Curious as to what happened to long-term nomads when life on the road changed overnight due to COVID-19? Read on to find out why we decided that Krakow was the best place for us to be during the pandemic when we had to put our travel plans on hold, and what we did there…
This will be an ongoing diary of our stay in Krakow during the coronavirus, starting from 13 MARCH – I’ve changed it to now read in chronological order.
Click on the links below to jump to the latest entry:
- Why did we choose to stay in Krakow?
- 13-16 MARCH 2020 – meeting up with friends as everything was closing!
- Sightseeing during COVID-19 = empty streets & a lot of walking!
- 16 MARCH – saying goodbye to good friends
- Ingenious FRUGAL TRAVEL TIP
- 17-18 MARCH – moving to a lovely apartment to self-isolate
- First week’s shopping – stocking a cupboard from scratch
- The situation in Poland on 18 MARCH
- Thursday 19 – Sunday 22 MARCH – Happy UK Mothers’ Day!
- The challenges involved with refunds for flights & bus tickets!
- Relieved we could extend our stay in our lovely flat
- Monday 23 – Tuesday 24 MARCH – cheapest noodles ever!
- Noisy neighbours ruining our serenity (and destroying their flat!)
- 24 MARCH – last big shop before restrictions came into place
- Valuable lessons from growing up in the country!
- Wednesday 25 – Monday 30 MARCH – Lockdown birthday!
- What to do when you run out of bread?
- New challenges for Lee
- Tuesday 31 MARCH – struggling to get motivated
- Saturday 4 APRIL – featured in YouTube video!
- Tuesday 8 APRIL – enjoying being productive!
- Sunday 18 APRIL – so busy I forgot to write!
First of all, and to answer the pressing question up front, why did we choose to stay in Krakow rather than elsewhere?
We had to make a decision fairly quickly and it boiled down to the following essential points:
- Availability of food – All 3 of our home countries are islands! NZ and Australia are tucked away down in the Southern Hemisphere, so there is the potential for shortages if ships don’t arrive. This is especially true in Perth as it’s the world’s most isolated state capital and is surrounded by desert. We’d seen enough on the news and social media about the panic buying in the UK so definitely wanted to avoid going back to that.
- Budget accommodation – as Krakow is heavily reliant on tourism the streets are now empty and there are many bargains to be had on Air BnB. We’ve found a lovely apartment near the Old Town for only 355 PLN / US$86 / UK73 / 79 euro / AU$147 / NZ$147 for one week… and hopefully we’ll be able to extend our stay if the next guests cancel their booking
- Measures being put in place to reduce the spread of the corona virus – the UK was obviously failing on that score as borders, schools and pubs are still open as I write this on the 18th March!
- Access to healthcare – we’re staying right in front of a university hospital, but plan to self-isolate enough to not catch it so won’t need medical treatment
- Good supermarkets and corner stores with full shelves and low prices – as always, it comes back to my stomach! If I have delicious fresh food, then I’m happy 🙂
Polish Government Website for latest coronavirus Information
How to travel the world as a Frugal Traveller
13-16 MARCH 2020 – meeting up with friends as everything was closing!
Our travels were going well in Eastern Europe. We had a great time visiting new cities: Budapest, Bratislava, Krakow, Kiev, Lviv, Warsaw and Wroclaw. We were then heading back to Krakow to surprise a friend for her birthday.
Flights, bus tickets and accommodation were all booked for Lithuania, Belarus, Estonia and Latvia. We’d been extremely busy from 5-9th March and booked everything. That way we could relax and enjoy our last 6 weeks of travel before flying back to the UK.
We’d heard the stories about the effects of the new coronavirus in China, South Korea and the Diamond Princess but seemed so far away. That was until the Polish government announced that from 12 March, all museums, schools, government institutions and sports centres would be closing until the 25 March. This meant all tours to Auschwitz were cancelled. We decided to still go there for the day, and see what we could from the outside.
