Life's a Stitch

When we first arrived at the "central" rail station in Vienna from Klosteneuberg we discovered we were nowhere near the "new" station close to our hotel and the train to the airport. Note to self – not all websites contain current information. So we bit the bullet and Ubered. We’re finding as we get older and less willing to walk miles pulling our luggage, we need to create an Uber line in the travel budget. So worth it.

Fortunately we saw the hop on hop off sign right by the hotel and knew we could complete the second route, including the walking tour, in the one day we had left. Again, the weather was beautiful, ideal to take in the sites of this elegant city. It did have the somewhat packed feel of similar tourist destinations like Barcelona and Venice. We appreciated the history, especially during the guided walking tour, but agreed that our ideal destinations are smaller cities.

That night it poured, a torrential thunder storm. We were grateful we were off the bikes.

We took an early morning train to the airport and off we flew on Hungary's Wizz Airlines. Interesting name. It looked like some passengers dressed to coordinate with the plane.

We were greeted in London Gatwick Airport by Maggie, whom we met on last year’s South America trip, to hand deliver my painting of Machu Picchu. It was a wonderful reunion. That painting travelled through six countries, surviving five flights, nine train rides and time in hotel storage. 

Next was the train to Southampton, which we’ve taken previously. We arrived on the proper platform ten minutes early and boarded the train. It felt good not to have the extremely too close connections that we experienced in Germany. The train left five minutes early. Hmmm, that should have been a clue. Next one was when I didn’t see the castle on our right that we saw the first time. Finally we hear we were at the final destination: Brighton, and all should leave the train. Oh no, wrong train. 

We had two choices: return to Gatwick or take the milk run to Southampton, 90 minutes later. Rather than wrestle the baggage we chose the latter, which added a bit of time. I have to say the railway staff were quite accommodating, all smiling, on the edge of laughing when I explained our predicament. 

Ok we should have Ubered, but we slogged the bags 20 minutes with a barely reasonable uphill segment to our Victorian Air B&B in the Shirley area. It was clean and adequate for a pre and post cruise one night stay. BUT do not go to the nearby Italian restaurant, Puccinis, the worst meal of the trip. Possibly the worst meal of many trips.

Tomorrow we board the ship!