Vienna, Eventually

Intro

Travel has a funny way of reminding you that getting somewhere and experiencing somewhere are two completely different adventures. Some cities welcome you with beautiful architecture, incredible food, and a little bit of magic. Before I could wander Vienna’s streets or experience any of what I’d come to Austria for, I first had to actually make it there—and apparently, Vienna wasn’t going to make that particularly easy. Flight delays, an increasingly empty stomach, a locked train station, and a middle-of-the-night adventure stood between me and actually seeing the city. Sometimes the adventure starts long before you ever get to explore the destination.

Vienna, Austria — Day 1

I left MXP on December 18, scheduled to depart at 5:25 Pm and arrive in VIenna at 6:35 PM.

Simple enough.

Except, of course, it wasn’t.

Our flight was delayed leaving Milan , which meant my comfortable three-hour layover in Munich quickly turned into less than half an hour to get off one plane, find my next gate, adn board.

Why does this feel familiar?

As a thank-you fo rour patience with the delay, the airline gave us a food voucher to use on the flight.

Awesome!

Not only would I not have to spend a small fortune on airport food, but I’d actually get to eat a real meal. My original plan had been to grab dinner during my three-hour layover, and that plan was now very obviously disappearing.

Once we were in the air, I settled into my seat, studied the menu, and narrowed down what I wanted, which, I would like to point out, isn’t nearly as difficult or borderline impossible for me as it used to be. Progress.

Decision made, I called over the flight attendant, completely ready to order.

Guess what?

This particular flight wasn’t offering any food. Not even beverages and one of those tiny complimentary snacks.

Cool.

It wasn’t a big dea. I understood, I was bummed, but not upset. Or even hangry.

Yet.

Just My Luck

We landed in Much, and I immediately began the now all-too-familair airport scramble toward my connecting gate. I made it with about ten minutes to spare before boarding…

…and the flight was delayed.

Of course it was. Just my luck 😂

It was only a fifteen-minute delay, which sounds great until you realize fifteen minutes isn’t quite enough time to run back to the food, order something, wait for it, and confidently make it back before boarding. I had already missed one flight that week. I did NOT need to make it tow. So I stayed put.

Eventually, we boarded. I sat down.

And sat some more.

And some more.

About forty-five minutes late,r the pilot came over the speakers to announce that we were waiting in line for de-icing and it would probably be another forty-five minutes before we could take off.

At this point, babies were crying. Moms were walking the aisles. Older passengers were getting grumpy.

And my stomach was growling loudly enough that I’m pretty sure the row beside me could hear it.

The flight attendants eventually came through handing out these tiny chocolate truffles, and I swear it was one of the most decadent little pieces of chocolate I’ve ever eaten.

Then, digging through my pencil case, I discovered a gift from the Greek gods: a little treat I’d apparently shoved in there during my trip to Greece and completely forgotten about.

Bless past-Dakota.

It was delicious. Were those two tiny treats enough to quiet the dragon currently living in my stomach?

Absolutely not.

But they helped.

Finally, it was our plane’s turn to be de-iced, and we took off for Vienna.

Thankfully, the flight itself was less than two hours because by that point, I was getting agitated. Not full-fledged upset the way I might have once been—but listen, I’m still human. 😂

There was also a girl, maybe around ten years old, sitting directly behind me who seemed to be having a terrible time with the pressure in her ears. She was full-body crying. Her mom kept putting little red Solo-cup-looking things over her ears while her dad tried to convince her to pop them.

She wouldn’t try.

So she cried.

And kicked my seat.

And screamed a few times.

The flight attendants offered her gum and tried to encourage her to listen to her dad, but her mom kept insisting that it wouldn’t work.

So the girl just.

Kept.

Screaming.

I had officially reached my limit.

Welcome to Vienna. Now Find the Hostel.

Eventually, though, we landed.

I collected my luggage, stepped into the Vienna airport, and faced my next challenge: Finding my hostel.

