My ugly American moment in Vienna

To start, we had a wonderful time in Vienna July 2008 and made good use of Europe’s rail system.  Earlier during our stay in Vienna, we took the train from Vienna to Salzburg and back without incident.  It was efficient and comfortable.

Now, my ugly American moment.  A couple of days later, we were traveling by rail from Vienna to Prague and had a direct train, which, of course, would make periodic stops.  We were supposed to depart Vienna at 10:04 am and arrive in Prague later that afternoon.  We were getting to Prague in plenty of time for our 5:30 walking tour of Prague Castle.

Well, my excellent planning, did not pan out so well … we missed our train, probably by minutes and here’s why.  The previous night, I packed all our bags (3), leaving out only toiletries.  We get up a little late and have breakfast, a little longer than we should have.  Then we take a walk around the block to help digest breakfast, probably shouldn’t have.  We go back to our room and get ready.  I’m getting concerned about time now, since we had planned to take the metro and the tram to the train station.  We finally leave the hotel around 9:20.  I’m debating should we take a taxi.  We finally reach the metro station with our 3 bags.  It’s the weekend, so trains run slower, but not slow.  We reach the end of the metro line and I have to ask directions for taking the tram, which is right across from the Opera House … not too far from the metro line.  We now have about 15 minutes before 10:04.  So, I am thinking we are not going to make it.  We reach the train station and didn’t know where to go.  There were no escalators, so, we had to drag heavy bags up steps.  We finally reach the correct platform.  I’m thinking we have missed our train.  And, we had!

I explode and throw my bags on the ground … and may have used an expletive or too and may have given an old lady looking at me the evil eye.  Of course, missing our train was no one’s fault, but ours.  I am still fuming mad!  I ask staff at the station how we would get to Prague now that we missed our train.  We could take a direct train much later and miss our Prague tour or we could change trains 2 times and get to Prague by 4 or 4:30.  We took option two.  I was also irritated because we had paid for first class tickets and had reserved seats for the long journey, but the first couple of trains had no first class compartment.

We finally arrive at the border station, Breclav, where we would take a train direct to Prague.  This train had a first class coach.  Of course, we boarded in the middle and walked all the way to the opposite end of train looking for first class.  We had to trace all the way through the second class coaches before finding first class, but we finally did.

In closing, we eventually reached Prague, checked into our hotel, and enjoyed our walking tour.  The lesson in this story, European trains run on time, so get to the station on time.

Traveling by train in Europe

During our Europe 2008 holiday, we used just about every form of transportation available — plane, train, and automobile.

We always travel by plane and automobile, but wanted to do something different this holiday, so we used the trains system to travel from city to city and country to country.  While it had been over 20 years since I last traveled by train in Europe, I expected this mode of travel to be as reliable as air travel, and it was.  Of course, there were delays and problems, but this happens when traveling by airplane too.

So, when considering air travel and train, there are definitely factors to consider.

Air travel

• pros:  fast.
• cons:  expensive; security (lines, liquids, …); arrival times (1-2 hours); retreiving luggage; scenary (sky and clouds).

Trains

• pros:  inexpensive; spacious seating; no security; arrive times (early enough to take train); no baggage checking; scenary.
• cons:  can be slow; no complementary snacks (not even pretzels or beverages); buying food from dining car can be expensive; frequent stops.

I know a lot of people think that the trains are exclusively used by backpackers and young travelers and they are, but they are also used by travelers who don’t want to fly everywhere or want a different experience.  We had a couple of adventures … missed on train and another train was malfunctioning, but we eventually made it to our destination, several hours late, but we made it.  (More about this later though.)

Like air travel trains give you a couple of options, you can travel first or economy class.  I recommend this option, the first class option, because the coaches a nicer and more spacious.  You also have the option to reserve a seat or not.  We reserved a seat for all our rail travel, but there we many many unreserved seats.  Some European trains sell tickets and passes to board the train, but do not require to purchase or reserve a seat, so you may be able to board the train and not have a seat.  As a precaution, I will continue to purchase reserved seats.

I highly recomment rail travel, especially if you want to different travel experience and want to see the countryside.  Word of caution when traveling by trains.  Don’t be late.  When the trains run on time, they run on time.  We missed our train from Vienna to Prague by minutes!

My day trip to Salzburg

One of the things we like to do when we travel, especially internationally, is to take day trips outside the major city that we are visiting.  While Salzburg is a travel destination itself, when we were in Vienna, we visited the city for the day.  We took a train too … when in Europe travel the European way.

Salzburg was absolutely wonderful and it absolutely added to our memorable holiday.  Unlike German and other Austrian cities, Salzburg was largely spared large scale destruction.  Thank goodness, the city has building dating to the fourteenth century, not to mention that it is the birthplace of Mozart.

Prior to arriving I had arranged a city tour with Salzburg Sightseeing Tours, which was a good choice.  We learned and saw so much on this tour.  We also learned that the tour could have been called the Sound of Music and Hapsburg tour.  The tour was very good with a good mix of coach and walking.  Interestingly, the tour operator offers a “Sound of Music” tour, but we thought could there be more.  For a while we thought that we were on the “Sound of Music” as our tour guide repeated mentioned that “this building/palace/castle was in the movie.

Visiting all the site that belonged to the Hapsburg makes me want to be one.

In addition to the “Sound of Music” and Hapsburg presence, Salzburg is abundant with beautiful gardens and statues.  And if you visit Salzburg, you have to visit the churches and monastery and the castle.  While we were only there one day, it’s probably a two day visit if you just want to sample what the city has to offer … which is much.

