Poland by car. Rules for crossing the Polish border in your own car and requirements for a car when entering Poland. Documents required for travel

"Loi" is translated as "floating", "Kratong" - "boat (construction) of leaves."
It is celebrated every year in the month of November during the full moon.
According to legend, once upon a time, in the era of the state of Sukhothai, during the reign of King Litai, one of his wives, in honor of some holiday, built a bowl of banana leaves and bamboo stalks, decorated it with fruits and flowers. In doing so, she started a tradition that is still alive today.

In the evening, when the darkness of the night envelops the city, people take their krathongs, go to the river or sea, go shallow into the water and let them go to the will of the wind and currents.
Such a gesture symbolizes, first of all, a tribute and worship to Mother Water, the nurse and patroness of people living on earth. Water gives food - fish and animals living in it, fertilizes the fields, enabling farmers to harvest rice and fruits, favorably carries people and goods, helping trade. Appreciative people give their krathongs to the water, thanking it for all the gifts they have received. However, gratitude towards Mother Water is not the only reason that makes people gather for this holiday.

In November, at the end of the rainy season, all rivers are usually overflowing with water and strong currents. Any object placed in a river full of strength is instantly picked up by fast waters and carried far away, to where the eyes of the person who let it in can no longer distinguish their messenger. That is why many people, having cut off a small lock of their hair for fidelity, put it in their krathong and send it on a long journey, along with all their troubles and troubles, problems and sorrows, so that they disappear from view. ... one after another, bright stars rise from the earth, uniting in flocks and floating towards the horizon ...

Loi Krathong is a celebration of the spirit of water and light.
The sky is painted with flashes of fireworks and candles, and the song “Loi Krathong” sounds everywhere.

In Thai it sounds something like this:
Wan Pen Duan Sip Song
Nam Koh Nong Tem Taling
Rao Tanglai Shai Ying
Sanuk Ganjing Wan Loy Krathong
Loy Loy Krathong
Loy Loy Kratong,
Loy Krathong Gan Laew
Koh Shern Nong Kaew
Ok Ma Ram Wong
Ram Wong Wan Loy Krathong
Ram Wong Wan Loy Krathong
Boon Ja Song Hai Rao Suk Jai
Boon Ja Song Hai Rao Suk Jai

And in Russian:
november full moon glow

And high water
In the Golden River and Khlong

Loy Krathong is here
And everyone is full of fun
We are all together in Khlong
And each with his own krathong
By launching it we believe
What a better day we'll see

In English:
november full moon shine
Loy Krathong
Loy Krathong
And the water high
In the gold river and the Klong
Loy Loy Krathong
Loy Loy Krathong
Loy Krathong is here
And everybody full of cheer
We're together at the Klong
Each one with his Krathong
As we push away we pray
We can see a better day

On the full moon of the last month of the lunar year, in many countries of Southeast Asia, people celebrate the ancient holiday of Loy Krathong.

Here it would be appropriate to say about the traditional Thai lunar calendar. Months and days in it do not coincide with the usual European calendar. If you look at Thai horoscopes, you will be surprised to find that the signs of the zodiac do not correspond to the number of the month. The fact is that the lunar year begins with the "usual" 12th month, December, and is considered the first lunar month. Accordingly, January is the second lunar month, and so on. All traditional Thai holidays and festivals are tied specifically to the lunar calendar (thiantharakhati) and the phases of the moon. Therefore, quite often there may be a discrepancy in understanding if you tell a Thai about the sixth month, meaning June, because. most likely he will count this month as May. Another possible reason for this discrepancy in understanding is that in the lunar calendar, the months are only numbered, and in the usual solar calendar they have their own names, therefore, if you say the number of the month, and not its name, then the month will be meant exactly according to the lunar calendar.
So, on the full moon of the last month of the lunar year (November, in our opinion), in many countries of Southeast Asia they celebrate one of the most beautiful holidays - Loy Krathong.

Sometimes this holiday falls on the full moon in the eleventh lunar month (October), but most often the last full moon falls on the last month of the outgoing lunar year (November). At this time, the water in the rivers is considered the cleanest, and the river beds are the most complete.

The meaning of this most beautiful holiday is to worship the footprint of the Buddha Gottama, left by him on the banks of the Nam Tha Nathi River in India, his trace in history - the Teaching, in getting rid of suffering and failure, in letting them flow away with the water of the river, and also to express respect and gratitude to the spirit of the river Phra Maekhong Kha.

The symbol of this holiday, as can be understood from its name, is krathong. "Loy" means "swim, slide on the surface of the water, soar." Krathong is a small boat, the base of which is made from a cut of a palm tree trunk, which in turn is decorated with tree leaves, flowers or colored paper (the latter option is highly undesirable, since the paper will pollute the water in the river), three sticks of incense and a couple of small candles. It turns out a very beautiful flower, similar to an open lotus bud as a symbol of an open soul and sincerity.

