Sally’s Trip Journal - Chapter V
Thursday, January 1, 2004 in Vienna, Austria
Got up, showered, dressed and walked outside to the restaurant for the breakfast that came with our room. We were amazed at what we found! The layout was three times bigger than the breakfast set out at the Pension. There were semels of course and sausages and cheeses, fruits and cereals too… but at least 3-5 kinds of each. There were oranges that you could squeeze to make fresh Orange Juice! There were teas, at least a dozen. Coffee and even goulash! But the best surprise was the pastries! Oh my, I think Bob tried all of them. And said that some had meat in them, others fruit. But they were all wonderful!
By then I wished I hadn’t eat the semmel with the sausages and cheeses, I would have tried one, but after I had that and two helpings of fruit. I just couldn’t eat another thing. After our breakfast feast we went back to the room and got our stuff together for our New Years Day in Vienna. No real plans, but Bob wanted to read his newest book and I wanted to catch up on my journal. So we found the Classic Coffee House. The one that Bob got so upset about. He couldn’t believe that it had changed. We had tea and he read and I “journaled” till noon to ride by and check to see what was happening at the Rathaus.
What we found when we got off the bus was another total surprise! Yes, there were booths with punsch, tea, pigs and wursts, but they also had a huge movie-like TV screen and on it was the live New Years Concert at the Opera! Bob could tell right away that they were just beginning to play the Blue Danube Waltz. It was a cold day, but the rain had stopped. It had even snowed a bit overnight and some places had snow on them. But at the Rathaus in Vienna, Austria, people were crowded around an outside TV screen, watching, listening and some were even waltzing to the Symphony Orchestra as they played Vienna Waltzes by Johann Strauss.
It was amazing to see and be a part of. I want to find a CD of it when I get home. If I can find one, I told Bob, I would play it and have hot cider with rum and schnapps out on my deck next year and remember this new years day in Vienna. (Note: I am not on my deck but am transcribing these notes on New Years Day 2005 in St. Louis Missouri and having hot punsch at my PC- temperature is 61 degrees)
Note: Where else but Vienna could you find the Neujahrskonzert shown on a huge outdoor TV while eating a bratworst as big as a foot long hot dog with dark bread and the most delicious mustard in the whole world?
Its about 4:00pm now in Vienna and we are having a glass of wine at Café Prukel and I’m journaling again and Bob is reading. Maybe I’ll even have time for my book if I close this until tomorrow. I did get a bit of reading in, and then we were ready to go home. Our next surprise was that the Gasthaus connected to our hotel had deer dishes that night. We couldn’t resist having dinner there. How many times do you have this kind of opportunity to have deer prepared like they do here in Vienna! With Kanodles and the sauce with the little berries in it! And of course we just had to have one more Schnapps. It was after all New Years Day 2004!!! It wasn’t Garastorf schnapps, but merillan schnapps is very good.
Tomorrow, we decided, we would travel to Gasasdorf and try to find the factory/distillery where they make and sell their Merillan schnapps. We both want at least one bottle, maybe two to bring back. Me, because I may not find the cognac for Donald and he will just have to be satisfied with Austrian Schnapps. What a great day, we so enjoyed it, what a great mix of relaxing and reading and doing fun things and trying new places and foods to eat.
Friday, January 2, 2004
Moving Day! We were up, showered and packed in plenty of time for a last good breakfast at the Gasthaus. But neither of us wanted to eat as much as yesterday. There was almost as much on the tables as there was on New Years Day. Delicious.
We took our suitcases to the Pension Schunbrunn and dropped them off and headed to the city to have our airline tickets confirmed. British Air was first and Bob’s went quickly and easily. But Austrian Airlines was closed. And closed until Tuesday! The whole New Years Weekend including Monday…. Oh well, Bob said that this is the first time he has ever bothered to confirm a flight, and he did it today only because of me! He says there should be no problem.
After that we went to the train station to catch the train to Garasdorf. It was a nice long ride and so we had all that time to read and both of us enjoy and value that. Of course my journaling takes time from my reading. But I so want the journal as a record of my trip that I will happily take the time to write. It was around noon when we arrived in Garasdorf and it had snowed there. Bob showed me where he and Jeanne had lived or at least the street he walked from the bus to the train station for the short ride to the center of town. Quaint little town and he was remembering how their landlord wanted to give him some schnapps but he refused it while they lived here.
