Next Stop: Vienna, Austria | Jets Like Taxis

I’d normally start singing something from The Sound of Music here, even though it doesn’t really apply since that took place nowhere near Vienna, and there’s hardly a hill in sight.

Alas, ol’ Clark W. Griswold always sticks in my head when I think of Austria.

So anyway, we’re in Vienna. Yay! Next stop, three days and three flights after we left Guanajuato, Mexico. Telling our friends and family, we got everything from, “Why are you going so far from where you are now?” to “Why Vienna?” to “Okay, sounds good!”

I guess our cohorts like to cover all the bases. There are basically two reasons why we decided to jump to Vienna for our next stretch:

The first reason is because we wanted to return to Europe. The weather is (supposedly) nice at this time of year and we love this continent quite a bit.
The second reason is because we sent out feelers to tourism boards across this side of the globe, wondering if anyone had any motivation to ask us to stop by. It’s part of this “Invite Only” thing we added to the site last autumn. Frankly, the folks from the Vienna Tourist Board were the nicest and happiest to have us stop by. So we said, Why not?

We didn’t ask for anything – sponsorship, etc. – we just wanted to know who might like us to come stay in their fair city for a few months. You wouldn’t believe how apathetic/ambivalent the vast majority of tourist board people are. It’s astounding.

Not the folks from WienTourismus, though! They welcomed us with open arms and a plethora of materials.

So, we set about looking for flights and flats and all that fun stuff that we unfortunately have to do every three months because the world and its maximum tourism stays don’t jibe very well with the digital nomad lifestyle.

Required sidebar: P.S. As Americans, we hate your 90/180 rule, Schengen Area.

All that booked, and away we went!

After waiting on the tarmac at the Vienna airport due to a storm closure, we hopped in a cab and headed to our new flat in the neighborhood of Brigittenau. It’s just outside the center and is about one billion times quieter than the actual center.

But, as necessary, it’s got everything we need – including the subway, tram, and four grocery stores in less than five minutes’ walk from our front door.

Although, we’d be lying if we said we haven’t spent our first few days navigating more Serbian than German, as we just so happened to plop down at a café that is about 99.9% Balkan clientele.

Our neighborhood is heavily populated by immigrants (us, too!), although they’re mostly Serbian and Turkish. That also means for an abundance of delicious food. Can you say döner?!

We’re excited to be here, but the weather drastically changed a few days after our arrival and we’re sort of stuck in this rainy grayness of 40F (5C), which basically means we stay inside. The professional winter avoiders that we are, and all.

We have a great patio, though…as soon as the sun reappears!

We’re non-traditional travelers in most senses of the word, which you’ve probably gathered if you’ve ever read this blog. I think the hardest thing here is going to be finding those not-so-common things to do.

Vienna is world-renowned in many ways for many things, most of which are classical and traditional. So, we’re going to have to think outside the box if we don’t want to spend our Vienna experience in museums and churches and theaters and palaces.

Fortunately, this girl knows what’s up. This is Astrid, and she’s the best! We met with her the other day and she gave us all kinds of interesting things to do. Years’ worth, probably.

And of course, coffee. Who could forget?! It’s a top-class drug, and Vienna is all about it. There are plenty of tiny, huge, famous, and unknown cafes to explore, and we’re going to do our damnedest to give ’em all the what-for.

Outside of that, we’ll be looking to take some road trips with our friends. We’re pretty freakin’ close to the borders of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, and Slovenia. Very interesting. In fact, Bratislava is 50-70km from here. That’s ridiculously close. Gonna have to make a weekend of that one.

There’s also plenty of Austria to see, and I hope we can get out and do so. Especially since Ang has never been to Austria before. My family lineage traces back to a small town here, and we’ll be looking to go visit as I haven’t been since a family trip in the 90s.

Oh yes, can’t forget: Different German accents to navigate, not to mention relearning German since we spent the past six months learning and speaking Spanish. Oh, joy!

Our first conversation was actually with a drunk Serbian who’s been here for more than two decades. Have you ever had an Austrian German-Serbian-English conversation while you were sober and the other guy wasn’t, and you had been speaking Spanish for the past six months? Oy.

So, lots to do. Lots to figure out. Lots to experience. Wee-haw!