My Road To Steemfest - The Physical Road
Hi friends!
I’m super excited for this week’s #roadtosteemfest challenge by @anomadsoul. Thanks to @eveuncovered for the fun topic idea and for @llfarms for helping to organize everything this week!
This week… the topic is talking about the physical road to Steemfest.
My Travel Plans
I’ve really gone back and forth on a lot of different options on getting to Poland. I debating flying somewhere else for a few days to explore, staying a few days after, or just going straight to Krakow. In the end, the flight prices kind of determined my itinerary. I’m actually super excited because I’ll be flying into Krakow Saturday night – which is quite early. I love getting to wander the streets of a city and familiarize myself when I can. It will be nice to get a good lay of the land before the craziness begins.
I won’t be staying after the event however. I actually fly home the very next morning after the closing ceremonies.
I’ve already connected with a few steemians who will be getting into town early, so if you are one of them – please let me know! I’m happy to wander the streets of Krakow alone eating pierogis, but I’d love to connect with as many of you as possible while I’m there.
Now that the fluffy and exciting stuff is out of the way… let’s talk about the actual travel. Ugh.
I’m looking at a solid 19 hours straight of travel each way. I am coming from WA State in the US – and so long travel is to be expected. I live about two hours north of Seattle, where I am flying out. Between catching a shuttle down there, and needing to arrive several hours early – there’s the first chunk of time!
Because this will both be my first time traveling solo and my first time in Europe – I decided to make it easy on myself and get as direct of flights as I could. I was able to book a direct flight from Seattle to Frankfurt, and then have a little 1.5 hour flight from Frankfurt to Krakow. It’s going to be a long stretch of travel, and I hope that I don’t suffer from jetlag or get stuck next to a terrible seat partner on the plan – but I’m glad I only have two legs.
A question for well-traveled Steemians…
Do you think I’ll need to go through customs again when I get off the plane in Frankfurt?
I’ve heard some airports do that and some don’t. Keeping my fingers crossed I won’t need to. I’ve heard the lines can be long on that. I only have about a 1.5 hour layover in Frankfurt. Luckily, someone gave me the advice of buying the ticket together (Seattle – Krakow) instead of buying separate tickets for each leg. That way, if I don’t make my flight for some reason – they are responsible to put me up and make it right.
Accommodation Plans
I haven’t booked my yet for my free days in before the event – but I’ll probably try to get an Air bnb right in the heart of downtown – close to to where the conference is being held.
For the conference itself - I am incredibly fortunate to have won the @openmic and @blocktrades giveaway that was hosted by @anomadsoul for a ticket + accommodations. I’m super excited because I’ll be staying in blocktrades sponsored apartment with the other contest winners!
Back to staying downtown…
This is my favorite thing to do when going to a city. Even if it costs a little more, or the spot is a little dumpier… I want to be in the action. I love being able to stay in the heart of a city and really get a sense for the place. It’s also nice to just be able to walk or catch quick uber rides wherever I want to go instead of needing to spend a lot of time driving. I just spent 19 hours to get here… I wanna enjoy the city once I’m here.
I was super stoked to see the blocktrades apartment is about a 15-20 min walk from the conference and I’ll plan to book an Air bnb in a similar area.
In free-write fashion… I have not proof-read this before posting. I’m sure I have tons of grammatical errors – so please disregard if you see em!
I’m excited to read other steemians free-write from this week and see what everyone else’s travel plans look like!
Thanks as always to @anomadsoul for hosting this awesome weekly challenge.
More of my Steemy Adventures
| The Steem Sister Show Has a New Page! |  |
 | The Steem Monster Show with @littlescribe and @coruscate |
| Watch My Talk at the Steem Creators Conference |  |
 | Support The October Minnow of the Month - @lifesacircus |
| Learn More About Mene 24k Gold Investment Jewelry |  |
You may not need to pass through customs in Frankfurt. You should only be allowed to go through the transit lobbies. As long as you don't have to check off your bags and put them on a separate flight then there may not be customs.
Thanks so much for your thoughts on that! I'll keep my fringers crossed that I don't have any hassles with Customs. I'm not checking any bags - all carry on, so that should help too.
Thanks again!
Even more... you will be fine.
