Onward to Poland

Trip Start May 25, 2012

Trip End Jun 06, 2012

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Where I stayed

Unity Line Ferry

Flag of Poland Ystad To Swinoujscie, West Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland
Sunday, May 27, 2012

It was pretty clear that most of the people waiting for the ferry from Ystad to Poland were Polish. It was a completely different environment. We went from tall, slim, blond people who spoke decent English to rougher looking folk with shorter necks and a propensity to smoke continuously. This isn't a generalization of Poles, just a description of the guys waiting for the boat. None of them spoke a word of English, and unlike the Italians, they didn't understand any of my wild gestures when trying to explain myself.

The kind of ferries that ply the Baltic are not the kind you might have taken from Door County to Washington Island back in the day. These things are cruise ships made to haul cars. There were restaurants, a casino, spa, all kinds of stuff for a seven hour overnight boat ride. In fact, this one is a rowboat compared to the one we'll be on from Helsinki to Stockholm.

Love Boat fancy, no. Good enough? Yes.

Comments!

We had a cabin with an outside view, which doesn't really mean much when it's dark outside, but it was nice in the morning. It was spacious and had its own bathroom/shower. Very convenient.
I woke up early and watched the sunrise over the Baltic. Beautiful.

I also got to see men passed out all over the boat. They were hard men, grizzled men, men who look like they work hard and live hard. Some of them were still drinking when I got up at 4am. Those that weren't still drinking were sleeping on floors throughout the 3rd deck, or sitting up against a wall, unconscious with a beer can in one hand and a burned out cigarette in the other. I suppose their theory is if they get hammered enough they won't mind sleeping on a dirty floor. The irony is that they spent way more on booze than I did on a comfy cabin.

Once we got off the ferry and started navigating through Poland, our real adventure began.

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