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You can lose everything, but nobody will take away what you saw and what you experienced...
............ 
Nov 19, 2013 08:00 PM On the hills of San Francisco
Never rains in California - says the song. But today it rains since the morning! This is my fourth visit in San Francisco. Three times I had a beautiful sun, but now...
1,5 liter bottle of Californian red wine cost just 7 USD - to improve the situation. Then you can walk up and down the hills. I took once again the unique cable car to the Fishermen Wharf - it cost hefty 6 USD. The regular bus/tram fare is 2 USD and you can make as many transfers as you want within 2 hours. I visited again Mission Dolores - the oldest church in SFO, then I passed along Philharmonic Hall, Opera House and City Hall.
How did I find SFO after 20 years (my last visit was in 1993)?
I am sorry to say that: more garbage on the streets, more homeless people and noisy black citizens sometimes blocking the sidewalks... But it is still exciting city! In the afternoon when the rain stopped I took a walk to the Chinatown - very atmospheric place. Tomorrow I plan to drive along the coast. Please keep your fingers for the good weather! :)
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Nov 18, 2013 08:00 PM From Nevada to California
We enjoyed desert landscape in the morning with Sierra Nevada mountains in the background. We are in Nevada State and our train no. 5 is already 30 minutes late. It is cloudy, but when we reached Reno at 9 am I saw also some sunshine.
At least now we have more info about the route we go: volunteer guided boarded the train to explain in the observation
car the nature and the history of the area. Our train goes up the mountain valley. Then again up and up until we will see again the snow around the track. 7000 feet above the sea level. Then through the tunnel and slowly down...
Welcome to California! But where is the sun?
It took us few hours to come down to the valleys where orange trees grow. It was almost dark when we reached the end station Emeryville - the rails do not go to San Francisco but they take passengers by bus through the Bay Bridge. Soon I started to climb steep streets looking for my hostel on Bush Street. The bed in "Encore" is hard, but after 3 nights on the train it is like a paradise!
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Nov 17, 2013 08:00 PM 2500 miles to San Francisco...
The name of the train is California Zephyr and it should take me from Chicago to San Francisco.
It will be another 2500 miles on the rails! I was surprised when I saw this train yesterday: huge, silver, double-decker
cars. Yesterday we crossed flat Illinois and Iowa on our way to Nebraska. Morning found us in Colorado.
The weather was clear and from the tiny railway station I saw Rocky Mountains. Wi-fi signal at the station was weak, but I managed to send one message. Sorry - no Wi-fi on our long-distance train. Shame on you Amtrak! Soon we started to climb the mountains with great panoramas. Unfortunately on they do not distribute on the train any maps pointing places of interest so you don't know what you see. Bring your detailed map with you! There were more then 30 tunnels before we reached Fraser Station completely covered
by snow. Smokers had their 1o minutes on the platform an me - 10 minutes to stretch the legs and to take few pictures. Then there were 10-kms long tunnel under the Continental Divide and picturesque ride down Colorado River to Grand Junction. Even further on we still had interesting views - till the sunset.
This is definitely the most interesting day on our rail journey across America!
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Nov 16, 2013 08:00 PM 960 miles on rails to Chicago
It will be my first ride on US Rail train - Amtrak. At Pennsylvania Station you have to go underground - like to the subway to see the table of departures.
They announce the number of the track only 10-15 minutes before the scheduled train departure time.
Once on the tiny platform you have to check for your coach class car. It is free seating - they say but the attendants make the the selection: Chicago passengers to this car, Albany to the other one...
Lowest coach class has no compartments, but the rows of airplane seats. Seats are wide and comfortable and they have extensions for your legs.
We departed to Chicago on time. Since the day was sunny until the dusk we enjoyed the views of wide Hudson River including the spectacular sunset. In the night the train stopped many times - often
in the middle of nowhere. At 6 am it was still dark and we enjoyed the full moon.
Then we organized our breakfast (there are 120 V outlets in every seat row - be discrete making your coffee). Of course there is dining car in our train and also "cafe lounge car" but they charge 2 USD per small cup of weak coffee and 6 USD for sandwich. The time goes 1 hour back! And they announced
that we are delayed 45 minutes. Not a good introduction to Amtrak!
After some 960 miles on the rails we reached historic Union Station in Chicago (see picture). It is conveniently located in the downtown. I left my luggage in the locker - you will find it in baggage claim room - not easy to find (they charge 4 USD per hour) and before afternoon departure there was enough time to see again the highlights: Skyscrapers on Chicago River, Magnificent Mile and Millenium Park.