The first krathong, according to historical information, was made by the eldest of the younger wives of the first king of the Sukhothai period, the father of the Thai nation, Phra Ruang Phra Yalithai. Initially, it was a Brahmin tradition in order to honor the Hindu divine triad Phra Tri Murti - Brahma, Shiva and Vishnu - because they made it possible for the appearance of Buddha Gottama and his Teachings, as well as to worship the footprint of the Buddha's foot, about which we have already spoken.

According to tradition, the largest krathong is still made in the ancient capital of the Siamese state, the city of Sukhothai, where one of the brightest festivities of the Loy Krathong festival takes place.

But, perhaps, the most colorful holiday takes place in the "northern capital" of the kingdom, the city of Chiang Mai.

Long before this holiday, the people are preparing for the festive procession, which sometimes stretches for many kilometers. Schools, universities and businesses organize their columns. These are mini-palaces on wheels, carefully decorated and illuminated, accompanied by characters of ancient legends from the Ramakiana, dancers, warriors, beautiful girls, puppet theater performances, saber fights, music, dances and songs. The real pearl of this action is the Northern Thai dance fon-lep, which can be identified by the bewitching music and incredibly graceful slow movements of pairs of dancers with extension nails worn on their fingertips. Now imagine that all this is in motion, starting from 18 o'clock on the last day of the lunar year, the columns slowly cross the entire city.
At this time, all other citizens who are not directly involved in the performances launch their krathongs along the river. If there is no river or other body of water nearby, a pool or any container of water where the krathong can be lowered is quite suitable. It is customary to put a small coin in the krathong (1, 2 or 5 baht). Some put a strand of their own hair or a cut of a fingernail there. Why they do this will become clear a little later.
When the krathong is ready, you need to go to the river, light incense and candles, kneel by the water, raise the krathong with both hands to the level of your own forehead in a respectful “wai” ritual, slightly bowing your head and ask the water spirit Phra Maekkhong Kha to take away all the bad luck with the krathong , misfortune, illness, loss, dissatisfaction and suffering. A strand of your own hair and a cut of a nail symbolize personal failures that you would like to get rid of. After that, the krathong is launched on the water, and it floats down the river without the possibility of returning, forever. Next, you should thank Phra Mae Khong Kha for giving water, the basis of life, ask for forgiveness for water pollution in the process of life and wish all your loved ones happiness and health, good luck, prosperity and those gifts of fate that will improve their karma. Sometimes it happens that the krathong sinks. According to beliefs, this speaks of the bad karma of the one who let it in, the krathong does not withstand the sins of a person. In addition to incredibly beautiful processions, concerts, theatrical performances on land and on water, fireworks, fireworks and other folk festivals, Khom Loy paper lanterns are launched into the sky closer to midnight. Perhaps, only in the north of the country you can see this tradition in full, in all its scope, and at the same time take part in it. This tradition is called yi peng, it came from Burma, a neighbor of the northern provinces of Thailand, and did not spread in the central part and in the southern provinces of the kingdom. Imagine when almost every resident of Chiang Mai launches such a flashlight into the sky, and more than one - the whole sky is strewn with new "stars", this is an amazing sight! Before launching a flashlight into the sky, it is customary to make a wish. It happens that the flashlight cannot take off or burns out, catching on a tree. People around laugh and say that too many wishes have been made. The whole next day, you can watch how the extinguished lanterns smoothly descend on the city. On this day, winter comes, replacing the rainy season.

Route planning

We had 5 free days and a small budget for a short trip.

5 days for a trip is not much, considering that almost two days fall on the road. Therefore, we decided to go somewhere nearby, where you can get relatively quickly, while having an interesting time.

Because our starting point at that moment was the city of Kyiv, then we simply opened the map and allocated a radius of 900 km. around Kyiv. Why 900 km.? This is the distance that can be comfortably covered in one day by car.

To be honest, we have already traveled the countries that fall into this circle: our last trip was to Belarus and Lithuania (we wrote about this), and the year before last - to Romania and Bulgaria (we wrote about this). Only Hungary, Slovakia and Poland remained. We decided to postpone Hungary and Slovakia until a trip to Austria, so the choice fell on Poland.

We have already been to Poland: once we traveled as part of an excursion tour, the second time we also traveled on the way to Germany and Luxembourg (we wrote about this). We were also in Krakow, but everything somehow ran.

Therefore, after thinking and consulting, we nevertheless decided to go again to Poland, namely to Krakow. But in such a way as to thoroughly explore both the city itself and its environs.

In addition to Krakow itself, we decided to visit the Krakow Zoo, which is located in the suburbs, and also find time to go to Auschwitz.

