All Geared Up To Go.

The family of five were already at the baggage check-in queue by the time we arrived at the airport. During the introduction, none of the children shook our hands although they smiled coyly. Ms Walk-Faster ignored us! It was her prerogative.

The Emirates 777 took off at 2 am Sunday morning. It was going to be a 6½ hour flight so we should sleep some but I couldn't. We landed in Dubai (transit) at 4.30 am Sunday, Dubai time. The family of five slept on the airport bench seats. A small China man looked at them as he walked past. The man blew his nose noisily, cleared his throat and spat into a trash can.

Not wishing to interact with his germs, we went for a walk. Miniature Aladdin's lamp were selling at AED25 each. I made a mental note to buy one of these on the return flight.

We took off from Dubai at 9 am Sunday, Dubai time. The flight was delayed by about an hour due to traffic congestion. It was 40 deg Celsius and the airport was hazy. Little dust devils appeared randomly over the tarmac.

On the flight to Vienna, we were seated on the third and fourth aisle seats. The second seat, on my left was vacant while a  China woman sat on the other side of this seat. She took off her shoes, stretched her feet all the way across the empty seat into the pockets of the seat in front of me. Her toes wiggled. At the time, I was watching a movie about 4 Sudanese UN refugee resettling in America. It was a movie starring Reese Witherspoon (who have aged considerably by the way). As the movie was not exceptionally enthralling, I found myself following the theatrics of the wiggling toes.  This must have embarrassed her for she withdrew her feet at once. I did not request for an encore but the wiggling toes made repeated reappearances between polite intermissions.

As the plane crossed the border from Budapest to Vienna, vast wind-farms appeared. We landed at 1.30 pm Sunday, Vienna time. 28 deg Celsius.

Preparing for the trip

It was going to be a pretty long trip and what is there really to prepare for a long trip? 

FOOD

I once bumped into a Malay woman joining a long queue at the cashier's counter of a local grocery. In her shopping cart were about 12 packs of Brahim's Kampong Fried Rice.

"Is it THAT nice?" I asked, pointing at the packages.

"No. They were for my Dad. We're going to Europe."

Food was a huge concern but that part of the world is big on sausages, hot dogs, ham, pastries and bread, all palatable to us so it wasn't an issue.

KETTLE

Someone brought up this matter about kettles. Apparently, hotels in Europe do not provide kettles or complementary beverages. (It is true.). Hence, if coffee and tea is part of your daily regime, you'd probably have to pack some. And certainly you would need a little kettle to boil the water for that cuppa.

DOGS It is not uncommon to see dogs being walked practically everywhere. They were on the streets, in subway complexes, trams, buses, trains, food joints (where they sat demurely under the table) and airports. Dog poop though is a rarity for they were promptly removed. It appears that dogs in Austria were trained NOT to be approached so "a hands off policy" is good counsel.

KEEPING TO YOUR RIGHT

The rule of the road in Austria and Budapest is right hand traffic. Drivers are seated on the left hand side of the vehicle. It gets pretty confusing to drive on these roads, because you have to remember to keep right instead of left, overtake from the left instead of right. Further more, pedestrians have the right of way, and tram lines on the road complicates the effort.

The same rule applied in escalators, stairs and walkways. Everyone stepped onto the right hand side of the elevator, leaving the left for people in a hurry. Some sections of the road are designated as Bike Lanes and pedestrians are prohibited from entering these lanes. Walkways are usually on the right of the bike lanes.

WEATHER (JUNE)

Sunny, it being the end of spring. Some days were blustery so it was a good thing I packed in a shawl as well as a jacket. The temperature fluctuated between 17 to 28 deg Celsius

DRESS CODE

Someone on Trip Advisor wrote "Austrians are cultured people. Visitors to Austria should avoid leggings and yoga pants." Not sure what to make of that, I figured I wouldn't go wrong with jeans and shoes, taking with me only one pair of khaki shorts (I should have brought more) and a pair of FIT-FLOP sandals.

Most tourists dressed as they please anyway, so shorts and slippers were the order of the day, well ... most days.

WATER

Austria's tap water flowed from aqueducts which carried spring water from the Alps and surrounding mountains. This meant that their tap water were drinkable and rated better than our typical mineral water. It is more common to find bottled mineral water spritzer on open shelves in retail outlet than to find bottled mineral water.

Drinking Fountains were placed in public places and tourist spots. Manual pumps are still standing tall along the walkways in the city center.

Drinking Fountain near Uhrturm Clock Tower

At Stephansplatz

At Ringstrasse

WASHROOMS Public lavatories were indicated as WC in maps and signage. While most are free to use, some are installed with ticket vending machines. It cost EUR0.50 to use these. TOILETRIES It wasn't true that shampoo and bath gel were not typically provided in hotels.

Ticket vending machine for public lavatory

CONTINGENCIES

Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. (Murphy's Law)

I did not prepare well for this trip. Seasoned travelers were to tell me later that I should have brought more medical supplies for contingencies. Food poisoning and  other minor injuries can happen while you are abroad. I fell and bruised my knees from a sudden leg cramp on this trip and had to suffer the inconvenience of locating a pharmacy in order to acquire the antiseptic cream, plaster and other pharmaceutical product necessary to ease my troubles. Did I mention that I also caught the dastardly flu? It was a good thing though, that we packed in a raincoat. It rained in Budapest.

11 Days with Ms Walk-Faster!

Ms Walk-Faster (not her real name) is inordinately spirited and full of vigor. Standing at about 2 inches over me, she weighed a couple of kilos more. One would describe her as matronly for she had a round countenance which was carried by a pair of good strong legs. She told me how she walked three kilometers daily on her treadmill, (I gave mine away.) and would not cease extolling the wonders of a pair of good Nike walking shoes. She had a fondness for dangling ear-rings and carried a little box full of earrings in her Rudyard Kipling backpack.

Her husband, Mr Nice-Guy (not his real name) is a friend of my Significant Other and as far as nice goes, it typically do not require many words.

Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum (not their real names) were the couple's two older daughters, early twenties or probably late teens. They advocate "Pee For Free" and would not be caught paying for the services of a public washroom. They were the spitting image of their mother.

Mr Seventeen (not his real name) is their youngest son. He was selected for a Student Exchange Program and spent the month prior with a family in Italy. Aged seventeen, he is doing his A-levels. He had an interesting face which lit up when he smiled. However, teen angst got the better of him so he was often seen brooding and scowling.

They were our travelling companion for the next eleven days.

Our destination?

Austria and Budapest.

Eight Years is a long time.

I missed you, Little Ginger!

I missed you so, so, much.