After waiting for like forever for my visa, I finally got it issued. So, I begin my trip to Vienna for my second year of Master in Computational Logic. I booked my flight on Thursday, Nov 1st, using Lufthansa airline.
All the preparations were ready, and I went to the airport with my sister and friends accompanying me. My flight was scheduled for departure at 20.15, and we arrived at the Soekarno-Hatta airport at around 17.30, for an early check-in. I brought with me one big luggage, and two backpacks.
The check-in counter for my flight, LH 779 to Frankfurt, was in gate 1 of Terminal D-E. Since I was rescheduling for my flight (because of the visa problem), I had to pay a fee of 144USD, besides the usual fiscal tax and airport tax (Rp 1m and Rp 100th, resp.) After checking-in, and putting my luggage to the baggage belt, I returned to my sister and friends who were waiting for me outside the gate, for a final good-bye. We dine together, and took some pictures, and said good-bye for the last time, and then they left.
So it began, the trip to Vienna. This would be my second trip to Europe by myself, and so I was not as nervous as my first time (to Lisbon). After passing the passport control, I went to look for my boarding gate, D7. There, we had one more security check before boarding on to the plane. The boarding process started at 19.40, and as soon as it finishes, the plane started its trip to Singapore, the first stop, before continuing to Frankfurt.
My seat was 55A, next to last in the economy cabin of the Boeing 737-400. Beside me was a Japanese man, not much of a chatter. He only traveled up to Singapore.
Arrived at Singapore about an hour and half later, the passengers boarded off the plane. Those who would continue the trip to Frankfurt are given a small card for identifying them. The transit at Singapore didn't take a long time, just about 45 mins, and the passengers to Frankfurt were already starting to board the plane again. During this boarding process, I had a little incident during the security check. One of my backpacks carries a dry "sambel pecel" packed in a plastic bag (yes, I DO like it that much). It was clearly my mistake that I didn't put it in my luggage. The security guy took it out, and examined it. Although it was dried, it still had some oil liquid dripping of it. I tried to explain it to him that it was just some traditional food-spices from Indonesia, but he seemed not to care. Based on the new rules for flight, no unidentified liquid is to be allowed to be carried on planes by passengers (I heard there was a terrorist attack on a plane using liquid explosive, sometime ago).
So he dumped it. I can only say in my head, that the only danger it could have had, is that if eat it too much, you'll get stomach ache. So shame...
Okay, so anyway, the plane took off, to Frankfurt, with a trip of about 18hrs long, but which felt like much more than that. I used to have a nice and exciting feeling about flying, especially during my first experiences of traveling by plane (back when I was still in high school). But, this time, I could only wish that the plane arrived at the destination as soon as possible, safely.
We arrived at 5.30, Frankfurt time, and I have to catch the plane to Vienna, scheduled at 9.10. Still quite a lot of time, I thought.
I had been at Frankfurt before, for the transit to Lisbon, last year. So, more or less, I knew the procedure of transiting there. First, we have to go pass a passport control (for flights from/to outside of Europe), then a security check, then we need to find our departure gate, written on the boarding pass and/or on the information displays, available throughout the airport.
Passport control was easy, my visa is a Schengen (D+C) visa, and the officer let me pass immediately. Unlike previously, when I was traveling to Lisbon. At that time, I had only a D-type visa for Portugal only. The officer won't let me pass easily, and had to do a further checks for about 15 minutes before letting me go.
On to the security checks, I had no problem at all. Just the usual checks on the bags and body, and a further check for my laptop. This is new for me. I have had several trips by plane with a laptop on my bag, but this was the first time I had my laptop examined. They brought me to a room, where they have some kind of magnetic chips, which they used to detect the inside of my laptop, without taking it apart.
No problem here.
From here, I have to find my departure gate. On my boarding pass (given during check-in at Soekarno-Hatta) it was written to be A42. No information about my flight is written on the info displays yet. But I was thinking, since it is written in the boarding pass already, why not just go there now, so I can wait and rest there. Since I arrived at terminal B, I had to walk from terminal B to terminal A, which is quite far. I passed through several gates, inside a tunnel, went up two floors using an elevator, walked again till the end of the hall. It turned out that A42 is the last gate on of the branches of terminal A. The other branch goes for A51-55. I figured the walk to be about 2km away.
Reaching A42, I was surprised since what was written there on the boarding display was not my flight, LH 3530 to Vienna, but instead a flight to Brussel. Ahhh... so this must be a mistake. It was 7.30 already and there can't be another boarding again on 9. If so, then this means I have to wait for the info displays to give the details on my flight.
8.00, and still no info on my flight. I took some rest. I bought some water and ate some bread, and took some pictures. I waited near A42, hoping that my flight's departure gate will still be in terminal A, and not B, since that means I would have to go back all the way to terminal B. It can't be D, E or the others, cause, as far as I know, LH always gets terminal A or B.
8.15, still nothing.
Finally, 8.30, there it was. Flight LH 3530 to Vienna, scheduled at 9.10, boarding will start at 8.40, at gate B7.
Yes of course, what else could it be.
I took a deep breath, looked at the airport map, and start to walk to B7. I was tired, sleepy, and with 2 backpacks totaling of about 10kg, the walk back to terminal B was quite absorbing. On B7, while waiting for the boarding, a man, looking definitely Asian, said hi to me. He asked whether I was a Philippines. So he is from the Philippines. I told him that I am Indonesian, and we chatting quite a bit, about how he used to travel around Indonesia. He said works at Lufthansa in the Philippines, but currently in vacation with his wive to Vienna. Further, he said, most of Lufthansa's employees have a special right to travel with Lufthansa at a reduced price, as long as there is an empty seat.
