Gdansk - 15.02 to 18.02

The day started at 3am. My lawyer for immigration emailed me some documents. I had to print and sign and post back, or get my sister to. I duly got up, and printed the documents but the the printer was out of ink. I collapsed on the sofa. Another precious hour in bed was lost needlessly. I drank my coffee, smoked two cigarettes and my bottom betrayed my calm exterior by sending me to the bathroom many times.

The 5am taxi arrived 5 minutes early and off we were hurtling through the empty motorways to Manchester airport. I checked in, found Gregg's and sat with a tea and a Skype IM chat to Sarah in America. I will say nothing about Ryanair, beyond it got me there and that's all I wanted it to do. The fear of being charged £50 for going a milligram over my baggage meant I chucked things out mercilessly. My weight total was 9kg and I was allowed 15kg. Still it was a joy to carry, when I think I lugged about 17kg for 6 months.

Arrival at Gdansk airport was straight forward. The only ATM that looked available went out of service just before giving me my PLZ 500. This led to a mini panic, strange country, no money, now what? I found another after some searching and I was pleased to check online later that the ATM didn't take the money out on the first unsuccessful try.

The way to get to the centre is easy. If you are unsure when you arrive there, there is a very helpful and friendly English speaking tourist desk. It costs PLZ 3 for a single on the 210 bus. Just turn left out the airport and the bus stops are in front of a black building. Now the 210 bus does not terminate at the airport so ensure you get on the bus with the destination Oruna. The other will take you god knows where. You want to get off at Gdansk Glowny (main rail station). It's clear enough to see.

The journey takes you through some slummy places on the way to Gdansk centre and with the snow on the ground it looks truly depressing. It's Poland in your face.

I chose the Hotel Zappio to stay. Not far from the water and an old merchants house, so the decor is quirky and inspiring. I have definitely arrived out of season as I have a 4 bed dorm all to myself. The mattress is the thinnest but, I had a great sleep. I feared that in cold countries they whack up the heat too much. But not here. I slept with both my legs snugly under the duvet.

On arrival at the hostel, my 3am get up came back to haunt me and I crashed on the bed, and woke some hours later disoriented, and very groggy. I went to explore after waking with an amazing hunger. Without any plan I headed straight to the waters edge, occasionally looking at my map and made my way to Dluga Targ, which is translated as Long Market. On one hand it's an East European central square which you can imagine was once filled with jugglers, dancing bears and fat men swinging mugs of frothy ale. On the other hand it's a little too big to be charming. In fact Dluga Targ, is a microcosm of Gdansk. Gdanks looks like it can't make up its mind whether to be a Munich or a Salzburg, big or charming. Actually a quick look at history and a picture on a wall in Gdansk shows that the street planning was quite out of Polish hands. The tall thin buildings used to be everywhere, neatly compacted. Of course the war (don't mention the war) bombed the shit out of this much needed port on the Baltic, and the wide ugly spaces are more or less bomb craters. Other space made by the Germans during the early 40s, was quickly filled by communist architecture. In one respect, the fact that Dluga Targ is still with us is a wonderful thing.

The Old Town as it is called is sort of ok to wander. However, while Gdansk is walkable your wandering will take you into less attractive areas, then back into a charming one. See paragraph above why.

It being cold, and not wanting to squander money on drink and food just to have somewhere warm to sit, I made my way back to the very comfy hostel. I was in bed at 8:30 and I slept a full 12 hours. With the dorm to myself, the space was amazing and I had time to think clearly.

Saturday I had a few practical tasks. As mentioned at the beginning of this post, I was unable to print out some documents for the lawyer back at home. So the first mission after a wonderful free breakfast and breath-takingly gorgeous hot shower, was to find an Internet cafe. The one I found on google up by the trains station seemed to no longer exist. No matter I was up by the station anyway and purchased my onward ticket to Olsztyn (more about that later). A three hour journey for £9. I will be leaving Gdansk on the 19th. Anyway it was no good, I couldn't find the Internet place so back to the hostel where I was given perfect directions to one much nearer. Also as I needed to post two letters back to the UK, I was kindly shown that Weilka Brytania is Great Britain. This leads me to my first post office experience.

