What's Poland like to live and drive in?

[wanderingstar]

I've been busy learning French and about France since last year as that was my plan to escape Britain, where I've not managed to buy a house. I planned to take a bit of dosh to France and get some kind of life for myself. However, with Brexit that plan is now very much up in the air. However, I've met a charming Polish girl and it looks promising. We are having the 'where would you like to live?' discussion. It's ironic that EEs flooding the UK driving and housing markets (wages down, housing prices up) is part of the reason why I've been forced to think about leaving. Does anyone have any experience on what life might be like for a Brit out there and just what it's like generally, including trucking obviously? Cheers.

[Franglais]

No idea myself. Get your girl-friend to look at the Polish trucking web-sites for job advice. But the winning combo might be; UK wages and buy a house in Poland?? And allow extra cash for winter clothing...

[dieseldog999]

id imagine its like driving around milton keynes on a sunday morning in 1963 seeing as theyre all over here.....cheapo country..cheapo houses..........cheapo wages,so youl end up doing what they do...........work here for 4 weeks solid,spend nothing,then hop a sleazyjet home for a week.thats what the ones i know do.....30 days straight,then offski for a week.theyre not working over here because its better in krakov.

[Carryfast]

If you think she's 'the one' and she's saying that she'd rather go home than stay here,this country isn't exactly flooded with eligible young women.If it was me there's probably nothing to lose by looking for the best job you can find over there and see if you can settle there.You might even find the best of all worlds of better quality work that gets you home here on a regular basis with wages that aren't that much lower taking into account cost of living difference.

[Pat Hasler]

It's great driving in Poland, the roads are empty, they are all in the UK driving trucks.

[wanderingstar]

What a lot of helpful, supportive messages. Thank you so much. I got something from each of them. I feel really encouraged and if it works out with my gal I think I will take the plunge!

[Irish_neris]

learn Polish the French will be [zb] all use in Poland.

[wanderingstar]

Yer good point mate. The resources available for learning Polish are really limited compared to learning French, altho I have an ace up my sleeve with her good self! They say that's the single best way to learn anyway. I am finding it a really pretty language now I am paying attention to it - bloody near impossible to learn fully or pronounce properly tho apparently!

[Irish_neris]

is a flippin impossible language to understand i gave up the idea of trying to learn a bit of it years ago

[PaulNowak]

I grew up with what was called a natural flair for languages. Did French, Geman and Spanish at A level, as well as Latin O level.

Bear in mind, my dads parents were Polish, and he could speak both up until school at school age, he decided to listen in Polish but answer in English.

My grandparents were alive well into my 20s, and I could never understand a bloody word.

Ask a Pole to pronounce a word you see written in front of you.

Hang on, just off to google something.

poniedziałek

Ponny jow egg. Lot off fuss to say it's Monday in my book


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[PaulNowak]

And I'm not having a laugh or insulting anyone that is over here to earn a crust. We have loads of Polish drivers on our books, rate nearly all of them better than half of the agency dirtbags we have, asked one the other day whereabouts he was going in Poland for his holidays (well he did say he was having 3 weeks off)

I received the answer "Gran Canaria"

So if the grass was particularly green over there, I'm sure they'd still be on it




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[wanderingstar]

I've heard the language is infernally difficult and impossible for a non-native to really master. If you can't do it when you have family members who are Poles, that pretty much backs up the idea that the rest of us have no chance. It is really pretty tho!

[hutpik]

Why should it be impossible to learn.Any language can be learnt if you want to.You have to have the willingness,the enthusiasm,and the patience to get over the starting hurdles of sounding strange when you try to make conversation and you have to like the country
Many of the drivers on here have learnt other languages due to different circumstances,i.e.living and\or working in another country,or romance.
Obviously some languages are more easy than others.I found Dutch and Swedish easier than French or Dari but managed to learn them all so it is possible.

[wanderingstar]

Because of the number of cases and declentions, the same word can be conjugated a hundred different ways. Altho I agree a positive and ambitious attitude is necessary for learning any language.