So we found and got on a bus from the train station to the center of town. Bob thought the first place to go would be the fairly large grocery store. So we found the store and looked first at the liquor shelves, but didn’t see anything that looked like a Garasdorf brand or label. So he asked one of the female employees in German if they could tell him where he could find the schnapps. The first woman was new and called to another older woman, who didn’t know, but she stopped an elderly man who remembered that there was a man who made the schnapps there in Garasdorf but he hadn’t heard anything recently about him or the schnapps. On the way out of the grocery store I suggested we try the Post Office. The man or the company would have to have an address for mail delivery. Bob said that was a really good idea and he knew right where the Post Office was, just a short walk from the grocery store. He asked the clerk there who said yes, there was such a man, but he retired to a home for the elderly and the company was disbanded. Oh no…. no more Garasdorf schnapps!!
Well, we said, lets go back and find a place to have something warm for supper. We again read on the train trip back and decided to go to the Gasthaus around the corner from the Pension/our hotel. We were really surprised to find it so very crowded. All the tables were full after we took the one empty booth. We had goulash and salad like the first time and Bob had a wurst too.
We were “entertained" by the group of Italian tourists that were eating there. That was mostly because there were two small boys that were very lively, to say the least. And because of a mix up in our order, our little lunch took till 4:00pm. On the way back to the hotel we stopped at a little deli for a bottle of wine for that night. And then back to the hotel to relax and plan our last two days in Vienna!
Saturday, January 3, 2004
We have several things planned for today. Two of the very first on our list are Julius Meinl and the Naschmarkt. So after we showered, dressed and had some breakfast we both agreed that it was nice to be back at the Pension Schonbrunn. We went first to Meinl’s because we didn’t want to have to carry our Nashmarkt finds with us later.
Our last trip to Meinl’s was a delight. We went there so Bob could get some chocolate bars to bring home but I was still curious about the cognac and didn’t see a small bottle on the shelves. We looked and looked for schnapps while we were there too. Bob did ask one of the staff there and we were so happy he did. I got 2 small cognacs one for DJ and one for me. And we both got a bottle of Schnapps that was the last of another individual or personal distiller there. Now all we have to do is get them home! Oh, and carry them to and through the Naschmarkt!!
We enjoy people-watching at Meinl’s too, and oh dear, the fur coats! The matching outfits! The elegant folks that shop there on the Graben! Even one little elderly woman who left her puppy out front while she shopped. We took one last look before our bus came at the selections at the deli. Wonderful!
But for now.. on the bus and off to the Naschmarkt! Another experience that we won’t have again. We arrived right at noon and had time to look for extra bags for each of us. My “find” is a military type khaki colored backpack. But its roomy and will hold a lot. Bob’s is not large but will be more useful to him than mine will be to me. He also found some beautiful schnapps (3) and cognac (2) glasses. I just can’t imagine taking any more home than I already have so I didn’t even look for more glasses. I really do like the ones Bob got though. And there really weren’t any more like that anyway. We got more honey wine from the honey man, and a honey cake, though they were honest and told us that its all from the Christmas baking and might be a bit drier. Found a couple of bottles of red wine too. And by that time we were getting cold and ready to head for ‘home’ with our ‘finds'.
What a great second last day. How could we top it? Didn’t stay long at the hotel after we brought our treasures back because it was getting late and we were getting hungry. Bob so hoped we could find Hatam open. So that’s where we headed and YES! They were open and we had that special meal he always gets when he goes there. The special rice, white and saffron, with the grilled chicken, grilled tomatoes, shredded raw veggies (cabbage, carrots and onions) and topped with those little tiny dried berries. With that we had glasses of beer and it was wonderful. When we left Bob got a card so he can add their name and address to his website. He enjoys recommending his favorite places to others who are traveling.
It was by that time almost 6:00pm and we went back to the hotel to check out our treasures and to begin to at least sort out what we have to pack and to decide what to pack where. What we forgot was that we had bags that we had left at the Pension when we went to Paris, and all that had to be packed too ! Bob sorted out all of our cups from the kriskindl’s and the other things that we had accumulated… Wow, we really needed an extra bag apiece.
We did our preliminary sorting and packing and planned our Sunday, our very last day in Vienna. Martin Sepp for sure! And Bob asked if I wanted to do another museum. He said we would have time. I told him that Schnonbrunn was the only thing I might still want to see. He said good, good idea! We will plan on it.