The Polish post office or Poczwa (I think) of Gdansk looked an impressive building inside. However, it's perfectly understandably only designed for Polish speakers. You go inside and a ticket machine gives you three options, in Polish. I chose the one which said "Stamps". This was wrong as the lady at counter C, shouted and wildly gesticulated at me, telling me to sod off to counter B. Of course closer examination would have shown me that counter B which had letters and parcels all around it would have been the good choice. Anyway the lady at counter B spoke at me, and mimed an airplane which was what I needed. She handed me the stamps and stickers then slammed the window in my face and walked away. I coyly tapped on the glass and shrugged in order to mime that I didn't know where to post my letters. She pointed at a wooden box, which looked very inconspicuous. In went my letters. I look forward with interest as to whether they arrive anytime soon.

For lunch I wanted to try a Milk Bar. These, my guide books advise me, are a positive remnant of communism. They are a cheap way to eat a meal. I found a veggie one called Greens. For PLZ 18 I had a huge Enchilada with salad and a coffee. You are served with the same love we received from dinner ladies at school, and the place has school canteen all over it. You sit at benches and clear your plates afterwards. It's a great experience, and a great way to get full on a good meal with a limited budget.

After lunch I walked a further 15 minutes or so to see The Freedom Roads exhibition. The entry of PLZ 6 is good value for what it is. The overall theme is the Solidarity movement as led by Lech Walesa in the 80s. However, what you come away with is a pretty good understanding of Poland from 1945 to present. It starts with Polish lamenting how badly they came out the war. Well I was a bit unsympathetic to that, as nobody came out that good. Their beef I suppose was they didn't come out the other end or recover as quickly as Germany (even East Germany) did. The shops of Poland were empty, and a display shows a typical shop in pre-fall of communism Poland. About as empty as a hermits diary. It showed the treatments of political dissidents, including the prisons they stayed in. Not nice, but I don't think British prisons were very nice in the 50s either. So far, so uninspiring.

The story of Solidarity and the rise of reluctant king, Lech Walesa is almost fairy tale. The electrician and his Shipworker Union who put strikes to good use. Not just for better wages and softer toilet paper, but as leverage to free political prisoners. It was such an ironic smack in the face for Soviet controlled Poland. The Soviet Union, who spoke of the beauty of power in the hands of the workers, had this ethos rammed back down their throat. Polish workers wanted freedom from communism. Now in our travels last year we visited a few ex-commie capitals. It seems that most of them, especially Berlin, Budapest and Bucharest like to think that the fall of communism started there, it's like a latter 20th century badge. I think it happened so quickly and there was so much dissent at the time it's hard to say which straw broke the iron donkey's back. However, this museum puts a good solid case for it being Poland. In which case Lech the sparky from Gdansk, became the man who freed half of Europe. Later Lech was sworn in as the first non-commie President of Poland. Unfortunately, he was better at organizing strikes than running a country and as Poland moved towards wanting to be a major economic player in Europe, Lech seemed inadequate for the role and was replaced. That said from Gdansk airport taking his name to being a national hero, his weakness in government has not hindered his hero status. I quite like the story of Lech.

Lech and Gdansk are the same in another way. Both are unassuming but both have played such an important role in European History. Once called Danzig, under the Germans, there was no way this strategic port town sandwiched between the Prussias, then later Germany and the USSR, was going to be left alone. You'd think the influences would be visible, but I only see Poland in Gdansk. I can't say it looks at all Germanic. It looks like a Baltic port. Their proudest monument being The Crane. The ship crane which is claimed to be the first, sits as a big wooden ugly bastard between golden snug eateries.

My second full day in Gdansk was spent initially making a tactical substitution. While I was set to go to Olsztyn on the 19th, my first choice volunteer hosts got back to me and offered me a bed and food in return for some English teaching. The place is way down in Kluczbork, south west of Poland. I got to the station to check on ticket availability and prices. I had some idea of when I wanted to go, so I wrote it down on a piece of paper and handed it to the nice lady at the ticket office. A ticket was available for £19.15. It leaves at 10:13am and arrives into Kluczbork at 6:43pm that evening, with a 57 minute transfer time in Poznan. I tried to get my Olsztyn ticket refunded but no joy. That is an £8 loss. However, this is being made up elsewhere, as I am now nearer to Krakow if I choose to visit there.

