Since we got back from Brazil in early March things have been a bit quiet on the travel front. However I did have to go to Valencia for the final tour of duty on the 32nd America’s Cup. The work offered to me was originally a three month stint based in Valencia for the entire duration, but I had already said no to most of that duration as my lifestyle has changed since the start of the America’s Cup. I use to love all the work related travel but now I just feel more like staying home and working closer to home. It is funny how travelling jobs seem more readily available to those who don’t want them anymore; if I could have been offered this lifestyle when I was 23 years old I would have loved it. But as I have been working on the event since 2004 I couldn’t say no completely and agreed to do a six week stint followed by a few weeks off and then a final three week stint.

My six weeks started at the end of March and had me working on the final of the Acts, which are the events leading up to the main event. Act 13, a fleet racing event, involved all of the boats competing simultaneously in a race for the finish line. These two weeks were relatively uneventful and allowed me to return home for five days prior to the start of the Louis Vuitton Cup, the event where things get serious. The defenders, Alinghi, are no longer involved in the racing until the main event at the end of June, and the other teams essentially battle it out to see which team will have the right to go up against them in the America’s Cup Match Race.

My three weeks were quite hectic with a busy work schedule full of some of the best sailing racing I have ever witnessed. The social life was restricted as the work was tiring me out. At this stage Maria was also suffering from all the pain associated with her pregnancy, which was progressing well, but most nights I was on the phone hearing her in pain and depressed, wishing the constant feeling of sickness would pass.

These phone calls were making my job very difficult. It is hard to concentrate on work when you know your wife is at home suffering. I spoke to my employers and requested that they replace me for my return to Valencia for the Semi-final as I felt it was far more important to stay home and look after Maria than to work in a foreign country where I would be hours and maybe even a day away if anything went wrong. They managed to replace me for most of the booking but needed me to return for five days to get the event off to a start.

Days before I was due to fly out Maria started feeling pains which left us spending six hours in hospital undergoing a number of tests to make sure everything is ok. Although everything was fine with both Maria and the new addition, the fear of something occurring while I am away was too strong and I had to cancel the return to Valencia. Thankfully my employers understand the delicacy of the matter and were very supportive.

Since then my sister Joanne got married to her fiancée Mike in Sydney. As they were set to come here only a week after the wedding, we couldn’t justify the huge expense of going to Sydney for the wedding. However we did organise a little trip for them so Mike could have a taste of Europe and the advantages of living in London with so many countries so close to us. Maria and I looked at a number of options and decided on a trip that would allow Mike a real taste of a few different countries, and would allow us to see a few new places. This trip would give us the opportunity to spend some quality time with my sister and her new husband as well as enjoy what would probably be our last holiday for some time.

Thursday the 12th of July started early with our taxi booked for 0530. The night before I had called the taxi company to pre-book as last time I rang in the morning we had to wait twenty minutes. On the phone the company told me the taxi would cost £36 which is a bit steep, but they justified the high price on the fact that there would be four of us and we would require a people carrier. The silly thing is that we normally pay £19 and it is virtually always a people carrier anyway. When the driver arrived on time we were pleased to be on our way. The morning was a little cool but I think the driver thought it must have been snowing outside as he had the heat on to the point where we were all starting to sweat. If that wasn’t bad enough he started to clean his ear as he drove, which is fine if he is alone but I was right behind him, and that is something I didn’t want to witness. We were happy to arrive at the airport and step out into the cool. The driver obviously didn’t bother discussing the trip with his office as he only charged us £30, and we weren’t going to point out that we had been expecting to pay £36.

Travelling to and from Western Europe, especially when using British Airways, can be one of the easiest travelling experiences possible these days. Our trip was a good example of this with everything going smoothly by today’s standards. Our seats had already been chosen via the online check-in system so we only had to drop our bags and go through security, all of which was easy. The flight was uneventful with a smooth landing into Vienna, then onto a train into the centre of town, onto the metro to the Westbahnhof, and finally a short walk to our hotel.

The hotel was chosen close to the Westbahnhof, or West Train Station as we thought it would offer a convenient transport link not only to the attractions of Vienna but also to neighbouring cities and countries.  The down side with a hotel in a train station district is that it is often an area that attracts strange people such as drunks, drug addicts and prostitutes, but you can’t have location, value and class….

After a quick shower to freshen up we hit the streets to start the adventure. Joanne and I had been to Austria a few years ago when we went to Salzburg, but this time we were in the much larger capital city. To ease us into the new city we chose an outdoor restaurant by the train station for an Austrian feast, including sausages, schnitzel and Weiss Beer. After lunch we had to master the Viennese metro system and chose to purchase a seven day train ticket, which offered the best value despite having only three and a half days of use left on it. Unfortunately the weekly ticket runs from Monday to Monday regardless of which day you start to use it, but it turned out to cost only 40 cents more than buying a three day ticket, and would allow us full use of the metro on this first day.

With ticket in hand our first journey took us to the Volkstheatre station, surrounded by a number of imposing and impressive buildings and appears to form the administrational centre of the city with buildings such as Parliament and the Town Hall. As we walked around this huge buildings I had my camera at the ready, but as fast as I got the lens cap off the rain started to come down, leaving us running for cover.

