A winter holiday: Austria

For the next couple of weeks we’re spending time in the mountains, snowshoeing in Austria. The snow has begun to fall, and signs are looking positive for some great adventures.

The trip didn’t get off to a great start. Firstly, we arrived at Manchester Airport and John couldn’t find his wallet and we assumed it was still at home. Then we got off the shuttle bus at Terminal 2 instead of Terminal 1 and had a long walk back, carrying our 4 bags because we didn’t have change for a trolley. John’s forearms are now killing him! At least, the shuttle bus driver, who kindly waited for us as we unpacked our bags from the car, arrived just after we both finished having a wee behind the car! 🤣

When we finally arrived at check in, we ended up in the wrong queue… the one in which the printer jammed! Then, at security, John’s carry on pack was selected for further investigation. On the plus side, we didn’t have to take our hiking boots off and empty electrical items out of our bags, and getting through security is now reasonably fast.

Despite the hiccups on the way, we had time to pick up some sandwiches and drinks, and relax in the bar before heading to the gate to board the plane. Our destination was Innsbruck, but we had to change at Vienna because there are no direct flights from the north west.

There was a slight delay on take off, apparently due to the high winds yesterday upsetting schedules. The flight itself passed quickly, thanks to 3 Sudoku puzzles, and we arrived in Vienna on time.

From the plane, we could see our gate for the next flight, F10, and thought, with 50 minutes before departure, the transfer would be easy. How wrong we were! We were taken by bus from the plane to the terminal to go through passport control, where the policewoman was in no hurry to let us pass. Then we had a long walk, following signs back to the F gates, ending up at a locked door, and having to wait to board another shuttle bus back to where we’d come off the plane! We had a quick trip to the toilets before dashing through the terminal to F10. Once there, we scanned our boarding passes and squeezed onto another bus, already full of passengers, to take us to the plane to Innsbruck. I hoped our 4 bags had an easier journey and also made the transfer in time!

It was a short flight and we were well looked after, being given a small bottle of water and a chocolate. I was disappointed that it was dark outside, because I’d been hoping to get a glimpse of snow covered mountains. However, maybe it was a good thing I couldn’t see the mountains as we came into land between them. The turbulence was bad and it felt as if we were on a fairground ride as the plane rolled up and down, tipping from side to side. Neither John and I liked this and we were glad when the plane bumped down, rocking in the strong wind.

Inside the small terminal building, our bags arrived quickly, and we headed over to collect the hire car. Thank goodness the paper part of John’s driving licence was in a folder with our passports and documents, and not in his wallet with the plastic part of the licence! We were soon on the road to Matrei am Brenner where we’re staying for the first 6 nights of our trip.

Our apartment is lovely… warm and cosy, and bigger than we’d expected from the photos. Our hosts had recommended a couple of restaurants so we wandered into the village for a pizza and a bottle of wine, before snuggling up in bed. It’s been a long day!

PS. John has now found his wallet found in the bag he’d originally checked 🤣