The problem was when I tried to phone my host/employer the phone said something in Polish, and beeped. I didn't know whether it was a voicemail or saying the number is incorrect. I took a chance booking this ticket. Later I googled the school where I would be teaching, made a call to the landline and got through. The lady will kindly be picking me up from the station when I arrive in Kluczbork.

The annoying thing about important stuff to do when traveling. It makes you rush around and fluster, but when it gets done you feel a bit hollow as there is now a day to fill. I filled a few hours reading and lazing, thinking I will go to beach tomorrow. The beach would be the first time I would have seen the Baltic Sea. I sat back, played a bit more tennis on the iPad. Then I saw the tattoo on my right arm. It screamed at me in Korean - "TODAY"! I dragged myself up, swung the camera around my neck and headed out.

It's easy to get to the beach. The area is Stogi Plaza. The number 3 or 8 tram runs south past Gdansk Glowny. The cost is PLN 3 for a single and their are many ticket machines with an English option. As the tram leaves central Gdansk, you see some very run down areas. Big blocks of apartments, many in need of a lick of paint. For some reason the apartments have the blocks name and numbers in huge letters down the side. A god send for a postman, but incredibly ugly. The countryside outside of Gdansk is brown and grey. It seems the severe winter has taken all the colour from the vegetation.

I got off the tram too early and the doors closed before I could get back on. So there I was with at least 2 miles to walk, and dropped in amongst the ugly apartments. I walked briskly, hood up, following my gut instinct as to where the beach would be. It seemed the road was straight and there was little chance I could go wrong again. To the right was this lake which caused me to take a short detour. Completely frozen, it was. The only things poking their heads through the ice, were blackened grass and a few empty bottles of lucozade. My peace by the lake was shattered by a gang of loud kids and a fierce looking dog of no pedigree I know. Mindful of the murderous children in the film Hostel, and noticing my slight isolation, I made my way back to the road.

Several minutes passed. A few trams of which I could have been comfortably sat, had I stayed put, hurtled by. Then the sea was in view. The dunes dabbed in snow, I expected something very isolated. However, when I approached the beach it seemed there is whole seaside industry. Big green bars with the Carlzberg sign. Reasonably maintained playgrounds for the children. This place is still in use. The sands were the finest I've seen since Koh Samui. There is surely a pocket of good season when the families will sit here and swim in this sea, with the dockyard cranes and ships as a backdrop. Yet today there were no swimmers. It was Sunday and I can imagine that as with Britain, the brisk walk to follow church and a big roast dinner, led families to the sea. All of them sheltering behind furry hoods, and 'No Fear' beanie hats.

I dipped my toe in the Baltic then made my way back towards the rusty tram shelter. I caught it back to the town, getting off a little earlier to walk through some more outskirts. That evening I ate at the hostel for the first time. And I had a Polish beer for the first time (in Poland). Finding a beer with just 5% ABV, wasn't incredibly easy, but with the help of the bar man, I found myself a crisp fresh lager. I can't remember the name of it. That evening I had Perogies Ruskie. Lovely dumpling pasta thingies stuffed full of spinach and cheese, and sprinkled with fried onions. Very Polish and very good.

Tomorrow I head south.

Why I came off Facebook - and I am much better for it!

Straight away I have noticed that my subject heading to this post is quite preachy, yet I'm still going to run with it. I am very much like a recovered smoker, alcoholic or drug addict. Once they become free of the addiction they feel they have to enforce their life choice on everyone else. I see so many flaws in likening substance addiction to Facebook use, but I still think there is an incredible denial of addiction in those who keep using the worlds most popular social network.

Anyway I deactivated my account a few weeks ago, and prior to doing so I had many arguments with myself as to why I use Facebook. In doing this, I reconciled on how I actually use it and the ideal usage for me. Realization brought to me the fact that how I use it is a long way from the reasons I gave myself for staying.

Like all my ways of thinking, and maybe human thinking, I wanted to define FB and the reason we use it into a single sound bite. And I think I have done. It's simply the quest for attention. That sounds negative but seeking attention is a human desire and we all have it to a greater or lesser degree. It's how we seek that attention or validation which is the subject for judgement. FB brings out the worse vehicle for attention seeking.