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Nov 15, 2013 08:00 PM New York, New York!
This is my 6th time in NY if I count well...
Every time it fascinates me again.
In the yesterday's evening we took a walk to the 42nd Street and Times Square - full of people, full of lights and yellow cabs...
Today the sun is shinning so it was a good time to go to the vieving platform on the 67th floor of Rockeffeler Center.
They charge 27 USD, but the view is really great!
Then St Patrick Cathedral, United Nations and lower Manhattan with the great views of the bridges... Long walk through Chinatown...
NY Budget Inn where we stay (bookable via Hostelworld) offers relatively inexpensive accommodation on the expensive Manhattan. Relatively, because Central Manhattan is VERY expensive. It is located
on 200 East 34th street. No sign on the building - just unnamed entrance. See the white entrance on the picture - it is there! Everything is crampy here to maximize the profit: no lift, narrow stairs and corridors. In the basic twin room you have bunk bed, metal locker, flat TV on the wall and 2 square meters to live. But the shared restrooms are clean. Towels are included but they charge 5 USD deposit for towel. -Check out is early: 11 am and if you
want to leave your pack for another hour or more you have to pay (!) 5 dollars per pack, even if you are the guest. In the morning at the entrance they put the coffee and some small donuts -
you can treat it as a breakfast.
At 3.40 our train to Chicago departs from Pensylwania Station. So after a lovely day we will have a night on the train. Lets go!
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Nov 14, 2013 08:00 PM Dreamliner to New York - first exprerience
My fligth Gdansk to Warsaw was on time. Then there is no need to go again through the security (and drink your water) - you going directly to the gate.
LOT's dreamliner was waiting... Thi was my first time on such a plane...
First experience: yes, I had enough space for my long legs. But seat configuration 3+3+3 is not convenient - in my favorite 767 there are only 2 seats at the window!
It took us 9 hours to get from Warsaw to JFK.
I am a partiot bys sorry the LOT's service was not so good - they schoul train again the attendents. And on such a long flight at least the beer should be free!
Planes are almost new but there was no water in one restroom and on the other one the sink was permanently full of water!
We landed at dusk. Going to Manhattan you have to take the airtrain for hefty 5 USD to get to the subway station (Jamaica or Howard Beach) and then you pay 2,75 for the subway ticket. Welcone to NY!!
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Nov 13, 2013 08:00 PM New voyage! By plane, by train, by car, by ship...
I pack my backpack again! November in Poland is a time of the rainy weather, cold, short and dark days. That's why I try to take advantage of the end of each year to travel to warmer regions of the world, to see new places, but also to take a look at the previously visited places from a new perspective and to experience new adventures. Also in this year, I set out on such a journey. Look at the map... In a period of one month I would like to take a ride across the United States from the Atlantic coast to the Pacific - this time by train. Then I plan to drive rented a car along the coast of California down to Los Angeles, and finally to board an inexpensive ship to sail south - through the Panama Canal - to Florida! I plan to be back in mid-December.
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Nov 10, 2013 08:00 PM Polish Globies Meeting!
I just returned from annual 3-days meeting of Polish Globies in Rzeszow. What a event!
This was a chance to see again my old friends - the passionate travelers. There was a time for discussions, information exchange and just for the jokes...
We were watching there slideshows from all over the world till late night. Most of them reminded me my previous voyages through continents, but this year was something new: Northeast Passage by yacht. My 3 presentations (Robinson Crusoe Is, Ogasawara and “Born to travel”)
gained much applause. I had a great time. I took the walk around the Rzeszow Old Town - after 50 years - it is well restored now and worth a visit!
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Oct 31, 2013 08:00 PM 11th Around the World Voyage is completed!
The autumn sun was shining yesterday when I landed in Gdansk airport. Welcome home! The 11th loop around the globe is completed! It was another interestig trip, I had a chance to see many new places. I did not experience any unpleasant adventures. Police was nice to me (see the picture in front of the empty police post in Indonesia).
I met many interesting people... I crossed by ship the rough North Pacific.
I will tell you my secret: on the cold North Pacific I started to think about coming back to the much warmer South Pacific :)
Now it is the time to unpack my sfuff, to make the laundry...
Next week I will join the annual meeting of Polish globetrotters. And then... I will pack my backpack again. November in Europe is not very attractive! :)
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Oct 30, 2013 08:00 PM I love Paris...
Yes I love it, but when we landed at 6.30 am it was only 5 deg Celsius here. De Gaulle airport offers you only 15 minutes of free wi-fi internet. They will disconnect me in a seconds... No... please, don't!...
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