SYD-xBKK-HEL-BUD-VIE-MUC-FRA-xHEL-xBKK-SYD EK B777, AY A350, QF A330, + Trains in J

[nonpop]

Re: SYD-xBKK-HEL-BUD-VIE-MUC-FRA-xHEL-xBKK-SYD EK B777, AY A350, QF A330, + Trains i

Free salty snack handed out mid journey


View mid journey


Vienna station ... heading down to find the local metro to take us to our hotel. We like to use local public transport wherever possible as it gets us into the swing of a city quickly. And most metro systems work the same. Vienna proved to be no different and their ticket machines all took my CC with ease.


Waiting for the local mtero train. Again HLO working out like a treat enabling fast movement underground etc.


Inside the metro train in Vienna. Clean and didn't smell like a truck stop toilet. The trains run every few mins in peek time and about 4 - 5 mins off peek it seems.
No time table needed.

TBC ...

 

[nonpop]

Re: SYD-xBKK-HEL-BUD-VIE-MUC-FRA-xHEL-xBKK-SYD EK B777, AY A350, QF A330, + Trains i

Having recently acquired HH Gold (via status match) and having the exact amount of HH points, we booked 5 nights (5 for 4 with points deal) at 136,000 points. As we were crossing new years eve, the cash rates across hotel in Vie was rather unpleasant. So this seemed to be a good choice.

The hotel is a little out of town but close to a metro. We were upgraded to a water view room and a full breakfast in the main restaurant ... but no exec lounge access. I was told the hotel was full. And across several nights it did seem like that.


View from lobby facing river


Room with water view


Another room shot ... the rooms are very large by Euro standards. The room is getting a little dated, but still very functional


Bathroom had a shub ... Rrrrrr oh well. The bathroom itself was huge. Water pressure was strong and we never ran out of hot water.


TBC ...

 

[nonpop]

Re: SYD-xBKK-HEL-BUD-VIE-MUC-FRA-xHEL-xBKK-SYD EK B777, AY A350, QF A330, + Trains i

Lots of basin space. SWMBO liked the extra space


Morning room view


The free water


Breakfast pastry time


Breakfast food - the standard Hilton spread of everything. Coffee was machine made if requested and no coffee tax.


TBC ...

 

[RooFlyer]

Re: SYD-xBKK-HEL-BUD-VIE-MUC-FRA-xHEL-xBKK-SYD EK B777, AY A350, QF A330, + Trains i

Just catching up. You move fast!

The no-bin-in-mid-cabin appears to be a 'thing' with AY. Had it a few years ago with an 'unrefurbed' A340 if memory serves. 5 minutes of wow, isn't the cabin big followed by 8 hrs of 'this is a PITA arrangement.

But I still love AY. J ðŸ

 

[nonpop]

Re: SYD-xBKK-HEL-BUD-VIE-MUC-FRA-xHEL-xBKK-SYD EK B777, AY A350, QF A330, + Trains i

Few more breakfast shots. We like to eat a big breakfast. We also use the time to linger and plan our day ahead.
usually the night before we do a quick high level plan of things to do, then over breakfast, based on weather and how we feel, we then bring it togther from a menu of choices. I will often jump online and book tickets and have the hotel print them where physical tix are needed.






River cruise boat travelling up the Danube right out the front of the hotel


And New Years morning ... we have snow. Not blizzard snow, but that Hollywood snow. Nice and light and fluffy and no wind.
Tick that box thank you. Made the day very special.

TBC ...

 

[nonpop]

Re: SYD-xBKK-HEL-BUD-VIE-MUC-FRA-xHEL-xBKK-SYD EK B777, AY A350, QF A330, + Trains i

A few Vienna random shots

A great visit to Schonbrunn palace


With fake roman ruins


And snow covered paths that made that crunching sound as you walked along them. I couldn't help myself with playing.


City skyline on a clearer day


TBC ...

