Arriving in Switzerland

Apparently the best way to reach Vienna airport from West Haupbahnhof is to take a bus that goes via South Haupbahnhof, which runs every half hour, takes thirty minutes to arrive and costs only EU $6.

However, after wandering around the station for like 15 minutes I could find no place or platform where a bus could arrive, there was no one around to ask that looked like an employee and the information booths were no more than information boards with no actual person there to talk to.

Thus it was that with ten minutes til it arrived I figured that I could probably make it using the local underground and train network, which must surely be signposted better the closer you get to airport, it being the only International Airport near the city.

So using the last hours of my 48 hour pass, I reached a place on the map where you could pick up the CAT ( City Airport Train ), which was no easy feat let me tell you as the name on the map and the name on the platform were not at all identical.

I found it weird that in all my journeys on the Vienna underground network I never once saw a single guard or ticket inspector and I am sure that unless they enforce the death penalty for abusers that there will be loads of people who use the system for free at least once in awhile.

Once at the station I made the mistake of using an automated ticket machine in the underground to buy a ticket to reach the airport, as that was only valid on the underground and buses, whereas the CAT is run by a different organisation and requires a different ticket, so it is a much like the Gatwick of Stanstead Express back in London.

However the route to the CAT platform was outside of the station and with all the renovation and construction works going on it was all in a terrible mess and I found myself, once again partially lost wondering which way to go, when I happened to look down and there was the answer all the time.

Some bright spark had decided that the safest way was to paint a long green line right down the middle of the pavement which took you all around the block until you reached the entrance to the CAT.

Once there it was a trifling UE $9 for a short wait for a 16 minute ride ( yep, far closer than I started and yet another 50% extra ... just like back in London ) and I arrived at my destination a little after an hour from when I departed, so basically if I could have found that bus platform I would have arrived half an hour earlier, not had to bother with the hassle of changing trains and saved myself a few euro's too!

Vienna International airport is not so big, has few shops compared to others I have been into but it does have one redeeming, if expensive, feature. It has a lounge cafe that does the tastiest hot chocolate in all the world.

True, it may cost the world and I wouldn't even bother with ordering a meal as their portions are not enough to fill a childs sweet filled stomach, but if you just want a nice frothy hot cup of chocolate with whipped cream that tasted divine then here it the place to go.

As the forecast has already told me, it was raining when I arrived in Zurich and the travel map that I bought in the airport lounge trying to be clever may have been more detailed and comprehensive than the tiny tourist freebe on offer at the hostel, but sadly it exploded in all the directions except the one I needed to get to and from my hostel.

It may be great if you are staying in the city centre, but go too far east or west of central and you are buggered.

Taking out my trusty portable boots brand umbrella, which I had purchased only days before leaving the UK, I found that third time was not the charm for this device as the catch had broke off inside when I was putting it away on its second ever use and thus now it hung limply around my head less I use my other hand to keep it propped up.

I now have two universal truths to impart. Never fly Delta, and never buy a Boots Fold-up Umbrella.

Mercifully I have extensively studied the route to the hostel and it was very close to the train station, via a short change of trains from the airport itself, and so I was soon able to walk and rest up in my hostel before the rain got to soak my feet yet again.

After a brief tour of the complex by the hostel owner, I was shown my bunk in a two man room, and informed that I would be sharing with an Irish guy who was also due to arriving shortly.

Just enough time to bash out a quick blog entry I thought, but even as I was trying to plug in my European adapter I knew that something was amiss. Switzerland have their own power sockets unique to them, and more frustrating was that the hostel owner did not have any power adapters to sell or rent out.

So down to the local shops I ran, past a bus stop to the local mini shopping complex was and was blessed by not only finding a Swizz converter for the UK but one that was made by the same company as my existing one for other countries, so I could throw away the bulky inner adapter part and just keep the tiny outer section which goes into the wall.

Back in my room my Irish room buddy had already arrived, and being a repeat visitor to the city already had his own adapter but sadly could not seem to get a signal from the wifi server that was in the hostel, so as any true gent would I offered to let him use my laptop for a bit to check emails and stuff { after wiping the browser history and thus any login passwords, etc }.

Afterwards, and once the rain has eased off a bit, he offered to pop down to the local Chinese and bring us back a takeaway if I could throw him a few bob for mine, and we must have chatted for a good few hours before crashing, and thus it was that a day that threatened to be a bit of a disaster turned out to be a good day after all.

In fact it is a shame that I am only here the one night, as tomorrow afternoon he is meeting up with some of his mates and it would have been cool to maybe tag along and chill, but alas there is no rest for the wicked and I have a morning train to catch bound for Bern.