“Travels to a Different Time ” : 23June1975: Gdansk and Swinoujście, Poland  

The radio alarm clock blasted me out of bed a 04:00 with some good jazz! I ended up running all the way to the local train station arriving in a sweat just making my train. I slept for a couple of hours on the train and by the time I arrived in Szczecin I was in no mood for exploring it. I had 3 hours to wait for the train to the ferry departure town so I walked around the town. I took the train and it was a horrible milk run like there was a conspiracy I never leave Poland! Stop after stop and wait after wait. I finally ended up in Swinoujście and headed to the campground. The poor Polish lady had to fill out paper after paper to process a foreigner. One form for a receipt, one for bank exchange and one for foreign campers and all this for a $1.20 a night camp stay. So absurd all this fucking bureaucracy. Am I going to topple the Polish government? Why can’t I travel without all this idiotic bureaucracy? I was in a very surly mood with fatigue and impatience. I set up my tent and had something that looked like a pancake but it was so gross I had to spit it out. I then found a stand selling fries and fish and two shitty Polish beers for 65 cents. My goodness that fish was superb, better than in England. When on the Baltic coast eat fish! Walked back to campsite and thought perhaps a saying for the day might be in order. “Bureaucracy soon consumes its creators.”