tonfromleiden

»No train coming.«
There is something as stationwise. If you're the only one waiting for a train, you're probably at the wrong spot.

cdnyul

@liztatern

Since you seem to have decided on the trains, here are a few of my observations from my last three trips to Poland:

-at all times, mind your step!
A lot of Polish train platforms were build in the time of uniform sized rolling stock. Now, with a mixture of the old and newer trains there is quite a dangerous gap between the platform and sometimes a large difference in levels as well.
It varies from train line, train station and type of train. Some stations are downright scary, I kid you not.

You can buy train tickets at numerous self-serve kiosks using a North American (in my case, Canadian) credit card. The self-serve (multilingual) kiosk at the Warsaw airport sells tickets for Intercity as well as the local train lines.

Warszawa Centrum (Center) and Warszawa Śródmieście (Midcity) stations are a couple of hundred meters apart.
Usually the main or the most central station is called XYZ Główny, or, in case of Gdynia, Główna (feminine version)The Polish word for track is "tor" for platform is "peron".
Usually the "tor" number is announced first but there is no hard set rule. On the electronic boards tor might be abbreviated to T, peron to P or Per.

The peron numbers are indicated on the stairs leading to the platform, tor numbers are indicated on the peron.

The word for airport is "lotnisko" but airport staions are frequently named Port Lotniczy or Dworzec Lotniczy.

It is no longer a Peoples republic but there are still a few leftover wrinkles. In May, while returning from Malbork to Gdynia, according to the PKP site there were no seats left, standing room only. In reality I had the whole compartment to myself.
I have been to Poland three times in the last six months and have never experienced a crowd.

On the Intercity trains the first class is not worth the extra cost, save your money for the better coffee available at the restaurant, or WARS car.

If you don't want to listen to very important Polish business persons discuss their very important business you can choose a seat in the "Strefa Ciszy" (Quiet Zone) car.

Heading north to Gdańsk, try to sit on the left, opposite the direction of travel. This way you will the best view of Malbork Castle.

In Gdańsk, have dinner or lunch (or both) at Kubicki, ask for a glass of their "nalewka", it will keep you warm for most of the day.

http://restauracjakubicki.pl/index.php/en/

Mark

frencharmoire

I am glad to hear that you will invest in some very warm clothes and no doubt you can buy anything else you might need when you are there very inexpensively. I've sometimes found that once you get to a place and see what the locals are wearing, they've got the best ideas for how to stay warm and make the best socks or gloves or hats for it. There is always vodka, too -- but only if you are taking the train!

liztatern

cdnyul- Wow, THANK YOU! I wrote down everything you just typed up and will probably just copy and paste that to take with me! I was actually really nervous about the train situation, so that helps big time! Especially what names go to each station, since I had no idea what Glowny meant, or any of the other names!

I appreciate the help from everybody! We booked our tickets yesterday and I'm not trying to figure out how long to stay in each place! I will definitely be looking up train times and trying to get an idea of when we will come and go!