After the rain passed we walked about town and saw many of the sights and walked through the beautiful Volksgarten, or the garden for the people. We contemplated going for a ride on a horse and cart but thought the prices were quite steep and even come close to the extortionate charges imposed by the gondola operators in Venice. For a short twenty minutes they charge €40, for forty minutes you must pay €65 and for a full hour you have to cough up a whopping €95. We decided it was too much to pay and continued our walking tour of the city.

The city is much like many other large European cities and although it does have an Austrian look to it, there isn’t too much that jumps out as very appealing. There are big impressive buildings, pedestrian shopping districts with all the designer label shops, and loads of restaurants, serving food from all over the world. Although it was nice I am wondering if I am starting to prefer the smaller villages with more character. The rest of the day was spent walking, exploring and consuming the fine food and drink available in this town.

The following day started off badly. Joanne had been suffering a cold and she had woken feeling terrible. Mike decided he would stay with her and look after her, and if she felt better in the afternoon they would meet up with us somewhere. Maria and I decided that we would hit town by ourselves and go for a walk, but as we arrived in the metro station Maria realised that she had left the camera on the bedside table. Maybe I am neurotic, but the thought of leaving something valuable in the room to tempt hotel staff is a mistake and it was worth returning to the hotel to make sure it was safe. As we walked into our hotel room Maria found the camera had been in her bag all along. This appears to be a bit of baby brain at work. I have read that this occurs and that pregnant women can do things that aren’t logical. By his stage Maria was also not feeling very well and decided to stay in bed for a while, so now I was off to explore on my own.

As I returned to the station it dawned on me that people were smoking everywhere despite the signs clearly stating that smoking is not permitted. I find it funny that Europeans who smoke seem to think they have more rights than those who don’t smoke. This is also now very evident in the UK which has imposed a ban on smoking in all bars, restaurants and public places. The smokers are complaining that it violates their rights having to smoke outside, especially if it rains, but what about the people who don’t smoke. I use to smoke but was always happy to abide by the rules and respect the rights of non-smokes, but Europeans just don’t seem to care.

The next few hours I spent pacing the city looking for interesting sights and found that after walking for hours and hours I had done a huge circle without even realising it. I had been trying to find the Danube but ended up back in the Volksgarten. I decided to give up and return to the hotel to see how all the sick people were doing.

With Joanne and Maria both feeling a little better we decided to visit a part of Vienna called the Prater. I knew little about this place but Joanne and Maria were both aware of it from a film they had seen. Once we arrived it turned out to be a fun fair with rides and carnival type games. As we walked through the park a moment of complete madness swept over us. This madness drew Mike to a shooting game where he had to shoot small air pellets at little white plastic pieces. How many pieces had to be hit wasn’t clear. The cost was also not clear. After watching Mike and Joanne take a few shots I decided to have a go and try my luck. I spoke to the man and asked how much it costs and he avoided answering the question. 

Rather than see this as an obvious trap I just picked up the gun and took aim. The man was very helpful and advised us how to do better and hit the target more often. I was doing great, exploding at least eight of the white plastic targets without a miss. After some time the man suggested we slow down and take our time with the shots. For the first time he pointed out that this advice was not for the benefit of our aiming skills but based on the fact that each shot was costing us one euro. I sprung up with shock at what he had just said. Could this be for real? I looked at the counter on the side of my gun and it displayed 055. At the same time Joanne and Mike were just realising the impact of what we had done. I felt like picking up my gun and taking aim at the man’s head. At this point I noticed the signs on the wall clearly stating 1schuss 1 euro. Even though we asked for the price and the man did not offer an answer we only had to look at the sign. Even though we are not German speakers what else could schuss mean? 

We felt cheated, and the man must have felt quite pleased with himself. He was set to make a sizable slab of cash, which I imagine would be rare as you would hope most people have the sense to see that paying one euro per shot with no apparent aim was a game that you could never win. Even if you did win you only stood the chance of walking away with a stupid stuffed toy. Mike’s bill came to a little over €50 but they only had €40 in cash, so Mike paid and pointed out that it was all he was going to get. I stupidly paid my full €55. I suggested that I would get the police involved as I felt cheated, and the man seemed keen for me to do so. I guess it would be in his interest as Mike hadn’t paid his full bill and the price was clearly stated on the wall. In his defence the signs do state clearly (in German) that each shot costs one euro. Had he been honest he might of made it more clear at the start, but I guess he would never make any money that way. Who in their right mind would pay one euro to shoot a single air pellet? He then offered to give us both a mid-sized prize like that would make things better. As he sensed our growing rage he even offered to let us share one of his biggest prizes between us. How generous!

Feeling cheated, with empty wallets, we walked down the street in search of lunch. Feeling defeated we entered McDonalds for a cheap meal. As we sat down to enjoy our hearty international meal it dawned on us that it was in fact Friday the 13th, whether that has something to do with the fact we had all gone stupid for a few costly minutes we will never know. The budgets had already taken a serious beating today, but nothing like the beating I wanted to give the man at the shooting stand. We walked about the town in the afternoon and saw a little more of the sights. However it seems that the best part of Vienna is the area we had first visited with all the imposing buildings, everything else was run down and old.

Later we went to the Schönbrunn Palace, once the summer residence of the Habsbrug family and home of Maria Theresia. This palace has a huge building that wraps around a giant open courtyard in front. Behind the building are gardens so large that the cities zoo is enclosed in a tiny percentage of the grounds. The garden stretches back almost a kilometre up a hill to a summer house on the top of the hill. This house offers stunning views of the main residence and of Vienna in the distance. It would be easy to spend an entire day in this garden, especially for Mike who is a landscaper and had a great deal to see here.

