Off to Vienna
The National Rust staff outing to Vienna convened for a pre-departure briefing at English’s at Brighton: Polly, Bob Tickler, Daphne and myself.
It’s interesting to see the profound way in which travel has been changed by the Internet. We booked the accommodation of apartments through Booking.com who provided an in-depth guide to Vienna. Bob had the more traditional Baedekers guide book. Our carrier is Easy Jet, cheaper and convenient at Gatwick but Bob protested he wanted to go British Airways Club Class. The issue was settled by Polly reserving the Easy Jet tickets. She is a courteous girl who everyone likes but can be firm when needs be and I noticed that Bob accepted Easy Jet without further fuss. I think he would have preferred the state apartments in the Hofburg Palace rather than our central serviced ones too.
Daphne has been researching into restaurants whilst I have organised the daily excursions and sightseeing. Neil Rosen is hoping to join us on Friday for the Third Man tour. There was a palpable excitement of anticipation around the table as we tucked into our sole bonne femme and liberal servings of Sancerre. E tickets, budget airlines, accommodation booked on line, cash drawn from atm machines, much had changed as previously this would have been booked as a city break holiday at an all-in price. Personally I think it more fun to do our own planning though not that easy to cater for the eclectic aims and ambitions of a diverse group. We have a late afternoon flight so at Daphne’s suggestion we are going for a long lunch at the Pass near Horsham tomorrow. I have a feeling that not many calories are going to be lost over the next few days .