Sunday, January 4, 2004
After we showered, dressed and walked downstairs for breakfast (our room this time was on the second floor) we decided that we could squeeze in one more check of email. So we took the Ubahn and the busses and went to the BigNet. I still had 20 minutes of time and Bob wanted to see if John had written. I had no email and maybe would have written Tricia but didn’t take my ticket so figured she would still have the flight info that I had given her and just know to meet me on Monday the 5th.
We got back on the Ubahn and went to Schonbrunn Palace, and found that I could get a ticket for an individual tour with a recorder at 12:46 today. Bob was very pleased and told me to take my time and see all I wanted to see there. He didn’t want me to worry about time. He found a bench and was comfortable reading until I got back. It took about an hour and a half to see and hear it all, and I didn’t hurry. Then we had plenty of time to walk to the #94 at Schonbrunn for the train to Martin Sepp in Grinzing.
A couple of times we wondered if it would be crowded after all it was Sunday afternoon, but when we got there it was fine, no waiting at all. We had taken the bus at Grinzing and got off at the 2nd stop, which was a bit too far, so we walked back down. Better than getting off at the 1st stop and walking up the hill, Bob said. The food at Martin Sepp is delicious, just plain old good cooking, served somewhat buffet style though you can ask for anything you like and they would cook it for you. We drank a whole litre of wine there. Bob showed me their backyard where tables are set up in what he calls clement weather. And where he has been many times with the Webster students and their families.
We got back to the hotel in a very light snow and finished our packing, setting out the clothes we would wear for our trip home. We finished our honey cake and honey wine. I was almost too excited to sleep just thinking about the trip home. Such mixed feelings, I’m ready to go home, on the other hand, I love Vienna and wish at this point that I could come back in nicer weather when there are flowers in bloom.
Monday, January 5, 2004.
Well, we set the alarm for 7:00 am and were shocked when we showered, dressed, got our bags ready and went downstairs for breakfast. It had continued to snow and there was at least 2-3 inches of snow on the ground and it was still snowing, and snowing hard!
We went downstairs, Bob checked us out of the hotel and asked if the owner could call a taxi for us. We had planned on a taxi all along, realizing that we would each have more luggage than we arrived. But, this was another adventure in the making I could see that. And my tummy didn’t need another adventure. We decided to have at least one cup of coffee/tea and juice. But for me the tea was too hot and we only had 10 minutes to get our bags down to the door. It was Bob who said go ahead and drink your tea. I’ll get all 5 bags downstairs. He was so kind, and I was quiet and worried about another cancellation.
Though Bob wasn’t at all worried, he had done this or something like this many, many times, and all over the world. He tried to help me relax and see this as just another adventure. At 8:00 on the dot our taxi was in front of the hotel, and somehow “we” got all the bags in the trunk across the partly shoveled and un-shoveled piles of snow. And it was still coming down pretty hard.
I really can’t say that I’m all that excited about going home, it’s just that I feel a bit unprepared for an overnight in the Austrian Airport. And there is that “just get me to my plane” feeling in me. As though that will somehow settle everything? It’s a combination too, of my uncertainty, and butterflies.
At the airport we did thank the taxi man for getting us through the city and out the highway to the airport. What a ride that was… roads with a lot of snow on them, and people driving to work and slipping and sliding on the slippery roads. Our taxi man did a great job.
We had a little stash of euros left and so after we each got checked in and took our carry on bags with us, we went up to the restaurant, got a table and Bob had a coffee and apple strudel. I had a yogurt. Couldn’t eat or drink anything at that point. Not sure but I’m still a bit fluttery. I know that the Austrian Airlines clerk told me that #93 to Washington Dulles would board at 10:00 but Bob said not to take that as the OK, but to wait for the flight # to appear on the departing flights board. We walked downstairs and tried to find a bench to sit on. Bob went outside and got a cart for our bags. I was so jittery that I couldn’t sit still. By then it was 10:30 and my flight still wasn’t posted. They were posting by time of departure and it was getting close to “my” time. Bob’s was a bit later. I wished I knew his flight #. At about 10:35 there was another flight posted on the board and sure enough it was my flight. I got my coat and my carry-on, Bob hugged and kissed me goodbye and asked if I would call John when I got to St. Louis. I checked and I had John’s phone # and I said I would be sure to call him and let him know about the snow and that he needed to check on Bob’s flight. And that Bob would call when he got to St. Louis. I took my things and almost ran to gate # A7. There was a huge line there for flight #93. So I waited in line, and waited, and waited.
