We Is Here! Finally!

                     Well…. to be honest with you, everything (so far) has turned out just fine. If you remember from yesterday, we had our times/flights/airlines/cities/ and psyches all misenjumbled and strewn through the stratosphere, which did not exactly give us any sort of peace of mind, especially when travelling overseas. And…. if you’ve been following or even noticing the stories coming out of this industry of late, even the favs of the peeps have come under fire as of late! Southwest Airlines is a good example.

                     Enter our situation, with no notice that the change was looming and scary situations such as, “I’m sorry, we can’t seem to locate that reservation. Please check that your numbers are correct and try again. Or try back later. Thank you for contacting Austrian Air and have a nice day!”

“What do you mean you can’t find my reservation! You’re the one that gave me the numbers in the first place!” (I screamed at my laptop)

           No reply.

I’d have to say that feeling like an enigma is not a good way to start a relationship!  (Miss Austrian Airlines!)

Ok, I’ll try another way. I found my Ticket Number, so in it went. The screen did that swirly deal like a dog chasing its tail…… “I’m sorry we can’t seem to find that reservation. Please check the numbers and try again later. Thank you for contacting Austrian Air and have a nice day!”

Now I’m really feeling like an orphan. I called Austrian Airlines, got through and even they could not get us checked in!

“Mr. Hall, I can see your reservation here, but the system won’t allow me to acknowledge you. You’ll need to just check in at the airport.”

Not acceptable and that’s all well and good until we get to the airport….. I can hear the nice person at the counter,

 “I’ve never seen anything like this Mr. Hall. I can see your reservation here on my screen, but the system won’t let me proceed any further, and the days of handwritten Boarding Passes are long gone. I’d get my supervisor, but she just left for her lunch hour and is unreachable, we’ll just have to wait until she returns.”

           “But my flight leaves in an hour! Check in starts in ten minutes!”

           “Maybe you should have gotten here a little earlier?”

“I arrived on time, but I failed to account for the 15 million people who apparently need to get to Vienna today! The line was way too long! What is it? Mozart’s birthday or something?”

She just smiled and said with a laugh, “No Mr. Hall, Mozart’s birthday is January 27^th and besides he lived in Salsburg not Vienna” ……  as she indicated with a wave of her hand to a few chairs off to the side apparently reserved expressly for these ‘meetings’… you know, like the ones right outside the Vice-Principal’s office.

“I’m sorry Mr. Hall, I guess, we’ll just have to wait for Miss Sophie to get back from her lunch, now if you don’t mind …….. Next please!”

           And with that I was shuffled off to the Enigma Bench to await our fate as the clock ticked ever closer to that Witching Minute when they close the cabin door that a sound that eerily brings up reminisces like those doors on creaky hinges down in the dungeon.

           The Newark Airport Dungeon.

That was the scenario that was bouncing around in my head with the speed of a pickleball, and I was bound and determined not to let that happen to us!

Question for you…..

Are you one of the folks that are comfortable getting to the airport in enough time to grab a bottled water and hop on board? Or…. do you get panicky if you’re not already on your way to the Airport at 9 AM for a 5PM flight?

           To be honest, I am definitely a card-carrying member of the latter group and in fact, I’d feel much better if we left at 9AM the day before the day we needed to be there. Suffering from this Aeroleftbehindagain Phobia is only compounded by the fact that I also contract a dose of Doomisonthewayitis with every trip. This scenario flies in face of the Conventional Wisdom on this subject, but I can’t help it, so I am not endeared by anyone who possesses a more normal state of mind.    

           All of this is brought about by having an over-active sense of imagining doom descending upon us like the Veils of Armageddon when it comes to having aspects of control issues being pilfered away from us (me!) And in my mind having a need for an abundance of extra time to counteract the Gremlins of Travel who spend all their time conniving against and thwarting the plans of innocent goers-away is the only way to counteract these evil nogoodniks!

                     Hence the need to arrive three days before travel should commence. In this case we had no idea if any of the changed details was, in fact, going to be able to be implemented forthwith. For all I knew, that scenario just painted with the Supervisor out and the lines too long, and the plane whisking away without us was a possibility. Now, mind you, not a probability but for me the only downside was that we’d arrive too early and the counter would not be open yet because all of these flights are in the evening.

                     Oops! Did I say that?

Yup, but it did not stop me from calling our ‘Uber’ Driver Matt (Paula’s son) not once, but twice, upping our arrival time by an additional two hours. This, I believed would take into account any “lunch breaks” etc. that anyone may be on. Well, that’s exactly what happened and when we arrived there wasn’t even a wisp of evidence that an Austrian Airlines even existed! Their only means of identification were these advert poles that get placed in front of the velvet ropes that designate the entrances to their counters and these poles were safely hidden from view by several well-placed vending machines, But first the Air India sahibs needed to finish their check-in process and then vacate that Zone (B) so that the overhead LED signs can be clicked to Lufthansa, Austrian, and Swiss Air.