After the rain on our first day the weather had started to get warmer, and that night we decided to sleep with the fan on to try and keep us cool as our hotel did not offer air conditioning. This proved to be a mistake and I woke up with a cold that wasn’t great. With Maria already suffering nausea amongst other pregnancy related pains I was now suffering too. Meanwhile Joanne’s cold had gotten to the point where she decided to stay in bed rather than come out with us for the day. Mike decided to join us as he didn’t want to miss out on the day and could only be of limited assistance to Joanne.

Our journey started with a trip across town to the South Train Station or Sudbahnhof. This would normally be relatively easy using three different metro trains, but as one of the lines was closed for maintenance we had to get out early and walk along a dirty part of town to finally reach the station. Once there we promptly purchased our tickets and stocked up on food and drink for the journey, which was to take a little less than an hour. Throughout the journey the view was mainly of fields of various crops, but the most significant and beautiful of these was sunflowers. These fields were huge with many thousands of brightly coloured flowers facing the sun.

When the train terminated we had reached Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. Bratislava and Vienna are the world’s closest capital cities, around fifty kilometres apart. The train stopped at a very quiet platform and all of the passengers had to exit through special doors where waiting police were checking passports. Straight after the passports had been checked a man was trying to entice people into his currency change shop to convert some of their euro into Slovakian Koruna. Mike chose to get a small amount of cash to last him the day, while I opted to get some cash out of the ATM. Another small shop had a sign up to entice customers in to the shop offering free maps. When I went in and asked for one they happily provided a map of the region with a big spot in the middle showing where Bratislava sits in relation to the rest of Slovakia, not too useful for a day of exploring this city on foot. I decided to buy a small tourist book and some bus tickets. The girl behind the counter suggested we buy tickets for the public bus as the town is too far away to get to on foot.

As we just missed a bus we had to wait fifteen minutes for the next one. We were pleased we had taken the advice and bought the tickets as it was a good ten to fifteen minutes on the bus. We had no idea where to get off the bus as we had no idea what the town looked like. At one point the bus stopped and almost everyone got off, but when I suggested we do the same Maria didn’t feel confident that this was the right place. As the doors closed and we sped off down the street it quickly became evident that it is the place we should have gotten off and we were now travelling into a dirty part of town. We quickly pressed the button so we could get off as soon as possible.

The town itself was full of character and had loads of tourists wandering around, many of whom were in large groups. I suspect most of the tourists we saw were actually there on a day trip, probably from Vienna, rather than staying in town. There was one group of English guys that appeared to be on a stag weekend, and were cramming in a little sightseeing before they hit the bars and get messy. We explored much of the town and ended up climbing many stairs to visit the castle on top of a hill looking down over the town and the Danube. The castle grounds offered a nice view but the buildings themselves were less than inspiring.

I couldn’t leave Slovakia without sampling some of the local food and beer so we went in search of a restaurant. We wanted to find somewhere to eat that looked like it was frequented by locals rather than just tourists, and roamed about the many cobbled streets. Finally we settled on a small place with old mismatched chairs and tables. You certainly wouldn’t pick this place for their style, but it seemed full of locals with a menu that was full of local dishes. We read the menu and made our choice but never got served. We tried to catch the eye of one of the staff as they passed but they looked at the ground as they walked. After fifteen minutes of being ignored we left in search of a restaurant that actually served people.

We eventually chose a tourist style place with a huge menu of traditional dishes, but with prices as huge as their selection. The prices were not staggering but a dish that cost 180 Koruna in the last place was around 350 here. We bit the bullet and ordered as time was running out. The servings were huge, with Mike and Maria went with the traditional meat filled dumplings, piled high with sour kraut and fried onion, while I had slices of veal wrapped around cheese and bacon. This was all washed down with the local beer called Zlaty Bazant, which was nice and cool but not as refined as the delicious beer on offer in Austria.

Paying our bill was interesting, as we really wanted to get rid of the last of our local currency. We hadn’t realised when we first arrived that Euro would be pretty much accepted everywhere we go, and we already had that from Austria. The waiter was happy to accept all of our Koruna and allowed us to pay the balance in Euro, allowing us to not be stuck with money we couldn’t use anywhere else.

As soon as we had finished eating we had to dash to the Danube River and find the Hydrofoil terminal. Earlier we had picked up a brochure about the hydrofoil service, which had a schedule with the trips both to and from Vienna. Having read the brochure we decided that we would go for the 1630 Hydrofoil to Vienna as we thought it would be a nice way to return since Vienna and Bratislava are on the Danube River. To catch the Hydrofoil we had to arrive fifteen minutes prior to departure so that we could pass immigration and board.

We found the wharf right on time and asked a young girl sitting at an information desk where we go to catch the hydrofoil. She pointed out that we have just missed the 1600 boat to Vienna. This was most annoying. I was almost sure that the boat went at 1630, but it was clear I was wrong. We walked along the riverbank in search of other options. Mike saw what looked like another boat and ran to find out what is happening. It was another boat but wasn’t going to go until 1830. We now had to decide whether we would try and get the train back, which would mean finding a bus to take us to the train station a fair way out of town, then getting the next train, which wouldn’t mean much of a wait as a train goes every hour. We still liked the idea of returning by river so went to get an ice cream and kill some time until the boat goes.