That was a minor glitch in our travel plans. It never occurred to us that things could change so rapidly in Europe, and that we’d soon be confined to one country as the borders closed!
Taxi Drivers are in the know!
Our friends K & J had just landed on the Friday night, and were in their airport taxi transfer. They sent a message saying the Polish borders had just closed, and the government was going to stop all flights!
I immediately went onto Google but tried in vain to find any information. It was 8pm on a Friday night. I still can’t believe that the Polish government didn’t wait until the Tuesday to make this announcement! It caused such stress and panic for the thousands of tourists who’d flown to Krakow for a weekend break but who were suddenly told their return flights had been cancelled and they’d been abandoned– I’m looking at you and your total lack of support, Ryanair!
It turns out that their taxi driver was following live updates. He advised them not to wait until Monday but to book a flight out straightaway! I finally found an article that confirmed the taxi driver’s intel, but we checked with J and decided to meet up anyway to surprise K for her birthday 😉
Our one & only night out in Krakow
We arranged with J to meet at a bar in hip and trendy Kazimierz, in the historic Jewish quarter. We were able to sneak up behind K and say “Surprise!” The look on her face was so worth it! The first bar wasn’t too lively so we walked around the Jewish quarter, trying to work out the best thing for them to do, ie try to get an earlier flight on the Saturday or wait until their flight on Monday. The pressing thing was for K to get a drink, as she’d had enough surprises for that day!
We ended up in Beer Street – a pub I’d looked at so many times as they had mulled beer, mulled wine and mulled cider. Unfortunately, as it turns out, I choose a pint of Earl Grey Pale Ale as thought I’d save the mulled drinks for the next day… oh, if only I’d known!
It was wonderful catching up as we hadn’t seen them since January. Of course the main topic of conversation at first was if they’d even be able to leave on Monday or if they’d be stuck in Krakow with no way of getting home! In addition to that, we’d received notifications that a lot of our Air BnB bookings were to be cancelled! This meant we needed to quickly work out the best place for us to be during this early stage of the pandemic in Europe. It had became obvious that we had to put our travel plans on hold.
Read our post about visiting Auschwitz when all museums were closed
Sightseeing during COVID-19 = empty streets & a lot of walking!
We ended up having an excellent weekend! We ate a lot of ham and cheese rolls with the brilliant special from Zabka… I can spot one of those ubiquitous green signs from a mile off! The hashtag for the weekend is now #fueledbyzabka
Luckily some of the stalls selling the delicious Polish pizzas, Zapiakanki, were still open, as they sell takeaways. These were also deemed a success and we ended up going back again for a delicious cheesy fill. Amazingly enough, they taste like a pizza at first but don’t leave you with that slightly greasy sensation!
Government restrictions had come into force on Saturday 14 March, with restaurants and cafes only open for takeaways. No mulled beer for me!
Hoping that flights were still operating!
Our friends had received notification from Jet 2 that their flight was still scheduled for Monday afternoon. We met a group of British tourists who weren’t as fortunate. They’d flown over on 10th March but their return flight with Ryanair on 15th March had been cancelled on the Friday. Absolutely nothing had been put in place to help them!
They’d gone to the airport on the 14th, and received standby boarding cards, had their luggage checked through, had passed security and were sitting upstairs. waiting to board. Airport personnel called everyone over, saying “Manchester, Manchester, this way”, took them downstairs and told them there were only 200 seats standby seats on the plane and they weren’t able to board.
Unfriendly behaviour reported from airport guards
People were angry and upset. Apparently one young girl was crying and a security guard was laughing in her face. The armed security guards advised they had to leave the airport otherwise the police would be called and they would be arrested.
When we met them, standing a safe 1.5 metres apart outside a now-takeaway only coffee shop, they were relieved to have been able to book a flight on the 15th to Charles de Gaulle, then transfer for a flight to London Gatwick, where a friend would drive from Manchester to pick them up.