Therefore, the final route in one direction looked like this:

Budget planning

The main items of expenditure were as follows:

visa;
travel insurance and green card for cars;
hotels;
fuel for cars;
road payment in Poland;
visits to the museum, zoo, attractions and gifts;
other purchases.

The costs for each of these items may vary. For example, in our case, we did not have to spend money on visas, because one of us enjoys the benefits of visa-free travel for citizens of Ukraine, and the second already has a Schengen multivisa in his passport.

Of the museums, we planned a visit to Auschwitz and the Krakow Zoo in advance, so the costs for these events could be foreseen in advance.

We always issue travel insurance without fail, as well as car insurance (in Russia you can choose and order travel insurance at).

As for paying for roads, there was one paid section between Krakow and Auschwitz in our route, and this section can also be traveled for free, I will talk about this in more detail in the next article.

As for fuel, it is slightly cheaper in Ukraine than in Poland. Therefore, we refueled to the full before the border, and this fuel was enough for us until we returned to Ukraine, so that we did not have to refuel in Poland.

Selection and booking of hotel rooms

Because we planned to visit the zoo first (which is located outside the city), as well as Auschwitz, which is 70 km away. from Krakow, we decided to save money for the first couple of days and check into a hotel outside the city, and then move to a hotel in Krakow for two days.

Therefore, for the first two nights, we booked a room at the three-star Dwór w Tomaszowicach Hotel (which, looking ahead, turned out to be a valuable find).

For the last two nights, we decided to move to a large chain four-star hotel BEST WESTERN Efekt Express Kraków. In this hotel, breakfast was included in the price, which freed up our time a little.

I will tell you more about hotels in the following articles. Let me just say that we always book hotel rooms on booking.com in advance, and it has never shown itself on the bad side, we have encountered overbookings and other surprises, but everything has always been successfully resolved, and to the booking itself and the service which they provide never had any complaints. we have described in detail as well.

For short trips, it is more convenient to stay in hotels, which is why we book through the market leader - booking (although sometimes I compare prices on the websites of the hotels themselves). And for long-term it is more convenient to rent an apartment so that you can cook yourself. And in the field of renting apartments, the AirBnb service is a good competitor to booking (if you register using our link, you will get a good discount on your first stay).

travel documents

Visa

To visit Poland, Russians and Belarusians need a Schengen visa; for Ukrainians, a valid biometric passport is sufficient.

Passport

Everything is clear here, valid foreign passports are required.

Medical insurance

This item is optional, but highly recommended. Honey. service in Europe for foreigners without insurance is very, very expensive. So, even the smallest cold can cost you dearly. Therefore, we recommend that you take out travel insurance for each tourist. In Russia, there are a bunch of web services that help you choose and arrange insurance:,.

Despite the fact that we did not need to apply for visas for this trip, and no one required travel insurance, we still took out policies for ourselves. By the way, for one of the policies we found a good extended insurance option, which also included some points for additional car maintenance in case of an unforeseen breakdown and the need to call an evacuation. In any case, do not hesitate to ask about additional options that can be connected to your policy, sometimes these options can be very interesting.

Documents for the car

Here is the usual set:

rights,
technical passport for a car,
green card insurance.

The Green Card is almost always checked at the border.

There is no need to worry about paying for roads in Poland in advance. On toll sections of the highway, you will pass through special payment points where you can pay in cash or with a bank card (in this article you can see our recommendations on which card is better to pay on a trip abroad).

Printout of hotel reservations

Sometimes at the border they ask for confirmation of the purpose of your trip. And the usual printout of the booking from the booking office is a sufficient justification.

There are situations when the traffic police can stop you and inquire about the purpose of your trip and show some evidence. So, for example, we were once stopped in Poland and Germany, though it ended with an oral conversation and checking the rights and passports of all passengers. But just in case, I recommend having a printout of the reservation from the booking in the car (and it’s better that it be a printout than the booking application, because your Internet may not work at the right time, or you simply don’t turn on roaming, so you simply won’t be able to book in the application show).

Vehicle equipment

The car must have:

working fire extinguisher;
warning triangle, preferably two;
reflective vest for (often in European countries it is forbidden to go on the track without it);
Euro-style first-aid kit (red with a white cross and the inscription First Aid);
spare wheel and jack.

So, the preparation for the trip is over. In the next article I will talk about the road to Krakow, passing the border and the first hotel. And also about the striking difference in the quality of the road surface in Ukraine and Poland, about gas stations and roadside cafes.

