Vienna

Austrian Airlines at Vienna Airport.

OK, I'll rename the blog the litany on the airports!!!  But, knew how interested all of you would be in all the airports en route - and to enable you can travel with me...OK, the real reason... I don't have anyone to talk to!

Bill and I were separated in Frankfurt... bummer!  Would have had 9 hours together there if we could have changed my Frankfurt/ Vienna leg to his flight and then we could have taken a bus trip into town.  But, perhaps it's for the best... for the first time in my life, I laid down on a row of seats and took a nap!  Quite a new experience!

No rain, but it looks like it could

So, see the beautiful sky?  Remember AG is in the 70s?  Well, not so here.  They keep the airport quite warm, but every crack let's in the "real" air.  Shiver!  People are still dressing like it's winter here... hasn't anyone told them?  And, it looks like it's about 6:30 pm here, doesn't it... so, why does it feel like it's 10 in the morning? 

Moving walkway and an elevator!  The bigtime!

Snoozed all the way from Frankfurt - actually thought I'd be awake, but no way!  It was a good thing, my seatmate was seated on my "wrong side," and it would have been a problem with my wacky neck.  So, all in all, a good thing.  But, didn't engage like Larry said I should... just was pleasant, took out by Bible because I actually thought I'd read some... and promptly fell asleep!  And, that after sleeping about 6 hours on the over water flight, an hour or more in Frankfurt!  Not an unpleasant way to travel.  I must say, though, I don't know whether to have breakfast, lunch or dinner!

At any rate, the last time I was in Vienna, the Tirana flight was off in the hinterland... down a narrow concrete hallway and then down two long flights of stairs to get to the gate.  There were only a few vending machines and even fewer passengers waiting.  I felt like I was on my way to Siberia.  If you remember, or if you look back on the blog, the seats were lime green plastic.  But, today, the flights to Tirana have entered the 20th, if not the 21st century... see the long hallways?  Even a moving walkway!  What a change!! 

Just in case you wondered, you can tell when you are in a German airport... glass enclosed one-way corridors with alarmed glass doors to the corridor going the other way, everyone rushing!  Austria is a little more relaxed.  But, very little English, and even fewer vegan or lactose-free selections for my errant meal.  So, had cold cuts, scraped off the cheese and was happy to have something.

Each flight gets me closer to Albania... and makes me more excited!  But, probably the best news of the day... I think I've been through my last security inspection!  So far today (which started yesterday), I've been randomly selected by the computer to go through two extra inspections.  How's that for luck?  And here, in Vienna, the most thorough one yet... ever!

Pafshim.  Next blog from Albania!!  Wahoo!!