At around 1745 we returned to the rivers edge to purchase a ticket on the 1830 boat. The man in the ticket office dropped a bombshell we really weren’t ready for. Apparently the 1830 boat, the last for the day, was sold out. I don’t know if this occurred since he gave us information earlier or whether it was always the case, but one wonders why we weren’t informed earlier as we may have changed our plans. The one saving grace was that the ticket man said that if we wait there is a chance that people with tickets wont turn up and we may be able to get on at the last minute. Our fear was that if we don’t get on we now have no local currency to pay either a taxi driver or a for a bus ticket to get to the train station. I am sure the train could be paid for in Euro if we are able to get to the station. Additionally we were worried that we were still in another country while Joanne is sick in Bed by herself in Vienna.

Crowds of people were arriving and boarding the waiting pontoon preparing to board the catamaran. We kept nervously looking at the ticket guy in the hope he would tell us to get on. But more and more people kept arriving and I was nervous we would be making a new plan. After seeing masses of people board the ticket man finally said he would go and see what is happening and walked down to the boat. At this point there was only five minutes until the scheduled departure. He walked slowly back up the ramp not looking at us once and didn’t say a word until he got to the top. We were on. There was just enough time to pay for our tickets and get on board, stopping only to have our passports checked.

The catamaran started slowly up the Danube and as we got out of Bratislava it picked up speed until it was going at around fifty kilometres an hour, a respectable speed to achieve on the water. The huge jets were firing water out that back that caused a large wake over fifty metres in length. The riverbanks were spotted with small towns and numerous castles in the hills that must have once been used to watch for invaders. The breeze was very refreshing after a long day in the beating sun. As we got closer to Vienna the boat turned off the Danube and carried on up a smaller canal. I am not sure if the canal is for the exclusive use of this vessel but I hoped this was the case. With a little less than ten metres of clearance on either side and flying at high speed we would have little or no chance of stopping if another boat came towards us.

Later that night we finally made it back to the hotel were Joanne was feeling a little better. We all went out for a spot of dinner at our favourite restaurant in the nearby train station, with a nice little outdoor eating area. Here we planned what we would do the next day. The original plan had been to hire a car and explore some of the towns in the opposite direction along the Danube, but so far the plan had not gone so well. Firstly we hadn’t booked a hire car before we left and then when we went into all the car hire companies based at the station we were told none of them had anything available for over a week. When I asked the hotel they weren’t much better only offering us a very expensive car from Avis, but we couldn’t even get that on Sunday as they would be closed.

As a final attempt I thought I ‘d try my luck on the Internet in the foyer of our hotel. It turned out we could hire a car from the Sudbahnhof and return it to the Westbahnhof at no extra charge. The most complicated thing was trying to choose a car suitable for our needs. The reason this is complicated is that various makes of car including BMW, Mercedes, Audi, Volvo and Volkswagen cannot be taken into Eastern Europe and there was a chance we would be driving into the Czech Republic. In addition to this we had to pay an extra fee if we did want to take the car into Eastern Europe, but a fee I was prepared to pay. I also decided it was worth paying the extra to have a GPS system fitted in the car, although I should really have brought my own as I had recently purchased a new flash one with maps of all of Europe and North America pre installed

Sunday July 15th started hot, with temperatures now reaching the low 30s. The sun was shining and it looked like a perfect day to take to the roads. Rather than mess about with the annoying journey we had done the day before to get to Sudbahnhof we decided to get a tram, which took us directly to the station without the need to change. It was much faster and easier.

Once we arrived at the Sixt car hire office the girl informed us that we would have to pay €25 per day to take the car into Eastern Europe even though we only intended to leave Austria for one of the two days we had the car. We decided to stay in Austria rather than pay the extra. This seemed to make the girl happy and she then informed us that she would give us a free upgrade to a BMW X3 with built in GPS. Of course we were happy with this. As we sat in the car and fired up the air conditioning I fumbled about with the built in GPS system and managed get it to talk to us in English, and I entered our first destination, a town called Melk.

We left the car park and drove through the city traffic slowly heading out of town. The problem with using a GPS system without a map is that it is hard to get an idea of where you should be going or if everything is progressing well. After almost an hour of driving we pulled over to buy a map and worked out where we were. It turns out we had been heading south out of Vienna heading to a town called Krems. The problem is that we should have been driving North West heading towards a different Krems, known fully as Krems au Donau, meaning Krems on the river Danube. We quickly reprogrammed the GPS and commenced our journey in the correct direction.

Eventually we arrived at Krems, a beautiful small town with a large palace set on a hill over looking the town. The streets were narrow and many were cobbled. We parked the car and went to a café for a refreshing iced coffee before exploring some of the town on foot. Eventually we left the town and drove along the Romantik Strasse towards Melk, another town set on the banks of the Danube. This picturesque road takes you along the edge of the Danube and up through hills covered in vineyards with views of the Danube below.

We stopped at a very nice little village called Spitz for lunch and sat out in the beer garden enjoying the fantastic weather and blue skies. A deliciously cold white beer accompanied a good selection of Austrian food including sour kraut and sausages. The rest of the day was spent visiting small towns and villages and stopping at nice viewpoints along the route. I think this type of travel is more interesting to me now than visiting the big cities. In the late afternoon as we were returning to Vienna we stumbled upon a few fields of Sunflowers, similar to the ones we had seen from the train going to Bratislava. There was no fence and the crop started right on the edge of the road allowing for a very unusual photographic opportunity.

