Traveling . . . What is this?

Well, I left Kyiv on Sunday afternoon. This was the first time I was able to get myself to the airport alone! My bus fair was only 22 HRV or about $2.90 for 20 kilometers. My reservation showed departure time at 20:15 or 8:15. The airlines instructed me to be at the airport two hours early which is normal for international flying. However, my flight left an hour earlier than my itinerary! I do not know what happened.

In Kyiv, unless the agents are at the ticket desk you are unable to enter the airport check in area. This was my first time flying this airline, so I asked a question and the agent misunderstood me and tried to send me to London! That would have been great a year ago, but my friends live in Ghana, now. Oh well, I knew the Lord was with me and I have favor wherever I go.

Hey folks, Wizz Air, does not assign seats. What do you think about that? Hmmm, maybe that is why they are so cheap. Oh well, I arrived at my destination safe and sound.

It is another one of those wonderful days that I can count my blessings and ask God to help me walk in faith once again. I arrived in Katowice in great time. I don’t think we were in the air ninety minutes. We touched ground and I was excited to be in Poland. I know God has something special for me here.


Next thing on the agenda is to get through customs. Entering America as a US citizen is a breeze. However, traveling throughout Europe for the nationals is not ease sometimes. Many of us got into a wrong customs line and ended up at the end of the correct line. Some of us stood in line for customs the same amount of time it took to fly! Just another lesson in patience.

We made it through customs and those of us that were last, had easy pickings with the luggage! There was no one to push, step on our toes or push our luggage away. There is always something good about every situation.

I sighed long and deep when I left the customs area. Now it was time to move onto the next step of my journey. I need to exchange money. I did a bit of research and found that Polish money was PLNs. I found the airport bank to exchange money. I asked for PLNs and the clerk gives me zlotkys! Now, I was really confused but I took my 300 zlotkys for $100. Though, I felt a bit cheated. In Ukraine I get 760 hrv for $100.

The next phase is to find transportation to the hotel. Right? Well, I missed my ride due to the length of time in customs. I had reserved a bus ride. The charge was 80 PLNs for a round trip bus ride to Krakow, so I figured about $60 and put this in my budget. However, I was too late to take the bus because of customs and my only alternative was a taxi. OH MY! The driver told me Krakow was 115 kilometers from the airport so I swallowed hard and asked what it was going to cost. Hold onto your belts! The taxi fair to the hotel was $150. My round trip air ticket was less than $80. Ok, God blessed me with enough money for this trip, now I have to step out in faith or ask for help.

Our excursion took an hour and fifteen minutes to get to the hotel. The first part of the ride was very pleasant the sky was pink with the sun going down and dark, dark storm clouds were ahead of us. The country is so beautiful there are many forests, small and large. It was too dark to take any photos along the way so I relaxed and enjoyed the scenery. At times, I felt like I was in northern Minnesota with the forests coming right up to the highway. I was amazed at how much newer the buildings are than Ukraine and how much cleaner everything is.

Along the way we had to stop because of the rain and hail. Finally we arrived at our destination. I registered and went up to my room. I believe I counted 54 steps; I am on the fourth floor. I unpacked and set up the computer, by this time it was about 11 P.M.

I tried to connect to the internet and was unsuccessful. No problem, I walked down stairs and the clerk gave me the password for the wireless network and I returned to my room. I tried to connect again and was unproductive. I decided to go back to the office and see if she had any additional information. She gave me another password and I returned to my room again. Again, I could not connect. I gave up.

I had not eaten or had anything to drink for about 5 hours and I was getting a headache. I walked down to the cafeteria to get some coffee which is five floors. It tasted so good and I finally called it a day.