           But wait! There’s more! The other downside of arriving too early is that we’d be first in line (which we were) to get our ‘situation’ looked into and thereby getting into the First-Class lounge that much earlier! Not bad, right? Our plan was not to say anything to the guards of the Boarding Passes and see what they would come up with. We approached His Highness with a veiled feeling of trepidation and waited for the verdict. I watched his eyes as they glanced furtively back and forth across his screen and I could not tell if he had a nervous condition or was first checking his stock portfolio before he worked on our issues. Minutes went by, he’d glance up at us, study our faces, then quickly avert his eyes and continue examining his stock portfolio or whatever it was, until he just blurted out, “Here ya go!  Just go through those doors and show them that little green dot I put on there, it’ll get you into the Fast Lane for Security. Have a good flight!”

           Ta-Daaa! Not a word was needed from us except the ‘please’ and thank-you’s offered in sincerity. We walked away quickly with our coveted Boarding Passes tucked into one of Paula’s carry-on pockets, AKA, The Pack of Many Zippers.

Now we could start the trip! Early we were, by choice it was not, but the silver lining was that w could spend some more time in the Lufthansa/Austrian Air/Swiss Air First Class Lounge! We’ve been able to do this one only once before (on United) and it was by a Decided Chance that it occurred. In reality, we don’t come even close to be able to afford a First/Business seat, it’s only by that Decided Chance that it can even happen and then the Factors need to be weighted and then weighed, throwing all of the other variables into it. We’d been lucky once before and unfortunately, once you experience that kind of service and amenities, your appetite gets whetted for more when the next opportunity arises. Like this one.

           We were already in what is termed as ‘Premium Economy’ and this category is only available on International/Long Haul flights and in my opinion, is the best ‘value’ on the aircraft. These seats are closer to First Class on a domestic flight than they are to an Economy configuration and with all of the freakin’ issues I have with my legs and brain, getting that kind of room is crucial to my well being and saying crucial is not an exaggeration. I can slip into a Panic Attack in a heartbeat thinking about my legs spasming out and me not having any control over it and then the Air Marshall shows up and I find myself strapped to the wing for the duration of the flight which is actually better because it gets me out of my seat and into a different position!

           Anyway, we did weigh the weights, input the variables, then slid those calculations through the calculator, and then took that number and brought it to the Ultimate Authority of what gets decided on in the Motorhome…… Frank. Frank is our little Sea Otter mascot who sits up front and watches out for us. He has since been joined by Bucc-ee of the Bucc-ee’s Fuel Heaven Stores that we like to frequent. But Frank has the most experience, so we usually defer to him. When the problem was announced, and the situation discussed, Frank promptly fell over (he’s becoming rather ‘not firm’ as most little stuffed animals end up suffering from). We took this as a sign of astonishment and then promptly upped ourselves from Premium Economy to Polaris on United. But we were now on Austrian Air! What kind of seats do they have? How’s the food? What else is different?

           Great! We get into this level of service just once and all of a sudden, we ‘ve become “First Class Snobs” (I know that can be taken two ways, but I don’t know how to fix it!) In reality all is good the in First Cabin, albeit different. The seats were not as good for sleeping according to Paula who was really looking forward to just snoozing her way across the Atlantic, but the food was extraordinary. The Chef came out of the Forward Galley and went to each passenger and discussed what everyone wanted to be served from the available menu. Now let’s not go crazy here, it is a Commercial Flight and is subject to the Rules and Reg’s of Flight Safety and I’m fairly sure that I would not have found a full-blown commercial kitchen up there. But what is able to happen is that instead of having meals assembled elsewhere, chilled, then wrapped for eventual heating and then being served, they have the ingredients ready to go. They do get heated, but then the “chef” gets to plate them individually which assures that everything is equally prepared and presented on a plate that defies the description of something just coming out of a heater apparatus. Plus, he comes out into the Cabin and helps serve the meals. The impression is quite effective, if not downright impressive!

For me, this was the Highlight of the flight on many levels as I did not attempt to do that lay-flat deal with my seat. I pretty much stayed in a dozing seated position watching that little airplane icon work its way across the Atlantic on the seatback monitor in front of me.

           After landing in Vienna all went well, Immigration was easy, waiting the five hours between flights was easy, getting snacks was easy, and getting on our next flight to Krakow was easy, but sitting there for the thirty-five-minute flight was torture. Don’t ask me any questions cuz I don’t got no answers. Lots of theories, however. So as soon as the Fasten Seat Belt sign was jettisoned, I sprang up and went aft to hang around the lavatory/galley/crew area, just to stand and not be constrained in my seat. The Flight Attendants were understanding and when I complimented them on the quality of the little chocolates that they were handing out one of them promptly gave me five more!  😊

                     That made my day better!

We met Sherry and Harold at the hotel and promptly walked out to find a good pierogie place to celebrate our successful arrival in Poland.

           Off to sleep (?) and a few hours later, our first full day is awaiting us tomorrow! Good night!

           Zzzzzz !

The rest of the early morning Photo Shoot!

It’s now getting light out and breakfast and our first full day awaits…..