I just realized I never wrote a post here.

  • Day One: Ithaca-Washington Dullas-Munich-Wroclaw


    It’s nothing but a normal Monday morning. I actually got up a bit earlier than I usually do, of course not because I’m eager to work on the first day of Thanksgiving week, but I’m finally travelling to a dreamland of volleyball – Poland, or the whole Europe in general I bet.


    Unlike the last trip outbound Ithaca to Chicago five month ago, which was awfully disturbed by the bad weather, this trip went quite smooth. It was a little cloudy in the morning in Ithaca but when our flight took off it was all bright and clear. After a brunch snack at Newark Liberty, I diverted to Washington where my flight to Munich is awaiting. It turned out to be “awaiting” as at the time of scheduled departure, the aircraft hadn’t landed yet! I guess now you know the difference between United and a German airline. Yep, punctuality always means nothing.


    Anyhow, since I decided to take advantage of a United club pass in the first place, it resulted in me staying in the club for another hour, which is not a good thing at all after you witness how awful the refreshments are distributed in the club – seriously, you’d lose faith in an airport lounge if you’re a regular customer of United club. At around 6 oclock, finally I was on my way to Munich.


    Cabin service is typical United style to nothing to say. Interestingly the gentleman sitting next to me is going to Berlin for vacation/business. His wife is a biologist and he works in computer science. If you knew a little more about my current situation you’d understand we could have much to talk. However since we both were kind of tired and getting some sleep on board is important for getting over the jet lag, we both fell asleep (or more accurately forced eyes to close) for a couple of hours before we land on the Deutschland.


    The passport check was surprisingly smooth as I was warned that there’s precedent history that German officers sometimes reject Chinese passport holders, which fortunately didn’t happen to me. After checking in my flight for Wroclaw, I popped out the airport and jumped on a train to Munich city.


    As much as I was deeply impressed by so many statues of historical celebrities, so many magnificent architectures, so many breathtaking churches around the Mareinplatz, the only individual I really looked forward to seeing is my good buddy Julian. We haven’t seen each other since a year ago when I flew back to China after the Christmas party before he returned to Munich for good. So this trip turned out a perfect chance to catch up with our brilliant German dude. We had a crazy rush walk in the Munich city center before we had a traditional German cuisine, which is also Julian’s favorite, suckling pig with mash potato dumpling for lunch. Normally when I’m in jet lag I can’t eat too much. However, one can hardly imagine how tender and delicious that pork steak was! I managed to finish most of the pork and didn’t feel anything terrible in my stomach, thanks to the unforgettable aromatic beer I had. That was absolutely the best beer I had in my entire life.


    The brief visit of Munich concluded in a sentimental farewell to Julian. As my Lufthansa cityline started to taxi, the real show meant to commence.


    So here’re a few facts about airlines. In China basically all commercial airlines provide complimentary meal services, while in America you need to pay for everything. So I was kind of touched when Lufthansa provided snack service on a 1-hour regional flight from Munich to Wroclaw. What I also didn’t realize is that even though it’s no longer in day light saving time, it got dark already around 6pm in Wroclaw. Commuting from airport to Wroclaw city is carried out by a bus. I sat by an old gentleman whose son happens to be a teacher of Polish in China so we definitely had a lot to say, such that the 1-hour ride didn’t seem too horrible.


    So now I’ve been in Poland for two days and this is what I found about travelling in Poland if you speak only English:
    1. Most people can speak English or at least understand English on some level. Young people are normally more educated in English.
    2. If possible, speak English slowly and use easy words. Sometimes the accent might be a problem so do best to grasp the key words.
    3. To communicate with Poles in English (like when you sit by someone on a train), it’s a good idea to find someone cute.
    4. Because if they don’t speak English well, they tend to smile, which makes them even cuter.


    At around 7pm, I found my hotel and was welcomed by an adorable receptionist. It was great that I felt sleepy at 10 since that means I was adjusting my jet lag. But the only essence of a content sleep was the highlight of the day – I received my packages from online ordering, in which are jerseys of Polish national team and PGE Skra Belchatow.




    At that moment, life just couldn’t be any better, could it?

  • Hey guys!


