Prague, Vienna, and a wild A380 late go-around

[craven morehead]

So this trip started with the 6am Emirates A380 out of Sydney on the way to Prague. If we were half asleep approaching Dubai after 14 hours, this would quickly change!

Included in this trip report:

• A very late and wild go-around in the A380 to kick off the trip
• Emirates new(ish) Premium Economy (it's good)
• Dubaiconnect - the free Emirates night in Dubai for layovers > 8 hours.
• Exploring Prague with some unscripted surprises and some memorable restaurants
• Vienna - a few days out and about
• An Ice Hockey match and Vienna State Opera on the one trip report (surely that's a first?)
• Weird and Wonderful Austrian foods
• Some skiing.
• Some apres-skiing

And more
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Catching up

 

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The town itself is a charmer. You've got the scenic lakefront with walking trails, and the village centre, with small village squares, plenty of restaurants and bars.

 

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The umbrella bars are a big part of the scene.

There are some on the mountain, like this. They only open for a couple of hours a day, from around 2-4pm. This gives people time to ski back down the village after socialising. Understandably the ski patrol dont want people making their way down after dark.



Down at village level, they vibe on until 7pm. Great atmosphere this night.

 

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And with that, departure day arrives.

Even the train station here is picturesque, right between the lake and mountains.

We get the train back to Vienna, with one change at Salzburg. All of the trains were incredibly easy to book using the Austrian Rail (OBB) App

ÖBB App

Online and mobile ticketing - all in one app!

www.oebb.at

 

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Back in Vienna by early afternoon, we check in to the Vienna Marriott, which is quite close to where the airport trains depart from. (Wien Mitte)

I had a few Mariott points, so we picked up this stay as a points redemption which was nice. (The only good point is a spent point as they say).

The hotel is right next to Stadtpark, which is the park with the composer statues posted earlier. Room is good and large, and the hotel has several options for bars and dining in house, and there are plenty of additional options within a 5 minute walk.


While we were there, I opened the EK app to check in for the next day's flights. Up pops a cash upgrade offer. They are pitching an upgrade to Business for the first leg (6 hours VIE to DXB).. The price? About $700 AUD pp.

Did a few sums in my head and decided it was worth it, given it's an overnight sector, and the flight had the upgraded 777 J seats.


Check out at the Marriott was a generous 1pm, and additional hours are €25. Given we paid nothing for the room, we paid for a few more hours so we could freshen up before the long trip home.

Then it was off to the airport in the early evening and boarding VIE-DXB

The flight was fitted with Starlink and offered fantastic internet, faster that our home internet service