[PaulNowak]

I can pronounce "kooooooorva" it's probably spelt jzurk


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[robinhood_1984]

Several years ago I was in Germany visiting my aunt who was terminally ill in a hospice. One of her nurses was Polish and told us she'd been in Germany for over 20 yeas. She would have been in her 40s at the time so would have left Poland in her 20s. She said that after spending so long in Germany and not being surrounded by Poles, she'd forgotten how to speak Polish properly because its so complicated and despite living in Poland for the first 20 odd years of her life, she now could not communicate properly in what was once her native language.

[hutpik]

When i lived in Holland i travelled a lot to[and in transit to USSR] to Poland.I met many Dutch guys who spoke medium to good Polish.They only learnt by driving to Poland[and having ''special'' girlfriends.So if cloggies can learn it there should be no problem for someone like you with a PL girlfriend.Every language has it's idiosyncrasies.
PS.I never learnt any Polish as it is one of my least favourite countries[together with Albania].

[wanderingstar]

Robinhood - that story is simply amazing!!

Hutpik - thanks for that. By the way - what makes Poland one of your least favourite countries? Am interested...

[hutpik]

Hi W.I suppose it was a mixture of things,remember i'm going back to the early 70's and onwards.It just seemed so bloody dismal there,the customs were rubbish and it was just not for me.It was not really any worse than anywhere else in the Eastern block or USSR,but as i had a lot of multi drop work over the years it just seemed worse to me.Perhaps not speaking the language added to the misery,yet the same problem in other countries didn't seem to make a difference,you got by with hands and feet,and a smile.
We all have our favourite and non-favourite countries,i mean i personally love Turkey [even now]and i would go back to Afghanistan to live if it was like it was in the 70s.France was never a favourite ofmine even though i spoke reasonable French and my wife was Quebecois,but contrary to many guys i loved Iran.I suppose it all boils down to personal feelings,i mean who in their right mind would move from Holland 3000kms North,above the Arctic circle to voluntarily have 6 months of Winter down to -43c.And yet i am more than content here.

[wanderingstar]

That's very interesting - thanks! I guess a lot of things do boil down to personality as you say - but interesting observations! Bet it was a different world back then.

[pv83]

Hiya,

Most interesting thread!

I've been going back and forth to Poland for some time, mostly towards the north west region (shipyards in Gdynia and Gdansk) haven't been there though for the past two odd years... One thing that really surprised me in a positive manner was the "new" build E40 that runs down south via Wroclaw towards Katowice and further towards the Ukrainian border, it's even better then the M1... And the services are just spot on! Clean and tidy and the food wasn't that bad either... and with the prices they charge you, one might call that a bargain...
Another good thing is that you don't have to queue up at the borders any more, never was my favourite thing, queueing for 20+ odd hours with no facilities...

Apart from the few motorways they've got nowadays, most of the traffic has to drive on the old national roads, with some sort of half lane on the right side to give faster traffic a chance to overtake, there are a lot of "routiers" where you can park for the night under surveillance.

Haven't got a clue about wages and stuff, but I don't reckon it's what you're used to now. On the other hand, life is on the cheap side, you don't have to be a millionar to lead a comfortable excistence...

I must admit though that I wasn't keen on Poland either, they always seem to be a bit grumpy at first (not the ladies though ), but every time I went up there was a positive surprise in the way I was treated and they always helped with loading or unloading. Communication was a bit difficult though, they don't speak English or german and I wasn't too brilliant in speaking polish apart from some words...

Cheers, Patrick

[wanderingstar]

Hi Patrick

That is all really interesting stuff - thanks! It's the sort of insight you can only get from someone who has experienced it on the ground. Things really do sound like they are moving ahead there.

A factor I didn't mention is my girlfriend currently lives in the Netherlands and has done for over 15 years - has a good job there and is completely fluent in Dutch. Initially I favoured Poland as a place to live but now I'm opening my mind to the Netherlands. I hate the language and the population density and bunched up housing isn't ideally what I'm looking for. But they understand me in shops there better than they do here as they speak far better English than our immigrants generally do, and the place is clean and incredibly well equipped.

Cheers

Matthew

[pv83]

Hi Patrick

That is all really interesting stuff - thanks! It's the sort of insight you can only get from someone who has experienced it on the ground. Things really do sound like they are moving ahead there.

