We're going to Poland, to a tourism fair in Warsaw!
Even though only 3 days have passed since our return from the Seychelles, we are determined to go to Poland and dedicate one day to the exhibition, where we hope to see many different exotic countries.
We set off early in the morning, on Friday morning, and in less than 7 hours we arrived in Warsaw. Polish roads are a pleasure, and the developed motorways allow us to reach Warsaw much faster than before.
In Warsaw, we chose the Focus hotel Premium, which is located a bit outside the city center, but in the direction of the exhibition, and the exhibition is approximately 15 minutes away from the hotel.
After resting a bit in our comfortable rooms, we decide to go to a nearby shopping mall, have lunch, and browse a few shops. We came out of these few shops with several bags; prices here are pleasantly low, and the Black Friday discounts allowed us to save a lot of money compared to buying the same items in Latvia. The names of these stores are TK Max and Half Price; I recommend them, it's worth it, especially if you need to dress children and teenagers.
We spend the evening in the room, playing cards and relaxing.
The next morning, even before 7:00, I go to the breakfast restaurant to film what's on offer for breakfast, and the selection is indeed large, allowing you to have a good and hearty meal before a long day of work.
We leave the hotel after 9:30 AM to be at the exhibition by 10:00 AM, its opening time. We find the exhibition quickly, park the car close to the hangar; not too many people have arrived yet, and most importantly, parking is free. It's a small detail, but a pleasant one. A week ago, at home, we had applied for free entrance tickets online, and upon entering the hall, we just had to activate them and were ready to dive into the offerings of various countries.
The first country with its large stand is Romania; 2 months ago we were in Romania and filmed 4 excellent series, which you will see in January 2025 on REtv and the Gold Barbell YouTube channel.
The exhibition is not one of the largest or most extensive, but 3 hours passed quickly for us. We found many countries that could be interesting for us in the future, established contacts with many hotels, and talked to various people. From Latvia, we only saw and met the girls from the Jūrmala stand. The Jūrmala city stand was represented by Hotel Jūrmala Spa and several other hotels. We also filmed a lot, and in a week, you will see the video material from this exhibition on the Gold Barbell YouTube channel. Rodrigo took on the role of interviewer and asked many countries what they could offer specifically for children. Rodrigo really liked all the exotic countries and even received a bag of sweets from the Vietnamese representative.
After 3 hours of diligent work and seeing everything, we deserved a rest, so we decided to go to the nearby Suntago water park. On our way to the exit, we also met Suntago representatives at the exhibition, and they recommended buying tickets online, as there were still Black Friday discounts.
We drive to the water park and realize that today is Saturday, and with the Black Friday discounts, there will definitely be a lot of people. There are no people at the entrance at all; we meet another family from Dobele, buy entrance tickets online with a discount, and go to change. After putting on his swim shorts, Rodrigo can't wait and wants to run to the pool. He runs to the pool and slides, but Larijs, his daughter Sindija, and I go to the bistro, wanting something to eat. As soon as we get to the pool area of the park, we realize that half of Poland has come here. There are so many people that it's impossible to find an empty sun lounger to put our belongings. We go to the bistro, but the queues are so long that we won't get any food today. We walk around the area and discover an Asian bistro on the second floor; at least there aren't as many people there, and after waiting in line, we finally get lunch.
Larijs and Sindija go to the pools, I go to the slides, trying to find Rodrigo to tell him I'm going to the sauna center. I don't know how long you have to wait in line for each slide to go down, but I waited for Rodrigo for at least 20 minutes until I saw him slide down, and this was only his first ride. He is also not happy about the big mess at these slides, and he goes to the wave pool, while I go to the saunas.
There are a lot of people in the saunas, but you can find a free spot here. I relax for a bit and go to see how Rodrigo is doing, but it's hard to find him in these large crowds. After a short while, I spot him in the big pool, lying on water aerobics noodles, so he swims deeper where there aren't as many people and rests from the large crowds.
In short, if you want to enjoy this park, don't go on weekends, don't go on holidays, and don't go during Black Friday sales. 2 years ago, we went on weekdays and enjoyed this park very much. I will leave a link to our video in the comments.
In the evening, we return to the hotel, where we are shown a large apartment suitable for families with children. It is very large and comfortable; if I had to guess, I would say it's at least 100m2. In the evening, we go to the hotel restaurant for dinner, write this article, and go to sleep; the fatigue after this long day is palpable.