Their alternative plan, if they hadn’t been able to buy tickets for another flight, was to get a taxi to the German border, walk across, and have a friend hire a van and drive from the UK. Definitely not the way you’d want to end a great week of birthday celebrations!
16 MARCH – saying goodbye to good friends
We had a brilliant weekend together, even with everything being closed… They even shut McDonalds from Monday 16th so no 2 zloty coffees or free toilets! We walked an average of 15kms per day – were so fortunate with the weather, as even though it did get very cold. The sun was still shining and the blue sky was gorgeous. I’m not sure what we’d have done if it was raining!
So, we waved goodbye to K&J and they flew home on the very last flight out with zero dramas. Hopefully we’ll see them back in the UK in May but it could be June, July, August… who knows?
Ingenious FRUGAL TRAVEL TIP
The buffet breakfast at K&J’s hotel was changed on Sunday to room service. When they ordered their hotel breakfast on the Monday, they were amazed to be given numerous extra dishes that they hadn’t ticked off the list!
Being the lovely friends they are, they decided to take the extra food for us, but didn’t have any plastic bags or ways of transporting it. Look at what they came up with!
17-18 MARCH – moving to a lovely apartment to self-isolate
We were staying in a private room in an apartment in Kaziermz but it wasn’t ideal – more like a hostel with 4 rooms and squeaky floorboards and people leaving their dirty dishes in the sink! We had checked Air BnB and found a lovely apartment available for a week. The only possible downside was that many of the reviews mentioned the construction outside that starts at 7am, building the new above ground railway line but that could be why the price was so low!
The apartment was a 15 minute walk away so we packed our luggage and food supplies, and headed north. We couldn’t believe how lovely it is, and how wonderful it is to have our own space! I can tell when I’m feeling content as that’s when I’m keen to sit down and write a blog or work on a vlog… it’s so difficult for me to focus/get motivated to do that when we’re constantly on the move.
We took photos and videos before unpacking, to show the place in its full splendour. I can say however, that 2 days later it’s still spotless! I’m reining in my innate messiness as want to keep this place looking light and airy and beautiful!
First week’s shopping – stocking a cupboard from scratch
We walked down to Biedronka, the Portuguese supermarket chain that sells the cheapest groceries in Poland. There weren’t many people inside and we were all careful to keep a distance from each other. I wanted to stock up on basic staples for a week so bought oats, eggs, tinned tomatoes/kidney beans/baked beans. We want to boost our immune systems so bought lemons, ginger, oranges and kefir. The only things missing from the shelves were cheap pasta and 3.2% milk so we bought couscous and UHT milk instead.
In addition to meat and bread, we also bought ice cream and sunflower seeds – didn’t need chocolate as we had a stash of that already 🙂
The total of our first week’s shop was 132 zloty: US$33 / UK27 / AUS$56 / NZ$57 / 29euro
I would never have thought of using a shower cap or an empty wafer packet to transport food! They even used a spare glove from our Zabka lunch special the day before! This feast lasted us 2 meals and was delicious!
The situation in Poland on 18 MARCH
In order to slow the spread of Coronavirus, these measures are now in place.
- Polish borders closed to foreigners entering Poland
- All International flights suspended until 29 March
- Restrictions on the operation of shopping centres (pharmacies, grocery stores and drug stores remain open everywhere, including in shopping centres!),
- Ban on public gatherings of more than 50 people.
- Restaurants, cafes and bars closed to customers on the premises. Orders may be taken out or delivered.
- Schools, museums, cinemas, theatres, libraries etc closed
Thursday 19 – Sunday 22 MARCH – Happy UK Mothers’ Day!
Things soon settled into a happy routine. I woke up at 6:30am, just before the work started on the elevated train line outside our windows. I would go on Lee’s laptop for an hour or so, working on this blog. Lee would wake around 9am.
We’d have breakfast, normally oats soaked for a few hours in a pot of yogurt on top of fruit salad: kiwifruit, banana, apple and orange. Lee then went for a walk for 1-2 hours while I continued with blog stuff.
