State of the wombat.

[curiouswombat]

Well - it's quiet around here - S2C is in bed, last night was his last shift at work for a couple of weeks and he's just rotating back to the same hours as the rest of us.

Well into the same hours as me - Daughter-dear isn't here at the moment - not that she has gone back to York yet, no, she's in Krakow. She came in last Saturday evening and said 'Katie and I think we'll go to Krakow for a few days.' 'Oh?' says I, 'When?' thinking 'the Easter holidays' or whatever. 'Saturday,' says D-d.

So they organised themselves, boat to Liverpool, flights from Liverpool, hostel for 4 nights, hotel in Liverpool on the way home, boat home on Thursday.

Looks a very nice place - here is a webcam - especially for Kathleen and Jim!

Next Monday we take D-d back to York - both S2C and I. Which means leaving the cat at home alone. I think he is better in his own surroundings, with someone coming in to feed him, but S2C and D-d think he might run away from boredom if there is no-one to make a fuss of him. I think he will just sit and howl in a cattery - and so I have arranged a compromise - I will ask our neighbour to pop in and feed him in the mornings, and my 16 year old niece will pop in after college each day for a while to feed him again and make a fuss of him. He gets fussed, and she gets the use of the widescreen TV and 100+ channels.

Seems to be a plan - we'll only know it's worked when we get home after our 5 days away.

My part of the next chapter of Access All Areas is written and now S2C is finished work for a while hopefully he will get his bit done. We're in an exciting bit!

Talking of stories, can I recommend Riders by new writer winsomeone. It is on seasonal_spuffy; all the chapters are posted, one after the other, on the community, it is complete - 29 shortish chapters and an epilogue - I have sat and read it this afternoon.

Summary: Buffy and Spike set off on the trail of a killer and wind up in alternate dimension 1870’s Nevada trying to prevent the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse from rising. PG13. Good, good stuff.

Comments

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

My reaction was, "Krakow... you mean POLAND?"

Actually it was my reaction too! But it is only a 2.5 hour flight once she gets to the UK mainland from here. (It would probably have been less of an undertaking if she had been going from York, but it is still vacation, and this is a 'home friend' that she is going with.)

The main difference between travelling around Europe and around the US is probably that in Poland they mainly speak Polish, so she will have to get by with her English and German, hand-waving, and a phrase book!

They use a different currency too - so she has to change pounds to Zlotys - but Poland is still pretty cheap compared to the Eurozone - so she is staying in a hostel for about £8 a night. Although this is currently $16, practically the purchasing power of £1 and $1 is not a lot different - so it is, psychologically, as cheap as if you could stay for about $8 a night.

Krakow looks to me as if it is rather like York - a very historic, fairly small city, it will be interesting to see if she thinks there are any similarities.

(They had been thinking of going to Budapest - but the flights were from London, and it is more expensive to get there to start with! I love the idea that they can just pop off to places that seemed to be a world away when I was young.)

[beckyzoole.livejournal.com]

Does she need a visa to travel to Poland? Or can she just spontaneously go?

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

No - Poland is in the EU, no visa needed. We can just head off almost anywhere - fancy a couple of days in Estonia, a week in Slovenia, or just a trip to Greece and you just need to get your ticket and pack your bag.

Actually we don't need visas for many countries - Russia, and possibly the USA (I'm not sure whether your immigration accept her Manx Crown Dependancy passport as being a UK citizen - my friend's daughter found herself being body-searched, threatened with prison and then locked in a tiny room with nothing to sit on or eat or drink etc., for 10 hours on a stop-over in the US because they didn't like the look of her passport - very scary for a young girl of 20).

[beckyzoole.livejournal.com]

very scary for a young girl of 20

The isolationism and ignorance of the American government is a constant source of irritation and embarrassment to me.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Don't worry - I don't hold you personally responsible- honestly!

Actually it may well be that it was an individual guard who didn't recognise it as one of the 'sub-divisions' of British passports, or it maybe that her passport was more than afour or five years old - apparently if you have a UK passport which is any older you have to have a visa to get into the US.
:~(

My daughter's 'shopping list' of places to see is very much Eastern European, so I don't think she'll be finding out personally whether she needs a visa for the US for a while yet.