Nine Days Away

Nine days away from the computer and internet can be traumatizing for some people. For me, it wasn't traumatic until the tenth day, when I booted up the computer and saw the huge pile of spam and tiny mound of email accumulated in my inbox. In that moment of intense anxiety, it dawned on me that I was also nine days behind on journal reading. After some deep breathing exercises and a cup of coffee, the anxiety passed and the calm returned. I know I'm behind, but I have to accept that it will take some time to catch up.

For one week in October, I was in Austria. As I sit here and type, it's hard to believe it ever happened. The whole thing is a memory now. Only photos, scribblings and souvenirs remain as evidence. It was my third trip out of the country and the first in fifteen years. Jeopardy Question #6,467: What is Vancouver and Hong Kong?

The trip began last Sunday. The itinerary called for us to fly from San Francisco to Vienna via London. From Vienna, we would travel by train to Salzburg where we would be staying two nights. If everything went as planned, we would leave San Francisco at 1 PM on Sunday and arrive in Salzburg by 5 PM on Monday (losing a day due to time change). However, nothing ever goes as planned.

Our flight from San Francisco left an hour late because of mechanical problems with one of the cargo doors. Everything on the ten-hour flight went fine, but once we reached London, our plane flew a holding pattern because there weren't any available gates. It was around the time our connecting flight was leaving that ground control allowed us land. Every gate was still occupied, so a shuttle took us to the terminal where we were booked on a new flight. Instead of flying directly from London to Vienna, there would be a transfer in Munich.

While in Heathrow, I purchased Terry Pratchett's Going Postal, the latest novel in his Discworld series. The main difference between the British and American versions is the cover art. To me, the British cover is much more appealing.

The remainder of our flight was uneventful. We arrived in Vienna safely, as did our luggage (thankfully). If you are ever in Vienna's airport, look at the ceilings. They are covered with murals (photo upper right).

We caught a bus to the train station (Westbahnhof) and were heading for Salzburg by 7:30 PM. Salzburg sits some 317 km (197 mi) west of Vienna, approximately three hours away by rail. We walked from the station (Hauptbahnhof) and reached our hotel, not far from the banks of the Salzach, around 11 PM. We had been up for nearly thirty hours. Having slept very little along the way, sleep came easily at the end of the day.