I’ve been away from here for a long time, I know. I decided to create a new website dedicated entirely to my published writing and it’s been a difficult process. Things have changed a great deal since I last posted here. I required a lot of help from both WordPress and Lulu “virtual assistants” and I paid money to hire people who knew more than me about marketing techniques. I’m sure hoping it will pay off. You can visit my new website at https://www.judylawlessauthor.com Be sure to add your comments and click the follow option.

Today I’m going to share a bit about one last trip I took the second week of July this year.

My son, who lives near Warsaw, Poland with his wife, Asia, has been wanting me to visit him. I decided in the spring this would be the year. I not only wanted very much to spend some time with them, I needed to step back from all the stress of getting the new website launched, and the constant busyness of maintaining our household.

I booked my flight and bought my medical/cancelation insurance one evening online. Sometime later my two daughters, Ann and Sarah decided they would meet me in Warsaw. I was so excited to see them all together again!

It had been over twenty years since I’d made an international trip on my own. I was a little nervous but determined to not let my age have any baring on my trip. I had three months to organize it, and the biggest issue was finding someone to look after my dog, Marlo, during my last weekend away, because Jim had decided to attend a Ukulele Festival that same weekend.

Jim dropped me off at Terminal One at the Toronto airport at 4:30 in the evening for me to catch my 7:30 fight. I easily found where I needed to check-in. Before I walked away from there, I was told I’d have to catch a bus to another Terminal on the other side of the runways. She told me how to find it. I was later told that was because the airline I’d chosen, at my son’s recommendation, the Polish Airline LOT, had it’s own terminal in Toronto. It was a minor inconvenience. It’s a good airline.

I had to show my boarding pass to get onto the bus. I showed my printed one.

I was one of the first to arrive, but before long there were many people crowding to find seats or at least something to hold onto. Many were visitors from India who didn’t speak English and didn’t care to acknowledge me. A large woman was wheeled in and placed in the seat next to me at the door. There wasn’t much room, but I did my best to stay out of her way while she complained to her companions. When the bus stopped at the new terminal, she was the first to get off. When she stood up, she stood on my foot, apparently unaware. I’d been looking for my Boarding Pass because it was gone from my hand. I began to panic, then I realized I had a digital copy of it on my phone, so I was okay. When the woman left the bus, I found said pass on the floor where her foot had been. I was so glad to get off that bus!

From there to my check-in gate was a long walk and we had an hour wait before boarding. There were constant announcements asking for people, mostly with unpronounceable names, to go to the gate desk to have their boarding pass checked. I thought I heard my name. I pulled my suitcase to the gate desk to check. I was told there were no issues with my pass, but still I was given a new printed one. The flight was late leaving, maybe because so much checking was taking time.

The line of people waiting to board seemed very long. I expected the plane to be full, but it was much larger than I’d anticipated. I had the whole centre section of my row to myself, technically. It was used by different people now and then when they wanted more space from their family. One young man who had been playing games on his phone, then slept for awhile, woke up looking for something. I eventually asked what he’d lost. I didn’t know if he’d speak English as most passengers didn’t. He told me it was his phone. I helped look between the seats and on the floor to no avail, but he eventually found it and thanked me for helping him look. I was impressed.

There was one small girl who was very demanding and screamed when she didn’t get what she wanted. Her mother paced up and down the aisle with her.

Dinner was served a couple of hours later and she quieted down for a bit. Most people were either watching the TV screen or trying to sleep. The girl awoke and started her screaming again. It went on and on. Her mother had a hard time with her, but I’m sad to say, she obviously had not been taught how to behave. She quieted sometime after midnight, and I got some sleep until she started again early in the morning. Oh well, it was time for breakfast.

A bit of an upset stomach worried me the rest of the trip, but it cleared up soon after I arrived in Warsaw. We were put onto another bus to go to the main terminal this time. Before I got off the bus I called Brendan to tell him I’d arrived, and he said he was waiting near the exit doors. Okay. I saw a sign to Exit but no direction given. I noticed a sign saying Border Security in front of a solid wall with one door that could have been an exit door. I tried to ask someone if I needed to go through there. They didn’t speak English, but a Border Security Officer approached and told me I should get into the line that said Canadian Only and present my passport. I followed his instructions. It took a bit of time for the attendant to check my passport and then I had to put my fingers into a scanner to record my fingerprints! That sure didn’t happen back in 1972 or even1999.

I was thrilled to find Brendan standing in the waiting area, watching for Sarah and Ann who should have arrived before me. We eventually got everyone together and Brendan led us outside, a fair distance from the terminal, to a place where pickups could be made, but they had to be timed. Asia was waiting and watching for us. She moved quickly to the pickup spot and told us we had to hurry. She had only seven minutes to stay there! We scurried to get our luggage into the back and squeeze ourselves into the car, pulling away just in time.

We got a glimpse of Warsaw as we travelled to the rental apartment Ann had booked for us. It had been a very long day!

It would take too long for me to describe all that we saw and did so I’m just going to say, we learned much we hadn’t known before about how Warsaw was treated by both Russia and Germany during both World Wars. Much of the devastation has been preserved around the rebuild of palaces and beautiful parks. We learned to find our way around on foot, on trolleys and underground trains. It’s enough to say, one week wasn’t enough time to see it all. At the end of each day, when the girls decided to go for one last walk, I crashed in my room and enjoyed a good night’s sleep.

I’m hoping I will be able to take Brendan up on his offer of my own suite in his new house, when I can go again for a longer visit.