    Hopefully still there are someone who remembered who I am... I have been inactive on this forum for so long! I should have come back more often and I'll try to do so again!
    Soon I will be going on my second trip to Europe (embarrassingly the most recent post in this thread is the first part of the my last trip's report, which I guess I never finished ...), Plusliga is again the main focus, in addition to a Bundesliga match and an ECL match. My current plan is to stay in Europe from 24/2/18 to 11/3/18. And here is the tentative itinerary -


    24/2 (from Seattle) München, DE, then to Innsbruck, AT. [Bundesliga: Unterhaching vs Berlin]
    25-27 Around Innsbruck, AT and Wien, AT.
    28/2 to Paris, FR, then to Reims, FR [ECL: Chaumont VB vs Skra Belchatow]
    1/3-2/3 Düsserdolf, DE, then to Münster, DE
    3/3 to Warszaw, PL. [Plusliga: ONICO Warszawa vs ZAKSA KK]
    3/3-3/6 Around Warszaw, Lodz and Belchatow, PL
    7/3 to Rzeszow, PL. [Plusliga: Resovia Rzeszow vs Curprum Lubin]
    8/3-9/3 to Gdansk, PL
    10/3 [Plusliga: Trefl Gdansk vs Kielce]
    11/3 Back to Seattle.


    So, if any friend is near the regions I mentioned about and would like to meet up, just hit me up and I will be happy to arrange. This itinerary is still tentative and very flexible (except for the match days) so if you are not in the specific cities but not to far, I will be able to detour as well.


    Leave me a message if you're interested!


    Cheers. :drink:

  • Hey guys!


    Hopefully still there are someone who remembered who I am...

    Sure, welcome back and nice to hear from you again.... :wavy:



    24/2 (from Seattle) München, DE, then to Innsbruck, AT. [Bundesliga: Unterhaching vs Berlin]

    First match between both teams just took place a week ago. It was pretty even, probably more even than Berlin wished it would be. They are not playing a good season so far, but they may improve towards end of the season. I somehow remember, that you have been a fan of Sebastian Kühner? He had a lot of playing time last year but right now it looks like they will put their hopes on Pujol.


    Innsbruck surely is a nice place to visit and combining it with a volleyball match sounds perfect. :thumbup: Doing a kind of european volleyball "ground hopping" is something i still have in my mind too. But plans are vague only.....


    Can't deliver with travel advices but once you would decide to expand your travel further up northern germany.....

  • Hey Tim!


    Thanks for the message! I'm definitely looking forward to contributing to this forum more again.


    About the match on 24/2... Actually I was hesitating between this game and a Plusliga game but Poland cities are not easy to get to (compared to München which serves tons of US desitinations) and I have a friend in Innsbruck... so there we go. Sebastian Kühner is still on my list, along with Robert Kromm and Steven Marshall. I unfortunately doesn't know anyone on the host's side, which is kind of deja vu of a game in my last trip, Innsbruck vs Skra Belchatow :)


    About Nörd Deutschland... I remember you are based in Berlin, right? I was debating how to get to Warszaw from Düsseldorf. By flight it is definitely faster but after a quick look up I found that the train probably isn't a terrible idea. Then I should be able to make a stopover at Berlin. Do you think the views en route worth the extra time?


    Just let me know what you think. DM on this forum seems not working for me. Feel free to add me on FB to chat about details!


    Schöne Grüße

  • Hi from me, too :) It's been a while. As far as I know and unless he travels now, Tim should be still in Hamburg :) As I live in Munich, perhaps the jetlag won't disturb you from grabbing some coffee, for instance, with me. It is still too distant in the future, of course, but sounds quite possible :)

  • About Nörd Deutschland... I remember you are based in Berlin, right? I was debating how to get to Warszaw from Düsseldorf. By flight it is definitely faster but after a quick look up I found that the train probably isn't a terrible idea. Then I should be able to make a stopover at Berlin. Do you think the views en route worth the extra time?

    Yavor is right, i am still in Hamburg. Imo, there wouldn't be much to view on a Düsseldorf-Berlin trainride anyway. Maybe you could spot some wolves in the wide plains of Brandenburg but apart from that ? 8)


    So for your next trip you could do Hamburg/Lüneburg. Should be fine from a touristic and from a volleyball point of view.......


  • So for your next trip you could do Hamburg/Lüneburg. Should be fine from a touristic and from a volleyball point of view.......


    Hmm seems like my last DM didn't go through again. I was gonna say that if you're up to meet I could travel to Hamburg after Münster and fly to Warszaw from there. What do you say?


    And is there other messaging tools you use? DM on this forum apparently is too broken.