 

[nonpop]

Re: SYD-xBKK-HEL-BUD-VIE-MUC-FRA-xHEL-xBKK-SYD EK B777, AY A350, QF A330, + Trains i

Opera house interior


We popped into
Kunsthistorisches Museum

Had some sausage inside the cafe


And I couldn't resist a beer since it was past noon from the same cafe


Oh and they had some art works as well


TBC ...

 

[nonpop]

Re: SYD-xBKK-HEL-BUD-VIE-MUC-FRA-xHEL-xBKK-SYD EK B777, AY A350, QF A330, + Trains i

Another little art work


Then we had to do the tourist trap thing and buy a sacher torte from the sacher hotel


We both knew it wasn't our thing so only got a small twin pack. They were ok. At least we can tick the box.


And another museum by night.


TBC ...

 

[nonpop]

Re: SYD-xBKK-HEL-BUD-VIE-MUC-FRA-xHEL-xBKK-SYD EK B777, AY A350, QF A330, + Trains i

Just catching up. You move fast!

The no-bin-in-mid-cabin appears to be a 'thing' with AY. Had it a few years ago with an 'unrefurbed' A340 if memory serves. 5 minutes of wow, isn't the cabin big followed by 8 hrs of 'this is a PITA arrangement.

But I still love AY. J ðŸ

Yeah I think that A340 was an ex-Air France hunk of junk. The same no mid bin thing was annoying then as well. I like my things over me ... like a security blanket. That way if someone else opens the overhead above me I stick a live cattle prod into them.

Provided AY keep the pricing reasonable then I find it hard to shift especially with the way the share market is being pounded these days.

Ok ... well I'll need to take a short break and collect more pics and crunch them down. So treat this as an intermission. I will be back.

 

[OATEK]

Re: SYD-xBKK-HEL-BUD-VIE-MUC-FRA-xHEL-xBKK-SYD EK B777, AY A350, QF A330, + Trains i

Thanks for the Railjet photos - we are doing the same Keleti/WienHbf journey in June and very good to see how it works.

 

[Fifa]

Re: SYD-xBKK-HEL-BUD-VIE-MUC-FRA-xHEL-xBKK-SYD EK B777, AY A350, QF A330, + Trains i

Thanks for posting the TR nonpop. I really like your report writing style.

I was particularly interested in Budapest as we are planning a visit for Christmas this year.

 

[GarrettM]

Re: SYD-xBKK-HEL-BUD-VIE-MUC-FRA-xHEL-xBKK-SYD EK B777, AY A350, QF A330, + Trains i

Yeah I think that A340 was an ex-Air France hunk of junk. The same no mid bin thing was annoying then as well. I like my things over me ... like a security blanket. That way if someone else opens the overhead above me I stick a live cattle prod into them.

Provided AY keep the pricing reasonable then I find it hard to shift especially with the way the share market is being pounded these days.

Ok ... well I'll need to take a short break and collect more pics and crunch them down. So treat this as an intermission. I will be back.

Don't take too long! This is a great TR.

 

[TomVexille]

Re: SYD-xBKK-HEL-BUD-VIE-MUC-FRA-xHEL-xBKK-SYD EK B777, AY A350, QF A330, + Trains i

no such thing as too many pics! I'm really enjoying them

Seconded

 

[kermatu]

Re: SYD-xBKK-HEL-BUD-VIE-MUC-FRA-xHEL-xBKK-SYD EK B777, AY A350, QF A330, + Trains i

I'm really enjoying this too. Nice TR!

 

[awkwardpaws]

Re: SYD-xBKK-HEL-BUD-VIE-MUC-FRA-xHEL-xBKK-SYD EK B777, AY A350, QF A330, + Trains i

Subscribed! And enjoying this TR immensely, nonpop!

 

[NoobFlyer]

Re: SYD-xBKK-HEL-BUD-VIE-MUC-FRA-xHEL-xBKK-SYD EK B777, AY A350, QF A330, + Trains i

An excellent TR so far indeed nonpop, very much looking forward to the remainder.