In the afternoon Lee would work on a vlog for our Frugal Travellers YouTube channel, and I’d lie on the bed and either read an ebook or watch Netflix.
The challenges involved with refunds for flights & bus tickets!
That worked brilliantly for the first 2 days, then on Friday we had to tackle the Herculean task of completing the Belavia airlines form to apply for a refund on our cancelled tickets.
You’d think it’d be a simple matter of completing the same details that were used to purchase the tickets, but no. Thankfully I”m in an excellent Eastern Europe Facebook group and had some useful tips on how to get the damn form filled in.
It’s a matter of taking the time and using Google to teach yourselves new things… I’ve learnt how to attach an electronic signature to a document and how to convert and compress a JPEG to a PDF without using Adobe Acrobat.
The whole process took 3 hours Friday morning, so that kind of ruined any plans to be productive! The delicious nachos and strong lager we had that night put paid to being productive on Saturday, what with the ensuing hangover and all 🙂
Relieved we could extend our stay in our lovely flat
We’d been in touch with the host to say we’d love to stay longer if possible. On Saturday she contacted the next guests, due to arrive on the 24th March. We were so happy when she messaged to say they’d cancelled their booking – we’ve now paid up until the 17th April so can buy at least 2 weeks worth of groceries in case we need to self-isolate.
We’re taking the weekend off from admin and Frugal Travellers’ stuff. Although we’re excited to start working on next projects on Monday – Lee’s going to be working on the Chernobyl videos and I’ll finish the Transnistria blog and get the Wroclaw blog written and published as well.
We’re also still doing our daily Duolingo – I’m on a 106 day streak! It’s lucky I’d bought a streak freeze as completely forgot about doing my Spanish lessons on Thursday – too caught up in reading COVID-19 news articles and Facebook posts!
Lee’s decided that as we’re going to be in Poland for maybe 2-3 months, visa restrictions permitting, he’s going to study Polish! It has some similarities with Russian so he’s enjoying his first YouTube lessons.
Monday 23 – Tuesday 24th March – cheapest noodles ever!
Woke up Monday morning at 7am when the workmen and the heavy vehicles started back at work. Was quite productive, still working on the Transnistria blog. It’s taking so much longer than I expected – we did a lot in 7 days!
Lee went for his 2 hour walk before lunch and said the city centre was completely deserted. When he went to buy more IndoMee 2 minute noodles (at 0.55 zloty they’re the cheapest noodles I’ve ever seen!) he noticed the shop had put up a plastic shield across the counter, and set up a 1.5 metre barrier to stop people getting too close.
Noisy neighbours ruining our serenity (and destroying their Airbnb flat!)
Early afternoon I heard voices from the apartment next door, and some banging. It sounded as though they were moving in, and moving furniture around. This went on most of the afternoon, with more voices joining in. Turns out the dividing walls put up to create the 3 small apartments from the original big one are very thin, as we could hear every word they said… and they didn’t stop talking!
I could smell cigarette smoke in the evening so wrote to our Air BnB host. She confirmed that it wasn’t permitted to smoke in these apartments and contacted the owner. He came at 9pm and spoke to the guests but the noise and smoking continued unabated.
I managed to fall asleep at 01:45 to loud voices and music, and woke at 04:45 to the same voices. Tuesday was pretty much a write-off in terms of productivity as we were both so tired! I’d sent our host voice recordings of the noise at 1am. She messaged me on Tuesday to say that the guests had destroyed the flat and that they’d been reported to the police and Air BnB.
We saw the owner – she apologised for the noise and showed us the damage. She’d already been cleaning for 3 hours but it was still a mess, with spillages everywhere and the curtains reeked of cigarette smoke.
There were black marks on the walls where they’d dragged furniture. They’d completely rearranged everything, which accounted for the constant banging – she said “the TV was there, the sofa was there, the table was there, the bed was there”… all to make more room for their party.
