1,000 miles by train: the UK to Poland

Whilst planning a move to 'The Continent' - 5 months in Wroclaw, Poland and 12 months in Berlin - I was faced with a dilemma: how shall I get myself and all my stuff there? Do I beg my dad to drive me, with a car full of stuff, or do I try to squeeze my life into a case weighing less than 20kg? At this time a dear person in my life, Shaz, the passionate and committed Friends of the Earth campaigner who loves the environment so much he once dressed up as a bee, encouraged (read: bullied) me to take the carbon-light option: the train. At the same time, another friend, Vickie, pointed me towards the site seat61.com, an amazing website which explains in impressive detail how to reach all the far-flung corners of the continent from the UK by train. I started to think that a long train adventure would be a great way to start the new chapter in my life, plus I could take whatever I could manage to carry!

According to seat61.com, the best route to Wrocław was via Paris and Berlin, including the Eurostar from London and a sleeper train from Paris, picking up the 5 hour train to Wrocław in Berlin.  I decided to extend the journey a bit by giving myself 6 hours in Paris and a day in Berlin to soak up a bit of the atmosphere and eat some patisserie in Paris and enjoy Kaffee und Kuchen in Berlin. 

I left my home town of Wivenhoe on the 0724 train to London. This was rush hour on a commuter train so it was busy. On arrival in London I needed to take the tube from London Liverpool Street to St. Pancras. Getting the London Underground with a lot of luggage is not fun, but somehow I managed.  St. Pancras International is a brand new shiny station. 

To board the Eurostar, you have to go through security and have your luggage x-rayed, but it is much less stressful than an airport! After security is passport control. Britain is not in the Schengen zone (annoyingly) so this will be the only time I will have to show my passport. After that I will travel from France, through Germany and into Poland without a single border or passport official in sight. Let's not forget one of the greatest achievements of European integration!

After a total of two and a half hours we arrived into the Gare du Nord, Paris.  After locking my life into very expensive luggage lockers at the Gare de l'Est, I set off to explore the area around Canal St. Martin. The weather was glorious - clear blue sky and 20-something degrees. I had a coffee outside a cafe, walked around a bit before buying a tarte aux pommes from the first patisserie I came across which, along with a copy of Le Monde, I took to sit by the canal and enjoy the warmth. A bit later I met up with a PhD student I met at a conference in London who was coincidentally doing an internship just round the corner from the station.  I needed to eat before the 12 hour journey ahead of me so we went for some food - naturally as a vegetarian the only thing available to me in France was omelette and 'pommes frites'!.

I headed to Gare de l'Est for my sleeper train to Berlin at 8pm. I was in an economy sleeper, which was a bit more expensive than the cheap couchettes (where you are bunking with 5 others!) but a lot cheaper than the deluxe private ensuite rooms you can get. I was sharing with one other woman, a friendly microbiologist from Brazil. It was cosy, but comfortable, with a sink in the room and a shower down the hall.  

I slept for around 7 hours, waking up refreshed to the nice Deutsche Bahn man knocking on the door telling us there was a half an hour to go. He soon reappeared with a small German breakfast of coffee and bread.  In Berlin I stayed with my friend Leila, and spent the afternoon sitting in my favourite café in Neukölln and walking along the canal I had run beside many times last summer.  I also managed to meet up with my friend Natalie who was by coincidence in the city for the weekend.  A day in Berlin reminded me of how much I am looking forward to moving there in October!

The worst part of my journey was the Berlin-Wrocław leg.  For some reason my case seemed 10kg heavier that morning and I had to lug it on and off two buses to get to Berlin Hauptbahnhof.  I stressed myself out getting to the station in rush hour traffic, only to find that the train was delayed by 25 minutes due to a signal failure (apparently this happens in Germany too!).  The train was then delayed further in Cottbus, I think due to a broken down train on the line. We waited another 20-30 minutes there.  After crossing the border (where the train stops and the German train employees get off and the Polish ones get on) I was reminded that Polish trains are painfully, painfully slow.  Sometimes they just crawl through the countryside and villages, which is interesting to get an impression of the landscape but frustrating if all you want to do is reach your destination.  We even stopped in Węgliniec for a 15 minute break!  Eventually the train arrived in Wrocław and I was met on the platform by my new flatmate, Natalia.  I was so exhausted from that day’s journey that all I did was buy some food, before falling into bed and sleeping for 11 hours!

All in all, I enjoyed my mammoth train journey.  I crossed the continent and watched it change, spoke 4 different languages, and enjoyed some great food along the way. Covering 4 EU member states, I got a little snippet of the diversity of this continent and the importance of European cooperation. If you’re on a tight budget and in a hurry, though, take the plane!

Wroclaw Main Square: