Frohe Weihnachten! Christmas in Vienna.

With the festive period fast approaching, last week we found ourselves enjoying a taste of next year in a very cold Vienna. For various reasons, we had to finish off the year with one last holiday, and Vienna seemed a natural choice. (Well it would I suppose!). So on a very foggy Sunday, we arrived, friend in tow, at Vienna for a little Christmas break. 

It's often said that the Americans know how to 'do Christmas' and there's a lot of truth to that. The Austrians however, really go to town for Christmas and it wasn't to long until we found ourselves enjoying a Christmas market. In recent years, German style Christmas markets have been all the rage in the UK. So much so that two years ago, there was a lot of concern in Germany that they didn't have enough stall holders to fill their markets as most were heading to the UK. In Vienna however, there are markets everywhere. Food and drink go hand in hand with traditional gifts, Christmas decorations and plenty of music to boot. 

Christmas punch is the first thing you'll find and every market has a stall that will offer you a hot cup of punch, Glühwein or just a hot chocolate (with optional rum of course). These stalls litter Vienna and you'll find many of them run by the Rotary club or other charitable foundations. You buy your drink of choice, which comes in a lovely Christmas mug that you can keep, or return for your deposit back. 

From drink to food, or more correctly, sugar. Sweet treats are everywhere and delicious. From Giant gingerbread hearts with iced slogans to the deliciously deadly 'Krapfen' or giant doughnut, or even the huge shortbread delights, giant pretzels and slabs of strudel, if you like sugar, come and get it. For something more savoury, try the various Wursts in bread or my favourite, some gulash soup, served in a whole hollowed out loaf of bread. 

If food and drink aren't your thing , then you'lol enjoy the various gifts and things on offer. Here though, it depends on what 'type' of market you visit. The first Christmas market we visited was set around St. Stephan's cathedral in the centre of Vienna. It was filled with tradional style gifts, like wooden toys, hand made leather bound journals (I small fetish of mine), beautiful Christmas decorations from Salzburg, Vienna and the Tirol and so much more. 

In contrast, the huge market at the Rathaus was very commercial, with everything from perfumes to watches, music to skiing holidays in sale. Somehow the first market felt so much better.  

The trip also featured a few visits to some new sights, like the beautiful State hall library and the revolving restaurant near the United Nations, the Danube tower. The trip was only spoiled slightly when on the last day, our lift broke down, meaning we had to carry our luggage from the 6th floor (the 8th for Lynda as she hadn't managed to get in to the lift in the first place. Then the lockers at Wien Mitte were out of order, meaning we had nowhere to put our luggage and explore the city on the last day. Still the trip was worth it and it provided us an opportunity to meet an estate agent, ready for next year. More on that in the new year, for now, merry Christmas, Frohe Weihnachten, and a happy new year to everyone.

Winding down for Christmas.

It's that time of year where thoughts turn to family, food and festiveness. Following the horrific attacks in Paris, maybe this year we'll hold those loved ones a little closer than normal and perhaps be that little more thankful for what we have.

Christmas also marks a winding down for us. Lynda's work comes to a stop by the second week of December whilst I usually work over the Christmas period as magazine deadlines come early in the new year. This year however, that winding down process is a little more pronounced than normal. 

With the moving date now set in stone, a strange malaise has settled over the house. We've started 'considering' purchases. Things we'd have picked up or repaired previously suddenly become a source of much soul searching and discussion. Having that fixed date has changed everything. 

Here's a great example. In our bedroom, we have a nice candlelight style ceiling light. It takes five energy saver bulbs. At the moment, two of those bulbs have stopped working. Now normally we'd pop to IKEA, pick up a pack of two replacement bulbs and change out the broken ones. However, now we question 'whether it's worth it'. The three working bulbs still provide enough light when we need it, so why bother replacing them? The same goes for poor Harley. A rusty wheel arch now stand no chance of getting repaired. 

Even Christmas isn't safe, with both Lynda and Myself asking for some types of gift not to be given, to save packing them up later in the year. It's very strange. Another great example happened just this Sunday. It was our 15th wedding anniversary and I got a cracking little gift from Lynda. A collectors figure from the Watchmen. (The 15th anniversary says its the crystal/watch anniversary.). The figure is great, but with the move coming , I'm leaving the figure in its box and it'll be packed up this week into a bigger box. 

It's not just physical things that are getting short shrift. We're under a year away from moving so no new contracts for phones or Internet or anything else being taking out. It's weird. It's almost like we've 'checked out' already. The body may be in the UK, but our heads are firmly in Vienna. 

Next year promises to be interesting. Certainly it'll be different. Keeping with our winding down theme, there's the planning of next years summer holiday. Christmas is traditionally the time when I book the summer holiday, sort out hotels and all that. Obviously, the big summer holiday isn't happening as cash and resources are diverted to van hire and crazy stuff. So like everything else, the wind down is changing everything. 

With the clock ticking down, the amount of crazy will only increase. Fortunately, we have a little break booked just before Christmas to unwind and prepare for the year ahead. And where are we going? Vienna, where else? 

Jess 

Flights of fantasy.

I love planning to travel. As I've mentioned in previous posts, logistics are my thing and travel logistics are my idea of heaven. Maybe it's because I'm a travel agents daughter, who spent many a weekend growing up, sat with her father, learning the ropes. Or maybe I'm not right in the head. Either way, this move is like Christmas and birthdays combined.  

So far, there have been bookings for hotels and bookings for vans. But there is without a doubt, one area that drives me nuts. Booking a flight. Nowhere in this entire trip can so much difference be found in something as simple as getting from A to B. Booking a flight can turn into the proverbial 'omnishambles'.

First up, Aviation is in my blood. I love it. My job revolves around it, and if I had the money, I'd be flying right now rather than typing this. Commercial aviation is my passion, that's Airliners like the 747 and the A320. So the act of booking a flight is a pure pleasure. Or it should be. 

The whole mad trip across Europe comes to an end after 6 days of travel. I return the van to Cardiff, having covered over 2000 miles. That leaves me stranded in Wales with my new home a 1000 miles away. So I need a flight. Here's where the fun begins. 

To simplify things, I'm traveling with just hand luggage, because if it didn't get in the van to Vienna in the first place, I'm sure as hell not dragging it through the airport myself. I need just a single flight, from my nearest airport to Vienna. Simple? No! 

First up, not all airlines offer single flights. More correctly, not all airlines offer single flights in the same way. Let's start at the beginning. 

I'm in Cardiff. So naturally, my closest airport it Cardiff Airport. Travel time from the van hire place to the airport, and bare in mind this is public transport since I just gave the van back and hav no car, is 48 minutes by train. Ok it could be worse, but it's just 11 miles from the van place if I drove. Hmmmm. 

Flights from Cardiff aren't exactly in abundance and several larger carriers offer small linking flights to their hub from Cardiff, where I can transfer to a Vienna bound flight. Ideally I don't want to spend more than £100 on a one way flight.  

Ok so searching for a flight on the right date produces some weird results. 

First up and cheapest is Aer Lingus. Ireland's national airline has a link service to Dublin and a flight on from there. The cost £178. Ok it's not exactly what I want to see, but it could be worse. The cost isn't the biggest issue though. The total flight time is 17h and 15 minutes! It's just a 2h 30m flight direct. Indeed Aer Lingus has me departing Cardiff at 2100, that's twelve hours after I've dropped the van off,

Spend 13h 20m in Dublin before I get to board my flight to Vienna, at 11.30 the next day! Next indeed. 

My next option gets worse. For just £220, I can leave on KLM for Amsterdam, then change onto Baltic Airlines for Riga, before changing at Riga for Vienna. Amazingly this is a shorter day than Aer Lingus at just 12 hours travel time and I get to arrive on the same day I left. But the 6.05 departure time from Cardiff is way to early. 

My next choices are London Heathrow and London Gatwick. After the nonsense of connecting flights from Cardiff, both these airports offer direct flights to Vienna. I first Check Heathrow. It's an airport I'm really familiar with. The journey time from Cardiff to the airport is around 3 hours with a change of trains at Paddington. Not the cheapest option, but not the worst. I can expect to catch a flight mid afternoon at least. 

The cheapest flights come back, and there are many of them, with British Airways surprising me. For just £92 I can get a direct flight at just before 3 in the aftenoon. I'd be home early early evening. Still,given the cost of travelling to Heathrow, I had hoped I could do better. It makes it to the maybe pile though. 

My next option was Air France that offered me the chance to spend my evening waiting at Paris for an early morning flight the next day. Eh, no. 

On to Gatwick. Gatwick is nearly 4 hours away, so I'd arrive after lunch. It avoids London city centre however with a change at Reading. Things turn weird again however when it comes to the flight. My cheapest option is just £71.56. Cheaper than Heathrow. But it relies on my taking Ukraine Airlines. The flight, of which there are three at that price could take anywhere between 10h 30m to a staggering 21h and 30m. As Lynda would say, Fluffy Fat Nope! British Airways come to the rescue again though and for just £73, I can get a direct flight with a late afternoon departure. That's definitely hitting the maybe pile. 

Return to sender

You may notice that neither Lufthansa or Austrian have made an appearance so far. There's a good reason for that. The return flight. As I mentioned earlier, not all airlines offer one way tickets in the same way. For Aunty Lufty and Austrian, the rules are a little old fashioned. Here goes. A singe flight for my choosen dates with either airline costs a whopping £450. The cheapest I found was £394 and that had a change at Frankfurt. 

Change that to a return flight however and things look way different. 

The same flight, leaving on the same day, but with a return booked for just one week later costs just £165! This is the same aircraft you'd fly on, the same route and the same seat, but you have the option of returning. There's no other word for it than nonsense. Hell with a Return booked it's actually cheaper to fly business class at £400 than it is to fly economy on a one way ticket. 

And the winner is!

In the end, the winner was in no doubt. Easyjet. Yes, that's right, the UK's number one budget airline stole the whole show. In a perfect storm, Easyjet announced brand new direct flights to Vienna from Bristol airport, starting in a few weeks. This twice weekly flight goes on the day I need to travel. 

With a journey time of just 1h 30m from Cardiff, changing at Bristol Temple Meads station for a bus, the journey is much cheaper than heading to either of the London airports. 

It was Easyjet's fares being available as one way tickets and priced at just £63.99 it was a no brainer. The flight itself departs just before 2pm and I can be home, ready to start a new life before supper. Hell, I'm even paying for a front row seat and it's still cheaper than BA. 

That ticket is far more symbolic though. It's now a fixed point. To change that booking will cost me extra money. So the date of the move is fixed. With Eurotunnel coming through with summer bookings as well, we're all set.  The dye is cast. Woo Hoo.

It's the little things that pass the time.

Logistics are my thing. It's a weird little talent that gives me a great deal of pleasure. Give me destination and I can run the numbers and find five different ways to get there, the costs, the pros and the cons of each. So planning a move across Europe is like my birthday and Christmas all rolled into one. So I know several ways to get to Vienna, the cost of each and so on.

 However, with many months to go, the main details are sorted and booked. So that leaves me twiddling my thumbs, hoping to keep busy to pass the time. Right now though, I've hit the most important job of the whole trip. Making the Playlist for the journey. With two days in a van and many, many miles to cover, music is essential. But what music? 

Playlist mania.

Obviously, if your moving home, you'll need a sense of humour. So the playlist, which needs to cover nearly 20 hours of travel, needs your favourites and should be sprinkled with a few 'themed' songs. So scattered amounsgt the Queen songs, the odd soundtracks and the just plain weird tracks, there's the 'moving' themed songs to make the journey more fun. 

Now if you're planning a playlist, the first song is important. Given the early hour, and the vast choice of songs out there, I've settled with 'The Great Escape'. It sums up the mood. At 6 in the morning, with the rest of country mostly sleeping, 'the Great Escape' is perfect to sneak away from our old home. 

So playlist 1 (I've split the list into two, one for each day.) starts with 'The great Escape'. From there it's full of upbeat moving songs to help us wipe the sleep from our eyes. Here's a few that will brighten our first day heading to Frankfurt and our Halfway point. 

Eastbound and Down - from smokey and the bandit. 

On the road again - Willie Nelson 

National Express - The Devine comedy 

I've been everywhere man - Jonny Cash. 

For day 2, with us feeling pretty knackered after the first day, we're starting the day with Pharnell Williams's 'Happy'.  Throw in 'Everything is awesome' from the Lego movie to lift our spirits and we'll be on our way from Frankfurt to Vienna. Obviously 'The Blue Danube' will feature, as will a little Beethoven and the 9th symphony which doubles as the European Union's national anthem and the whole thing takes up an hour of airtime. (Filling 20 hours of playlists isn't easy.). 

The whole thing has gotten me thinking though, how many great moving/traveling songs are there out there. If anyone reads this blog. (And I don't actually care if no one does, Lynda and I are having fun just writing it!) and you think of a great song or songs, leave a comment and I'll add it to the list. 

In the meantime , I'm off to find room for the table we unexpectedly bought. That's a story for another blog post though.  

Jess 

When three became one!

You have to love the way your mind works, well, the way my mind works at any rate. A fleeting encounter yesterday has changed our plans once again, and this time it's for the better. 

Ok so it's going to be huge. We're not moving earlier than expected. Nor have we come into a tonne of money. Instead, our mad cap adventure has been simplified and streamlined. 

Harley the Saab 9000, and our transport to Vienna?

So, yesterday, having dropped Lynda off for work, I happened to pass Enterprise car rental. Now many years ago, whilst working out the logistics of moving in the first place, I looked into hiring a big van and loading up everything into it. The costs at the time were high, and the thought of carrying all those heavy items (our bed for example) up several flights of stairs didn't appeal.

Since then of course, we've streamlined our plans, cut the amount we're planning to take with us and we've gotten the plan sorted on the cheap. Or so we thought. 

As much as I love Harley, my faithful Saab 9000, it's difficult to work out what you can fit into the old girl. She's not really built for it. That's where Enterprise came it. Whilst the costs of hiring a big van were expensive, what about something like a ford transit connect? It's basically nothing more than a small car type van. Well I thought I'd check out the price. The van would allow for us to carry much more than Harley, potentially swapping three trips across Europe to just two or even one. 

 Checking the price, I wasn't expecting good things. However, I was wrong. Hertz offers a small van for just £120 for the week! Checking around with a few others, the price is similar. Then things got weird. For £175, we could get a standard transit which would allow us to do the whole move in one. At this point we were starting to foam at the mouth. A quick check of the T&C's though told us the van wasn't allowed out of the country. Sigh. Europcar however does offer out for the country rentals. However, it comes with a catch. There was an extra fee on top of the rental cost. That was fine since there are extra items required to take the van on to the continent, and it wasn't a great deal on top. It was the limited mileage that really chaffed though. Adding nearly £200 extra because we'd exceed the mileage limit of 90 miles a day didn't seem fair. Hertz had unlimited mileage. So, hopeful that the website T&C's were wrong, we rang hertz. It turns out that we just had to tell hertz that we wanted to take the van out onto the continent, pay the extra fee an that was that. 

Head buzzing, we ran the numbers. With the van, eurotunnel costs and bits and pieces, the cost of the single trip would be just around £800, or the cost of two trips in the car. So it's a no brainer. The van wins. So it's booked.

There is a downside. Originally , I had around a month to relax after arriving in Vienna before I had to take Harley back to the UK to load up for the return trip. That's not going to happen now and the leisurely three day journey from home to Vienna has now become a two day trip, and that all down to us bringing the star of the show, Geri the parrot. In order to minimise his discomfort we're doing the trip In two days. I also only get one day's rest before I have to set off and get he van back to Cardiff. So I'm going to be knackered. Oh and then I have to get back to Vienna. 

The van presents us with new issues though. So far, with the three trips originally planned, we've been itemising our possessions for either the first, second or third run. This has made it easy to pack up the things we need on arrival and earmark the items we're still using to be packed up wished we started the first run. That's all gone by the by now and it'll be a case of 'pack it all'. So next year, a month before we leave, we'll be packing it all up. It's going to be manic. 

Public Transport showdown

This week, Harley, our beloved Saab 9000 decided to finally get that gastric bypass she's always wanted, sucking her fuel tank out of shape due to a very blocked breather pipe. The fuel tank is just a mess.  

Harley, prior to corsetting her own petrol tank. 

So with Harley getting sorted by the garage, we've been left at the whim of Welsh public transport, and that isn't a good thing. 

One of the great things about Vienna is it's fantastic public transport system. Buses, trams, trains and the U-bahn all combine to get you almost anywhere in the city in under an hour, and cheaply at that.  

The Welsh system is somewhat, different.

Picking up the car.

