Vienna airport

I went over to the Vienna Airport Monday afternoon for my Tuesday morning flight. I was worried that a snowstorm or traffic foul-up might make me miss my flight, so I stayed at the airport hotel and did some exploring.

My limo driver was right on time. A native of Bratislava, he is fluent in English and German. This company (Airport Service Bratislava) was recommended by previous Fulbrighters; they use e-mail, speak English, take credit cards, and are very reliable, and I would recommend them highly, too.

I’ve only been here five months, but some important things have already changed. The four-lane expressway that was under construction last September has opened, so we sailed over to the airport with ease. And no more passport checks at the national border at Kittsee, Austria. On December 21, 2007, Slovakia entered the EU’s “Shengen Zone,” as did the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovenia. This means that these countries are now part of “Fortress Europe.” Once inside, you can pass freely across national borders, just as you might travel from Iowa to Illinois in the U.S.

The EU insisted on heavily fortified eastern and southern borders around the Zone; that’s now where the serious checking of passports and visas occurs. Slovakia’s eastern border is with the Ukraine, in what is apparently a heavily wooded, rural area. I can’t escape the irony that, only two decades ago, that Slovak-Austrian border we sailed across today was fortified with electrified fences by the Communists to keep the Slovaks from escaping to Austria. Now the EU is determined to keep the Ukrainians (and many others) from sneaking into the Shengen Zone.

The Vienna Airport is in the midst of a massive reconstruction project, so it’s a little chaotic. The entire Airport is already a free wifi zone, a very welcome amenity nowadays. The NH Airport Hotel is right across the street from the passenger buildings, very convenient.

Austria Airlines is the dominant airline here, but signs for almost all other carriers can be seen, especially in those international alliances with U.S. carriers.

In case you haven’t gorged on enough MozartKugeln, here’s one last chance. They also have a refrigerated cart with SacherTortes. I indulged in one last piece (with cappuccino, what else) at an airport café.

More phone booths nobody is using. But they’d come in handy for Americans arriving with incompatible cell phones that won’t work in Europe.

Yup – they’re everywhere. This one had an interesting variation on the standard fare, the “Almburger hűttengaudi” on a blackbread sesame bun. The “I’m loving it” slogan is translated into nine languages on the containers.

This interesting, but unidentified, art was in the middle of the waiting area outside my gate for the flight to Atlanta, surrounded by benches. Security to the gates was lengthy and thorough. An airline official asked a long series of questions about our purposes in travelling, something they don't do in the U.S. But we never had to take off our shoes for the x-ray machine, which was a pleasant relief!

NOTE: Click on any image in this blog to see it full-size.