Subj : I'm back! To : Nancy Backus From : Barry Martin Date : Sat Aug 24 2019 11:51:00 Hi Nancy! BM> Good morning! Back from my vacation/visit to Austria - primarily BM> Vienna where my Aunt lives a few blocks from Stadtpark but also did BM> some visiting of relative/friends in Slovakia and a trip to Venice. NB> And I see from the quote header that you actually got home and NB> answered before I quite had left for my next trip.... but even NB> that first batch of yours didn't make it to Tiny's in time for my NB> morning-download-to- take-with-me, so all was waiting for me when NB> I got back... Sort of figured that's what happened. Did keep busy on this end -- wan't staring at a blank monitor! BM> Flights were 'interesting'. Nothing remarkable about mine from Moline BM> (IL) to Detroit to Manchester (NH) other than if I had followed my BM> "maybe I should try" alternate flight route I would have been caught BM> by an airport closure (security issue). NB> Good (if inadvertant) call there... :) Worked out! Don't know if Someone was looking out for me or just my somewhat my "let's stay with the tried and true", or both. BM> My Mother lives in southern New Hampshire so we flew from Boston to BM> Zurich. Or supposed to: medical emergency late in the flight so BM> landed in Cardiff, Wales. Younger female passenger treated and BM> continued on with us to Zurich. Unfortunately missed our connecting BM> flight to Vienna but were rebooked on the next shuttle two hours later. BM> Not too much of an inconvence except we had no way to contact anyone: BM> most U.S. cell phones don't work on the European mobile system (I BM> borrow my cousin's old mobile). We found a pay phone but couldn't BM> figure out how to use it: no slots for coins, didn't take credit cards. NB> Maybe an operator would have sent the bill to your home phone...? NB> Seems odd that there was no obvioys way to use it.... Yes, just a little odd. Could sort of see at a small airport but an international hub?? (And I know 'international' in airport-speak means open 24-hours; using the other definition.) There was an instruction plaque near the phone -- unfortunately all in German and while my German isn't too good "Kreditkarte" would have been easy. My Mother couldn't figure it out, though she was stressing out and nothing was making sense. BM> A fellow passenger let us use her mobile but it wasn't able to connect BM> to Austria. Oh well. (Later I thought of maybe should have tried WiFi BM> -- on the return trip tried and possible but have to got to a kiosk to BM> get a passcode -- seriously?! ..I had also 'played' with WiFi at the BM> Vienna airport and that was an open connection.) NB> Now you know for next time... ;) I'm going to have to go a litte research -- almost doens't make sense the Zurich airport's WiFi would be so complicated. OTOH it does sort of go with something my cousin mentioned about certain mobile phone transactions were going to be stopped (soon) as a method to slow down illegal activities. Maybe Zurich was ahead of things and having to use a passcode linked to the ticket number was a way to track usage. BM> My Mother is Not Happy; I'm in the 'go with the flow' mode as nothing BM> I can do to change nor nothing I can do -- it's an adventure! Discuss BM> options with the Austrian (airline) agent: no international flights BM> tonight, need to stay in a hotel overnight. Given several options; we BM> decide to stay on the airport complex so don't have to deal with BM> shuttles/taxis/etc. to get back to the airport. Given overnight kits BM> (just about everything we need is in our luggage), vouchers for the BM> hotel rooms, and dinner (breakfast is included with the stay). NB> At least they took care of you nicely... :) And I agree with the NB> choice to stay right at the airport, much safer that way for the NB> next day's connections.... Yes, I figured the less potential problems the better, especially with my Mother 'in tow'. Alone I might have been more adventerous - maybe. BM> Maybe five minute walk to the hotel across an airport parking lot. BM> Nice looking building -- we were sort of expecting a cheap-but-decent BM> site. Walk into the Lobby: it's HUGE: probably as big as the footprint BM> of my house. My Mother is impressed and feeling better about the BM> situation. Walk to Reception, explain and present the vouchers, treated BM> very nicely, given room cards and explained dining and breakfast times. BM> Up to our rooms: compact but spacious and extremely clean. I set up BM> my laptop to connect to their WiFi (another open system) and send an BM> e-mail to the person who is supposed to be picking us up in Boston. BM> Short snooze, off to dinner. Present the dinner voucher to the host; BM> choice of the buffet or a menued item - we decide the buffet as can BM> 'graze': sample a bit of everything. Everything on-point except the BM> beef was overdone; otherwise chicken medallion juicy, salad crisp, etc. BM> After dinner my Mother and I wander the lobby, taking some pictures, BM> wander into the bar (another huge hall), take a few pictures, then BM> outside and wander and more pictures. BM> ...Next morning: go down for breakfast. Buffet with a placard on the BM> table stating they will make custom-ordered egg and something else BM> dishes. Buffet is more than fine: again 'grazing' and taking small BM> portions of what looks good/interesting. Again very good and leave BM> pleasantly stuffed. NB> A nice unexpected adventure.... and very nice that the food was NB> good as well.... :) Quite frankly I was expecting a respectable hotel and rooms but this was _niiice_! BM> So mostly unpacked. Everything good at the house; my friends took BM> care of the place for me. Now to get caught up on 260+ ILink messages! NB> It didn't seem to take you too long to catch up... ;) According to the timestamps just seconds a day! BM> ... It's great to be a man: A five-day vacation requires only one BM> suitcase. NB> How chauvinistic... I've traveled with only one small carryon for NB> a fortnight's vacation.... ;) All depends what one needs to bring. With international travel did need to bring my voltage converter -- about the size of an 8-port Ethernet switch. ...The dress shoes took up more space! NB> ... If you can't see the bright side, polish the dull side. May as well! ¯ ® ¯ Barry_Martin_3@ ® ¯ @Q.COM ® ¯ ® .... Congresstipation: inability to eliminate waste in federal government. --- MultiMail/Win32 v0.47 þ wcECHO 4.2 ÷ ILink: The Safe BBS þ Bettendorf, IA --- QScan/PCB v1.20a / 01-0462 * Origin: ILink: CFBBS | cfbbs.no-ip.com | 856-933-7096 (454:1/1) .