We've been away this last week, and only one destination would do. Yes, we've been living life in Vienna for a week. It was our first visit since May 2014, so we were really looking forward to experiencing the Viennese lifestyle, if only for a short time.
It wasn't all fun and games though, the main reason we booked the trip was to answer a few questions we had about living there, the most pressing of has to do with food.
Try as you might, it's a universal constant that the things you'll miss the most once you've moved, will be the comfort foods from home. For Jess , it's Twinning's English Breakfast tea from the UK. Twinning's do sell a English breakfast to the rest of the world, but it's blend is slightly different from the
UK version.
Lynda likes spicy foods, and the top of the tree for here is home made Nando's Peri-Peri chicken. This needs a bottle of marinade. The Austrians don't seem to like spicy foods in the same way, with many spicy foods seeming rather bland to our UK tastebuds. Finding these things in Vienna could be a challenge. Thank goodness for Bobby's. Bobby's is a Vienna institution and the home of lots of British and American foods. You'll find the store just a 5 minute walk from Karlsplatz station and a few steps from the Naschmarkt. Did they have what we wanted. Oh yes. With Tea sorted and the Peri Peri marinade found, we took around at the rest of the shop. It has everything from christmas puddings to PB&J in a jar and everything in between. birds custard brought a smile to our face and there's even British style bacon and sausages in the freezer. Even popular beers are there.
Having found the foods we'd miss, this move can really get going.
A tale of two airports
The most common question we get asked when we say we're moving is "why Vienna?" Well, travelling home to the UK showed us why. An airport Is often a microcosm of the country you're visiting. That's why you can get a breakfast with a pint of larger at Cardiff airport! Anyway we had an early morning flight booked (the curse of a cheap ticket price) so, we left Vienna the day before to stay overnight at the airport hotel. Now travel to the airport is pretty cheap, around €6 from Wien Mitte on the regular S7 rail line. The journey time is about 20 mins. For a little more, you can use the City Airport Train or CAT express direct from Wien Mitte station. The trip is just 16 minutes but there aren't any stops. It also comes with the option of checking your bags in at the station if your flying certain airlines. So we checked the bags in after we left our apartment and spent the day looking around vienna one last time. The CAT station is really rather nice. The Green livery of the train is everywhere at the station, plus Wien Mitte offers you plenty of places to shop, bank and eat. At the airport, the Green theme continues with a beautifully looking platform, an escalator that leads you to the upper level. From there its just a gradual uphill ramp to the arrivals level of the Brilliant T3 Skylink terminal. Its all very nice.
By mid afternoon, we left Vienna and checked in to the hotel at the airport, the rather nice NH Wien. Now as a rule, we try not to eat at the hotel. The food is often expensive, but more aptly, it's often a bit 'faffy'. The airport itself is just a short walk away, and there's more that a few places to eat.
This is where the you begin to notice the differences. For most Europeans, the airport is something to be enjoyed whether your travelling or not. Vienna international offers tours, and observation deck and, hidden in the old Terminal two, was the World Market food stop. This little gem offers cheap food and drink as well as a huge window that overlooks the apron of the airport. You don't need to pass security to enjoy the view.
There are other things that stand out to. There's a Billa supermarket in T1 and a rather nice Spar Gourmet in T3, plus a full size Billa in the grounds. So if you get home and need more than a few things to stock the fridge, it's covered. They're a great place to grab a bite too!
So Vienna International is a nice place to visit and fly from. Our Arrival at Heathrow was typically British. Our flight Arrived slightly early and thanks to the brand new T2 at Heathrow was brilliant. We were through passport control in the wink of an eye and at the baggage retrieval carousel. And there we stood, for 30 minutes. Amazingly, the brand spanking new T2's baggage system, Just for our flight by the way, broke. By the time we reached the arrivals area, we'd been on the ground for an hour. Still time to get some milk to make a very British cuppa later. Or not. Unlike Vienna, No supermarket was waiting to greet the weary traveller home. Instead, we had to make do with a WH Simths. For those of you not from the UK, WH Smith is a newsagent, bookstore and confectionary seller. At airports and train stations they offer very basic foodstuffs. Today however, no milk. Bare in mind this is a little before 09.30am. OK. No problem, as luck would have it, we had to leave T2 for T4. This meant having to use the Heathrow Express for a free transfer between terminals. Like the CAT, the Heathrow Express can whisk you into the city centre in under 15 minutes. It costs a lot more to travel from Heathrow to London Paddington then Vienna Airport to Vienna Mitte. The cheapest fare I could find was around £15 for a one way trip. Like for like, Vienna wins here. Further comparisons between the Heathrow Express and the CAT service prove unfavourable for the UK. The Station at Heathrow has none of the style of the CAT station. Admittedly, the station is much older, but still, its a rather drab and uninteresting place. Access to the platform is only via Lifts, and once you're on the platform, you see nothing but dull lighting tunnel walls. The transfer train arrives and we board. It's not pleasant. The seats look worn and dirty. Mine feels damp, like its been scrubbed or steamed clean. The results aren't inspiring. Fortunately, the journey is quick and we arrive a T4. Like the last station, there's no sense of style. Instead, as we make our way to the lifts, we're left to look at some unfinished looking tunnels. Laughably, someone has attempted to cover the drab concrete walls with what looks to be three white acrylic plastic sheets bolted to a wall here and there. There's not enough of it to make any impact though. Thank goodness we reach the surface and the hope of milk for that tea. Again though, there's only a WH Smith and no milk. We're two for two here. Arrivals halls at Heathrow feature little to entertain visitors or arriving passengers. The feel is very much 'Piss off'. Needing that milk, we try a hail Mary and head upstairs to departures. Its no use though. With the time reaching 10am, there's no milk in two terminals and we're getting annoyed. Defeated, we head back downstairs for the final leg of the journey, the bus back to our car.
The Bus goes from only one spot, and a nice chart that tells what buses go from where is located far away towards bus stop 13. Reaching it we see our bus goes from 3. Cursing under our breath, we head back, suitcases in tow to bus stop 3. Hurrah, there's a bus waiting and just 20 feet away, with a nicely dressed gentlemen in a suit in the lead ahead of us. Then the bastard bus driver, with us just feet away, pulls off. He saw us coming and yet, he chose to pull out rather than waiting 30 seconds for us to reach him. Its a further 15 minutes until the next bus arrives, featuring a bus driver that would make an Austrian waiter seem cheerful, sits, doesn't open the door or even offer to help with our bags.
In the end, it took two hours to get of the aircraft and reach our car, and all along our way, we met with the best of British hospitality and design. Depressing isn't it.