Touring Austria with tour operators

While in Austria during the summer of 2008, I took a couple of tours, as I have been doing the past several years.  I find that organized tours, while they can be a little confining, you learn so much more about the place that you are visiting than you would on your own … as least typically you would.  Usually tours are guided by local folk who love their culture and history, some are trained in these disciplines … and of course, some are just lousy.

Usually, I arrange my tours through Expedia, sometimes Travelocity, because I assume and hope that these companies have vetted the companies providing the tours.  Another source that I have tapped is TravelBound.  Often they offer even richer and greater variety of tours than Expedia and Travelocity.  Additionally, many of the tours that you find on Expedia and Travelocity are also found on TravelBound.

The one problem with TravelBound is that only travel agents can book tours.  Fortunately, I have a local travel agency that I can call and ask them to book tours for me.  Works every time.  So far so good with the tours that I have selected through their site.  The descriptions tend to be quite accurate.

Vienna, Austria … pictures and words aren’t enough!

Vienna, Austria is one of the most beautiful cities I have ever visited.  Along with all that beauty, you have culture and history.  As an aside, don’t refer to Austrians as Germans.  I didn’t do it, but that would be bad!

While in Vienna, we took a city tour … in part to learn a little history, but also to get oriented to the city.  This is a typical strategy of ours so that we can return to some of the place we rushed through during the tour.

Like many European cities, Vienna is a very walkable city.  We stayed at the edge of the city at K+K Palais which is a European chain of boutique hotels and had no trouble getting to all the site, either by walking or taking the very reliable public transportation.  By the way, K+K Palais is definitely a great hotel.  They are on my list of places to stay.

Back to Vienna though.  One of the most beautiful aspects of the city are it parks.  They seem to be everywhere.  I think they probably contribute to all the “lovers” we saw expressing public affection for one another.  The city is also incredible clean.

In addition to the beautiful parks, you have historic buildings like cathedrals and the Opera House.  You can actually tour the Opera House.  It’s a must do in my opinion even if you don’t like opera, which I don’t.  Schönbrunn Palace should also be on your list and if you take a tour … walk or take the metro back so you can have lunch, explore the gardens and zoo, and visit the fountain.

In fact, the city is so aestetically pleasing that we walked miles without realizing it.  Picture and words don’t do justice …

Eastern Europe 2008 … History comes to life!

We just recently returned from Austria, the Czech Republic, and Hungary and if you like history and you haven’t been to these countries, they are must visit destinations.

As much as I would like to take credit for planning such a historic-rich trip … it was happenstance.  As one who loves history, and is aware of the close relationships among the Austrians, Czechs, and Hungarians, I completely was not thinking of this when I made the arrangements.  Visiting these three countries really pulled all that history together … the Austrian-Hungarian Empire!

These three countries, despite being part of the Austrian-Hungarian, are quite culturally different.  Vienna is quite different from Prague, which is not like Budapest.  Of course, prior to the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, these countries and their territories were distinct and the Empire did little to change that.

In summary, Vienna is probably culturally west.  Prague is very old and the western edge of Eastern Europe.  Hungary, a culturally rich eastern European country, is proud of its historical role in stopping the advance of the Turks.

A visit to one or two of these destinations would be incomplete.

Warning … American Express Travel

Are you traveling outside the United States and need foreign currency?  Beware!

We are traveling to three eastern European countries the 30th of June.  So, as I usually do, I exchanged/purchased foreign currency prior to our trip.  There are many benefits:

• You don’t have to wonder whether or not you are getting a good rate from one of the many currency exchanges that you find in Europe.
• When you land in your host country, you are ready to start spending money!  Splurge and take a taxi!
• There are all types of security concerns … for instance, is this exchange legitimate or is this a real ATM or is it just recording my financial information.
• Not every establishment accepts credit cards.  The same is true in the United States.
• Hotels sometimes do not offer the best rates.
• Beware of vendor who accept your home currency, such as US dollars, you will always get a bad exchange.

In the past, I have used AAA, but they can be expensive and they sell currencies in pre-packaged packs.  So, this year I decided to purchase Euros from American Express.  I though, wow, you are so smart.  Wrong!

If you purchase currency from American Express, you better be ready to stay at home and wait for UPS to deliver your money.  There is no option but delivery to your billing address.  I understand that this is money that can get lost or stolen.  I understand.  But, you have no option to pick your package up from your local UPS center!  Nowhere is this mentioned on the website.  It doesn’t even say that they will ONLY ship to your billing address.

Customer service at American Express Travel is terrible.  The representative that I spoke with gave me one option, “return to sender.”  This is not a tenable option.  I leave home in 3 days!  The representative and the manager seem to expect me to know their policy with UPS, which also is not listed anywhere on their website.  So, what am I going to do!  Wait at home, miss work, and get further behind in projects than I already am!

American Express Travel, let me know the full policy, so I can make an informed decision.  I had the option of going to a local American Express Travel office, but decided that the convenience of delivery was better.  I was wrong!  Maybe?

Warning … think twice about using American Express Travel to order foreign currency or traveler’s cheques.  By the way, traveler’s cheques are becoming a currency of the past.  I bought this type of currency several years ago and fewer and fewer shops and institution will exchange this currency compared to the first time that I used them.  The last time that I used this currency I had to go to a bank in Greece.

The other lesson … don’t wait until the last minute.  American Express Travel won’t necessarily help!