Tag Archives : Moving-to-Poland

If you are moving to Poland from UK you should know about two traditions of Poland.  A Marzanna is a straw doll about 3 feet tall, dressed in rags, a striped shirt and lots of ribbons. When spring arrives and the snows start to melt, the people dress in costume and escort the doll to the river – where they throw her in, thus killing the winter. Legend goes that once there lived a young man, whose faith was so great that he saved the life of a girl who was to be sacrificed to appease the god of Flood and Storm.

If you are a pensioner, you need to inform the IPC (International Pension Centre) to prevent problems with your pension payments (tel. 0191 218 7777). Public health care in Poland is organised in such a way that healthcare premiums are subtracted from pensions.

Despite its long coastline, Poland has few passenger ferries. Driving in Poland can be troublesome, so trains are likely to be your main means of transport for any distance. They are not expensive and usually prompt. There are likely to be queues at the ticket office, so leave time to buy your ticket. If you haven’t managed to buy one before boarding the train, find the conductor and buy your ticket then. There will be a small supplement to pay, but less than the fine. The personnel probably will not speak English, so have your destination, time and first class (pierwsza) or second class (druga) written out.

Learning the language may be a great help in developing a social life in Poland. The official language of Poland is Polish and 98% of the population speak it. The other 2% speak one of the minority languages – German, Ukrainian or Belarusian. Polish originated in the areas of present-day Poland from several local Western Slavic dialects, and shares some vocabulary with Slovak, Ukrainian, Belarusian and Czech languages.

In proportion to avarge income, the cost of living in Poland is one of the highest in the European Union. For a British national however, both day-to-day costs and property prices will seem extraordinarily affordable.

Although Britain is not a member of the Schengen area, and therefore customs formalities apply, because we are members of the EU, there is little of consequence to concern the average Briton relocating to Poland from the UK.