FB's Mark Zuckerberg devised the site under the mantra "bringing people together". He is a clever entrepreneur and he meant that with a sub-text - bringing people together with advertising agencies. So what? It's a massive tool, it costs money to run, who is supposed to fund it? I will go on to admit that during my 6 years of active FB usage, the adverts went by quite unnoticed by me. Occasionally they targeted my book history to recommend me new releases, and the same goes for music. But again, it did not divert my attention to an minute annoyance. So my rejection of FB is not based on it being a massive consumer study for nasty corporations.

Privacy is something that bothers many, and only me to a small extent. Everyday before and since FB we happily gave our credit card, address and phone details to a variety of companies over the Internet. I've given less of these identity theft vulnerable details to FB. So privacy isn't a determinant either.

So what is my problem?

Well for many the attraction is that we keep up with our "friends" lives easily. Well we do and we don't. In fact people only show a very filtered happy version of their lives. Sure occasionally a pet will die, or a relative and we offer our condolences, but those are major headlines not everyday life. If we are to believe life is like FB - most of us celebrate the weekend with a glass of vino, start the Saturday with a lovely breakfast, mourn the loss of the weekend and hate Mondays. All the fatter people have photos leaning from the shoulders up with their head leant forward. All the beautiful (and some who just think they are beautiful) people pout at trendy night clubs raising a bottle of WKD. According to FB we are all such great chefs. We all have great families and days out and are always on amazing holidays. It isn't life and it isn't the genuine window into our far flung "friends" lives we like to think.

But that is other people's usage and I'm a firm believer in free expression not matter how important or trivial. My deactivation was about me and my usage.

As a FB user I was the worse kind. If FB was a drug I wouldn't be the occasional line of cocaine on the weekend, I was the £300 a day heroin addict. I could not go a few minutes without refreshing my iPhone. iPhones and FB are a bastard combination. If something funny or interesting came into my head, it had to go on FB straight away. The dopamine reward was a plethora of ´likes', telling me I was a funny and clever guy. No responses meant I'd failed myself. Like a gambler losing, I just told myself I had to do better next time. Every event had to be photographed, and all my feed needed to know how great my life was. When it was going bad, I hid that. I sneered at the ones who aired their relationship and friendship problems with everyone. Yet now I think they were the most honest.

Then there was the politics. I'm a politically opinionated person. I don't expect to be agreed with, but I reach my conclusions (I feel) after reading up on the subject and exploring all the arguments and data before my opinion is formed. In that respect I expect my challenger (usually to the right of me) to have done the same. The main issue I think is worth a damn for me is the issue with Israel/Palestine. I posted my stance many times, yet the only response I got was from those who I felt had to understand more of the issues. I compare this to a debate I had on Twitter recently over Palestine (sometimes heated) with a Jewish person living in Israel. He took me around the block. All my arguments formed with 3 books, a drama series called The Promise and many trips to Wikipedia had an equal. The bombing of the King David Hotel, the mandate of Palestine and land for peace initiatives, he knew it also and better than I. And I was in my element. This is something I couldn't get from FB. Occasionally on FB I would have conversations over trickle down economics with an old friend now living abroad. He was a very knowledgable conservative, a greater believer in individualism. The bank bailouts would cause the most lively discussion. Then someone else would come in with a well intentioned but simple comment - someone who is worthy of opinion but I will wager has not read much JM Keynes. It was like a drunk has wandered into debating society by accident.

But this is the point, FB is pluralistic in the extreme. Pluralism is a good thing usually, but when you seek a haven from everything puerile in society or things you find unimportant, FB shoves the crap back into your face. But then again, I shove my puerile crap back into everyone else's faces, it's a lose-lose situation.

FB is a lifestyle for many of us. It has replaced email, text, phone and even face-to-face communication for many of us. Myself very much included. Therefore, there are ramifications in just coming off FB. How do you just deactivate? These are the arguments I had with myself. Do I announce it to all, or just deactivate and see who notices. I chose the latter for reasons I will explain in a minute. If you announce you can lay down your reasons in message to your "friends". For me that looked too diva. I was maybe more focused on those, who would shrug their shoulders and say "so what" than those who would miss FB as a point of contact for me. You will get a back-lash (if you are lucky) whichever route you choose. I chose just to come off as a real determinant of what FB is and how shallow it is. If people want to make contact with me, they have my number or my email. I am still on passive Twitter and easily searched on google. If they want to see pictures of me and any adventures, then I can happily forward them on request, rather than be like old people who thrust photos of importance only to them into your lap, while you look at each one and forcing interest. In other words, in this day and age it takes very few clicks on the WWW to see I am very much alive and well and not faking my death for insurance reasons. I will talk more about photos in a moment.