At 5:00pm we hadn’t moved more than a car’s length. Suddenly people started saying “Washington” and “To Washington” and a woman in red was pulling people out of line that were on #93 to Washington. At first we hated to give up our place in line but she was so insistent that we all: 1) stepped over and 2) waited for her next instruction!! Not a good scene, but eventually she did give us some information… we were to be put on a bus!! And we would be taken to a hotel!! We grabbed our bags (carry ons) and followed her. Sure enuf there was a bus, and she stood up in front after we all got on and explained the basics… Bus, Hotel, Dinner and Breakfast … then new flight info (but how or when .. that we still didn't know?)
We rode on the bus for almost an hour before we pulled up in front of the Hotel Park Schonbrunn!! I found out later that it’s a well known hotel located near the Schonbrunn Palace and was built in 1907 as a guest house for Emperor Franz Joseph.
We waited in line from 6:00pm to 7:00pm for our room assignments…. And I did meet a nice woman from Egypt who was in line with me, what a beautiful face framed by beautiful white hair she had.
At the desk we were given a room key and a ticket for dinner. And we talked a bit about settling in and then meeting in the lobby and finding someplace to eat.
In my room I tried to use the phone to call out. But there didn’t seem to be any way we could do that. The phones just didn’t work! One passenger had said that until we are all checked in no phones can be used… and so it was … my friend from Egypt went back downstairs (a long, long way as we had to walk down maybe 7-8 different corridors to get to the office from where our rooms were located).
Seems the hotel had several buildings connected together, and we were to stay in the “back” building. The scene out my window was beautiful, a snowy courtyard that would have made a beautiful Christmas card. And I would have enjoyed it at some other time, in some other circumstance.
My room was nice, lots of rich wood trim, wood furniture with lots of storage space and even a bathtub.
We had a bit of a mix-up finding the correct restaurant and were happy that we had our heavy coats with us. We found it a bit further from the hotel than we thought it would be. A restaurant called Brandeur (?). And looking around I wondered if this wasn’t close to the coffee house where Bob and I had met Bernhardt Kenner (turned out it was).
Our food was pre-ordered and touristy. Soup that was a thin broth (where is the goulash when I need it?) Next course was Wiener Schnitzel, 2 large pieces with a cereal sized bowl of potato salad. Not bad, just not tasty, but I hadn’t eaten a thing all day but one yogurt and it was by then 7:00 pm ! I ate one schnitzel, my soup and a little potato salad. For dessert they brought us an apple strudel that was good, not as flaky as some I’ve had, but I did eat mine, all of it.
After dinner we walked through the snow back to the hotel, wishing that we would have a message from Austrian Airlines about our flights tomorrow morning. But most of us just hoped to be able to make the calls we needed to make but couldn’t before.
I asked at the desk what I needed to do to check-in and use the telephone and after asking my name, the clerk said I was all checked in. That was good news…. Now, who to call?
After a couple of tries I got through to Rach! It was so good to hear her voice. She told me all the kids were worried about me. They knew about the flight cancellation but didn’t know where I was or how I was doing. I told her that Tricia was picking me up and needed to know that the flight was cancelled. Rach said that Tricia already knew. Good, I said and gave Rach the name and the phone number of the hotel as she said that Mark would want to call me.
I asked her what time it was there (Roanoke VA) and she said it was 2:30 pm (I think) and that she almost didn’t answer the phone when it rang as it was ‘unknown caller’, but because of all this stuff with my flight cancelled and me stranded in Vienna, she did. And both of us were happy that she did. Rach because now she could tell the others that she talked to me and heard me laugh and knew that I would be OK and that I was just anxious to get home at this point.
The real bummer was, but I didn’t tell Rach … my room key wouldn’t open the mini bar! And as bad as that news was, it still wasn’t as bad as thinking that the house key I had with me might not open my own front door at home.
Later on Mark called and it was good to talk to him too, really good. He asked about the plans and how I was doing with all of it. I told him I had no idea where Bob was at that point. He was supposed to fly home on British Air to London but I had no idea if he made it or not. I said I tried to call the number of his cell phone, but no answer. Mark said Lisa tried it too and got the same. Mark was reluctant though to tell me but finally did… that there had been several flights from London – on British Air – that had been cancelled because of terrorist activity! Whew… I guessed it could be worse than a snow storm.
