[Wikimania-l] Airport Pickup

[James Owen]

On Jul 2, 2010, at 8:37 AM, Marc A. Pelletier wrote:

> On 02/07/2010 11:09 AM, phoebe ayers wrote:
>> Hi guys,
>>
>> I am not on the official logistics team so I cannot tell you  
>> exactly where
>> to go when you arrive. But I can give you a little bit of general  
>> gdansk
>> travel information:
>>
>
> Thanks, Phoebe, that's appreciated.  It's the first time I travel to a
> location where I do not speak any of the local languages so basic
> expectations are useful to have (how much to expect paying for a cab
> amongst them).
>
> How likely is it that people involved in trourism (cabbies, hotel  
> staff,
> restaurants) speak basic English or French?  I'm generally fairly good
> at improvising enough of a pidgin to get by if I have a fair  
> expectation
> that I have at least some vocabulary in common.
>
> -- Coren / Marc
>

Marc,

I visited Gdansk briefly in April before the Chapters Conference and  
found it an easy city to navigate.  For most everyone once you are in  
the city center walking will be your primary mode of transportation.  
For some of the dorms it might be a slightly longer walk (25 min or  
so) but the small and beautiful nature of Gdansk makes the walk feel  
much shorter.

While visiting Gdansk I met with 9 hotels and went into several  
restaurants.  English is not as fluent in Gdansk as it would be in  
urban and western European cities, but I had no major problems  
communicating or getting the appropriate message across.  Hotel staff  
were mostly fluent in english and always willing to help. In  
restaurants I found a lower percentage of English speakers, likely  
around 50%, higher in the more tourist traveled areas and lower in  
more local restaurants.  The same was true for taxis so it might be  
useful to write down the address for the driver in advance of getting  
in a cab.  An additional suggestion for anyone who might need to go to  
a pharmacy is to speak with a staff person in your hotel before going  
into the pharmacy, have them write down the polish words for your  
symptoms or the medication you desire, over the counter drugs are sold  
through the pharmacist so you will need to clearly communicate your  
ailments.

I look forward to seeing everyone next week, safe travels.

Regards,
James T. Owen

>
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James Owen
Executive Assistant
Wikimedia Foundation
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Email- jowen at wikimedia.org
Website- www.wikimediafoundation.org

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