This is how these young Poles were still able to have a get-together with all pubs and bars closed. They booked an Air BnB for a night and invited their friends around. If you have an Air BnB property, I’d advise you to be careful at the moment as to who is booking and for how long. This one was booked for 1 guest for 1 night, but we heard at least 5 voices at one stage.
24 MARCH – last big shop before restrictions came into place
I’d read that Hungary and other EU countries were tightening their self-isolation rules so we decided it was best to stock up in case we needed to stay inside for 2 weeks. We still had food in the cupboards but wanted to ensure we could stay at home if need be.
Valuable lessons from growing up in the country!
I’ve realised that I learnt some excellent lessons from growing up in the NZ countryside in the 70s and 80s. We only went into town every fortnight to do a big shop, so it was important to keep a running shopping list for anything that was needed to buy. We didn’t have a lot of money when I was a child so it was important to be very careful in buying only what was needed.
We also had a vegetable garden for fresh veggies… something my mother, sister and brother still do today! We rented an 1/8 of an acre allotment from the council when we lived in the UK from 2003-2006, and we thoroughly enjoyed the time we spent there, growing all our own veg!
My mother would often make scones or pikelets for lunch – I didn’t realise at the time that it was because we didn’t have much bread left in the big chest freezer in the garage for school lunches. It would simply seem like a tasty idea for the weekend!
That’s also why I always have a shopping list on the go. I’ve made 3 so far for Krakow on the Notes app on my phone. Do you make shopping lists or do you get to the supermarket and wing it? I know it is possible to set up a shopping list and move things around, but I prefer to write a list out each time, as that way I know exactly what I need, and can add things that I didn’t get the previous time.
Wednesday 25 MARCH – Monday 30 MARCH – Lockdown birthday
It’s amazing how quickly the days slip by when you’re staying inside! My motivation has waned considerably already – the very fact that I haven’t written for 5 days shows that I need to find a way to stop this lethargy in its tracks and become more focused!
There’s been some good news in that a number of apps are now free during this lock down period. I’ve signed up to an excellent yoga app, Down Dog and am thoroughly enjoying the beginner’s course! As of today I’m on Day 3, doing 16 minutes, and am looking forward to starting full session as of tomorrow.
Birthday blow-out!
As we’re in voluntary lockdown, we decided to nip to the local bakery for Lee’s birthday… it seemed important to have cake! We also bought bread and biscuits… made them last for 4 days but now are using couscous as a bread substitute – I’m missing sandwiches!
I also went to the supermarket to buy him some craft beer – felt bad that in all our shopping I hadn’t bought him a present or a card! Bought wine and chocolates as well – essentials for a birthday! We had nachos for lunch and steak, couscous and salad for dinner, so it was a good day all round 🙂
What to do when you run out of bread?
I’d found a brilliant recipe on Facebook for Navajo bread, by Brandon Johnson, so we bought self-raising flour and will see how it goes… even though his recipe is for flour and baking powder!
** I can’t work out how to share a link to his Facebook page but he’s easy to find using the Search function… I wanted him to get the views first, not the various newspapers sharing his recipe**
UPDATE: I tried making this with self-raising flour and it was an epic failure. I’m switching to 3-Ingredient pancakes – they’re so much easier!
New challenges for Lee
Lee’s decided to set himself some new challenges:
- seeing how many days he can stay in bed: I’ve always loved bed days but Lee could normally only last 1/2 day before he starts getting antsy… is taking to it pretty well now!
- learning Polish: he’s said he’d be happy to stay here for 6 months so might as well learn the language!
Tuesday 31 MARCH – struggling to get motivated
I”m definitely struggling to get motivated! I seem to spend hours just scrolling through Netflix trying to find my new Korean drama or on Facebook, looking for information and great memes. Lee. however, has made videos for our YouTube channel, studied Polish for at least an hour per day, and has found Z Nation – it’s rare for him to get hooked to a series but it’s great that he’s found one.
