Ladies and gentlemen, I'm going to POLAND! Warsaw (pronounce it right), to be exact.
Why, you might wonder? My husband works for a big company based in Sweden. They do business all over the world, and every year they have a world communications meeting in a major city, alternating continents to make it fair and fun for their employees who are traveling from around the globe. Spouses are allowed and encouraged to come along. Last year the meeting was in New York. This year - in March - it'll be in Warsaw.
At first, we heard the meeting might take place in Helsinki, Stockholm, London or Prague. Awesome - I would have absolutely loved traveling to any of those places. My husband's already been to Helsinki and Stockholm, so I know how great they are. I got to travel to London last year, so that's an obvious win. And Prague? Well, that's just cool.
So when I heard earlier this week that it was maybe going to be in Warsaw, I admit I was a bit stumped. I thought the same thing you're probably thinking right now. Poland?! Warsaw?! REALLY?! If you're anything like me, the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Warsaw is this:
Or maybe this:
Or perhaps even this:
I'm pretty well-studied on World War II. I even took a course specifically about the Holocaust in college. When I think of Poland, I think of ghettos, uprisings, concentration camps, bombings and thousands upon thousands of people starved, enslaved, beaten and killed. Warsaw doesn't exactly evoke thoughts of holiday at first - in fact, the entire city was destroyed near the end of the war.
But you know what? I love to travel. And I love history. And I'd basically decided that I was going with Jay no matter where the meeting ended up taking place. So when I heard Warsaw, I pushed aside the obvious thoughts of war and devastation and I got online to do some research. Fortunately, I have a very dear friend (hi, Kari!) who spend a good chunk of time living in Poland a few years ago, and I knew I could count on her as a great resource. And you know what? It only took about 30 minutes for me to get TOTALLY excited about the prospect of exploring "Warszawa," Poland.
Isn't it neat-looking?
What's likely to happen is that I'll be in Warsaw with Jay while he has meetings, but before, after or both we'll be checking out some other spots - Krakow is high on my list. I KNOW - you think it's depressing. But it's not! Check it.
See? Krakow is totally adorable! Squee!
Or how about Torun - a medieval village that's, according to Kari, the "gingerbread capitol of Europe." MAJOR DRAW.
So here's what I have to say to the naysayers: I think if a person has the opportunity to travel, she should do it. I want to see the world - as much of it as possible. There's almost nowhere I would refuse to go - basically only the most dangerous spots on the globe, places where I'm likely to die from an exploding car bomb or the like. And what's awesome is this. If you asked me, "What are the top 10 places you want to visit," Poland wouldn't have been on the list. It wouldn't have been on the top 20. But that's really only because I don't know much about it post-WW2 - which means I really don't know it at all.
But a couple of days' research has convinced me there's a LOT of neat stuff in Poland and seeing it can only make me a smarter, more interesting person. And I don't think a person should ever pass up a chance to become more interesting.
So - I'm going to Poland. In March. And possibly to a couple of other places along the way. Unless Jay's company changes course and we end up going to Helsinki after all. Either way, I'm pumped.