A factor I didn't mention is my girlfriend currently lives in the Netherlands and has done for over 15 years - has a good job there and is completely fluent in Dutch. Initially I favoured Poland as a place to live but now I'm opening my mind to the Netherlands. I hate the language and the population density and bunched up housing isn't ideally what I'm looking for. But they understand me in shops there better than they do here as they speak far better English than our immigrants generally do, and the place is clean and incredibly well equipped.

Cheers

Matthew

Hiya,

Well, if you need some sort of advice about the "cloggies", feel free to ask, I've been living amongst them for quite some time now...
But seriously though, you might be better of living over here then in Poland, better NHS (does cost a serious amount of money though,own contribution that is), better wages...
Don't know where your "missus" lives, but it can be a bit "crowded" like in the bigger villages, on the country side it's basically the same as in the UK.

Language...shouldn't be that difficult though, especially if you're a Scouser, lot of words contain the sch form, or words with a "hard" g in it
And most people do speak English, although it's more a yank version of it I reckon, they don't seem to know the meaning of certain English words, although they do seem to know the yank version of that same word... odd indeed...

Majority of the people are nice, and willing to help, but they might be taking the piss if they find out you're a foreigner

Cheers, Patrick

[wanderingstar]

Thanks Patrick, I may well PM you then with any questions - cheers! I just came back from six days in Bergen op Zoom. I went to Amsterdam and also to Breda where my gf has a good job. I've been realising how massive Rotterdam port is and how many oil refineries are there. Living somewhere between Breda and Rotterdam could make sense. The more I'm looking into it, the more I'm starting to see the sense in what you're saying - it could indeed be a better place to be based. It is certainly more densely populated in the towns and as I am sensitive to neighbour noise, this isn't ideal. Detached houses in the countryside seem pretty expensive tho. I also find the language incredibly ugly - but I guess you can't have everything!

Oh I also noticed how prevalent an American accent is there - I think it's from the films and TV they consume.

My gf did also make the point that the health service in PL is substandard and you just have to eat well, keep fit, and keep your fingers crossed! I think she likes the idea of a decade in PL (we are in our 40s), make some more money, then retire to PL. Could be a good combo!

[hutpik]

Don't forget to plan for the future in relationship to eventual old age.Remember throughout Europé you will have to organise getting your pension paid to you in whichever country you choose to live,[i know i forgot all about that sort of thing,not thinking i would ever get old].This can vary greatly depending upon where you live and the sort of reciprocal agreements the countries have with each other.
I have just got all my pensions sorted out.I have been lucky due to living in economically good countries who have good bureaucratic systems which work together.I get a pension from the UK,until the age of 27,so thats only 11 years.I get a pension from Holland for 30 years i lived there and i get 7 years from Sweden so i'm pleasantly surprised.As i said i lived in economically ''organised''countries so do your homework as it varies a lot thoughout EU.

[wanderingstar]

Hutpik - that is a very good point - thank you for mentioning that! Another thing I've been thinking about is healthcare. Of the three countries it seems NL is best, UK in the middle, and PL at the bottom...

[nightline]

One of the hardest languages to learn is Dutch

[hutpik]

I personally didn't find Dutch so difficult.Much depends on the reasons why you are in the country and your feelings toward the country.I was treated fairly well so it made the integration process smoother,and feeling comfortable makes Learning easier.
Living now in the far North of Swedish Lappland i find it even easier due to the relaxed and welcoming nature of the people here,who seem amazed that anyone would even want to come here,what with the isolation and the long,harsh Winters.When they find out that you came 'voluntarily' up here because you fell in love with the Place they really put themselves out to make you feel at home.
On a personal note i find Finnish much more difficult than Dutch.Swedish i have become quite good with but Finnish seems to elude me totally which is a bit of a shame as it's the second language up here.

[pv83]

Hutpik - that is a very good point - thank you for mentioning that! Another thing I've been thinking about is healthcare. Of the three countries it seems NL is best, UK in the middle, and PL at the bottom...

Healthcare is still good, but bit of an issue these days, own contribution is now a staggering 350 Euro's...mind you, per month that is... and the boffers aren't still done messin' about with that...
Apart from that, I wouldn't trade it with the Polish NHS, if there is any...

Cheers, Patrick