The International rail crossing from Lithuania to Poland has earned itself something of a reputation with travellers. It involves taking a train to the Lithuanian border, joining a special service for the 30 miles into Poland and then changing to a Polish train for the rest of the journey. Onward tickets can't be bought in advance and you have to queue up at the departure point of each leg. Guidebooks warn that with all the chaos involved there is a good chance of missing the single daily train across the border and being left stranded. Those were the reports and I had psyched myself up ready for some queue barging and train jumping if necessary. But, perhaps because of the adverse publicity things have changed and the whole trip was sadly uneventful. The only memorable point was just how painfully slow the trains were.

Once safely across the border the idea of continuing for another 8 eight hours all the way to Warsaw didn't appeal. Not just because of the tortuous pace but because I wanted to go to Gdansk and that would have meant violating one of the travellers holy commandments - never double back on the same route. So instead I decided to forego the convenience of the Interrail pass and make my way cross-country to Gdansk by bus. I left the train and walked to the bus station - overtaking the train in the process - where there just happened to be a bus leaving to Olstzyn, about halfway to Gdansk.

Unlike the buses and coaches in the Baltics, which are comfortable express arrangements, this was more like a backwater countryside service which stopped every few minutes. It took five hours to reach Olstyzn where the late hour meant I had to stop over. There isn't much to see there, the cheap hotel were I stayed probably relies on travellers like myself, caught unaware by the slow transport network and ending up stranded. The next morning I continued the journey to Gdansk by train and managed to get there comparatively quickly on an 'express' train.

Gdansk is probably the most Germanic city in Poland due to the fact that is was, for much of its history, an independent city state influenced by Germany and known as Dansig. It was almost completely destroyed during the Second World War and much of it has been painstakingly reconstructed from the original designs.

I arranged another home-stay, this time not quite as modern but still comfortable. The weary looking woman who owned the apartment didn't say much and appeared slightly inconvenienced by the whole arrangement. I had a look around the flat before I left the following morning and noted that the room reserved for guests is actually the only bedroom of the flat. The woman and her grandson slept on mattresses in the small living room.

The Interrail pass is designed to allow unlimited second-class travel in certain zones throughout Europe. I decided to upgrade to first class on the journey to Warsaw and was all already to pay the necessary supplement which was only likely to be a pound or two. The ticket inspector looked like he had never seen one of these passes before, tried to work out the English small print and gave up. I made a mental note to try that again.

I arrived in Warsaw on the afternoon of September 11th but it wasn't until late that evening that I had full knowledge of the tragic events the day. While wandering around the train station on arrival I noticed a group of people crowed around a television but all that was shown was a newsreader in front of a crudely drawn map of America with New York highlighted. No video footage was played and after a couple of minutes of waiting I moved on with the more important task of finding somewhere to sleep. Only later that night when visiting an Internet cafe did I get the full story from a website. Even then, without hearing any English speaking voices to validate the events it was hard to appreciate the full impact of what had happened. The uncertainty continued until the next day, I was half expecting the whole thing to be revealed as some sort of hoax.

The stay in Warsaw was uneventful. I took a room on a hotel boat moored up on the river with the intention of meeting up with the English friend of the American girl I met in Tallinn. Instead, not feeling too sociable I spent most of the time meandering around the city and dropping in to Internet cafes to follow the world events. On the second evening I walked by the American embassy where mourners had left hundreds of candles and TV cameras were broadcasting around the clock.

I left Warsaw on the overnight train to Berlin. An early arrival in Germany would give me plenty of time to check in to the hotel and sort out domestic issues such as laundry and post before my housemate John arrived. John was taking a 10-day break from the stresses of work to join me on the route to Krakow and then onto Prague. Unlike most of the trip I booked the hotels in advance and with Johns encouragement had arranged for significantly more luxurious accommodation that I had become used to.

We only spent one full day in Berlin, just enough time to see the new Reichstag building and experience a bit of the famous nightlife before taking the long train back to Poland. The train to Krakow took over nine hours but having visited one of Berlin's famous food halls the day before and stocked up on wine and fine foods, the journey turned out to be mostenjoyable.

Krakow is the primary tourist destination in Poland not just because of the attractions of the town itself, which is compact and lively, but also because of the many places of interest in the region. Teaming up with John meant that there was always going to be an emphasis on eating, drinking and being merry but we did ourselves credit by actively seeking out out cultural pursuits. An evening at a classical music recital was found to be the perfect warm up for spending the rest of the night trying out the local cellar bars and jazz clubs.

In the daytime we explored the town and also went to see the nearby Wieliczka Salt Mines, a huge labyrinth of caverns hundreds of metres underground where miners have carved chapels and statues out of the salt.

We also spent a day at the Auchswitz and Birkenau concentration camps which have been turned into educational memorial sites. The whole experience was compelling but didn't have quite the same harrowing impact that I had been led to expect. I think that the emotional response of moment can be delayed and recollections of being in such a tragic location will surface whenever the topic is discussed or shown on film.

The final evening: trying out some Polish cuisine at the most expensive restaurant we found in Krakow, which was still a fraction of the cost of Western Europe, before catching another overnight train to Prague. John prompted another upgrade to first-class, this time to avoid sharing a cramped sleeping cabin with other four other travellers. A decision I supported but didn't admit to for fear of losing backpacker credibility.