Poland

I always thought of Poland as grey and cold. And raining. Which it turns out is slightly unfair. And pretty inaccurate. I was in Poland on the next part of the rollercoaster hunt. You may remember that last year, Lisa and I went to Belgium and Holland as stand ins on a trip Zac had organised with his friends, to ride rollercoasters. Surprisingly we really enjoyed it and when we got back Zac produced a video of our adventures. That video ended with a teaser for the next part of the rollercoaster story: Poland! The rides in Poland are 150ft taller…Part of me hoped that, for reasons beyond my control, a trip to Poland wouldn’t happen. When we booked the trip, I was still wondering why. Why do I want to go to Poland to ride rollercoasters that are even taller than the ones I’ve already done? Poland it turns out is beautiful. The people are really friendly, the food is wonderful and the rollercoasters…Day 1 was just a taster. Only one ride that counted on Zac’s checklist! Day 2 brought the big rides! And I mean big! Hyperion stands at 253ft tall and reaches a speed of 88miles an hour. Zadra reaches a speed of 75 miles and hour, a height of 206ft, has three inversions and on one world ranking website is ranked the third best ride in the world! It comes second in my personal list! Being with Zac, the expert in all thing rollercoasters, was great fun. We rode 28 coasters in three days and ticked off all the rides on his spreadsheet. To tick all of them off the list we had to ride some rollercoasters that are really designed for children, because the park classifies them as rollercoasters! It was almost too embarrassing to be queueing with the children and their parents, but…we did it! And anyway, I was with my child. We are father and son. Just a bit older than every other father and son! And here’s the thing: I had no fear at any point in the three days we were riding rollercoasters! Two weeks before the trip I was getting nervous. I don’t have a great head for heights and I was worried about the height of some of the coasters. I wasn’t sure I was going to enjoy it, or even want to go on them. But once I was there and on the rides, all that fear disappeared and I was able to relax into enjoying the rides. It turns out riding rollercoasters is something I’ve learnt to enjoy, by simply doing them. And now I’m wondering why I didn’t do it before. I’m even thinking about a trip to Germany or Sweden where the next big rides are! Which makes me wonder what else I might find different if I simply had the courage to do it! And especially in my journey of faith!