 

[scottz95]

Re: SYD-xBKK-HEL-BUD-VIE-MUC-FRA-xHEL-xBKK-SYD EK B777, AY A350, QF A330, + Trains i

Boarding pass scanned. This is a fantastic trip report. Some absolutely fabulous photos.

Basically, its just...

 

[nonpop]

Re: SYD-xBKK-HEL-BUD-VIE-MUC-FRA-xHEL-xBKK-SYD EK B777, AY A350, QF A330, + Trains i

Ok if you go up-thread and look at the building pic by night, that is the Hofburg Imperial Palace which again has a lot of cool stuff to see. And tickts to it come as a buy-entry-to-another-palace-get-this-one-for-free deal.

Thee was virtually nobody in the building ... so I thought I'd be daring and get 'close' to the knights exhibits.
Well low and behold, security appeared out of nowhere with a very disapproving "no, no, no". Anyways, no harm done. The Mrs and I had a good laugh, again like school children.

Knight on horseback


Knights not on horseback


And then a nice sculpture on the way out.


This is a little out of order as it was from another museum, but a painting I liked. I think I have a thing for lopped heads. May be I need a therapist.


TBC ... (no more heads detached from bodies:shock

 

[nonpop]

Re: SYD-xBKK-HEL-BUD-VIE-MUC-FRA-xHEL-xBKK-SYD EK B777, AY A350, QF A330, + Trains i

Well it was time to leave Vienna.
We had really enjoyed our time and would happily return. So glad we stayed the full 5 nights.

Next up was Munich.

Vienna to Munich with Railjet direct ... or so we thought
Class: 1st class

We purchased the tickets before the Refugee crisis really kicked in gear and about 8 wks before our departing direct trains all pulled from service.
We decided to just let the dice roll where they may and we'd work it out as we get closer. I had contemplated booking a flight from Vienna to Munich but resisted the fear as I've come to learn the media like to really beat up a story.

Vienna main railway station


Outside the station


More outside the station ... ok where were all these refugees. Vienna was meant to be a hot-spot of them with trains being cancelled and security everywhere. Nothing. Ok may be they are all inside getting toasty warm. Let's go and check.


I had to laugh as tried to pronounce the sign above the ticketing machine. Childish I know.


Mmmm Inside the station ... but again no riot squad to control crowds.


TBC ...

 

[nonpop]

Re: SYD-xBKK-HEL-BUD-VIE-MUC-FRA-xHEL-xBKK-SYD EK B777, AY A350, QF A330, + Trains i

A close inspection of the signboard showed our train . It now is listing that our train RJ60 appears to be going to 2 places at once.
Salzburg & Innsbruck all departing from platform 12. And then in small writing, one of the trains goes to Munich or there is something about Munich. Since my German language skills only knows some things from watching fawlty towers, I figured that must be want we wanted. I think the train eventually splits up and I need to board the first part of the train on platform 12 A-C and I'd work the rest out as we go.

We go to platform 12.
Hang on the sign suddenly changes as a train pulls up ... Our train is no longer departing from this platform.

Ok I've seen this trick before.
So we duck down into the main terminal and find our new platform.
Changed to platform 8.

Mmmm ok I go to the main signboard again and sure enough, our train is now departing from a the platform, now 8.
New signboard pic.


Waiting for the train



A train pulls up.


Ooops wrong carriage ... we just keep walking along inside (the doors do the star trek woosh thing as they auto-open).
Eventually we find our carriage and seat number. A double check of the internal signboard shows we are good to go ... well as far as Salzburg anyways.
What happens at that point, I'm sure it will all work out. I have a ticket to ride to Munich after-all. It never crossed my mind that may be I should have had the ticket re-validated / re-issued i.e I booked online and did a print at home job. So all I had was my printed ticket that showed direct service Vienna to Munich in a defined set of seats.




Our train. Looks same as previous from Budapest. And we had our own little mini carriage (I called it 'Emerald City' to the Mrs who just shook her head in a slow motion fashion at me when I tried to explain - if you are a WP flying the QF A380 in J, you'll understand )

Our mini cabin

TBC...