I am trying to get an idea what to expect buying train tickets in Poland. Right now, I am planning on buying tickets day of or possibly a day or two early. I am anticipating the following:
Krakow to Wroclaw
Wroclaw to Poznan
Poznan to Gniezno (and back)
Poznan to Torun
Torun to Bydgoszcz (and back)
Torun to Gdansk
Gdansk to Malbork (and back)
Gdansk to Warsaw
What can I expect at a train station? Will there be machines with an English option? Are there separate machines for the different types of trains (intercity or higher speed)? I'm assuming that ticket employees will not be proficient in English. There is a Polish train website that encompasses all the trains, but it doesn't seem to work often. (rozklad) I've been using bahn or polrail to get an idea what is available. Are those the best choices for proxy? There is an intercity website that seems to work well, but it doesn't have the high speed trains. When I have been able to get on the rozklad website, I noticed I'm entitled to a 30% senior discount. Do I need any particular card for that? It appears tickets are purchased for a specific time, so they probably do not need to be stamped?
What does 1st class get me? Separate compartment? fewer people? windows that open? We are probably only interested in 1st class if it helps with "COVID distancing".
Can we eat and drink on the train? Is there anything that may not be obvious that we should know?