Related articles that might interest you:

	From Kyiv to the border with Poland just over 600 km. Without violating traffic rules, this distance can be covered in 7-8 hours. Therefore, we decided to leave Kyiv as early as possible, so as not to rush, and to have enough time in case of delays at the border. Almost the entire road from Kyiv to the border is part of the Kyiv-Chop highway, and the Kyiv-Lviv section itself is part of the European road route E 40. Therefore, the condition of the road surface is quite good. Of course, these are not Polish and, moreover, not German autobahns, but still this is the best road in Ukraine. The road passes through many settlements, so you can’t joke with speed, and it’s worth driving without breaking.
	In previous articles, I talked about the preparation for the trip, and the first day of the trip. Today I will share with you my impressions of the second day. We plan to visit the Krakow Zoo (Ogród Zoologiczny w Krakowie), walk around the Galeria Bronowice, IKEA, Factory Kraków shopping centers, dine on Swedish meatballs at IKEA, and go to Oswiecim City to visit the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum there. The schedule of the day is very tight, so we planned everything in advance literally to the minute. And we managed to stick to our schedule.
	As I said in previous articles, this was not our first trip to Krakow. This time we decided to take a leisurely walk through familiar places, as well as visit those that we didn’t have enough time for on previous trips. The previous day was very busy (we were at the Krakow Zoo and the Auschwitz Museum, read about it in this article), we walked a lot and were pretty exhausted, so today we decided not to get up very early, but to give ourselves a rest. After a snack and a little walk in the park of the hotel, we began to gather.
	Today we decided to walk through those places, the visit of which has always been postponed. These places are associated with difficult moments in the life of Jews in Krakow. The day before yesterday, we already visited the Auschwitz camp in Auschwitz, as described in this article. Today we plan to walk through the Jewish district of Kazimierz, get to the Ghetto Heroes' Square, and visit Oskar Schindler's factory.
	On the last day of our stay in Krakow, we decided not to go out into the city, but to sleep well, have breakfast, and without haste get ready for the return trip. The main task for today is to get to Kyiv, everything else is secondary.

This route through Belarus to Poland is done by many lovers of auto tourism. And how many more of them are dreaming and planning to make such a trip. Many, especially those who are going for the first time, are sure that it is not difficult, and most importantly, cheaper than by plane. This is a controversial issue and depends on many factors. As for cheaper, this is if several people are traveling to you and it depends on your final route.

There are people who relax behind the wheel, and for them it is a pleasure to steer. But if you have never traveled beyond the region, then you should think carefully before going on such a trip. If you decide and nothing will stop you, then I suggest you read this material, which will help you plan your trip correctly.

So, the classic car route from Moscow to Warsaw runs along the Minsk highway through Smolensk, Minsk and Brest. For convenience, a paid section M1 appeared on this path (Odintsovo bypass). I highly recommend stocking up on bottles of water and sandwiches on the road, it will come in handy.

We don’t drive directly into the cities themselves, we drive through a detour. With favorable road congestion, without force majeure, traffic jams and overnight stays, the travel time will be approximately 17-19 hours, the distance is 1200 km from Moscow to Warsaw. It is more convenient to make this way with an overnight stay either near Minsk or in Baranovichi. Crossing the border between Russia and Belarus since 2017 is still visa-free, but you must have a passport or a civil or international passport with you. If you are going to Poland, then most likely you will have a passport, it is enough. You must also have a "" (Green card, an analogue of our OSAGO) and insurance. If you have a child with you, you must have a birth certificate. If the child is with one of the parents, then you must have permission from the other parent. At the border between Russia and Belarus, you need to purchase insurance. The same for Poland, bought at the Polish border. But it is better and more reliable to buy a Green Card and medical insurance at home in advance at any insurance agency.

According to friends and acquaintances, when crossing the border from Belarus to Poland in their car, there were cases when border guards demanded to present a registration certificate for a car and a driver's license. As a rule, this happens when passing the border from Poland to Belarus. And the Poles carefully examine the windshield and if there is a chip on the driver’s side, they may not let you through. True, in this case, there is a workshop nearby where the chip can be repaired. Belarusians also check the amount of imported alcohol very closely.

Currently, when crossing the border between Russia and Belarus, the FSB stops all cars and checks passports. Everything goes quickly and accurately, no stamps are put in the passports.

We pass the border between Belarus and Poland in Terespol through the Warsaw bridge and then we head along the E30 highway to Warsaw. From Moscow to Brest 1100 km and travel time, if without traffic jams and frequent stops, will be approximately 11-13 hours. There are a lot of settlements on this route and the speed from this is no more than 60 km / h.

There is another option for crossing the border between Belarus and Poland in Grodno. In both cases, the main problem is how long you stay at the border. You can slip through in half an hour, or you can stand for several hours. This is where water and sandwiches come in handy.

Along the entire route from Moscow to Warsaw there are enough gas stations and places where you can make a sanitary stop and have a bite to eat. There are five border crossing points between Belarus and Poland:

1. "Bruzgi - Kuznica (Forge)"

2. "Berestovitsa - Bobrowniki (Bobrovniki)"

3. "Gingerbread - Polowce (Polovtsa)"

4. "Brest - Terespol (Terespol)"