Post

How to get URL link on X (Twitter) App

On the Twitter thread, click on or icon on the bottom
Click again on or Share Via icon
Click on Copy Link to Tweet
Paste it above and click "Unroll Thread"!
More info at Twitter Help

Paliparan

May 7, 2021 • 14 tweets • 10 min read • Read on X

Bucharest Airport. Time for the next trip! 3 flights, 9 trains (of which 2 overnight) are to come in the following days. Passing through 8 countries in total -- if all goes according to plan that is as I'm testing corona entry/transit rules to the limit. Count me excited!

Frequent OTP flyers will be pleased to hear that e-passport gates are now installed and working for EU citizens! I for one was certainly happy to see this sudden improvement.

The #Embraer 175 which will fly me to Warsaw. These little planes (and LOT Polish Airlines in general) have grown on me in recent years. Comfy, spacious 2-2 seating, great customer service, great network across Europe. Not the most exciting airline, but amazingly reliable!

Views over Bucharest Otopeni Airport and the Ploiesti oil fields and refineries (3rd picture) upon take off.

And a not-so-sunny Warsaw.. let's hope the arrivals process will be smooth!

Long line at EU passport control, not at "all passports", so the old trick of just queuing there instead worked. Time enough for a leisurely stroll through #Warsaw's very empty old town!

And by empty I *really* mean empty. The Rynek is completely abandoned, and that on a Friday afternoon!

Some more Warsaw impressions..

Warsaw Gdanska station. Although a secondary station, it is closer to the old town than Warsaw's central station and it does have convenient metro access.

@_DiningCar

Restaurants and bars in Poland are closed. The exception? The @_DiningCar on trains. So if you think I get some takeaway food in Warsaw you are pretty much mistaken! The train to Łódź and back it is! Żurek and pork cutlet are as tasty as always.

View from the dining car.

Rainbow over Koluszki station.

Despite a 20 minute delay I made my planned train back to Warsaw with seconds to spare. One fun thing about dining cars is mingling with other people, and this ride back doesn't disappoint talking with a fun Polish guy with thick Irish accent who is a model photographer!

And to end day 1: a very decent airport hotel & another beer. Tomorrow the journey starts for real with my final positioning flight, a scenic and sunny city to explore (if the forecasts are right) + a cool overnight train to get me closer to my final destination of this trip!

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

More from @PaliparanDotCom

Paliparan

@PaliparanDotCom

Apr 21

In Putin's Russia, you don't travel to the border, but the Russian border travels to you. I'm on the Curonian Spit at the Lithuanian-Russian border, one of Europe's most geographically unusual and beautiful border regions, and I'll be exploring the Lithuanian half of the spit..

If you missed the previous updates detailing my overland trip by train from Romania to Lithuanian, as well as visits to Kaunas, Vilnius, Trakai, and Klaipeda, then check the thread below 👇

https://twitter.com/PaliparanDotCom/status/1780230789021532391?t=cr-OWS5CjqWog1_UEnMX7Q&s=19

First a little map to actually show where I am. The Curonian Spit is a 98-kilometre (61 miles) long, thin sand-dune spit that separates the Curonian Lagoon from the Baltic Sea. The northern half is Lithuanian, the southern half is part of the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad..

Read 49 tweets

Paliparan

@PaliparanDotCom

Jan 25

High-speed trains, Saudi Arabia style! Today I'll be travelling on the Mecca-Jeddah-Medina Haraiman High Speed Railway, a 453-kilometre-long line linking the two holiest cities in Islam.

The railway is operated by a Saudi-Spanish consortium, which includes Spanish rail company Renfe and infrastructure company Adif. Unsurprisingly, Spanish Talgo trains are used on this high-speed line. In my Uber on the way to Jeddah's station I get my first glimpses of the line..

Jeddah Al-Sulaymaniyah Station, located quite a distance out of the city centre, looks impressive from the outside..

Read 34 tweets

Paliparan

@PaliparanDotCom

Jul 20, 2023

Back at Bucharest Gara de Nord for my second travel adventure this summer month. I'm heading to Bratislava, Slovakia. By train on the outbound journey, flying on the way back. So let's do a comparison in price, comfort and travel time!

Gorgeous sunset colours on this hot day..

I'm booked on the IRN 78 'Muntenia' night train to Budapest. Its advantage over the 2 other night trains from Bucharest to Hungary (Ister to Budapest, Dacia to Budapest & Vienna) is the late departure at 9.46pm, which still allowed me a full day of work and dinner at home.

Read 39 tweets

Paliparan

@PaliparanDotCom

Mar 18, 2023

Time for the first trip with my brand new passport! Bit of planespotting and tracking of the inbound flight on Flightradar while I quietly sip my gin tonic.. You need some booze to make Bucharest Otopeni Airport bearable!

On an Air France Airbus A319 towards Paris CDG..

Neat little upgrade to business class for today's flights. Good meal, friendly service. Wanted to keep it to only 2 glasses of champagne but the FA insisted I had 2 more glasses of Joseph Perrier. Who am I to say no?!

Read 37 tweets

Paliparan

@PaliparanDotCom

Sep 5, 2022

With 2 weeks validity left on my 3-month Interrail pass it's time for one last trip this summer: From Romania to Scotland by train! Am a bit sad kissing the kitties goodbye, but here we go for the first leg, which can only be the Dacia night train to Vienna..

#SleeperToScotland

There she is! Naturally, I managed to get one of the few en-suite compartments in this sleeper wagon..

As I travel this route frequently (and Tweeted quite a lot about it in the past) I will take a short Twitter break and just enjoy the ride. Check the thread below for my previous experience on the Dacia train if you want to learn more about the route..

https://twitter.com/PaliparanDotCom/status/1550096541037256709?t=tVWNdJH78syVk0aetz6gHw&s=19

Read 302 tweets

Paliparan

@PaliparanDotCom

Jul 21, 2022

The main reason why I bought my Interrail pass is that I had 2 trips planned this summer (wedding and family visit) and I wanted to do them all the way by train. Today is the first! Sad to kiss the cats goodbye, but they are in good hands and this will be a fun trip hopefully..

So let's travel from the Danubian lands to the Rhineland! Train number one on this trip is of course the Dacia sleeper train from Bucharest Gara de Nord to Vienna.. Here you can see the train being shunted into the terminus station, also having some through cars to Cluj added..