Thursday, 11th of November 2021
First I started to write this at my auntie’s place. I hid outside, while having a cigarette, but my aunt found me and I had to stop writing.
Monday, 15th of November 2021
Second attempt on Monday. I managed to edit and add some pictures from the journey.
Tuesday, 16th of November 2021
Hopefully 3rd time lucky! 😅
If you have read my previous article, you will know that I embarked on a journey to my home country, Poland, on last Tuesday night. It’s been a week already!
My preparations went so well that I managed to get to the port in Dover 1 hr 20 mins before the scheduled departure, which was 20 mins earlier than required. ‘Thanks’ to being there early I got a thorough examination of my car on arrival. Usually I arrive much later and examinations are random, so I rarely get picked. No big deal though, as I don’t have anything illegal in in my car or luggage ;)
After the examination and passing through the gate I was still the first and only person waiting in lane for boarding. I thought it was due to me being so early, but once we started boarding there was probably only 10 cars on the ferry.
Restaurant was like a ghost town! Since thr covid hit us, ferry crossing prices increased, but everyone gets a ‘free’ meal in the price. When I last crossed in December last year, restaurant was packed and there was a long line to pick your complimentary meal. This time I thought it was closed as there was no big dishes with plenty of dinner variations, but as I got closer I realised there was a menu with 2 different meals to choose from and the nice girl serving said they pick orders and only heat up 1 portion at the time, as it’s not so busy now.
I guess that’s the usual November. I remember I used to book flights to Poland for November back in a day, as they were the cheapest then. Still, I’ve never seen such an empty ferry in all 16 years I’ve been using it.
Good news was that there was SO much space, I could easily stretch my legs and have a nap. Bad news is that I didn’t manage to sleep even 5 mins, because empty ferry felt so weird, I couldn’t relax.
5 o’clock arrived before I knew it and I had to get back in the car for the remainder of my journey to Poland. It was still dark outside when we arrived to France, but Mr Sun soon started showing off its pretty face. I dug up some old R&B cd’s and I was ready for the journey, singing along to old tunes.
Driving eastbound in the morning is not usually a great idea, but at this time of the year, the sun is not as strong nor as high on the sky as in the summer, so it wasn’t bothering my eyes that much. Sunglasses helped of course!
In some places fog was covering the fields, making it look misty and magical. I couldn’t help by take a few snaps of this prettiness. From France to Belgium, from Belgium to Netherlands and finally Germany.
Germany is my favourite part of the journey to Poland, especially motorway No 2. Why, you ask? Well, apart from a few places where speed limits are clearly marked, you can drive as fast as your car can go! That’s pure freedom, comparing to England, where speed limit is 70 miles (or 120km) per hour and smart motorways with speed control are showing up everywhere.
Apart from no speed limits, the drivers actually know how to drive. They use the fast lane for what it was designed- overtaking. Then stick to middle or slow lane depending on the amount of cars around. In England you can get stuck behind someone driving 65 m/h on the outside lane and there is no other lane to overtake them, so the outside lane gets more and more clogged while the middle and slow lanes are almost empty. Pure madness.
In Germany you can drive 100 miles (or 160km) per hour and you won’t stay on the outside lane for long. Before you know it, a car appears in your rear mirror and you have to move to the middle lane fast, because he/she will be on your back in seconds. Then they fly by and you won’t see them again.
Despite the mind blowing speed of most drivers, I haven’t seen one accident throughout my 11 hours journey. In England, there is a crashed car on the side of the motorway pretty much every time I drive to London.
It’s not that the accidents never happen in Germany, I’ve seen some in years of driving through Europe for years. The standard of driving is just quite high comparing to other European countries in my opinion.
Apart from amazing motorways, Germany also has many beautiful places. Hills and mountains, fields stretching for miles as well as beautiful forests.
All of this made my journey so much better, despite the lack of sleep. I lost quite a lot of time in traffic, especially around many on going roadworks, but that’s just a part of traveling.
It was already getting dark outside when I arrived at my nan’s just after 4pm. I was hoping for a nap at her place, but it turned out my auntie G. was also visiting and didn’t manage to have even 5 mins nap. There is of course a lot of catching up to do when you don’t see your relatives for years. Around 8pm I took auntie G. home and drove to another town to auntie T.
There I found my niece was also spending a few days with auntie T, as her parents (my cousin and her hubby) were busy with work on the new house. Of course I didn’t manage to nap either. By the time I was showered and ready to sleep, I was already awake for 40 hours. I haven’t abused my body so much in years!
As you might imagine, I had a lot sleeping to catch up on over the next few days. By now I am already well rested, but days are quite busy and my back decided to pack up since yesterday and I can barely get up after I sit or lay down. I had to skip my forest walk with dad today and he gave me an anti inflammatory injection in my bum instead. It already feels better now, so hopefully back to walking tomorrow.
That’s it for today. Will try to write some more over the coming days, while I rest my back.
Until next time 💙
I wouldn't also be able to sleep in that empty ferry, sometimes having too much silence can be quite uncomfortable 😆 you had lots of fun on your journey, just make sure to rest well enough so your back can get back to normal 😉