WARNING: CONTAINS AN UNLIKELY IMMIGRANT, AN UNSUNG COUNTRY, A BUMPY ROMANCE, SEVERAL SHATTERED PRECONCEPTIONS, TRACES OF INSIGHT, A DOZEN NUNS AND A REFERENDUM. This is Aitken – the ardent traveller who, in his own words, prefers to put travelling before travel writing. I have no issue with an author giving their political opinion and I suspect that the author and myself share the same opinions on many topics. Since the idea of the book is nice and the things that happen interesting I would recommend reading this book, however one chapter at a time, and some other things in between. It is a unique country, as is the United Kingdom, and although there are things I don't like about either country, I love them both.

The dutiful noting down in his diary of all these visits is doubtlessly of interest to him, but I found them uninteresting and unmemorable. His first job was to teach English at an after-school school run by an Englishman and his Polish wife. For instance, chapter 12 highlights Aitken’s experiences roaming around Freedom Square in Poznań to hear people’s opinions on Brexit. Such an attitude explains why he didn’t read up on Katowice’s socio-economic situation in advance of going there. Because the author decided to just describe his life in Poland in a diary like manner, there felt like no drive or forward movement in the novel.My visualisation skills were working overtime when I pictured Aitken pounding “the surrounding streets … trying to identify the most likely house and practising my lines. Poland has charming facets, strange quirks, and very alien customs (to me); but every day, I can find or learn something completely new. However, and I say this knowing humour is subjective, the contents of this book do not seem like they were designed to be funny.

I came to the author from his previous travel book: Dear Bill Bryson: Footnotes from a Small Island, which I believe should be read before this one, if possible, as an introduction. The things he encounters and endeavors he undertakes (the Christmas dinner) are interesting and could be at times hilarious. The chapters were relatively short and easy to digest, so it was easy to pick up the book and read for a short time. As a slight spoiler, there's a Christmas custom of an empty place at each table for a (hungry) stranger, so he "invites" himself to a random family's dinner! I don't see why it was necessary for the author to spend so much time detailing his smoking and drinking habits or describing his daily hangovers with such vividity.The concept seemed interesting and I found the beginning of the book amusing, especially the chapter on teaching English to Polish students.

I've lived in Poland for the last twelve years, and so having a chance to compare my own experiences to those enjoyed by Ben Aitken meant that this was a diverting, enjoyable read. Adeptly balances personal ruminations on love, attraction, and friendship, with cultural evaluations that subvert British stereotypes of Polish citizens [.I particularly enjoyed Ben’s stint as an ESL teacher, having personally supported non English speaking students, I found his newly acquired skills and experiences familiar and hilarious! This is one of those engaging rambling, waffling, flaneur-ish books that is deceptively meaningful, quietly passionate. And I also did not like his “preacher” persona when he talks about EU, racism and many other things. It showed me Poland from a completely different angle, one which I hope to experience for myself one day.