HomoFaber:
The major difference from UK being that there’s “compulsory equipment”, similar to other european countries, so tow rope
NO TOW ROPE REQUIRED
warnign triangle
Required, but if it’s not required in country of car registration you can fight the ticket… But it’s not worth the hassle…
first aid kit
No first aid kit required, unless you are carrying people for hire or reward
spare bulbs, fire extinguisher,
As warning triangle. For fire extinguisher you have to be able to show certificate of homologation and that it’s valid (the fire extinguishers have to go through some kind of MOT from time to time, so if you don’t have one, buy it in Poland… But I never bother with that. When I go to Poland I carry only warning triangle and hi vis with me and some basic first aid kit - for my own safety.
hi-viz vest…
For lorries and buses only (but it was about to change, I stand to be corrected)
documents as usual.
Which means: Driving license, registration documents, proof of insurance, MOT certificate (if required) - by that I mean if your car is brand new, you don’t need that.
Winter tyres can be useful if the weather goes wintery.
Yep, altough I never used any 
If you don’t want to go to the mountains, you can drive on all-season ones. If it becomes really wintery, you will need a snowmobile anyway
It’s EU and Schengen so you don’t stop at the broder anymore.
But you have to slow down and stop if required.
However, customs guys are around looking for smuggled ■■■■ and booze.
And they have right to stop you everywhere in the country.
The traffic in Germany can be busy so that may slow you down. There’s also missing stretch of motorway - from the D border to about halfway to Poznan.
Anyway, Calais-Lodz in ~17hrs sounds reasonable to me (comfy 120km/h right up the PL border with occassional slowdowns due to roadworks, pileups, busy traffic, 10-20min stop every 3-4hrs). You’ll (have to) slow down right after border, but don’t be surprised when EVERYBODY will overtake you, the Poles are nation of overtakers. Oh, don’t forget to pull onto verge to allow for overtaking, there’s imaginary third lane on single carriageways.
yup!
As for “imaginary lane” the commons are as follows:
You can pull over to the hard shoulder to let the fastest pass, when the hard shoulder has broken lane. Don’t do it in other case. Don’t do it at night, as there might be cyclist without the lights, pedestrians, animals, parked cars etc.
It’s not really legal, but tolerated by police if you will follow this rule. You propably will have to do it regardless of if you like it or not, becouse oncoming vehicles will start overtaking with assumption that you’ll do and your only alternative will be head on crash 
Re your 2nd question: no, they don’t (well, unless it’s something serious, like get your vignette here)
Traffic sings are pictograms, clear to everyone at first glance. Only in some countries they need to “make it clearer” and attach an explanatory text (like “when lights show ‘this’ stop here”, or “don’t jump from bridge to river, water is shallow”)
But you have to know some, are some are common:
“NIe dotyczy” - means “not apply” or “except”.
No parking sign with “nie dotyczy chodnika” means that you can park on the pavement.
“Niewidomi” means blind people.
“NIepeÅ‚nosprawni” - disabled.
“GÅ‚usi” - deaf
Under some signs (like “no parking”) you can meet additional signs with arrows. arrow up means that it starts here, arrow down means it’s ends there, arrow up and down means you can’t park nor before, nor after the sign. You also have to become familiar with this sign:
.
This is basically it:
and according to the red graffiti on the sign, it’s “■■■■■■■ bloody deep”
Last time when I was drivng A2 near Åšwiebodzin (so the stretch of the road you will be driving) I grounded few times and I was affraid that I will loose my exhaust, so I took the secondary road. It was nearly two years ago… It’s very annoying to drive and bloody danger in rain, as it’s very easy to catch some aquaplanning when water gets to it. Try to avoid driving your wheels in it and try rather to have them under the middle of your car.
HomoFaber:
Well there are essentially only 4 motorways in PL,
A1 south of Gdansk, A2 starts before Poznan and finishes at Lodz, A4 D border to Krakow and A6 from D border to Szczecin. There are some dual carriageways though.
A2/E30 is the one you’ll be most likely going.
There is also A18 from the D border in Olszyna to A4, which goes to Zgorzelec/Goerlitz. So we even have a motorway junction! And some other silly short bits
Don’t be suprised that motorway exits are all signposted as motorway junctions and that they have as stupid and not related to surrounding area names as possible
brit pete:
driving as far Berlin area and then take night out
and travel on the next day well refreshed to cope
with the polish roads and traffic,
That what I would do. Driving in Poland after 20 hours spent behind the wheel - no, no.
But consider staying overnight in Slubice or somewhere just after Polish border, it will be cheaper.
drew128:
Oncoming traffic will flash headlights to warn of manned speed traps and remember to have your lights on at all times.
Yes!
On this stretch of road are many places to eat and all pretty good, but English may not be spoken, I stop there, its cheap and good food.
Look for the places where many lorries are parked - there is usually good and cheap food. I recommend Mostki Truck Stop, i used to work near there on the scout camp and we were sometimes dinning there - it was always good, much and cheap, altough not too posh. Avoid fancy looking places with empty car parks and places with red bulb over the doors, as these are usually brothels (or, to be PC, “Socialising agencies 
”) for truckers (unless you are keen to get some fun and catch some HIV, off course).
And last but not least: you HAVE to have your GB sticker on (or sticker of the country your car is registered in, unless it’s Poland 
) and you have to apply correction stickers to your headligths.
Please, next time don’t hesistate to PM or even phone me, as I am not checking this particular forum too often.
