as of june 2026, (in addition to the Flixbus line mentioned in the article) you can reach Hel by
train: regularly scheduled Polregio from Gdynia Główna, as well as an intercity connection EIC 1540 Jantar
bus: PKS lines 654 from Reda and, most relevant for this post, 669 from Dębki - formerly 666
the PKS network around the peninsula is bigger than that, though, and it might be more convenient for some people to take the bus to Władysławowo and then change to another bus or train line. the full diagram is available on this site.
as one last thing I'll note that Hel has been connected to the Polish rail system by means of railway nr 213 since the year 1922.
semi-regular psa that depending on where you live, getting a few doses of narcan might literally be as quick, easy, and free as pouring river water in your socks. it's small, light, and easy to carry around in any kind of bag bigger than a wallet; it's simple to administer; it doesn't become hazardous after its expiry date, just very slowly less effective but still okay to use; it's safe to give multiple doses of it in succession; and it won't cause any harm even if given to someone not experiencing an opioid overdose. (due to the nature of how it works it is a potion of instant withdrawal and might make someone very sick very quickly for that reason, but you can't give someone a hazardous overdose of narcan.) even if you don't think anyone in your life licitly or illicitly uses opioids it's still worth it to pick some up just in case. if you are the Purse Bitch of your friend group and have ever said something like "well what if we do need two full boxes of bandaids all of a sudden" then you simply owe it to yourself to see if a public health center near you has a free narcan distribution service.
For those curious on how to respond to an overdose using Narcan/naloxone, NYC’s health department has a good video on the subject. For those in NYC, their website also has information on how to obtain it.
always great to carry narcan, and while you CANNOT give an “overdose” of narcan, you can effectively drown somebody if you give a large dose. the “drowning” is flash pulmonary edema, and is associated with larger amounts of narcan being administered to somebody who is overdosing.
so absolutely please get some and carry it with you, and remember that you don’t need 20+ mg of narcan to reverse an od!
Adding onto the last rb as someone who works in harm reduction and has given overdose reversal trainings.
First want to say that OP your post is great but it's important to mention that you NEED to wait 2-3 minutes before administer a second dose of naloxone (the generic and frankly better version of Narcan, Narcan is a for-profit brand so if you can it's better to get the generic from your local SSP or HD), for folks who are dependent upon or otherwise regular users of opioids naloxone can precipitate pretty nasty symptoms of withdrawal, no one is gonna feel *great* after an overdose, but acute withdrawal can lead to vomiting, shakes, and a whole slurry of symptoms ranging from unpleasant to medically dangerous.
While were here, here is a quick runddown of symptoms of an opioid OD to look out for:
- Person’s skin might look blueish or greyish, depending on skin tone
- Skin might feel cold or clammy
- Might hear “agonal breathing” - a gasping/gulping/grunting sound sometimes mistaken for snoring
- Sometimes you might not see or hear any of these obvious signs. The person might just seem like they are sleeping or in a heavy nod.
You can check for responsiveness by verbally calling for them and doing a sternum rub (running your knuckles up and down the center of their chest), but don't spend a bunch of time trying to get them up-- every secound counts.
Second major point: when reversing an OD you are looking for a return to regular breathing, NOT for the person to wake up. Adulterants like xylazine (tranq) and medetomidine are fairly common in the US fent supply, and given that these are sedatives they can put folks out for hours at a time. Make sure to give rescue breaths and monitor breathing continuously until emergency service providers arrive (or if you are unable to call 911/999/etc, have someone stay with the person for at least 90 min). The biggest mistake I see people make is, since they're in a panic, they continuously administer naloxone without waiting and without watching for breathing bc they're worried about the person not coming to. I get that it's really scary, but it's vital that you're focusing on the correct tells.
Like last rb said too, you don't need a crazy mg amount to reverse an OD, in fact you don't need more than 4mg max (6mg if the person REALLY isn't breathing) for nasal naloxone and 0.8mg/ml max for intramuscular naloxone. This is about 2 doses for each type, and often one dose is enough to stabilize someone (when the medicine wears off any opioids left in the system will rebind to opioid receptors, though, so keeping a dose on hand is vital especially if they can't get to the hospital for monitoring). There is no evidence that high dose naloxone such as Kloxxado is more effective in reversing overdoses, and actually poses a greater danger due to its ability to quickly lead to acute withdrawal. These products are produced by for-profit companies co-opting panic surrounding the present street opioid supply, and are not recommended by anyone with experience in the field.
If you want to find free naloxone near you but aren't sure where, NextDistro is a great resource for those in the US
the cunt who makes my life decisions (me) and the idiot who has to live with them (also me) somehow have diametrically opposed world views how am i supposed to live like this
I think one of the funniest abortion stances I've heard was from my parents neighbor. He's a like, hard-core libertarian viking larper guy who is very tall and very fat and very bald.
He believes a fetus is human with a soul, but also its "basically attacking the woman's body" so if she wants to get rid of it, that's "basically self-defense". He compared it to shooting a home invader. So he supports abortion not as healthcare, but as killing a baby in self-defense
Y'know I'm so glad someone reminded me of this. Because this was also discussed.
My stepmother did NOT like the way her Libertarian Viking Neighbor framed pregnancy as the fetus "attacking the woman". She incredulously told him this was extremely disrespectful to expectant mothers to portray pregnancy as so violent and negative.
Libertarian Viking Neighbor's response was that people consensually hurt each other all the time, and "there's like a whole community about that, with the acronym the one that starts with a B" And his reasoning was that if the mother was consenting to bring attacked by the baby, it in fact wasn't violent and negative because there was consent.
He brought up people consensually hurting each other, didn't go for one of the obvious answers like boxing or body mods or something, no he went STRAIGHT TO BDSM and he DIDN'T EVEN REMEMBER THE ACRONYM
hey. you have to love your trans brothers of color okay. and your trans sisters of color. and your nonbinary siblings of color. you have to okay. its simply non-optional
You make soup in a big bowl. You serve it in a smaller bowl. And then you convey it, using a spoon, to your mouth. But what is the spoon? Simply a smaller bowl still
I found out today that there was a (thankfully very ill-fated) attempt to have the entire Wikipedia article on discrimination against transgender men deleted. At first I thought the perpetrator was yet another bargain bin transphobe/TERF act of disruption but apparently not so, she is a trans woman. The user in question had been disputing the use of transandrophobia in the article as being inappropriate, but as other editors pointed out, the way in which it was used was as to be expected (basically saying “hey this term is being used commonly right now in places to describe this phenomena”). When attempts to get the article edited to remove any mention of the term failed, this user instead decided to just nominate the whole article for deletion instead. She even went as far as to say “you will never be a man” to the editors disputing this, though it was quickly deleted. It’s the actions of only a single person, but I find this indicative of how the chronic devaluing and othering of transmasculine people and voices in faux-transfeminist spaces leads to action basically indistinguishable from cis transphobes. Resorting to attempted vandalism of an online resource and blatant transphobia is a symptom of this trend that deserves absolutely no patience at this point.