I’d finished Working Moms, Sex Education and Daybreak a while ago… am currently watching The End of the F**cking World and Locke & Key… but know I need to move away from Netflix and start working on our own content!
Old-school TV watching together in the evening
Something we’ve started to do is to watch a TV series on Netflix but old-school-style… we sit together in front of the laptop every night and watch one episode only. That’s easier said than done as we’ve such different tastes in TV shows and movies! We’ve started with Tiger King… and it’s been mind-blowing! I’d recommend it for the WTF moments 🙂
Saturday 4 APRIL – featured in YouTube video!
Days are slowly blurring into one so I’m going to put the actual date I’m writing, and try to remember what we did the previous days 🙂
BIG NEWS – we’ve been featured in a popular vlogger’s YouTube video!
Lee has been following Gabriel Traveler for some time now. He’s around our age and has been travelling for a similar length of time but is one of the original travel vloggers and has 1.8k videos on his YouTube channel! His style is very raw and natural, and has had a definite influence on our vlogs.
Gabriel had released a vlog 1 week ago with stories of travellers stuck due to coronavirus restrictions, and asking for more videos for a second vlog. We decided to try our luck and spent a few hours recording and re-recording our story. We found it so difficult to cut it down to 2 minutes!
We were absolutely stoked to receive a return email advising our video would be featured in the 2nd vlog – click the link below to see us hit the big time 🙂
Routine established
We’ve settled into a comfortable routine. I wake at 7am to the sound of workmen on the construction site outside, put the oats into the daily 400gr pot of yogurt to soak for an hour. I do 10 minutes of Spanish on Duolingo then spend 2 hours scrolling through social media and news reports.
I then get up and do 25 minutes of yoga from the Down Dog app – need to take full advantage of the offer as it’s only free until 1st May!
After that I chop up an apple; orange; banana; kiwifruit and some grapes for a fruit salad, with the yogurt and softened oats for breakfast around 10:30. Around 1pm it’s ham, cheese and salad either on bread or with couscous for lunch; then Netflix and social media in the afternoon for me. Lee is far more diligent and motivated – he’s already posted a few YouTube videos and is working on another as I write this.
Obsessed with Joe Exotic
Yep, I have a new obsession… Tiger King on Netflix has been absolutely batshit crazy and the best diversion from any coronavirus worries! I’m now totally into the memes that have sprung up a million-fold – my Facebook page is awash with them.
Tuesday 8 APRIL – enjoying being productive!
Well… I’ve been extremely productive the past few days… just not with the blog! That was after I caught myself spending 4-6 hours per day watching Korean dramas (Goblin, Her Private Life, and Crash Landing on You) after scrolling through social media for Joe Exotic memes. It turns out many popular K Dramas not on Netflix can be watched for free with Rakuten Viki. I’ve torn myself away from the screen and have settled into a good routine this week:
YOGA: I am now up to 40 minutes of yoga each day using the Down Dog app. I’ve customised it to Hatha / Gentle / Slow / Focus: Hamstrings / Sammi and am thoroughly enjoying it! The afternoons are the best time for me, as that’s when the sun’s streaming through the lounge windows – it’s too chilly in the mornings
FRIENDS IN FLOW: I joined this week’s Friends in Flow challenge, set up by Idahosa Ness, and my # -productivity challenge is to edit and post the Wroclaw vlog to our YouTube channel by Friday. It’s had the effect of making me enthusiastic to start other projects – I have to remember to keep reining myself in and work on the vlog!
ITALKI: After reading so many inspiring posts from others doing the Friends in Flow challenge, I logged onto Italki for the first time in 2.5 years and after sending 6 requests I have a Spanish language exchange partner! I’m so fortunate in that he’s normally a Spanish community tutor but has decided he wants to practice English. This means I’m learning productive and fun techniques for teaching a language. I love English and would love to be able to have more Spanish-English language exchanges!
