Quirky train rides

We found Poland to be a very functional, efficient and organized country.  But this perspective was somewhat challenged by our experience on Polish trains.  

On our first trip from Warsaw to Krakow, we boarded their highest-end train to find our seats occupied with people who we suspect were stowaways that had stayed on for far more stops than their tickets allowed.  When these “seat-stealers” refused to move (or even show us their tickets!), we inquired with an attendant who preferred not to bother them and instead asked us to move to another car on the train. 

On our return from Gdansk to Warsaw, the conductor pushed us onto an overcrowded train that already had 10 people standing without seats.  We found our seats once again occupied and thus creatively found a way to share one seat for the full three-hour trip.  But we felt we had lucked out – our one seat was better than the family who had blocked off the local bathroom to use as their seats. 

When travellers got angry at the train attendant, she simply got angry back. 

As a result, people just sucked it up, leaning on nearby seats, pulling up some floor or snuggling in with a willing passenger.  Kudos (or not kudos?) to the other train attendants who continued on with business as usual, pushing and bumping through the overloaded train car with cases of water to distribute the free bottle of water that each passenger was entitled to as part of their ticket.  Pretty sure people would have preferred the seat they were promised instead….