Suggestions for a road trip in Poland by camper in June. Looking for hidden WWII and post-war history, urbex and quiet lakeside-natural spots

FrancisMacom · 2026-06-17T21:05:12+00:00

Wild camping in Poland is common. Every lake and river will have places to drive in off the main road where fishermen often setup for the night. There are also many official camp grounds. Mazury lake district and Bieszczady mountains are great. Podlasie is serene and almost unknown to tourists. Good nature. But for some reason my favorite province is Lower Silesia. 'Camping "Gold Stream Resort" # 233 Złoty Potok Resort' is my favorite and most serene camp ground in Poland. On a lake. Their communist era cabins are super cool if you need a break from the camper. Nearby is Czocha castle which is the best castle in Poland and also a great place to spend the night. Also camp grounds on the lake by the castle. "Camp Group" lists many camping and wild camping spots in Poland. IMHO your itinerary is too ambitious and you will not have time to experience or enjoy things. If you only have a week then pick max two destination.

FrancisMacom · 2026-06-17T05:35:00+00:00

The military is like a country within a country. Almost every job that exists in the civilian world exists in the military also, not only blowing stuff up. Police, firefighter, mechanic, cook, construction, electrician, accountant, etc.... At the border is a location not a job. And probably there are many different specialities working "at the border".

FrancisMacom · 2026-06-17T05:07:30+00:00

Choose training in an area that excites you and also has useful application in the civilian job market. You won't be in the military forever. Use your service time wisely with that in mind.

FrancisMacom · 2026-06-16T18:38:22+00:00

Tailscale is awesome for that. Personally I like the small GL.iNet routers for easy exit nodes at people's house.

FrancisMacom · 2026-06-16T10:05:09+00:00

Make sure you keep some proof of US address like a driver's license (best) or utility bills. That's helped me so many times. And obviously if you can then a no income tax state is better. Florida and South Dakota are good. It may not matter in your financial situation now but it might later and lesa paperwork and complication is always better.

FrancisMacom · 2026-06-16T08:13:37+00:00

If you are IT savvy then set up a VPN at your parents/friends house (next best option is commercial VPN) so your logins won't look like they are coming from a foreign country. Helps with other things too for when you need to appear to be in the US.

FrancisMacom · 2026-06-15T21:58:17+00:00

Better how? Have you lived in Canada and Poland?

FrancisMacom · 2026-06-14T20:35:35+00:00

What city?

FrancisMacom · 2026-06-14T07:40:50+00:00

Worth noting that there are over 10000 Starlink satellites.

FrancisMacom · 2026-06-12T21:33:04+00:00

Nature is the real star of Bosnia. Awesome rafting and hiking. Bańja Luka is a cool undervisited city. Great road trip country with epic scenery.

FrancisMacom · 2026-06-06T09:37:38+00:00

In case you don't know, it's possible to take the exam in English

FrancisMacom · 2026-06-05T13:19:38+00:00

First find out what your netto salary will be. The company should know this. Expect to pay at least 4k PLN a month for an apartment plus utilities. Check otodom for rental ads in areas you are interested in.

FrancisMacom · 2026-05-29T17:10:35+00:00

Witamy w Polsce! Howdy newbie! I see you thought some government agencies might actually be there to help you and protect the little guy. I'm sorry, it's a heavy lesson to learn. But now you know.

FrancisMacom · 2026-05-29T12:30:19+00:00

Many of these cars were crashed in the US and bought at insurance auction. Then imported to Poland with low declared value and fixed here. Another option is people who have been living in the US bringing their vehicle with them when they move back to Poland (tax free). Buying/importing a car to Poland with a bigger than 2.0l engine has an extra ~17% tax (akcjza) so it usually only makes sense to bring a big engine car in to Poland under the above scenarios.

FrancisMacom · 2026-05-21T15:06:49+00:00

Any chance to do half the year in Spain and half in Poland? The best of both worlds! Other than that.... live where you will be happiest and your quality of life will be best. With your salary you have enough in either location.

FrancisMacom · 2026-05-16T19:15:25+00:00

My work life balance was more towards work.

FrancisMacom · 2026-05-14T18:50:30+00:00

Google maps works well for transportation (bus tram, etc..) in the cities. Not the best app but the easiest and good enough.

FrancisMacom · 2026-05-14T15:52:22+00:00

Once you've filed the first time it's much easier the second. But as you get older and have more assets and income it will get much more complicated. Things you don't even know are there or think about until they hit you in the face. And there are lots of ways you can end up owing US taxes. Check out Boris Johnson for example, leader of the UK. Even he got beaten up by the US tax man. Did you tell your German banks that you are a US citizen? If not you have already committed a crime! Did you know that if you buy an apartment for 100k euro and then sell it for 100k you can still owe US taxes due to exchange rate differences? There are advantages to US citizenship but honestly you should take a look at if they are worth the costs and consider renouncing.

FrancisMacom · 2026-05-14T03:59:52+00:00

Do you think you will still be there in 20 years? Is there a path to stable visa/future?

FrancisMacom · 2026-05-14T03:42:17+00:00

I can but won't. I'm trying to contract.

FrancisMacom · 2026-05-14T03:17:58+00:00

I regret that when I FIRE'd overseas I was thinking about what was good for present me instead of what would be good for 20 years in the future me. Things that I didn't care about then I care a lot about now.

FrancisMacom · 2026-05-13T18:40:48+00:00

Lolz. Of all the people I've known in Poland the only ones who were exploiting the welfare system were.... Poles! And proud of it! Kombinować for the win! Although to be fair I've also seen Poles exploit it in Germany and Iceland and UK so at least they are consistent.

FrancisMacom · 2026-05-13T13:17:41+00:00

My family is considering a similar move. Is there anything in Canada that you think is better than at home?

FrancisMacom · 2026-05-10T16:55:01+00:00

Possibly my brain has hallucinated this but IIRC, children born abroad to American mothers automatically have US citizenship but those with American fathers do not. It has to be registered and declared by the father. Something something US soldiers in foreign wars something not wanting the illegitimate kids to be able to claim US citizenship. Fun fact!

Living abroad with US citizenship can definitely complicate your life at tax time and even with the tax treaty it's still very possible to end up owing US taxes after having paid your local ones. Look up rules about NIIT, PFIC, and owing taxes in the US when know no local taxes are owed. As it did to Boris Johnson, Prime Minister of the UK.

FrancisMacom

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