Our driver picked us up to take us to Gatwick. This was (hopefully) the most dangerous part of the trip, as he regularly took both hands off the steering wheel, would drive up behind another vehicle and then slam the brakes on… It was just like being back in the Middle East. As we drove, the BBC announced a complete failure in UK air traffic control, and there were no planes in the sky as we approached Gatwick. We checked into the hotel and then walked to the terminal to investigate the bag wrapping. It was a bit like the fall of Saigon, with queues everywhere, and not a single BA desk manned. We found the bag wrapping service, and decided to get them wrapped the next morning as they opened at 4am.
Dinner in the hotel, then up early and over to the terminal. Sleeping bodies everywhere, but our check-in was easy using the bag drop. We arrived in the lounge, then were told that our 7:20 flight was delayed until 10:15. There was panic in the lounge when the board went from no information to showing that the gate had closed. We finally boarded and took off at 10:00. Landing at Salzburg was weird as we were the only plane in the entire airport. Our bags arrived and we removed the tens of metres of plastic wrapping. The customs officers had disappeared by the time we went through the green channel.
There was a very unfriendly ticket machine and we got our tickets about a minute before the tram arrived; several passengers didn’t bother with tickets.
We reached the main railway station to find more chaos; the train route we wanted to take was closed due to massive rainfall and there was a bus operating instead. We bought rail tickets and went outside where one of the organisers pointed us in the direction of a replacement bus. This left a couple of minutes after we boarded and we had about an hour’s drive down the motorway to another town. We filled in our waiting time with a coffee and cake, before heading back for the train. There were another four people on the platform and they suddenly all started off down the stairs. Someone had spotted that our train was now due to depart from a different platform. We made it, and had about an hour’s journey to Bruck, mostly alongside the incredibly swollen river. At Bruck it was a short walk to our hotel.
Two days of chaos; we hope that things improve!
If this were the start of an Agatha Christie, people would not believe that so many things could go wrong at once. It’s good that you can see the funny side of it.
Hope that things are better from now on!
It just goes to show that walking is the only reliable way of travelling!
Happy walking.