Euro 2008
Trip Start
Feb 05, 2008
1
45
70
Trip End
Ongoing
Vienna,
Vienna,
Austria
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Okay, I didn't make it to the big game. But I was in Vienna on the eve of the Euro 2008 final. My layover was only 15 hours, not quite enough time. Just long enough to get another taste of Europe. Oh how sweet. Took me back almost 30 years to the last time I was in this continent, although I didn't get to Vienna that time around. The party was on. The vibe was fantastic. I gather scalped tickets to the final could be had for anywhere from 300 to 800 euros.
Anyway, it seems one can get into Japan cheaply enough ($587 from Singapore) but getting out on a budget is another matter. As mentioned, the best price I could get after multiple searches over a number of days using every cheap flight search engine known to man was $1,700
Random shots Vienna
. (Kayak.com rules, in case you are interested.)So, along with a megadose of jetlag--12 hour flight and something like six or seven time zones--I got a big shot of culture shock. From Thailand to Singapore to Japan to Vienna inside of two weeks.
I landed in Vienna mid Saturday afternoon and after a 3.40 euro ODD train ride I was downtown in Stephanson Square by around 4:00 wandering Vienna's beautiful old town, stopping to enjoy the occasional delicious beer, break dancers and buskers and a whole new brand of people watching, and EUROPE! It felt like old times, like it was just yesterday. It only takes a couple of hours of walking the streets of a place like Vienna to get me to feeling disillusioned with my country and how we've got such a long way to go. Europe rocks. You might say I look a little bit Austrian so everyone assumes I speak german which is quite fun. Flight attendants, servers and the like just start speaking german when they approach me.
I figured there was no point getting a room for just a few hours so it was a choice between partying through the night downtown in the funzone or catching the last train to the airport and crashing there
1-Random shots Vienna
. My jet lag and lack of sleep wouldn't tolerate the former so after a couple of beers with a german girl who was sitting by herself in a sidewalk cafe on Kartner Strasse (Oh how I wanted to stay for the rest of the weekend.), I headed back to the airport at around 1:00 a.m. After a quick bite to eat I found one of those metal sofas in the departure lounge and caught a couple of hour's sleep. Despite my ruffled, unshaven appearance the next day, I was upgraded to business class! First time ever. Maybe they knew I'd paid $1,700. Time flies when you are having fun. I'd like to fly business class all the time. Istanbul! YES! Wait mister Canadian. Not until you purchase a 45 Euro visa, the most expensive of the lot. Sheesh.
