In Vienna

Well, we just arrived in Vienna, Austrian at 2:30 AM, well 8:30AM here. So far this trip has been absolutely fantastic. For those of you familiar with RDU, we flew out of Terminal C instead of Terminal A which was drastically less crowded and made for ease of checking luggage without the long lines. We arrived with our 7 suitcases and 4 carry-ons at 8:30 and were walking to the gates at 9:00. However, there is one funny story to mention.

We were given an allowance from the IMB for any cost associated with getting from Raleigh to Skopje. This money is generally used for porters and such considered the large amount of suitcases and dufflebags most families are bringing with them (we know a couple with 5 kids which was 22 suitcases !!!) We had a shuttle bring us to the airport and due to the fact that you can't park a vehicle in front of a terminal anymore, we and our 7 suitcases and 4 carry-ons were dropped of, in Mandy's estimate, half a mile from the terminal entrance, which is the very beginning of the terminal and the entrance is in the middle. Smiling because of our allowance and the fact we could get a porter, we were greeted with a "there are some carts in the cart machine at the other end." So I walk all the way to the other end, which is now a mile, only to find out the machine is broken. So after 4 trips, we move all of our luggage to the entrance, once we get inside the entrance, we find a fully functional cart machine ;).

Dulles was once again a very easy transition and before we knew it, we were boarding Austrian Air. Note to international travelers: If you don't want to wait for you zone to be called so you can be seated, just pretend you don't understand the language of the announcement and you can just walk up and board out of order. It was actually kind of funny to watch.

Anyway, here we are after a 8 hour 13 minute, 4476 mile flight sitting in the Vienna airport writing a blog in a cafe and paying 4,80 EUR for a chocolate muffin and a 0,5 liter Coca Cola Light. Mandy is sitting next to me, nearly comatose, wishing that everyone here thought it was 2:50 AM so she could go back to sleep :)

We should be arriving in Skopje at 8:30 AM EST (3:30 PM Macedonian Standard Time). I am not sure what kind of internet access we will have when we get there because we are no longer just sitting around at the airport, but as soon as we can make a post, we will.