Lori and Troy do Europe 2025

Today we got up early for a 9am train to Vienna. I was prepared this time with pictures of our passes and seat assignments. We had tickets for RJX61 and RJX861 pulled up. It was going to the same place but did not have our car number. It was mass chaos watching people run from one end to the other looking for their car. I was pretty sure that another car was going to pull up and maybe hookup to the back of this one. It is not something that we have seen yet so I was not sure. I found myself scurrying around with all of the people including Lori. She kept trying to board the 861 as I tagged behind with all the luggage and now an additional backpack with wine and water in it. I had to yell to her “don’t get on that train” as kept trying to open the door. This was about 10 minutes of frantic behavior that seemed like 10 hours. Finally another train pulled up behind this one and everyone settled down. Everyone calmly boarded the train and found their seats.

Our seats were in first class but we were seated around a table with 2 guys by the window and us facing each other on the aisle. Across the aisle were 2 single seats facing each other with a table next to the window. The guys next to us were friends, one was from AZ and the other was from KY. Across the isle was a couple from Dallas, TX. It was a great way to start the trip. We all hit it off right away. The train had not left yet and after about 5-10 minutes a German guy stood up and said “they are asking us to exit the train because the one we are on is broken”. We all looked puzzled because we did not hear the announcement or maybe we just ignored it because it sounded like babbling. The guy then says “we have to get on the 861 train which we almost boarded in the first place. This trains final destination was Budapest which is about 5-6 hours. It was a mad dash for the train with everyone trying to get on the first class car which was already full. I was not in a rush because I knew there were later trains and I also knew that we were going to be packed in so I dragged my feet a little. Lori didn’t know any of that so she appeared a little worried. The train company positioned several reps along the train who directed us to book a later train if we wanted first class. We were one of the first to reach the customer service desk. They were great! They scheduled us on a train about 40 minutes later in a first class car with very few people on the train. We were very impressed with ÖBB (train company).

The train ride was a 2.5 hour train ride and was very comfortable. I really love these rides because the scenery is amazing and the service is good.

We arrived in Vienna, Austria and caught a subway to our hotel. Lori searched for 2.5 hours on the train and found a place about 5 minutes before we arrived. We walked out of the subway in front of this spectacular church and were immediately approached by someone selling tickets to an Opera. It seemed a little suspicious but we bought tickets anyway. We are scheduled for the concert tomorrow night at 8pm. More to come on that.

We arrived at our hotel and checked in. This is more like an apartment building that rents apartments than a hotel. Lori struck gold again. She not only found a room for 2 nights by using her credit card points but they upgraded us for free to their largest room. This room is probably 1200 sqft. It is a 2 bedroom, 2 bath, full kitchen and separate living room. Lori does not want to leave.

While at dinner we discussed where to go next. Budapest, Trieste, Graz, Split. We settled on a scenic train ride through the Alps on the way to Croatia. Since my train scheduling skills are in question these days we decide to take the subway to the main train station and see if they could help. We happened to get a very helpful guy that scheduled us in Business class (better than 1st class) for the scenic train ride and on the best side of the train. Then he asked us what our plans were after that and of course we didn’t know. He then started showing us pictures on his computer and telling us about places to go in Croatia. He really got us excited about the next couple of weeks. He printed off train schedules, routes and cities to visit. Then we realized that he was off the clock for about 30 minutes. He said no problem and really seemed to enjoy his job. He even continued to help us after the 30 minutes. Again very impressed with ÖBB.