I got up at 2.30AM GMT, had 40 minutes to get myself together, then we drove to Leeds-Bradford Airport which is basically in the middle of nowhere. On the way we saw a fox crossing the road, which I thought was a cat. 3AM in the morning is a weird place to be. The only things on the motorways are lorries, vans, and taxis, with a very very few cars about. We also saw a prostitute, and... I bet she was freezing. It was so windy the car got blown halfway into another lane while we were driving XD.
Ok. Then the whole airport was like shaking from the wind. Anyway, I got there at 4.20AM and check-in was at 5.00AM, but the nice people on my project got the airport peeps to open up early. So I checked in and got my boarding passes, and went to spend a lot of time sitting doing nothing in the upstairs departure lounge. Eventually my friend who was also going on the trip texted me and told me she was waiting in the café downstairs. So I hauled myself there and bought some water; stupid security regulations made me drink my orange juice before I went to departure T__T. I think the whole thing is just another way of making money, personally.
Anyway, we were allowed to board at 6.30AM. The flight was 2 hours and I sat next to the awesome girl I met. We had airplane food breakfast :3 cooked breakfast and we had a blueberry muffin too. There was also a really awesome air host called Melvyn who was completely just... brilliant. He was so cool. Melvyn <3
We landed at 10.35AM and it was snowing lightly in Krakow, with a sprinkling of snow on the grass. This is exactly what I'd been expecting from Poland. It was very flat, and there were a lot of trees. We got onto coaches after going through Polish security, and took the hour's drive to Oświęcim, where we stopped off for 30 minutes at a Jewish cemetery. Then we drove another 30 minutes to Auschwitz 1.
Auschwitz 1 has been converted into a museum. The Nazi barracks is the reception area. However, they really haven't added much. They restore what they need to, but don't add anything they don't need to add. It's very crowded as there are usually a lot of visitors, so there are small arrows showing you which way round to walk. There are also small information displays now and again. We had a Polish guide who talked to us through headphones and explained everything in amazing detail.
After about 2 hours in Auschwitz 1, we drove 10 minutes to Birkenau. Birkenau is Auschwitz 2 and is about 25x bigger than Auschwitz 1. Regular visitors are not allowed up into the guardtower, but we were and got a Nazi-eye view of the entire camp.
We spent two hours touring this; then at the end a rabbi gave us a ceremony by the memorial at the back of the camp. We then lit candles and left there wherever we wanted to, and walked back down the tracks in the centre of Birkenau to get on the coaches, drive the 1 hour back to Krakow airport, and board the flight at 8.00PM Polish time. We arrived back in England 10.35PM and I got home about... 12AM the next day. XD So I basically collapsed into bed.
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