Monday morning I woke with a pounding headache and had to stay in bed for an extra hours sleep before we could hit the road. Our original plan for this day was to visit Brno, the second largest city in the Czech Republic, by train, but as we now had a car that wasn’t allowed to go to Eastern Europe we had to make a new plan. Joanne suggested we take the motorway to Salzburg on the other side of the country as she clearly had fond memories of the town from our visit some years ago. After a quick breakfast in our local train station we hit the road.

According to the GPS system the trip of around 290 kilometres could be done in a little over two and a half hours. This didn’t sound too bad, and with the smoothness of the BMW I am sure we could even save some time of this estimation. As we were making good progress heading west out of Vienna the GPS system suddenly spoke. It was announcing that in fifty kilometres the traffic was not moving. On the screen a couple of options flashed onto screen one of which gave us the chance of a diversion around the predicted traffic problem. As the car was clever enough to know the road ahead was congested we thought it only fair to allow the clever car to direct us around the problem.

As we sped down the freeway towards the exit we saw a wall of traffic in front of us. Unfortunately the GPS system had planned o take us off the motorway a good twenty kilometres before the problem, but this was still an issue as the traffic was congested all this way before the incident. We spent the next thirty minutes crawling towards the exit. Once we got off the freeway the traffic was much better and although we couldn’t drive as fast we seemed to make good progress. A few times during the day we would either follow the GPS instructions to return to the motorway, or do so for our own sake. It seems every time we did enter the motorway there was another problem further delaying us. This day trip was destined to take time.

Thankfully the car was quite comfortable, although the legroom could be a little more generous. The car seemed to be fitted with everything you could want. This includes the GPS system I mentioned before, clever enough to tell you about traffic problems and plan a journey around them. The car also had all the usual things like a CD player and climate controlled air conditioning, most of which could be controlled from the steering wheel. When ever you were trying to park the car beeping indicators would tell you how far from the front or back you were by the speed of the beeping changing. The trip computer was very useful to plan when you needed to get more fuel and the six speed manual gearbox made motorway driving a breeze. The function that I found the most staggering is one I have never before seen on a car. When ever you stop the car on a hill and lift your foot off the brake, you never roll back. It seems the car automatically keeps the brakes engaged, somehow knowing you are on a hill, allowing you to casually take a foot off the brake and move it to the accelerator, without even the slightest roll back. Hill starts are a breeze with the parking brake only needed for parking.

Around sixty kilometres from Salzburg we were about to give up and head back to Vienna. It was now 1500 in the afternoon, and we had been on the road since 1030. The traffic didn’t want to let us go to Salzburg, but after a brief discussion we decided to push on…we have come this far.

An hour later we parked the car in the centre of Salzburg and went for a walk to discover the town. Although it was still familiar to me from the trip Joanne and I had taken there a few years ago it did look very different in the summer, as our last visit had been in the winter, and many European cities have a very different feel in the different seasons. We wandered around some of the sights of the town and walked by the house Motzart was born in. The streets were packed with tourists. We had a very late lunch in a Mexican restaurant for some reason before heading off out of town.

Although it was a very long drive to get to Salzburg the scenery is very nice on the way, and I think we all felt the trip had been worthwhile. On our way out of town we stopped by a large lake we had seen on the way in called Mondsee. This lake with the villages that lay on its banks is stunning. The entire area has that picture postcard look about it. The lake was so inviting Mike even decided to thrown himself in the refreshing water. The alpine mountains in the distance formed a frame to the lake with all the greenery on its banks. We could have stayed here for a few days, but it wasn’t to be. It was time to head back to Vienna and thankfully the trip back was much better than the trip out, taking around two hours, having averaged a smooth 160 kilometres per hour on the motorway all the way back.

Tuesday morning we had to return the hire car, but the station was just next door. We loaded up the bags in the car and left the car park, drove round the corner and entered the train station car park. It almost brought a tear to my eye having to return the car and something told me I would wish I could have kept it and drove to our next destination. The day was already warming up and the temperature must have been in the low to mid thirties.

We stocked up on food and drink for the trip and waited on our platform for our train to Budapest, the capital of Hungary. When the train arrived we were first on as there is often not enough storage space for everyone’s luggage, so I wanted to make sure ours was stored in the luggage area so it didn’t have to be with us. The train was an old train from Hungary, which disappointed me as I was hoping it would be one of the clean, new trains that forms part of the efficient Austrian train network. Our seats were midway down the no smoking carriage, and we had two rows of two behind each other. I would have liked to sit opposite each other or even across the aisle from each other. The train was already very hot with passengers fanning themselves, hoping the air conditioning would fire up once we got moving.

As we started our three-hour journey it wasn’t long before we noticed that the air conditioning hadn’t yet started, and looked like it wasn’t going to start either. The only air entering the hot train was coming in through four tiny windows on either side. Judging by the size of the tiny windows I think the train is air-conditioned but they must either have it turned off or it is broken. It was so hot I was sweating constantly. Maria even commented that it felt like we were on route to a concentration camp. Although it is not nice to joke about things like that Maria is pregnant, feels hot in cold weather, and was suffering this journey badly.

As we crossed the border the Austrian police walked down the aisles checking everyone’s passport and stamping those that need a stamp. As soon as we put our passports away a couple of very large butch Hungarian guards wanted to check the passports again. These butch women looked like they would beat you to death with their bare hands if you were not legally allowed to be on this train. I wished they could go and beat the man who runs the air conditioning for making us have to put up with the heat.

