On Wednesday I (unexpectedly) had a one-day foray in business to Kraków.
After nearly a decade of working I am no longer fond of business travels, which
in over 90% are a one-day tiresome trips with no time for sightseeing or
enjoying the places I visit for more than one minute (this year I was lucky
enough once, in Wrocław).
I got to Kraks by most convenient possible means of transport, i.e. by
train. By timetable, the service between Warszawa and Kraków covers the
298-kilometre route in less than two hours and thirty minutes (beating the
plane connection given boarding time and distance from the airport to the city
centre), plus the station in Kraków was in the vicinity to my destination.
On my way to Kraks I sat back in a regular EIC train, with a notebook on
my laps, to catch up with several minor overdue tasks. After less than an hour
of the journey the carriage attendant came over to serve beverages. I asked for
a coffee… Fortunately, they do not serve ready coffee or tea, but give out
ingredients to passengers so that they brew it on their own. I found that
peculiarity a nuisance, but on Wednesday PKP Intercity’s serving policy saved
me. As the attendant was trying to hand me a mug with hot (fortunately not
scalding) water, the train lurched and he spilled the water on my trousers (around
my knees, not the crotch!) and the laptop. He callously uttered a simple “przepraszam”
and carried on serving beverages. I was too focused on analysing how big the
stain was and whether it would disappear by the time I meet the client and
whether my notebook was anyhow damaged to react properly. Accidents will happen
and I do not blame the attendant for harming me, such things happen, but I kick
myself for not rebuking him over his disregard. My carriage was occupied in
less than 50% and I doubt any of the fellow passengers noticed the incident and
could react anyhow. Luckily, the water spot has left no trace on my suit
trousers, nor is my company notebook damaged, but the bad taste remains…
On my way back I took a pendolino train, I lucked upon the only one in
which wi-fi tests are carried out. And here, an endless gripe towards PKP
Intercity for buying the overpriced no-frill trains from a foreign manufacturer
(I believe Newag could have built the “premium” trains in a consortium with a
more experienced partner). Why the hell they have bought tins in which mobile network
signal is muffled so that normal phone conversations are disrupted and internet
connection is at times too slow to use Messenger! Premium, fast trains connecting
major cities in Poland should seemingly be targeted at corporate workers, some
of whom like me: firstly, cannot use unprotected wi-fi networks, because firewalls
or whatever other shits installed thereon protect them from doing so, secondly,
have all resources to work on kept away from the hard drive so in offline mode their
laptops are useless. Consequently I wasted over two hours and forty minutes in
the train, as I could not work on my way to Warsaw!
Besides, the train came to Warsaw with a delay of fifteen minutes. Not a
major fault, yet I bothered to keep checking punctuality of my service at Infopasażer
(page was loading or refreshing for more than minute each time) and according
it, my train was arriving to W-wa Centralna according to a timetable. Propaganda
of success? Nobody’s perfect, but why misinforming?
Next time I will also take train if I go to Kraks, but I can’t wait to
see trains as the primary vehicle of choice when travelling to all major cities
in Poland. Currently Gdansk, Katowice (and the entire Górny Śląsk) are the only
destinations where trains are preferable. To Szczecin and Rzeszów flights are a
must, while everywhere else (predominantly to Poznań and Wrocław) I get by car,
since in door-to-door travel duration, it still keeps being the fastest, though
not the safest and not the most ecological…