The back-lash I had was about 7 people on my previous friend list taking the effort to find me, and asking if I was off FB, or defriending them. All asked why I came off. Going forward I could possibly send them this post. But I had to answer in a few sentences which isn't easy. It's a bit like when you go teetotal for a spell. You are offered a drink and you chose a soft one. They ask why and you feel like either a self-righteous principled arsehole, or a recovering alcoholic when you explain. When really you want it to be; I just don't want to take alcohol into my body at this present time, it is no big deal and I am happy for you to continue. But this is the point when you make a lifestyle decision, explaining it can always be received as criticism when you strive hard for it not to be that way. Your ex-friends can see your decision to quit FB as saying "my life is rewarding and my real-friends provide me with such a hectic life I have no need for FB - but you do need it". This is not the case with me. I constantly questioned why I had at least 100 "friends" at any one time, I spent most Saturdays at home, or most the guests at my wedding came out of church-charity rather than life long friendship. FB actually intensified any loneliness I had rather than gave relief.

Photographs are a large reason many stay. FB is very generous in offering unlimited storage, whereas google and Flickr charge after a point is reached. Then again, FB has defined our picture taking more than electronic cameras which were in popular use five or more years before FB. Cameras on phones were widespread a good four years before FB. The sharing aspect of FB seems to have increased usage. The idea that you can take a picture and publish it widely with a click has been a blessing but greater curser. It makes us fear a camera like celebs fear the paps. In fact maybe that's a problem with FB in general we think it has turned us all into celebs. That just because our thoughts can be published to a 100 people at once, makes them interesting or worthy. A quick look on your newsfeed brings back the grim reality that they are really not. They are caught in a big crowd of everyone shouting at once. Facebookers often criticize Twitter as you get much less feedback than FB. The reality is your thoughts are as important on FB as they are to the strangers on Twitter. I love the quote I picked up once "Facebook is 'look at me' while Twitter is 'look at that'. This is an uncomfortable thought if you deny that your FB feed is for attention seeking.

I like my photographs and traveling recently I took heaps and posted them. However, every time I wanted to relive my travels I would go back on and see the same photos. It compressed my travel experience of 6 months into a few stills. Now these aren't readily available, I relive my travel memories through this blog. Or even better through the best recorder of memories there is; my mind. Sometimes just lying in bed at night and going over my travels in my mind, brings new things out which I didn't think to snap or blog. In that respect my FB travel photos have narrowed my memory of travel not aided.

There are many many positive effects of the aftermath of quitting FB. Firstly, if you are an iPad or iPhone user, you will realize what a great gadget you have as you look round all the other apps, than that horrible blue 'F'. You find yourself searching news apps like Pulse, or Google Currents. You find news the good old way, not through a "friends" update.

It helps you redefine your friendships. Now I'm not so purist that cyber friends cannot be healthy. They can. Without FB you see the people who you may not have seen personally in years in a different life. You can encourage an email. If they have gone on holiday recently, maybe ask them to email their photos to you. If this is too inconvenient for them, question how badly they want you to see them. In any case pictures are overrated in describing an experience. People who contact me through text, email, Skype, twitter (loads of options) are obviously the ones who valued my friendship. Those who saw me as merely a FB "friend" also become clear by not making a very simple effort.

For most FB is an enjoyable, healthy and harmless experience. I may say that as an institution it has done more good than harm, just not in my case. There is also the trendy aspect as more people love the tag "I don't do Facebook", and I love that tag also. I admit it has become an elitist comment, which may become more widespread.

Quitting FB comes with some soul searching, and honest self analysis is almost always a bitter pill to swallow. But the toughest pill to digest is that your life doesn't become richer just because you broadcast it. The other pill is how unimportant you really are. And if you are important to people, you will remain important with or without FB. Another acid test for me for me was how few people on my friend list read my travel blog with infinitely more detail on my travels than my photos. It's not my friend list, they are all lovely people, but I am still one of many on their friend list, and my travels were a million times more important to me than to them.

I want to finish with another quote I read in the Guardian "don't look for happiness in your feeds, switch off and feed your happiness". Now that is surely worth a 'like'!!