The boarding process was quite fast, since it's a smaller plane. The passengers where taken from the gate to the plane with a transport bus. On the bus I saw some guys, definitely South East Asian, but perhaps not Indonesian. Maybe Philippines also. But as soon as they chatted, I knew right away. They were speaking in Javanese, my mother language. So I greeted them, introduce myself, and asked where they were going. They said they were going to Praha, for some work-related business, but had to fly to Vienna and continue by train. On the plane, they were sitting on the row right in front of me, about 6 guys. But I didn't talked a lot with them since they were speaking among themselves and I did not want to interrupt.
It was a short flight, from Frankfurt to Vienna, just a little more than an hour. Approaching Vienna, from above I could see fields in squares and rivers, with only one or two groups of houses here and there, and some lines of roads. Well, what do you know, this is not what I expected. I thought since Austria is a small country in Europe, the land must be filled with houses, building and apartments, if not roads.
Upon arriving at Vienna airport, I went directly to baggage claims. Of course, there were no more passport checks, since the flight was from inside Europe. I found the belt for our flight, and the group of Indonesian guys was also there waiting for their luggages. After waiting for about half an hour, with no bags showing up on the belt, we started to wonder. Is there any problems with our bags?
Luckily enough, a man with his baggages, passing us, exclaimed, "Its over there... they put it in the first belt". Aha....that explains. So they put it in another belt with a sign not of our flight. The passengers of LH 3530 grunted but also relieved, that the bags were there. I picked up my luggage, and said good-bye and good-luck to the Indonesian guys.
Before leaving to Vienna, I have already had my friend, Yansen, who is already in Vienna, to pick me up. He told me to take the Vienna U-Bahn line from the airport to LandStrasse station, and he will pick me up there. My cellphone is not active, and I cannot find any public phone there, so I could not contact him. One way or another, I have to get to LandStrasse, and hoping to meet him there.
Not knowing anything about Vienna transportation system, I tried to find my way to the underground line, which, it turned out, passes directly under the airport. Going down several stairs, I reached the underground train station. I bought one ticket to Vienna, from a ticket machine. From several types of ticket offered, I picked the one which most likely to be the ticket I needed, but I wasn't sure. There were several tracks, and I saw no signs and no information office to ask for. I just sit there, waiting and trying to ask someone for some direction.
A minute later, a women, about 30yrs old, sat right next to me. She looked like a nice person, so I tried to ask her for the direction to Landstrasse. She responded quite nicely, and she said she was going to LandStrasse herself. She agreed to accompany me and show me directions. Huh... a relief.
We introduced ourselves to each other. Her name is Elizabeth, but she likes to be called Liz. She work at Frankfurt, and was in holiday for the weekend in Vienna. Soon enough, the train arrived, and she help me to the train. We chatted quite a bit during the trip which lasted for like 20mins. She told me that she's from Mexico, has a job in Frankfurt and has lived there for more than 2yrs, and how she liked snow. She told how she was amazed, on seeing snow for the first time in her life, while she was working in Frankfurt. She told me that she said to her co-workers, I am going to stop working for just 2hours, to enjoy the snow... just looking it like that. Of course, her co-workers (most of which are Germans themselves) responded coldly.
So, the trip to LandStrasse was quite enjoyable, having her accompanying me. We chatted quite a bit a bout her experiences in Frankfurt and Vienna. In about 20 mins later we arrived at LandStrasse. We hopped off the train, and tried to find Yansen. We couldn't find him by the platforms, so we headed up to the station's upper building. There, still we couldn't find him, after looking around for sometime. I started to get to worry, and I didn't feel very comfortable to ask to help me find Yansen. But yet, she insisted on helping me till I could find him.
So, I then I had an idea, why not try to find a public phone and call him. We found one, but it required something like a magnetic card, maybe ATM or perhaps a special card. She ask a woman standing nearby (in German), whether there's a coin pay phone around. Instead of showing us a public pay phone, the woman offered us instead, to use her cellphone. If it is a local Austrian number we are dialing to, she said, it won't take a lot. So, we borrowed the woman's cellphone, and I called Yansen.
Just as I thought, he was already there, we just missed him when we got off the train. I told him to meet by the flower shop near the place where we were standing.
Turns out that, the woman speaks Spanish. Maybe a Spanish herself. Liz spoke some words of gratitude (in Spanish) to the woman, and after saying "Muchos gracias", we head to the flower shop.
Just a minute later Yansen showed up. I introduce him to Liz, and said my gratitude and farewell to her. And then she left. What a nice person she was. Traveling to new places, will never be difficult if everyone was like her. I can't thank her enough.
So, meeting Yansen, I felt safe and relieved. He explain to me a bit about Vienna Transportation system (I will write about this later, stay tuned), as we head to a ticket machine. He told me to buy a "Monatsmarke" (monthly ticket), of about 46 euros, which can be used on all five Vienna lines for a month. We started our journey using the Vienna U-bahn line to Floridsdorf, and then continued with a Strassenbahn to my hostel, Studentenzentrum Donaufelder, at DonaufelderStrasse, a street in the northeast part of Vienna. The trip took about 30 minutes.
Arriving at the hostel, I rest myself for a while. I still need to do some stuff before I can really rest. I needed to buy some stuffs, especially food for tonight, since it was already quite late in the afternoon.
So, that was it, the long trip to Vienna. Exhausting, but I am glad I finally made it here.
Next time, I'll write about the first days in Vienna, when I walked and took some pictures around my hostel and some surrounding areas. Ciao!
