06 august 2024
Today is "Travel to Wikimania" day! woot! and also a bit of "aaaa".
Made it to Katowice, mostly on time AND with my luggage. Have met a lot of people already, which is nice, but a tad overwhelming. Hey, I even exchanged a couple of words with Jimmy Wales!
I didn't have lunch today because my flights were overlapping lunch time and, by the time I reached the hotel, it was 4PM. I was still somewhat hungry (despite the blueberry buns of the plane), so I went to the supermarket in front of the hotel. I haven't found yet a "reasonable" snack that's not too salty and without too much sugar, I'll need to think about that more for that kind of "emergency".
I finally decided I wanted some yogurt... but for that I needed a spoon! I wandered in the whole shop, probably looking quite haggard, for quite a while, before I finally found, in the "back to school" section of all places, a set of plastic spoon and fork. So literally, the first thing I bought in Poland (apart from my bus fare from the airport) is... a Paw Patrol spoon.
I was incidentally a bit flustered by the bus app too. You have to a/ put some monies in a pre-paid account (grmpf, I'd rather pay as I go) b/ enter your phone number just when you pay for the ticket c/ pay for the ticket AFTER you enter the bus, because for that you need to scan a QRCode that's inside the bus. Coming from a place where you risk a fine if you enter the bus without having bought your ticket first, it's a bit unsettling.
I was both overwhelmed when coming back from this evening's meetup and somewhat afraid of getting hungry with no snacks at a Really Unconvenient Time, so I did the awkward thing and went to McD's for my first meal in Poland. Got a box of nuggets and had them on a bench on a square, it was actually nice, and the right amount of quiet - still getting a bit of the city in, while not having to talk to anyone. That was a good choice, I think!