As we got closer to our final destination a group of men walked down the aisles with maps and tourist information. It appears that they board the train and try to find tourists who have no idea and suggest suitable accommodation and tours to them. A few people seemed interested in what they had to say, and many people got maps. I got nothing.

We finally arrived over thirty minutes late. I think I had lost about three kilograms due to the sweating I had been doing for the entire journey. We got off the train at Budapest Kaleti station and were instantly harassed by people trying to offer us tours, taxis and accommodation. All the while we were hanging on to our luggage with all our might as there were many undesirable looking people hanging about in the station. Our first job was to get some cash and approached one of the official change windows. As we did a man offered us change and promised his rate would be better than the windows, but I scoffed at the thought. Since when is the devious looking man in the train station going to offer a better, legal deal. Surely there would be a catch. Even as we entered the official change bureau signs on the window advised that it is illegal to change money with the people in the station. We ended up changing around €140 into the local Forint at an exchange rate of 194 Forint to the Euro, which we accepted a decent as we really had no idea what to expect.

The next problem we faced was how to get to our hotel. Normally on a trip like this I would have researched all these things so we have a plan, but on this occasion I was so snowed under before we left that I have done almost nothing. I did know that we could get the metro straight from the station to a stop less than three blocks from the hotel, and then we would only need to find which direction to walk to the hotel. But on a brief inspection of the station we couldn’t find the metro anywhere. Maria went to speak to a man who said the metro is closed for refurbishment and that instead we could catch a bus. Not bloody likely. After speaking to people to get an idea of the cost of taxis we took a man up on his offer of a ride to the hotel for 4,000 Forint. This seemed to be a good deal as one guy advised us that we should expect to pay anywhere from three thousand to ten thousand Forint for the journey.

As we followed the driver out of the station towards his car a few other taxi drivers started yelling at our driver, most probably because they were doing the right thing standing in the taxi bay outside the station while our driver had come in looking for passengers. We didn’t care much as we were on our way to the hotel.

After a high-speed ride through the streets of Pest, and across the bridge to Buda, we arrived at our hotel on the edge of the Danube River. As we stepped into the foyer of the Art’otel, we were relieved to find what looked like a good standard of foyer with nice cool air conditioning. As our last hotel in Vienna had not had air conditioning this was a concern. We all really needed to cool down after the ridiculous train journey and as the heat outside seemed to be more than in Vienna we couldn’t stand the thought of not having a cool room to sleep in.

As our rooms were not quite ready we sat in the bar and had a cool beer. I am not sure which of the beer or air conditioning, or the calm of the hotel foyer was most appreciated at this point, but all were very welcome. Once our rooms were ready we went up to find that the extra we paid for a view of the Danube was well worth it. Our large, trendy rooms had a full height window that looked over the parliament building and the River. Excellent.

After a shower we went for a walk in search of some food and found a trendy little outdoor café with a view of the River. We thought it would be nice to sit in the shade and have some lunch. The food was good but the service was less than average. The people all seemed to be very angry, and were far from welcoming. As we left the restaurant the waiter chased us saying that we had to pay a service charge of ten percent, which I guess one has to accept if that is the policy as it is in London, but surely it should be written down.

The heat seemed to be increasing all the time as we walked around the streets exploring the Buda side of this city split in two. Apparently the Buda side, where we are staying, is the more upper-class area, while the Pest side has many of the famous buildings and more life. As we wandered we walked by another exchange place and were horrified by the rates they were advertising. They were offering 241 Forints per Euro, as opposed to the 194 we got at the station. It looks like the devious looking man was right, warning us that the official place would rip us off. It turns out that had we changed our money here instead of the train station we would have gained over six and a half thousand Forint. Ripped off again.

The heat outside was still very hot at night and this put us off going out. Instead we decided to have a snack in the hotel bar and play Uno. We ordered some Nachos and were surprised at what was put before us. The plate had a very small salad consisting of a slice of tomato and cucumber sat on a single leaf of lettuce, and this formed the dressing for the main event, of a packet of Dorito style crisps that had been opened and poured onto the plate. To enhance the flavour was a small bowl of green dip, or guacamole from a tin. Usually Nachos has cheese melted on top or something, but this hotel felt they could charge for a packet of crisps on a plate. I don’t believe the way everyone just wants your money these days and isn’t interested in doing anything to get it.

The hotel had an extra charge for the breakfast, which was almost a quarter of the price of the room, so we decided to go in search of a local breakfast and found just the place. A small restaurant only two blocks from our hotel offered small breakfast items such as toasted sandwiches, omelettes and freshly squeezed orange juice at very reasonable prices. It is just a shame the service wasn’t as good as the food. The girl didn’t smile once and didn’t even look at us. We were starting to get the idea that the Hungarian people are not a happy lot. I don’t know if it was the heat or if that is how they always are, but it is not very nice.

We entered the underground and bought a book of tickets for the metro. Luckily we worked out how the tickets work from a small guide in our hotel, as I often find this one of the hardest things when travelling. Trying to work out the most cost effective way of travelling through a city when you are on holiday can be a nightmare. But thanks to our instructions we quickly knew what we needed to do to use the metro system without getting a fine.

