Up early we checked out of our hotel and made the short walk across the street to the station. The machine spit out the tickets we needed, and we boarded the train to the Vienna airport after a short five minute wait. We got great seats right next to the luggage rack, but it was a quick trip and nobody even came by to check our tickets.
It was a bit of a walk to find the terminal we were looking for, Terminal 1A. It was housed in a small almost temporary-feeling building. As you might expect for a flight to Taiwan there were a lot of Chinese folks – part of a tour group – and they were all jockeying for position in line. They were doing it oddly – they had all lined up for self-check-in and then they all lined up again for regular check-in so that they could check their bags through. Some people tried to cut in line a little bit, but eventually we got to the front.
After checking in we did a little shopping before going through security, then a little shopping after security too. Souvenirs, souvenirs, souvenirs! We found a nice bar/restaurant that served us a couple of proseccos and a club sandwich that we split. Again the facilities overseas are way better than Kansai Airport. Our waiter was super professional and looked intense – he was working the room efficiently and without joy.
Soon enough it was time for boarding and we got lucky with an empty seat next to us – we could spread out for the 12 hour flight and really enjoy it. I didn’t really sleep – watched some movies and played some games. I think Kuniko played Bejeweled for like six hours straight!
We slept maybe an hour at the tail end of the flight, and then we arrived in Taipei. We walked around the airport and looked for dumplings, but the best we could find was braised beef noodles. Not bad, and it hit the spot after all the air conditioning – Taiwanese people really like their air conditioners set to high in the summer.
There were lots of flights to Japan – we went to the gate of our flight and actually handed over our boarding passes when we were rejected – we were on the wrong flight. Our actual flight’s boarding time matched this flight’s departure time, both to Osaka. So we had to go to another gate and sit around for a half hour and then try again. A little embarrassing, but we had traveled a lot by that time and I thought it was understandable.
It was just a short trip to Kansai Airport, and then we caught a bus to Kobe and train back to Nishi Akashi. As usual we took a taxi after a quick shopping trip for milk, eggs and other essentials. The ancient taxi driver sort of chickened out when asked to drive down our street – he didn’t believe it was safe. Kuniko handled it so well, give him a warm congratulations when the old guy made it through to our house.
After that it was snacks and prosecco, and sushi on the horizon. I think we’ll be eating fish and veggies for a while…