Mark had called his travel agent and put my name on a seat on the #93 to Dulles tomorrow! But he didn’t know the situation with Austrian Air and our passenger load. I told him I didn’t know either, knew nothing, absolutely nothing… but I was thrilled to hear that I might have a seat on tomorrows flight to Washington DC. I told him I loved him and that I would call whenever I got home.
And then about 11:00 pm I got a call from the desk clerk that I was to be on the 8:00 AM bus in the morning! I had a hard time sleeping after that. Would I wake up in time? I tried to arrange a wake-up call but it was in German! And calls to the main desk were always busy!
I tossed and turned all night, slept very little, but as Bob says… we can sleep all we want in January and February. He also said to think of these kinds of things as part of the ADVENTURE! I think I’ve had just about all the adventure I can handle at this point… though I could have more to come tomorrow !
Tuesday, January 6, 2004
Woke at 6:00 am, plenty of time, I did enjoy my shower, but wished I had my shampoo and makeup with me. Oh well, I took my coat and bag downstairs for a bit of breakfast at 6:30 am and to wait for the bus.
My little Egyptian friend was there and seemed very hopeful ( I too hoped things would go well for her). We rode the bus to the airport together and rushed to get in line at 8:45am. By 9:45am I had my replacement ticket !! Not to DC, no seats they said. No, my ticket was Vienna to JFK to Cincinnati to St. Louis !! Flight #88 to JFK was boarding by 10:30am and I was in line and boarded without a problem.
This might be it…. I’m on board…. And we are moving to our spot on the runway… we are taking off at approximately 12:15 …. For JFK … ET 9 ½ hours to New York.
The flight is going well, it’s now 11:00 eastern time and we have 2 hours to JFK. I filled out my customs form but may need to read it again. OK, I read it and it’s filled out. I just hope it’s filled out correctly and doesn’t put me into another long line that costs me time. It looks like we need to go to a passport check, then to the luggage carousel and then to customs. I just know that I had 2 glasses of wine on the flight and two meals so I don’t have to worry about anything to eat or drink till the next plane ride – Delta to Cincinnati .. and I just hope It’s not snowing there !
9 Hours and 21 minutes and we are here .. landed …..and … oops…. NO LUGGAGE ..for me! At least the customs wasn’t a problem. What was a problem was trying to get information from Austrian Airlines about the luggage!
For now.. how to get to Delta Airlines … 3 terminals away in time for a 6:00 pm flight? Thank goodness it wasn’t a 5:30 flight!! The woman at the ticket/check in desk was so very nice, and understood my being a bit hassled. I’m now on the Delta flight #441 to Cincinnati and haven’t had a minute to call Tricia, but will call her in Cincinnati.
What an adventure ! I’m wondering when/how will this adventure end? I think I’ve proven before that I can survive just about anything!
Hmmmm, looks like this flight #441 is going to take 1 ¾ hours to get to Cincinnati. Which means it will get there about 8:00-8:15 pm. That should give me time to call Tricia.
Our 6:00pm flight is waiting for a runway and its 6:50 pm now. The Captain just came on to say that it may be 30 minutes more till we get a runway ! 7:30pm plus 1 ¾ hrs = I”LL MISS MY CONNECTION IN CINCINNATI – at 9:30 PM !!!!
Ok, after thinking about it I’ll rent a car and Tricia won’t have to worry about picking me up .. Yes ! But rent a car where? 7:10 pm, our plane just took off for Cincinnati … do I rent a car there or in St. Louis?
Wow… what a view out the window of the plane – breathtaking ! A huge circular bridge and hundreds and hundreds of lights.. wow ! That was super, as was our descent on the Austrian Airliner over the water in New York because they have that video camera on the front of the plane and you see it all … the entire landing through that camera !
I think I’ll just try to make some calls in Cincinnati, but take the next flight to St. Louis. No matter what time it leaves. $4.00 for a small bottle of wine on the plane…. But I’m worth it!
Oh dear, it does look as though I’ve missed the 8:40 pm flight, but the Delta clerk was able to check me into the next flight for St. Louis…. At 11:10 PM … and I needed to go outside (again) to another terminal, as I did in New York, but this time there is a bus to take us to there =Terminal C.