The first train pulled up and it looked decent enough, despite its age. It looks like it was decorated in the sixties or seventies with art deco light fittings and everything looking like it was out of a period film. At the change of line the next train was even more unusual. It was only two carriages long but the carriages themselves were tiny. It was more like a tiny tram than a train. I wouldn’t like to see this system at rush hour. It is amazing how old this train system looks especially considering the fact that it was the first underground train system on the continent.

Our first plan for today was to go on a tourist bus to get an idea of what is in the city. Every second hour was an air-conditioned bus, which we thought would be best in the heat, but as we arrived on the wrong hour there was a half empty open bus sitting before us. We decided to board and were given funny little cardboard hats to keep the sun off our heads. The two hour bus trip was a nice way to see the city and many of its sights, and we were pleased there was a slight breeze at times. The temperatures on display throughout the city were showing 41 degrees Celsius. It was getting too hot to do anything. After the bus trip I felt like I had been baked slowly in the sun, and had to find somewhere for lunch that had air-conditioning, the food didn’t matter but it had to be cool.

After lunch we visited the Terror Museum, an interesting exhibit dedicated to the terror the city of Budapest has faced. The very building housing the exhibition was used by the Nazi’s during the second world war as their headquarters, and then afterwards by Soviet Union. Many people had died in this building and the display was quite an eye opener for Mike and Joanne. Many of the exhibits included actual footage of people dying and dead as a result of the cruelty instigated by first the Nazis, and then the Soviets. Maria and I have seen a fair amount of this in the past having visited a number of concentration camps.

By the end of the museum Maria was very tired. A cold had set in and now she was suffering from the extra weight she carries round due to the pregnancy. We decided it would be best to return to the hotel so she can rest. Apart from being pregnant, which is tiring enough, the oppressive heat we were facing was making it hard to do anything. When I travel I love to roam the streets and discover interesting sights and place. But walking in this heat just made us uncomfortable in no time.

Once at the hotel the heat also put Joanne and Mike off, but I was determined to go out and see more. I decided to go out the back of the hotel and walk up a great number of steps to the most famous landmark of this town, the Fisherman’s Bastion. This interesting white structure sits high on one of Buda’s hills with an impressive view over all of Buda, the Danube and Pest on the other side. The building itself is a magnificent structure, gleaming in the bright sunshine. By the time I reached the top I was soaked once again. Hard climbing and this heat is not a fun mix.

After I had fully explored the Fisherman’s Bastion I went for a walk through what is called the Castle District. Not far from the Bastion is the Castle, with an equally imposing view over the city. The entire area at the top of this hill around the large castle and Fisherman’s Bastion is full of narrow quaint streets and very distinctive looking buildings. I was a little sad the others weren’t with me as I thought it was the most impressive part of the town I had seen so far, and I was enjoying it alone. It was interesting how many tourists were wandering the streets at 2030 at night. But I guess the sun was still out and the skies clear. As it got later it started to cool down to the mid thirties, which proved a relief.

Thursday morning started with the same heat. CNN weather informed us that the maximum predicted for Budapest would be around forty degrees Celsius in the shade. In the direct sun it would be much hotter. The government had issued a level three warning that not only puts emergency services on standby by warns the general public to be careful, including a warning to old people and children to stay inside, and for all to try and stick to the shade. It turns out that so far the heat wave has taken five lives in Budapest alone.

With this depressing news we left the hotel to start our day. Rather than visit the same café for breakfast we tried a small bakery and tried to order coffee and pastries. The man seemed almost annoyed that we were interrupting his day to order food. So far we were yet to meet a nice Hungarian.

After half a breakfast we caught the train to a large park on the Pest side. This park was quite dry due to the heat but houses one of the cities most popular public baths. We went to have a look and were very tempted by the water. The only problem is that it was packed inside. We decided not to bother and walked around the gardens, visiting the nearby Castle museum. This collection of interesting buildings demonstrates the styles used on different castles from all over the country. Each of the different buildings houses a different museum.

Our next stop was the market. As usual Maria and I always try to frequent a local market as these are usually very interesting places with lots of colour and noise. Although impressive in size and variety, the market lacked appeal due to the heat. Not only was the building unpleasantly hot but much of the produce looked old and tired. The vegetable sellers must have been having a hard time as everything was dying very quickly.

The heat was killing us. We stopped for lunch in a very nice restaurant offering a great selection of local food, and the waiter even smiled. This guy would definitely be getting a tip. He even had a light conversation with us about the ridiculous heat and told us of the problems Hungary are facing due to the Global Warming. Apparently Budapest usually faces three months of almost constant snow in winter, but this past winter it only snowed for two or three days. Although I am sure they were happy not to have the normal winter frost it seems no one was happy with this heat as it was playing havoc with everyone and everything. The country is not really set up to deal with these sorts of temperatures.

Friday morning and we were feeling miserable. We had left the air conditioning on full when we went to sleep to try and ease the pain, but during the night this cold air caused Maria’s cold to get worse and the coughing kept us both from sleeping. Eventually we had to turn the air conditioning off causing us both to sweat.

Even with the air conditioning back on in the morning it was so hot I had to have a second shower after packing just to cool down. We hadn’t seen much of the city but we were all happy to be leaving the heat. The CNN weather forecast for London warned of sixteen degrees and rain. Bring it on.

We all jumped in our pre -arranged limousine to the airport. This vehicle, called a limousine by our hotel, was actually some old guy with his own Mercedes driving us to the airport. I am not sure that a 90’s model Mercedes actually justifies the term Limousine, especially when I could have driven safer than he was. At one point in the journey we must have been only millimetres from a barrier on the side of the road.

