The Adventures in Poland Begin - Our Arrival

Our trip from Dulles International Airport to the city of Lodz (pronounced Wudzh), Poland took from 5:30 p.m. Friday to 7:30 p.m. Saturday! Okay, so it wasn't really 26 hours, but it felt like it. We lost six hours en route so it was really only twenty hours and was uneventful, in a good way. We were sent off at Dulles by District Governor John and Norma as well as Scott Mills. The lines to check in were quite long, but the lines for security were surprisingly short.

We arrived in the London Heathrow airport at approximately 7:00 am, London time, and left there around 10:30. We arrived in Warsaw Poland at 2:30 and found our bags quickly. We were greeted at the airport by Elzibieta, the District 2230 GSE Chair and spent about three hours in the airport waiting to catch a 5:30 bus to Lodz. Seth, Ann and I spent a lot of the time exploring and even found some great Italian ice cream.


This is Seth upon arrival at the Warsaw airport.

The bus to Lodz was packed and the Polish people weren't too excited to see four Americans with a lot of luggage trying to get on. But, we got on and made the two-hour bus ride to the Lodz train station where we were met by Rotarians from each of the four Rotary Clubs in Lodz. Our first impressions were that they Rotarians were very friendly and excited to have us in Lodz. Ann and I are being hosted by the same family in Lodz and are staying in the hotel of one Rotarian, Eva Radominska. Her hotel is Hotel Avia and it is very nice.

Everyone made their ways to their respective residences. The cooks at the hotel made us a great Polish dinner, Golumpki. This literally translated is pigeon in English, but it was not pigeon and it was delicious. We went to bed pretty quickly and I think everyone except Seth (he's staying in a bachelor's pad) got a great first night of sleep.