First thing I did was find a ladies room and then a phone. I called Mark using the 1-800-collect. I know now that my phone card is back in my suitcase… wherever that is. And speaking of my suitcase, in St. Louis I need to file a lost luggage report for both my bags. And then rent a car. Mark said he was able to track me and my flight all day till JFK, but couldn’t “locate” me after that. I told him it was likely because of the voucher (in Vienna). I may not be in any computer, though the clerk at Delta had no problem printing me a boarding pass form the handwritten Austrian Airline forms.
I told Mark about the plane and how slow it seemed to be going. Almost as though it was stopping or at least slowing down in mid air. So bizarre, I’ve never seen anything like it.
Mark said it was as though a bird would have passed it up? I said yes, just like that! The pilot did say something like 149 mph winds? But the plane was delayed before that, so it wasn’t the wind that caused us to miss our flights. What a day !! But Mark did say he would call Tricia and send an email to the family.
New departure time announcement ! 11:30 pm !! Another delay…. I guess the good news is that it’s not cancelled?
At 11:25pm we are boarding our small commuter-sized plane.
My newest problem is my luggage tickets – I can’t locate them ! And I had them with my ticket stub! Can’t find them anywhere ! Ugh! The Last time I had them was at JFK. Possibly they were with my paperwork at the Delta desk ?? Oh no…. that’s not good, not good at all. Everyone told me that they need those stubs – Damn it !
Our plane arrived at Lambert St. Louis Airport at 12:00 midnight. And when I tried to find the Delta counter… the airport itself was as quiet as a tomb. Not a counter was open and NOBODY was there ! Back downstairs to find the Delta Baggage Office where I found a sign = Closed 11:00pm. So I asked the only person at what looked like the closest thing to an information desk where the rental car places were… he said “go to that board… there are three you can call just by picking up the phone”
I tried them all, one was closing at midnight – um, 15 minutes ago. One said they had no cars left. And the third said $50.00 a day. Heck, I thought, I could get a taxi for that and not have to return it !
So, I knew how to walk toward the TAXI sign and then out the door to the next taxi waiting. I told the driver to go Hwy 170 to Laclede Station Road and it cost less than the first time!
I was home… at around 1:05 am, and just got in the door and was turning up the heat on my electronic thermostat when the phone rang! Yikes! Who could that be? It was my youngest child, Tricia: (in tears) “Mom, are you alright? I’m at the airport! “. Me: “Oh dear, I’m so sorry Tricia, Mark was supposed to tell you not to pick me up” By then she must have been in her car, as she said she was on her way to my house because she didn’t think that I had a key that would open the front door !!
Seems somebody must have told her about the key that I had left with my next-door neighbors. Nobody, including me, had tried it before I left the country and so nobody knew if it would open the front door.
Well, she got here a little while later and we talked till 2:00 am and by then she was better. The house was still warming so we both bundled up and went to sleep, her in the small bedroom that used to be her room.
Wednesday, January 7, 2004
I woke up at 6:00am or so tried to go back to sleep but just couldn’t. So I got up, showered and washed my hair and let Tricia sleep. I made a pot of tea and went downstairs to check my email. I wanted to see if Bob was OK and home. He had sent me several messages and so I knew what his trip home was like. He had arrived on Tuesday in St. Louis around 10:00 am and he took a taxi too. But he had been enroute that entire 24 hours. It took me another 12 hours, but I had stayed overnight in Vienna which made up most of that difference.
I was really a zombie, so I just wrote a short note to let him know I was home ..at last. He wrote back in about 15 minutes and when I went back downstairs with another cup of tea I read his note that said: “please call”. But he mistyped his phone #, and I had to go back upstairs and look up his number in my organizer, which was still in my carry-on. But I did call and was able to tell him I was having tea in my Maria Hilfer cup (brought back from Vienna) and he was able to hear that I was OK, and I heard that he was OK.
I didn’t know it but he had called – or tried to call me on Tuesday. He said he left 3 messages- but he had called the wrong number!
Tricia was just waking up by then and had showered and was dressing for work. Bob didn’t know at that point what all had happened to me and I’m not sure what he thought when he called and left messages and I didn’t reply to any of them … or even mention them when we talked this morning.
I said goodbye to Tricia as she left for work and soon after that, her sister, my oldest daughter, Lisa called. She too just wanted to know if I was OK. But she also wanted to know what happened and how I was doing after my adventure. Another friend Gerry Miller called soon after Lisa and we talked for another half hour.