LANGUAGE EXCHANGE ON SKYPE: We had our first Spanish intercambio on Skype yesterday for an hour, 30 minutes in each language. We’re at a similar level and have the same approach with corrections so it’s going to be brilliant for my Spanish!
Finally getting the hang of Spaghetti Bolognese
I have always struggled with cooking – I love to eat but am too impatient/self-critical when I get in the kitchen. Something that has always eluded me is the proper way to make Spag Bog… mine always ends up grey and requiring loads of pepper and other spices to give it flavour! I’m happy to announce I actually made a tasty version last night – maybe after another month of self-isolation I’ll be a master 🙂
POLISH: Lee’s Polish is coming along well. He uses Polish subtitles when watching Z Nation on Netflix, and spends 30 minutes on Duolingo and Drops each day.
Sunday 18 APRIL – so busy I forgot to write!
I was so productive the other week with the 5-day Friends in Flow Challenge, that I completely lost the motivation to keep this blog post updated!
Here’s a brief list of what we’ve been up to since then….
- I went out on the 14th April for the 1st time in 2 weeks 🙂
- I had Skype chats every day for a week with Eduin in Columbia, but that seems to have come to an end
- As a result of the Skype chats, I’ve realised I need to review the past and future tenses in Spanish for future language exchanges
- We’ve eaten Nachos once a week for the 5 weeks we’ve been in this apartment
- Oh, we’ve paid for another month… so it’s 1,300 zloty for another 30 days in our own piece of paradise
- I had a rush of inspiration yesterday and edited then uploaded 2 videos to our YouTube channel, Week 4 Krakow Lockdown and Going to the Supermarket in Krakow during lockdown… check them out sometime!
Wednesday 29 APRIL – the productivity continues!
Loads has happened since I last wrote… it is wonderful that we are finally relaxed and comfortable enough to start working in earnest on our blog and vlog. It’s all because we have our own space and time to become creative.
We’ve realised that this has to be a given for future travel – we need to stop at least twice a year and rent a place for a month, stocking up the cupboards and doing something with all the material we’ve gathered!
This is what we’ve produced since my last entry…
FRUGAL TRAVEL TIPS – Lee’s magnum opus! This is a 10,000 word post sharing the tips and advice we find essential to keep our travel costs down, so we can continue to travel indefinitely.
2 x YouTube vlogs on beautiful Wrocław – I’m working on a third featuring the results of our hunt for Wrocław dwarves 🙂
Blog post on our 2 trips to Auschwitz Birkenau while it was closed – it was part of this Lockdown Diary but I felt it worthy of its own post. I didn’t realised I’d put so little information so had to rewrite it! AND it took a lot more work than I’d expected to transfer everything out… not knowing any shortcuts I did it all manually!
Lee’s working on a Trans-Siberian blog from our 1 month in Russia in January-February 2018. This was before the whole Frugal Travellers idea was even thought of, so we only have 14 minutes of video footage for our entire month in Russia!
Technical issues – damn you, Windows 10 update!
The Trans-Siberian vlog was almost scuppered by Microsoft’s latest Windows 10 update. Turns out that certain MP4s can no longer be viewed or played in Windows 10. This is a disaster for us, as most of our 2018 footage was taken on my Motorola G4 Plus using exactly the wrong type of MP4s!
I spent Sunday 26 & Monday 27 trying to find a solution. It’s so difficult when you’re not a techie person, and when you’re working on an old laptop that doesn’t always connect to Wifi, and is super slow when it does!
I finally had success with Dvix Monday night and was able to convert all the Russian video footage. I will slowly work through the videos from the other countries we’ve been to since then, as really want to use this time to upload older vlogs to YouTube
🙂
This is an ongoing blog diary of our stay in Krakow during COVID-19. If you have any questions or would like further information on anything in the post, it would be great to hear from you in the Comments below. Stay tuned for the next installment!
READ MORE ABOUT THE FRUGAL TRAVELLERS
March 12 – Visiting Auschwitz on the day it closed due to Coronavirus. Watch the video
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