So with Harley in a garage some 20 miles away in the beautiful little village of Taff's Well, it falls on public transport to get us to her location for pickup. Here goes. 

Step 1 - The bus. 

Ok, our first job is to get the bus down to the nearest train station. Taff's Well has its train station just two minutes from the garage, but for now we need to walk to the bus stop. The time is 15.10. 

The walk to the bus stop takes just two minutes. Home has two bus routes. The main route passes through the heart of the village half a mile away. The second route connects Merthyr Tydfil to Aberdare and passes along the road near to us. So we choose that. This route has a bus to and from Aberdare every 20 minutes, until 18.00. Then it stops all together, leaving just the main service from the village which goes once an hour after 18.00. 

For now, the bus is due at 15.20. Our train goes 15.52 and we've just 5 miles to go. This should be a slam dunk. 

Waiting for the bus.

The bus arrives two minutes late. Great. Lynda checks with the driver what time he's due to reach town. 15.45 comes the reply. That leaves us 7 minutes to get to the train station from the bus station. 

Of course the Bus doesn't stop at the actual train station, that up would be easy. 

Arriving at the bus station at 15.46 (pretty in time for the bus) we have to run to get the train. Missing this train will mean we'll miss the garage's closing time. With 30 seconds to spare, we make the train.

Step 2 - the Train

The train pulls out slightly early at 15.51. The journey is due to take 40 or so minutes. The train itself is comfortable but very tired. Built in 1984, the sprinter is still considered a fairly modern train for the Valleys commuter lines. 

The sprinter is still considered new for the Valley's lines. 

It's loud, diesel powered and definitely showing its age. Fortunately it's not the other type of train that runs along the lines. The class 143 trains are literally buses that have been mounted on a train chassis, and should have been retired several years ago. We cough and splutter our way to Taff's Well and arrive on time. 

Step 3 - returning home. 

Harley's not ready so we're left to wait until the repair is finished, and that'll be tomorrow. It's rush hour so we head into Cardiff, a further twenty minute train ride and grab a meal out. But with the time getting on we need to head home. After six, like the buses, the trains home become, infrequent, with a mix of one and and two and hour services available. We've just missed one train and the next one is in an hour. At 18.41 we get the train back to Aberdare, ironically it's the same train we started our journey  on. We reach Aberdare one hour and five minutes later, fortunately avoiding the drunk guy who thought he'd regale his fellow travellers with his singing (he was heading to Rhymney and needed a different train.)

We have hopes of catching the next bus, but as we reach the station and see, well nothing. We have no idea when the next bus is, and with the time approaching 19.50, we decide to grab a taxi from the rank. When I say 'a taxi' I mean 'The Taxi'. 

The bus station at 19.50 in the evening. 

Step 4 - The Taxi

Our taxi driver forgot to start the meter for the first half a mile, however the quick 8 minute journey still costs us a 'steep' £9. Our taxi driver is a pleasant chap but his seatbelt remains unfastened for the trip. Either way, just before 20.00, we get in and reflect in the public transport system. Lynda's mother informs us that the next bus would have been at 2030 from town, meaning we'd have gotten home around 21.00, a whopping 2 hours and 19 minutes since we got on the train in Cardiff. 

The rough cost.

 All told. It's cost us nearly £25 for the round trip,though if we'd just gone to Cardif and back, we could probably get that down to under £20. The same trip in the car would be around £10 rising to £16 if we've parked for a long time. Compared to Vienna where €15.70 will get you a weeks pass on every form of transport within the city and its no wonder Vienna looks more appealing by the minute. It is hoped however that by 2020, we'll have a more integrated transport system from the Valleys along with new electrified trains. However, the plans are already running behind. Hope springs eternal though. By then though, we'll be sipping coffee in Cafe Central. 

Of Cabbages and Kings

"The time has come" The Walrus said, "to talk of many things.

Of shoes and ships and sealing wax, and cabbages and Kings."

Lewis Carroll

The words from Lewis Carroll's poem from Alice Through the Looking Glass, are in my mind this morning as I type this post. It could be that Vienna seems more like wonderland than normal today, or more likely, I've fallen down the rabbit hole and I'm about to take a most awesome adventure. And Yes I know a little 'Bill and Ted' sneaked in there, It's that kind of morning. 