At 1:00 AM.

At that point, I genuinely could have saved myself the money and not even booked a hostel for that night. Navigating my way to the trains in European airports was getting easier by this point. It’s everything that happened after the train that deserves some recognition.Honestly, I deserve a medal.

I made it to my intended train stop, where I was supposed to walk outside and find the bus that would take me closer to my hostel.One small problem:

I couldn’t get out of the station. Every door I tried was locked. I walked around looking for another exit.

Locked.

Another door.

Locked.

I was getting dangerously close to accepting that this train station might simply be my accommodation for the night when, seemingly out of nowhere, a security guard appeared and let me out.

PHEW.

I had genuinely reached the point where I was surveying my surroundings and deciding where I could camp out until morning. Thank you, Wayne State Rugby, for teaching me the skills necessary for exactly this type of adventure. (IYKYK.)

I’ve Seen This Movie Before

Once I stepped outside, though, something else happened. For the first time during all of my adventures, I found myself wondering:

How safe is this neighborhood?

And suddenly I was getting flashbacks to another questionable late-night travel decision—New York.

Years earlier, a group of us had been navigating New York late at night. Somehow, two of the boys had ended up responsible for directions and were leading three of us girls back.

This should already tell you how the story went.

We got off at a station in the Bronx. It was the kind of scene that sounds exaggerated when you tell it later.

Trash cans knocked over. A mostly empty street. A single streetlight flickering.And then… Gunshots. We eventually made our way to a gas station, where the attendant took one look at the five of us wandering around at that hour and, in a thick Indian accent, essentially asked us:

You don’t want to be here, do you?

No, sir.

No, we absolutely did not.

He called us a cab.

So, years later, walking through Vienna in the middle of the night with my luggage, that memory decided it was the perfect time to reintroduce itself.

Thankfully, I was messaging a friend back in the States while I walked, which made me feel considerably better. She knew where I was and had even added me to her family’s location circle so someone could keep track of my travels.

The Most Beautiful Sight in Vienna

I caught the bus and got closer to my hostel. And then, glowing in the darkness ahead of me, I saw something beautiful. Something familiar. Something golden.The Golden Arches. McDonald’s. Open until 5:00 AM.

YOU BET I STOPPED.

Those fries have never tasted so good. After finally getting food in my stomach, I made it to my hostel. A few friends back in the States and I ended up jumping on a video call, and somehow it was around 7:00 AM Vienna time before I finally went to bed.

And before anyone thinks I was that hostel roommate: I was in the common room.

I was not sitting in my bunk FaceTiming Americans at seven in the morning. 😂

Mexican Food…in Austria

After what I suppose we can generously call a “nap,” I woke up hungry again. And I wanted Mexican food. Badly. For someone accustomed to eating Mexican food at least twice a week, I hadn’t had it since September. So imagine my surprise when I discovered a Mexican cantina nearby.

Obviously, I went. And it was delicious. Now, was it genuinely excellent Mexican food? Or had I simply gone so long without Mexican food that someone could have handed me tortilla chips and salsa and brought tears to my eyes? I genuinely don’t know. But I had nachos, and I was happy.

It also made me wonder what is going to happen when I eventually return to the States. After spending so much time eating differently while traveling, will my body happily go back to dairy and gluten all the time? We shall see.

I wandered around Vienna for a little while that afternoon, although unfortunately my phone died, so I have almost no photographic evidence of those first few hours in the city. Honestly, though, maybe that was fitting.

Now I Could Finally See Vienna

My first day in Vienna wasn’t really about seeing Vienna yet. It was about getting there.

Delayed flights. Missed meals. Airport sprints. De-icing. Crying children. A locked train station. A middle-of-the-night walk. A glorious order of McDonald’s fries. Mexican food in Austria. And approximately enough sleep to qualify as a nap. By that evening, I was back at my hostel, curled up in bed and planning the next day’s adventures. I’d made it to Vienna. Now I could finally go see it.