an aussie in austria

I had to split this blog post up… because when just getting to the airport became a mission in itself, well… I guess you’ll find out if you read along.

I was nervous about the prospect of flying with an 18-month old. But how bad can it be, really? In the end it’s just a day of our lives. It will be difficult. But it won’t be terrible. Well… actually it kind of was.

The original plan for getting to the airport went like this:

• Get a lift to the train station (45 mins)
• Train to Munich Airport (5.5 hours) with two changes
• Check in, go to business lounge
• Get baby to sleep and… enjoy.

Here’s how it actually went:

Weather forecast for the night before and day of travel: PANIC-INDUCING LEVELS OF SNOW.

Well, that’s just great. But honestly how bad can it be? Austria and Germany are MADE for snow. So instead of leaving at 11:30am as planned we prepped for a 7am departure to catch an earlier train. Annoying, sure, but ok.

We woke to news of: all trains into Munich cancelled.

Fine. It’s pissing snow but changing the plane ticket to the next day will cost €1700 so we’ll just have to drive. Half an hour into the drive with Sam refusing to sleep I realised that I was not at all prepared for an 8+ drive in the car, both mentally and how I’d packed.

One hour into the drive: Thankfully we were checking Munich airport website so we got the news early that ALL FLIGHTS TILL 6am the FOLLOWING DAY were cancelled. We spent the next hour on the phone to the airline trying to find a solution and luckily were able to secure a switch to Vienna airport for that evening.

Heading back in the opposite direction toward Vienna: We headed home for a quick recharge before the drive to Vienna airport. The snow was much worse by this point and we knew the onward drive would be no fun. Sam, by this time, is stressed, upset, refusing his midday nap and just grouchy/crying.

Roads blocked to Vienna: As we arrive back home, we hear that the two roads onward to Vienna are closed due to accidents/general road conditions.

Second save of the day: Cue another hour on the phone to the airline and we are lucky enough to have our flight moved to the next day from Vienna.

It was not fun, but we were lucky. Had we chosen to drive to Munich the day before we likely would have been stuck at the airport for days. If we hadn’t been able to change our flight departure to Vienna our trip could have been delayed by so much as a week. Because Munich airport GOT SMASHED again the following day with ICE RAIN and closed again. There was a MASSIVE backlog of passengers.

One day later: Slightly traumatised we arrive safely at Vienna airport. Sam was in a much better mood and the landscape was gorgeous with snow aplenty and perfect blue skies.

So… let’s go… 24 hours on a plane with a toddler… stay tuned for the next post