On Fri, Jul 2, 2010 at 17:50, James Owen <[email protected]> wrote:
> > On Jul 2, 2010, at 8:37 AM, Marc A. Pelletier wrote: > > On 02/07/2010 11:09 AM, phoebe ayers wrote: > > Hi guys, > > > I am not on the official logistics team so I cannot tell you exactly where > > to go when you arrive. But I can give you a little bit of general gdansk > > travel information: > > > > Thanks, Phoebe, that's appreciated. It's the first time I travel to a > location where I do not speak any of the local languages so basic > expectations are useful to have (how much to expect paying for a cab > amongst them). > > How likely is it that people involved in trourism (cabbies, hotel staff, > restaurants) speak basic English or French? I'm generally fairly good > at improvising enough of a pidgin to get by if I have a fair expectation > that I have at least some vocabulary in common. > > -- Coren / Marc > > > Marc, > > I visited Gdansk briefly in April before the Chapters Conference and found > it an easy city to navigate. For most everyone once you are in the city > center walking will be your primary mode of transportation. For some of the > dorms it might be a slightly longer walk (25 min or so) but the small and > beautiful nature of Gdansk makes the walk feel much shorter. > > While visiting Gdansk I met with 9 hotels and went into several > restaurants. English is not as fluent in Gdansk as it would be in urban and > western European cities, but I had no major problems communicating or > getting the appropriate message across. Hotel staff were mostly fluent in > english and always willing to help. In restaurants I found a lower > percentage of English speakers, likely around 50%, higher in the more > tourist traveled areas and lower in more local restaurants. The same was > true for taxis so it might be useful to write down the address for the > driver in advance of getting in a cab. An additional suggestion for anyone > who might need to go to a pharmacy is to speak with a staff person in your > hotel before going into the pharmacy, have them write down the polish words > for your symptoms or the medication you desire, over the counter drugs are > sold through the pharmacist so you will need to clearly communicate your > ailments. > > I look forward to seeing everyone next week, safe travels. > > Regards, > James T. Owen > > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimania-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l > > > * > James Owen > Executive Assistant > Wikimedia Foundation > Office +1.415.839.6885 x 604 > Mobile +1.415.509.5444 > Fax +1.415.882.0495 > Email- [email protected] > Website- www.wikimediafoundation.org > * > > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimania-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l > > Airwolf&me have updated the wiki with a bit of how-to-get-to-Gdansk info :) http://wikimania2010.wikimedia.org/wiki/Getting_to_Gda%C5%84sk#By_air -- "Maybe you knew early on that your track went from point A to B, but unlike you I wasn't given a map at birth!" Alyssa, "Chasing Amy"
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