Of cabbages and Kings seems oddly poignant, because it sums up the highs and lows of trying to plan a move to another country. Cabbages represent the bad, whilst the Kings represent the good. So let's get the bad out of the way first. 

Of Cabbages.

Our cabbage for today is of course work and money. There's not enough of either, and the lack of work has yet again knocked our leaving date back. So its bye bye February 29th 2016, and hello, well a few months later. The date is a secret for now. Why? Given the fact that the damn thing moves almost as soon as Lynda and I can pick 'em, we're trying a new strategy of not announcing the date, so we can sneak up on it and catch the bugger.  There is a cut off though, and this move has to happen next year, or it won't happen at all. By the end of next year, there simply won't be enough work around to be able to save the money we need to move. At that point, Lynda will be looking for a new job, and the Welsh Valley's aren't exactly overflowing with high paying jobs for people as qualified as she is. It's no joke, Lynda is considered overqualified for the most abundant job type found in the Valley's, the factory worker/shop assistant. She was once fired from a bakery job 'for not being suited' to turn fruit cakes on their side! That's true. So one way or another, she'll be looking for a new job, so it may as well be in Vienna as here, as we'll have to move to find a good job anyway. 

And Kings.

The Kings of our piece are much more fun, and in keeping with the 'down the rabbit hole' feeling I have this morning. Last post I talked about the fact we won't be using a moving company to take our things to Vienna. In order to save a bit (Quiet a lot actually)  of money, We'll be doing the trip with the bare minimum of stuff required to start a new life in Vienna. Harley. My trusty Saab 9000 (Yes she has a name.) will act as a life boat of sorts. With the rear seats removed, the old girl can carry a hell of a lot. She's designed to move heavy loads and that's what she's going to do. It's not going to be an easy trip, and for a car of Harley's age, it's potentially fatal. At 18 years old and with a total of 221000 miles on the clock, Harley has been around the block a bit. However, Saab's, especially the 9000, have a reputation for being sturdy, and 200000 miles on the clock is considered to be 'Just run in'. So with any luck she'll survive the first trip and hopefully at least another as well. 

The route itself is daunting. just take a look. 

It's a gruelling 1000 mile journey from home to Vienna, and the same back! And it can't be done in one go. Not safely at any rate. However, splitting it over three days would make things a lot easier. So the plan looks something like this. 

Day 1 - dep 1800Z for Dover

Travel to Dover for an overnight hotel stay in a local premier inn. 

Miles covered - 264 

Day 2 - Dep 0600Z for 0700Z ferry to Dunkirk.

Arrive Dunkirk at 0900Z then head East for Frankfurt Airport. 

Overnight hotel at Frankfurt. 

Miles Covered - 355 

Day 3 - Dep 0600Z for Vienna

Miles Covered - 450

Thats a total of 1069 miles!

Hopefully, and with traffic being nice to us, we should arrive in Vienna by 1400Z and be able to unload the car, do a quick bit of food shopping and then fall into bed and sleep, after we inflate the bed that is. The apartment won't be furnished. Don't worry, the kettle will be the first thing to be unpacked :)

The route could be squeezed into two days by driving straight to Frankfurt, but what kind of hell would that be. It's also not without its complications, all be it small. For example, before we enter Austria at Passau, We'll need to have an Austrian 'Vignette' This little treasure acts as a kind of Road Tax. Available in 10 day, two month and 12 month versions, Prices are quite cheap. A two month sticker will cost you just €25.70. It's important though that you stick the Vignette to the screen, or you'll be fined by the police, and at €280, its best to stick it and forget. 

Whilst planning the route, Google maps did amuse me by warning me that 'This route crosses through Belgium'. I don't know why Belgium comes with this warning, but it does. 

So that's the Journey. and the return is even more fun, as it may take two or three trips to get everything, including Geri, Who will travel with us, and gets to stay in a hotel in Frankfurt, for a small fee. All this must be complete by October 31st though, as from November 1st, snow tyres are mandatory in Austria, and we can't afford to fit four new tyres to Harley to use possibly once. So that's the cut off date for when everything must be moved. Oh and Harley can only stay in Austria for 30 days at a time before I have to register her as an Austrian car, and that will cost a fortune. 

Finally, and most positive of all, The first hotel has been booked. Frankfurt beckons, and its going to be a wild ride getting there. 

Until next time.

Jess.