I thought about driving to the post office to get my mail that I had held there, but wanted to send some longer emails to let everybody, Bob and kids, know that I was home and settling in… jet lagged, but settling in. After that I looked up Delta Airlines phone # for lost luggage – 1-800-221-1212 and tried it but couldn’t get a living breathing person to talk to.
I realized I was hungry about then but didn’t have a thing in the house to eat. So I drove to the Post Office to get my (laundry basket of) mail and then to the grocery store for some groceries.
When I got home I fixed something quick to eat as I put away my other groceries. I got some eggs for some scrambled eggs, I’ve missed them. Then my friend Donald called and came over (and stayed and talked till 5:00 pm).
I told him about the flight being cancelled and the lost luggage. We decided to try some of the Merillan Schnapps I brought from Vienna and he shared a taste of the cognac that I brought for him. Though he was disappointed in the size of the bottle … hey, I couldn’t carry any more, and they wouldn’t let us ship it. He liked the Merillan Schnapps and said it was really smooth, and nice for special occasions! After he left I fixed myself a bowl of chili with crackers and had a glass of wine. I called my sister Pat and then crashed (into bed).
Thursday, January 8, 2004
I’m still a bit off my normal and I imagine still jet lagged. But I caught up with my email and then tackled my month's worth of ‘snail’ mail. Whew! That took hours! Thursday nite I had a frozen dinner of beef tips and rice .. not what I had gotton used to in Vienna.. but something in my tummy. And I had a glass of wine and tried to stay up till 10:00 but couldn’t make it past 9:00pm… oh well… I’m getting there.
If only I had my luggage! Bob and I each worked each on our PCs on our trip (ATM) withdrawals and expenses for the trip and he emailed me a wonderful list- almost a full page (double spaced) of our “Cash Expenditures”. What a great keepsake for us! He is truly the Master Record Keeper. And it looks like my ATM withdrawals so far total $1650.00 for the entire 4 week trip.
Then after opening my mail I told Bob that my bank charged 2% for ATM withdrawals overseas plus 1.50% for the overseas bank. Bob said that was not all that bad and actually much better than taking traveler’s checks or trying to exchange U.S. cash on my own. But, he said, if I should ever travel to Europe again I might want to get a Pioneer Bank card (like his).
Today has been busy also trying to email or otherwise contact the Airlines about my baggage. I tried Delta International – 1-800-241-4141 and baggage = 1-800-325-8224, along with 1-800-221-1212 which is the St. Louis directory. I even printed out a claim form and emailed Delta.
Friday, January 9, 2004
Again up early, I think Mark is right… my body is on some other time zone. But I have lots on my mind, and there is a Dogtown Historical Society meeting on Saturday (tomorrow). Goodness I can not think about the DHS or the coming event right now, though I need to call the woman in charge today !
I tried to call Delta again and was at least able to get a phone # for the St. Louis Baggage area !! yeah ! Progress?? 314-426-9215 .. called but got a recorder. I left my name and phone number just in case. I’m still thinking that if the luggage didn’t get to JFK on Tuesday it would have been Thursday before it got to Delta … Wednesday to JFK… and wouldn’t get to St. Louis till Friday.. today… so I’m not giving up yet on getting it back… even if I did lose my baggage tickets!!
Lisa called after I sent out a “help” note about the lost luggage tickets and she suggested that I try to call Austrian Airlines. I did have there 1-800 #, so I tried that again- no luck there. They have the most interesting way of giving information and then hanging up!!
So, when Donald stopped by at 3:00 pm this afternoon, he said…. “call them (St. Louis Baggage) again”. Because I said I had not heard from them. Sure enuf.. I got somebody who took my name and the description of my bags and after I held on for a few minutes he came back to the phone and said….”he had them” … !!!!
My bags were there…. here… at the St. Louis Airport! Bless his heart!! I asked Donald if he would please take me to the airport? He hesitated a little bit but agreed. And when we got back at 4:00 pm with my two bags, I told him I would treat him to dinner at Hodak’s (one of his (and St. Louis’) favorite chicken restaurants) !! I was sooooo happy just to have my bags, dirty laundry and all !!
The ending of my Trip of a Lifetime !
Sally Ryan Sharamitaro sally@sharamitaro.com