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Poland day 1 - Arrival

So early this morning at 5 the alarm clock woke us up, or more accurately woke my wife up. Just about 30min later she came to kick me out. I receive some leannensey as most of the time I do the full 11 hour drive. Anyway we were ready to start rushing; gently put the last things in our suitcases and throw the cat in the bag, I started to pack the car. About 40 minutes later we drove of through a deserted The Hague.

The drive to Wroclaw Poland has become routine after so many times. I fill up the tank and check the tires the day before so that we can drive close to half way through Germany without stopping. Just the way I like it. I would actually prefer not to stop at all in Germany as they have issues with payment machines along their major international route through the country, go figure.

Anyway we were doing fine and usually when I get to a quarter tank I start looking at the distance signs for gas stations. I drive by a sign, 2km to the next gas station after this station 35km to the next. At this point I'm well into my last quarter but 35km should be no issue what so ever. So I decide to take the next one.

What I didn't count on was a combination of me not paying proper attention and a mess of trucks crowding the right lane, as a result I miss the gas station sign and the gas station it self I only see when I race by it. Oops, small problem, here we're gas needle in the red and no clue what distance too the next gas station.

So I get the situation under control get the speedometer to a 100 and start wondering why the cat doesn't pee gasoline. Anyway another 30km onwards and still no signs, at this point me and my wife are squeezing it and we decide to leave the high way and visit an unimpressive German town which would have a gas station. We locate the gas station in the end and fill up the car. No problem just a little sight seeing in Germany, the country we always put to shame just by driving through it.

I went to pay and try my card, not to my surprise their pin machine doesn't work. Through experience I know it's not enough to cary 3 different bank cards and a credit card so I always take enough cash for one full tank. In Poland we never have issues with paying by card so 50 euros is enough. Yep, I drive a small car which doesn't use a lot of gas so I even get money back on that amount *end of green promotion*.

So about 5 hours later we pull up at the new house/company of my parents in law. A big sign now graces the entrance "Koszela Prawo Jazdy", which means Koszela Driving School. The house looks good and people are still busy driving trucks and cars on the property. We drive our car past all the vehicles and park at the back where we're welcomed by the boss, wearing no shirt and doing some work around the garden. We asked them to put some sausages on the bbq while we were still driving so after some unpacking we set down together and had some food and a chat. The sun was shinning, my Polish was being tested and we were happy to be back in Poland again.

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