trip photos...

May 26, 2015
Flight: Warsaw, Poland (WAW) to Berlin, Germany (TXL); Air Berlin Economy
Flight: Berlin, Germany (TXL) to Chicago, IL (ORD); Air Berlin Economy
Flight: Chicago, IL (ORD) to Austin, TX (AUS); American Airlines Economy

After just a few hours sleep it was time to head to the airport at 5AM. Luckily it was just across the street. I was able to print my boarding passes in the business center at the hotel so was able to head straight through immigration. Grabbed a coffee to wakeup and soon boarded the DH8 flight to Berlin Tegel. I had flown Air Berlin before from Barcelona to Mallorca but this was the first time I'd flown them since they joined oneworld. The flight to Berlin was on time but taxiing took awhile and we disembarked at Terminal C. I originally had an hour and a half connect time but actually ended up being not much time as I had to walk to Terminal A. I did have a few minutes to pop into the British Airways lounge before we boarded via bus. Then for some reason drove all around the airport to a remote parking stand.
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Air Berlin Y WAW-TXL

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Air Berlin Y TXL-ORD

The flight to Chicago was on a newish A330. Pretty nice with in-seat video on demand. They served two meals enroute. I was pretty happy with Air Berlin and would fly them again. Arrived into Chicago on time and was through Global Entry very quick. Unfortunately now that left me with a 9-hr layover in Chicago! Originally I wanted to rent a car or go into town, but it was raining pretty heavily so I nixed that idea. Then I checked about standby on an earlier flight to Austin but they were full up. So I settled into the Admirals club where I had a shower and sat down to get some work done. Finally at 8PM I was able to board my flight to Austin.

Some tasty eats in Kraków. A city I would love to visit sometime.

Still amazed by your stamina, Jordan. 8 flights & ~12,000 miles in Y, a 9-hr airport layover and a dose of rads thrown in too:)!

Ugh I think I was finally feeling my age on this trip.. was pretty tired esp that last day. :(

Got another crazy itin in three weeks with a long weekend to Moldova and Slovenia. I have 24 hrs stopover in Vienna. So tempted just to drive to the borders of Croatia and Bosnia just to finish Europe... :)

https://goo.gl/maps/qPurJ says 1000kms in 10 hrs... I can do it, right?

great report! thanks for sharing.

Thanks for this report. I'm always fascinated to read about and see photos of Chernobyl and its surroundings.

I am also always appreciative of reports of the concentration camps. I must admit that I have not yet been able to bring myself to visit Auschwitz, though I know that I must someday--sooner rather than later. Part of me wants to do it alone, as I sense that it would be a highly emotional experience and would not want to encumber loved ones with the burden of accompanying me on that journey. Another part of me is terrified that, even worse, I might not feel as much emotion as I "should."

At any rate, thanks for sharing your experience.

Yikes:)! Maybe train to Zagreb, hire a car to do a border run to Bosnia, then fly back to Vienna from Zagreb? Or just save them for a longer and more relaxing trip when you accrue some more leave:).

But Sarajevo deserves definitely a stop, at least for few hours.
Nowhere in Europe the strikes of the recent past are so evident and thought-provoking.
I'd rather devote the Transnistria time (if doable) to Bosnia.

I really appreciate your trip reports and all the work that goes into them.

"Chernobyl and Auschwitz" is surely some kind of dystopian world record for one trip. So a great reserve of emotional stamina was obviously required on top of your (evidently) already legendary physical stamina!

When I spent several months zipping through Europe years ago, then still divided by the Iron Curtain, missing Cracow was really the only big mistake I made; a Polish visa back then involved more bureaucratic legerdemain than I was willing or able to undertake. At least some things have gotten better over the years.

Very nice report. I love the Chernobyl tour and pictures

Thank you for a different and interesting trip report. I liked how you listed the prices of things.

Great TR. Two of the most sobering tourist experiences anyone could ever have!

Sarajevo is great (i'll be posting my TR on it within the next couple of days :D ). I would definitely try and go there properly. You could probably give the Zagreb-Sarajevo train a miss though.

Looks like Kiev is pretty calm and cleared up now then?

On the Auschwitz thing, I want to go to Krakow but I am inclined to give Auschwitz a miss. I think everyone should visit a concentration camp but i've already been to Dachau and I'm not keen on 'collecting' them - besides which Auschwitz seems to be so crowded that half the value of going is lost.