It’s no secret that Poland is one of Lithuanians’ favorite and most visited countries in the world. Our people travel there in all possible ways – by car, bus, train and plane. But at the same time, they constantly complain that communication should be improved even more.
Travelers want to reach as many Polish cities as possible and do it in the easiest, fastest ways. It is a very normal wish, but it is not always easy to implement, so as soon as something new is heard about Poland, people’s involvement is maximum.
I dare to remind you what happened a year and a half ago, when LTG Link launched the Vilnius-Warsaw-Krakow train after a long break. It seemed like some great miracle was happening. The interest was incredible. I went on the very first trip and described it in “Delfi Travels”, that article was one of the most read on the portal that month. After that, the representatives of the railways repeatedly cheered that the interest in this trip does not decrease over the months.
Therefore, when I saw the announcement by Lithuanian Airports and the Latvian airline airBaltic about the new Vilnius-Krakow flight last fall, I thought that this should also be special news for Polish lovers. After all, Krakow is officially called the most beautiful, historic and even the most interesting city of this country, which attracts tourists from all over the world. But, well, getting there from Vilnius itself is quite difficult by car, the trip would take about 10 hours if you didn’t make long stops.
Even longer by bus, by train as well. And here is a direct plane – here it is a completely different matter. From our capital, the capital of Polish culture can be reached in just 1 hour. 20 minutes – this is what the airline announces. But in reality the flight is even faster, just over an hour.
My predictions came true, I was convinced of that today (May 3), when I arrived to fly on the very first Vilnius-Krakow flight. There were no free seats at the A15 departure gate of Vilnius airport – groups of friends, families, single travelers. The interest is huge. My old friend, Martynas Jaugelavičius, the route development manager of Lithuanian airports, who I met right here at the same gate, rushed to rejoice at that.
“People really needed this direction, there are a lot of people who want to fly,” he says with a full smile, in a festive mood.
The aviation expert says he sensed that Lithuanians have been missing this direction for a long time, which is why a lot of effort was made to make it appear. “We had flights from Vilnius to Krakow only 10 years ago, but they did not last very long. After that, there was a long break until now,” he said
Martynas and his colleagues organize a solemn celebration at the airports every time there are new flights and new destinations in Lithuania. This time there was also a ceremony with Polish songs and congratulatory speeches. I had only heard about such things, seen pictures, but never participated myself. Oh, it turns out, without need, a very fun holiday. For example, have you ever heard Polish pop hits playing at full volume at the Vilnius airport? Today, Sylwia Grzeszczak’s song “Bang Bang” and similar songs were played here.
All the travelers who set out on the trip were treated to a Polish cake “Sharlotka” baked especially for this occasion, which was generously distributed in boxes by Inga, the wife of the famous musician, member of the group “G&G Sindikatas” Artūros Matkevičiaus-DJ Mamanias, who works in the business of organizing events. I was surprised by the portion size – the cake was not spared, each box contained four pieces. Like for a personal birthday with friends.
What was even more surprising was the incredible desire of the passengers of the first Vilnius-Krakow flight to take pictures at the commemorative photo wall with a table made for these celebrations. There was a long line, people posed for photographers hired by the airport. By the way, one of them immediately shared snapshots – perhaps this was the secret of such popularity. 15 minutes into the photoshoot, I asked him how many photos he had already taken. “I just handed in the 60th photo,” he replied.
“It was the most awaited flight for our family,” says the family of Arūnas and Daiva from Kaunas, who are on their way to Krakow. I was surprised to hear this, but they explained why the desire was so strong. It turns out that close relatives of the couple live in Poland’s second largest city, who have been inviting them to visit for a long time.
“Well, we thought we would take that train, but it takes a very long time, 15 or 16 hours, if I’m not mistaken. Sitting in one place for so long is difficult, somehow not for us. Therefore, the plane is a very good solution”, explained the couple I talked to.
At the same A15 gate, I also met Virginija Vervečkaitė, a media representative of the Lithuanian Prison Service, who had set out for Krakow with a large company, and most importantly, with her mother. “This is a special trip for Mother’s Day, we are flying to get cultured, to look around. We heard that it is very beautiful there,” Virginia explained.
She was happy that it is possible to travel to Krakow on a weekend, as direct flights from Vilnius and back are organized on Fridays and Mondays. “Everything fell into place very comfortably here. And the price turned out to be good, round-trip tickets for one person cost 60 euros,” said Virginia, who was met at the airport.
Another traveler, Eugenijus from Vilnius, says that he paid 30 euros for the tickets one way. True, he emphasizes that during the fall season there was such an advance ticket promotion that he and his wife decided to take advantage of.
“Krakow is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe, if the tickets are so cheap, there will be a lot of Lithuanians there, because there is definitely something to see,” said the man, although he himself has not been to the city yet.
“I saw from the photos and the shows filmed there, besides, friends said, everyone only praises Krakow,” the interviewer exuded optimism. He also plans to stay in Poland only until Monday.
Simon Bartkus, who is currently in charge of Lithuanian airports, decided to test a new flight, the creation of which he partially contributed to. Several well-known businessmen in our country, people who are distinguished in the world of artists were also seen on the plane.
The first flight from Vilnius to Krakow was delayed by about 20 minutes, the reason for this being that the plane was delayed for a while at the Amsterdam airport. However, the time saving happened during the flight itself, because we reached Krakow 10, maybe 12 minutes earlier than originally planned. Upon landing at the international airport named after John Paul II, the Poles welcomed our travelers with water volleys, which were launched into the air by two fire engines. The festive mood was waiting for everyone here as well.
According to the data of the Lithuanian airports, 108 passengers flew on the first flight to Krakow, at that time slightly less – 86 people flew on the return plane to Vilnius.
Krakow is not the only new destination from our country’s airports. Yesterday, planes started flying from Vilnius to Hamburg in Germany again, the Vilnius-Lisbon flight will start on Tuesday, and the Vilnius-Reykjavik and Palanga-Amsterdam flights at the end of May.