Enjoy your trip and safe travels.
Wow, that‘s a long way - You could try to find the best spot for coffee in Krakow and tell me before I arrive 😜
Haha deal!! I’m a total coffee lover too(being from Seattle) so I will definitely be doing some research and trying a bunch of coffee shops out!
That's great, I will count on your taste regarding coffee than ;) Actually a few posts regarding SF talked about coffee (just read @llfarms post a minute ago), so I guess you would serve a bigger purpose if you were to find a great coffee spot! :P
Oooh nice! Just read her comment about meeting up for coffee with people in the morning. I think that's an awesome idea.
Looks like I'll definitely have to do some coffee shop re-con now!
That's a nice challenge to accept :P
I think it's great that you've planned to arrive quite a few days before SF3 starts! Other than getting a few days to settle after your long travels and familiarize yourself with the area, language and culture, I imagine it'll also be great to have that time to prepare yourself for the immense event ahead. SF3's going to be a heck of an experience!! Not long left! See you there :)
I'm super stoked about getting there early. My other flight options had me coming in the night before and I didn't want to start the week totally exhausted if I didn't have to.
Excited to meet you in a few short weeks!!
Definite win win! I imagine winning the @openmic @blocktrades ticket and accomodation must have also allowed more flexibility financially, which is awesome :) 2.5 weeks left to go!!!
Hoping to make it as well! Awesome that you won the trip! I’m hoping to be lucky enough to win just the Steemfest tix!!! Fingers crossed!
Oooh I hope you can make it! That would be awesome. I'll keep my fingers crossed that you win a Steemfest ticket. :)
Damn you are coming from Washington. I’d be flying out of Jersey or NY. You got me beat there. Thanks for the well wishes. I’m looking forward to meeting so many people!!! Fingers crossed.
Sounds like it will be a lot of fun. I'm still pretty new to this so maybe next year for me but who knows. Have fun!
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Totally get how you feel! that was me last year. I had only been on the platform a few months and it seemed to soon for me. Now i'm totally ready. Will be the same for you next year! Would be awesome to meet you sometime. :)
Yeah that would be great! If you don't mind me asking, where are you?
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I'm in Bellingham, WA - which is about 2 hours north of Seattle, and 1 hour south of Vancouver, BC.
Where are you located?
oh nice! I was stationed at Fort Lewis and lived there for 3 years.
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I'm currently in Columbus, GA
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I'm going via roadtrip with some steemians from amsterdamn but you get there early which is gonna be awesome to film some content before everyone else gets there!
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oooh so fun!! I thought about flying into amsterdam... that's a bit of a ways to Poland! You guys will see so much cool stuff on the way.
I hadn't really thought about that, but your right! I'll get a good lay of the land and be able to share it with everyone before they get here. Scout out the good coffee shops and spots to hang. :)
So excited to meet you! I think dtube might explode when we upload a video together! hehe
You'll most likely have to go through immigration when you get to Frankfurt. No way of telling how long the line will be but you shouldn't have a problem getting a quick stamp since you have a US passport. If your connecting flight is with the same airline or a partner airline they will transfer your bags for you to the next plane so you shouldn't have to worry about customs. Hopefully you won't have to go through security again after that. After immigration, try looking for signs for transfers or the terminals instead of going toward the baggage claim. You should have enough time if there aren't any delays with your initial flight.
See you in Krakow.
I’m actually super excited because I’ll be flying into Krakow Saturday night – which is quite early. I love getting to wander the streets of a city and familiarize myself when I can. << Hey! Looks like you're not nervous to travel alone anymore!!!!
YAY!
It's exciting you can get there early. I think that's going to be great!!!
I'm still really happy that you won that contest. It'll be neat that you get to go to all 3 big steemit events this year!
Will you Change money in polish zloty or will you pay everything with Credit car?
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ah so cool that you're getting there a few days early! It's a smart move, at least you'll get the jet-lag out of the way before the conference =). I will arrive just one evening before, so let me know where you'll be !
Also, normally you have to go through customs (passport check) in Frankurt if you enter Europe from there, but it could also be the way @impatientoptim says below. I've never entered Europe via Frankfurt, so I don't know...but you will only have to pass once, so either in Frankfurt or in Krakow =)