As we had checked in online again the airport check in was relatively painless. The queues were quite large but things were moving along well. Either way we didn’t care as we had our exit row secured. Security was also easy to get through even though I had to take my belt off and hold my shorts up to get through. The only real problem was that the air conditioning in the airport clearly couldn’t cope with the heat that we were currently facing. We were desperate to get on the plane in the hope they had decent air conditioning.

At 1230 we were able to board the flight, a little late as it was scheduled for a 1235 departure. As I walked down the gangway towards our British Airways 757 I grabbed two of the free newspapers on offer. We had three seats on the right and one on the left. All of them were in the exit row offering us better legroom than most of the passengers.

Once all the passengers boarded the plane the pilot asked the cabin crew to “shut the doors and switch to automatic” as is usually the case. Once the doors are switched to automatic the escape slides will automatically activate if the doors are opened. We were now ready to taxi to the runway and return to London, but instead we sat at the gate. Fifteen minutes later the captain announced that there were violent thunderstorms and rain at Heathrow causing havoc and this would prevent us leaving as there was already a backlog of aircraft that need to land. The rain was described in the papers as “two months worth in one day” and seemed to be causing problems for flights in and out of Heathrow. The captain did not have a time but wanted the plane to remain ready so he could depart with short notice.

After an hour of sitting in the plane waiting the crew started a drink service offering everyone a drink. This was usually done once in the air but was a peace offering for what was about to come. With drinks in hand the captain again came over the pa system and informed us that it would be another hour before we are permitted to take off from Budapest international airport bound for Heathrow. So we sat and waited. At least it was air conditioned and comfortable.

Finally the time came and we started backing out of the bay. The captain announced that he was sorry for the delay but it was out of his control. As we taxied towards the runway and the flight crew were testing the various instruments and flight equipment the captain came back on the PA and informed us that he has a warning light on in the cockpit. This light did not actually indicate a problem as such, but indicated that there is a potential problem with the system that warns them when there is a problem. In a system which involves checks and double checks it is better to be safe than sorry and the captain turned the plane back to the terminal and parked up to allow an engineer to assess and repair the system. He was very informative and told us that the computer-based system that checks all of the aircraft systems are in a computer that is under the floor of the main deck. An engineer would be able to go under the floor and reset this system, which would hopefully be all that is required to get us on our way.

As we sat waiting for the repair the cabin crew decided to serve us the lunch meal. By this stage we had been on board for around three hours and everyone was getting hungry. The lunch was a simple sandwich and chocolate bar but was better than we would have been given on a low budget airline. Following the lunch another limited drink service was provided offering water and juices.

Four hours after our scheduled departure the captain came on the PA and announced the problem had been fixed and we were now in a position to safely fly to London. However, by missing the slot we had been offered in an already messed up Heathrow arrival and departure system, we now had to try and secure a new take off slot, and the bad news is that we would have to wait around two hours for this. We sat and waited some more.

After about ninety minutes the captain announced that he has managed to secure a slot around thirty minutes earlier than he had first been told. We were finally taxiing again. Five and a half hours late we were building up speed on the runway and were finally on route to London Heathrow.

Now that our two hour and ten minute flight had commenced the cabin crew had a new problem. As we had already had our lunch and two drinks each they literally had no food left to offer anyone. They did inform us that there was a few left over sandwiches from the morning service if anyone wanted one, but even the stewardess sat by us said she wouldn’t touch them. They are hours old and wouldn’t be very nice. We did manage to get a further drink but it was a case of having what was left rather than what you would like.

We finally landed at around 1900 local time, almost six hours later than our scheduled arrival time. As we taxied towards our gate the captain sheepishly informed us of yet another problem. We were at the gate but the airport official who guides the aircraft into their parking spots with the small hand held paddles had not yet arrived. He had called them by radio and they were on their way. When they did finally arrive the captain had one last issue to inform us of. As the airport was in such a mess from the earlier rain we had been parked at a domestic gate. Due to the need to pass through immigration we would have to exit via stairs onto waiting buses. These buses would then take us to the correct terminal where we could pass through immigration.

Even after this announcement we were waiting around fifteen minutes for the stairs and buses to be put in place. We could finally get off the aircraft after spending more time on board than would have been necessary for a Trans-Atlantic flight. The bus then drove for what seemed like miles to the point where it had to drop us off. Everyone was tired and just wanted to end this airport experience.

Immigration was busy, but moving reasonably well, but as usual the baggage handlers decided they would just cause their usual problems and take their time getting the bags out. After everything we have been through it is just what we want to stand about and wait for our bags. When our bags did finally come out I phoned my usual minicab company to order a car to pick us up. I couldn’t believe my ears when the man informed me that it would be a three to four hour wait for a car. We decided that it would be the perfect opportunity for Mike to experience a famous London Black Cab, but even for this we had to queue a little over thirty minutes, but at least we were finally on the way home. We finally walked in the door at 2100 local time, a huge nine hours since we left the hotel in Budapest.

I have been slowly growing less fond of air travel more and more on each trip. I still love the idea of being in a foreign place, tasting foreign foods, hearing foreign sounds and smelling foreign odours, but the air travel is killing the entire experience. For this reason plus the fact we will have an additional person to take with us from November the travelling will stop for a while. There may still be the odd work trip and the trips to Brazil and Sydney every few years, but otherwise we will stay home unless air travel improves…