Poland travel OK as a non-white person?

[Anonymous]

Title.

Poland looks beautiful. How is traveling there as an obvious non-white person? We'd like to see smaller towns and second tier cities too, not just Warsaw and Krakow where they might be more used to international travelers. Is it safe or dangerous to travel in the smaller areas as a non-white person in Poland. We did go to Eastern Europe before in countries like Estonia and immediately got hit with racial epithets and dirty looks from locals.

[Anonymous]

You speak Polish?

[Anonymous]

No.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You speak Polish?

No. How many other tourists do? Google translate is easy to use. I don’t speak Chinese or Japanese either, but it was easy traveling there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You speak Polish?

Polish people frequently speak enviably excellent English.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Title.

Poland looks beautiful. How is traveling there as an obvious non-white person? We'd like to see smaller towns and second tier cities too, not just Warsaw and Krakow where they might be more used to international travelers. Is it safe or dangerous to travel in the smaller areas as a non-white person in Poland. We did go to Eastern Europe before in countries like Estonia and immediately got hit with racial epithets and dirty looks from locals.

What?

[Anonymous]

It is a beautiful country. Bring a translation app and be prepared to use it. I travelled there with an Asian teen. We didn't feel particularly safe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is a beautiful country. Bring a translation app and be prepared to use it. I travelled there with an Asian teen. We didn't feel particularly safe.

Why?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is a beautiful country. Bring a translation app and be prepared to use it. I travelled there with an Asian teen. We didn't feel particularly safe.

My Asian friend lives there and hasn't had any issues.

There are racists everywhere, of course, but I don't know why Poland would stand out as unsafe?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is a beautiful country. Bring a translation app and be prepared to use it. I travelled there with an Asian teen. We didn't feel particularly safe.

My Asian friend lives there and hasn't had any issues.

There are racists everywhere, of course, but I don't know why Poland would stand out as unsafe?

I don’t know much about Poland, but is there any concern that it’s close to Ukraine and Russia?

[Anonymous]

I wouldn’t worry about Krakow and Warsaw. They are very touristy/international and people speak English. Outside of those towns, I might worry a bit more.

I used to live in that region and had friends (other expats) who had a couple weird things happen to them. (One was always mistaken for Asian celebrities, despite not looking anything like them; that was more bizarre and kind of funny to him, at least.) I do think some of my friends were subject to staring and strange or offensive comments. (However, I have experienced the same in areas I’ve traveled where I was the minority in a very homogenous place. I’m not sure if it was more or less in other places.)

I am not aware of incidents in Poland in particular where they felt actively unsafe but obviously cannot speak for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You speak Polish?

No. How many other tourists do? Google translate is easy to use. I don’t speak Chinese or Japanese either, but it was easy traveling there.

How did you know what they were saying about you before in Eastern Europe?

Anyway, you will be fine but Eastern Europeans often have RBF so if you interpret every look as racist you might be uncomfortable. In major cities everyone speaks English. The closer you get to Belarus/Ukraine, the less true that is, but Google translate works well enough to communicate.

[Anonymous]

I’d feel fine traveling to Poland now. Less so Ukraine, which is too bad, because Lviv is really nice (and easy to get to from Krakow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You speak Polish?

No. How many other tourists do? Google translate is easy to use. I don’t speak Chinese or Japanese either, but it was easy traveling there.

How did you know what they were saying about you before in Eastern Europe?

Anyway, you will be fine but Eastern Europeans often have RBF so if you interpret every look as racist you might be uncomfortable. In major cities everyone speaks English. The closer you get to Belarus/Ukraine, the less true that is, but Google translate works well enough to communicate.

Because you don’t need to speak Estonian to understand a mocking “Ching Chong!” Followed by using one’s hands to make slanted eyes.

[Anonymous]

I was in Poland last week. No one is worried about a Russian invasion.

Not much racial diversity there. Berlin is much more diverse.