Vienna wasn’t really on our itinerary, but it led to a bucket list experience, and I truly wouldn’t change a moment of it!
Our time in Austria could best be described as a sort of mash-up of pop culture and movie references. We left Venice late one night on a sleeper train bound for Vienna. This was the ‘Orient Express’ reference, although both being realists, JL and I were prepared more for the ‘Sex and the City’ version of cross-country train travel. And the latter was definitely the case. It was cramped, noisy, slightly smelly, and hot. But we had our bubbly, our complimentary train company slippers, and we were happy to spend the night winding out of Italy watching old episodes of ‘How I Met Your Mother’ on an iPad that was precariously perched on top of our ever-rolling luggage.
The plan had been to stop in Vienna for breakfast before boarding yet another train to Budapest. Unfortunately that’s where we encountered a rather large obstacle. Budapest was closed. And our train was scratched. We had found ourselves caught up in the flood of people fleeing Syria bound for Europe. Trains were cancelled, borders were closing, and airfares were, well, sky-high.
Tired and uncomfortable (the best shower we could manage on our train was a basin rinse) we dragged our luggage to a nearby café boasting free wifi. It was time to come up with a Plan B. Media reports, and frantic texts from our families, informed us of what we’d been completely oblivious to as we frolicked from city to city on our trip so far. There was a refugee crisis – millions of people were fleeing their war-torn homeland, and Europe was struggling to cope.
JL was livid. Budapest was supposed to be amazing, and it was one of her eight equal top must-do experiences. As we sat in our café, devising our game plan, ordering yet another plate of waffles, round of coffee, or mushroom-topped schnitzel, I resigned myself to the fact that we would not be seeing Hungary (and I would definitely not be hungry for days!).
After four hours, (and even more ‘we’re not loitering, we’re eating!’ food ordering), we’d both spoken with our families, booked a hotel right around the corner, found a laundromat, and a supermarket, and decided to spend the next four days in Vienna before hiring a car and driving to Munich to return to our scheduled holidaying.
So to pick back up on the referencing schtick, I guess that’s a bit of ‘Seinfeld’ or ‘Friends’ or any other TV show where they spend their lives in a coffee shop.
I was determined to make Austria fun. Yeah we didn’t get to go to where we had planned, but complaining wasn’t going to solve that issue, and in the scheme of things, we were holidaying, not fleeing persecution…
So here are the highlights:
- Our hotel was adorable. It was attempting a modern/warehouse/artsy look, and for the most part, only half pulling it off – but in my mind, that only made it better. And if I could have taken anything, it wouldn’t have been the towels, it would have been the giant champagne-cork coffee tables.
- Discovering that the Australian Embassy was hidden on a side street, compared with the ostentatious American and British embassies on the main street was also amusing. And JL finally cracking a smile after attempting to walk reading a map through a wind gust, made the whole morning even more hilarious.
- Finding an Aussie-named by not themed bar – and having the bar staff refer to us as ‘Aussie chicks’ instead of a table number, also great.
- Wandering around Wiener Risenrad was incredible fun – I think I ate my body weight in fairy floss, but it was worth it!
- Having hotel room parties. OK this one was bitter-sweet. We had dinner in our room two nights in a row because there were swarms of men outside our hotel. It turned out that the women and children fleeing Syria were left to sleep in and around the train station, but the men were all staying in our hotel. That was hard to take. Sweet side, we made the most of our private dining room, stocking up on local cheeses, cured meats, chocolate and wine.
- PLUS I got to cross off a bucket list item during our exodus.
The escape from Austria saw us following in the footsteps of the Von Trapps, we decided to secure a small German vehicle and head for the border. The day before we were due in Munich, we stopped by one of four car hire outlets, and after some bargaining, walked out with a reservation for a bottom of the range car. The salesman suggested we’d need a GPS, but we assured him we were extremely resourceful.
JL made the most of our final night of hotel wifi, copying down line-by-line the instructions for driving from Vienna to Munich, and by the morning, she was confident she could navigate us there. We put our passports in our hand luggage, ready for inspection at the border, and headed on over to collect our car. We got there right as the stores opened, and witnessed a frantic couple get turned away from all four hire companies – all the cars were gone. The crisis was escalating. Although, not for us. With a smile, the attendant told us, ‘Ah. You’ve been upgraded.’
Walking into the basement with a flutter in my stomach and a face-splitting grin, I saw it. Our brand new Mercedes. It was beautiful, it was shiny, it was new (only 5,000kms!), and I was going to drive the Autobahn in it! Ever since I was little, I have dreamed of driving through Germany in a vehicle designed for the terrain. During my uni days, I interned at Top Gear Australia, where I read every word written by those lucky European journos who tore through Western Europe in bright and colourful supercars and called it work. My dream was that I would get a similar opportunity (riding shotgun with the editor in an Audi R8 through the Sydney Cross City tunnel was as close as I got then). But here, in this detour of a holiday, I was finally getting the opportunity!
It was a completely incredible experience. Words actually fail me. It was a mix of excitement, exhilaration, and a little dash of fear. We had a handful of ‘oh wait, which side am I meant to be on?!’s, and one U-turn that turned a few locals’ heads – apparently they perform their U-turns counter-clockwise! But we eventually pulled into Salzburg for lunch. Cue the ‘Sound of Music’ re-enactments.
Eventually we made it to Munich, reached our hostel, and we were back to our tightly planned, mapped out holiday. And while I thoroughly enjoyed every second of our trip (ah hindsight, the ability to forget jet-lag, long queues, and badly sunburnt skin), I truly believe Vienna was one of the best bits. So I guess the take out for me is that sometimes you have more fun when you ‘Just Go With It’!
😉
Just Curious 