Regensblog

I pride myself on being pretty automobile-independent, but as it happened I rented two cars in one day yesterday for two completely different purposes. The first one was due to a SNAFU in getting back to Regensburg from Iasi via Munich (which worked out just fine after all — just a little more hassle than I wanted), and second one was for attending Jentry and Markus’s wedding reception in Hirschau.

We ended up renting it for the whole day, and that means we can do some exploring today before we return it. We’re thinking of a trip to Weltenburg for brunch, like last year with Tammy and Matthias.

Here are the remaining snapshots from my most recent trip to Iasi:

For those of you planning on visiting us via flight arrivals/departures from Munich or Nuremberg, there are several ways for you to get to/from Regensburg to/from the airport.

* Train/Bus — check out the BayernTicket, because it’s great for a pretty low-cost, low-stress trip from anywhere in Bavaria to anywhere in Bavaria. The catch: it’s only valid one day at a time and you’re responsible to figure out your own subway/train/bus connections.

* Rental car — good flexbility, but more expensive, and do you really want to deal with traffic having just got off the plane or on your way down to the airport?

* Taxi — I shudder to think what this might cost,

* AirportLiner Regensburg — I used to think this was the best option because
- they’re reliable
- they’re fairly priceworthy
- they provide door-to-door service.

I think my opinion of them has changed. Read on.

AirportLiner Regensburg offers a pretty unique service; I myself have had good results with them. Their drivers have always been friendly and prompt, even in spite of rude/late/grumpy customers. The most trouble I have ever had with them was a failure to communicate a more specific pick-up time than the 1.5 hour window they gave me; but even that was no big deal — I just waited outside for longer than I needed to.

Then I heard about Matthias’ miserable AirportLiner experience, in which AirportLiner apparently couldn’t schedule a pickup for them themselves, but rather had to hire a taxi to pick him up and drop him off at some misunderstood rendezvous point, which nearly made him miss his flight (or maybe it did, I’m a little unclear on the details). But you know what? I thought it was just him. He seems like the kind of guy who gets rotten luck — order identical menu items at a restaurant, and his is the one that comes out undercooked. Ask for ketchup and mayo for your fries at a restaurant, and they’ll be out of mayo if Matthias is the one requesting it. Stuff like that.

Then Cristi and Adi came to visit from Romania. AirportLiner was late picking them up yesterday morning, and there were unexpected traffic problems on the highway down to the airport. These two factors lead to Cristi and Adi missing their check-in window at the airport by 10 minutes. Since it was an economy-class flight, CarpatAir was not obligated to let them rebook on a later flight. AirportLiner would assume none of the liability for them having missed their flight. The next feasible to flight home to Iasi would be Monday morning. So thanks to AirportLiner, Cristi and Adi’s trip got extended by 2 days. Fortunately their boss in Romania* just happened to be passing through the Munich airport on his way to Regensburg on the day that they were scheduled to head home, and he was able to arrange new flights home and a couple of nights’ stay at a hotel in Munich for them.

Bottom line: apparently not everyone has good luck with AirportLiner like Sarah and I have had. I’ll be rethinking my transportation options for my next flight. We fly economy all the time and also cannot afford to purchase new tickets simply because our ride to the airport did not come through for us.

Big ups to the Hotel Unirea for offering to call — and keep calling — Austrian Airlines to inquire about my lost bag for me while I was at work today. Big boos to Austrian Airlines having lost it in the first place, and making me wear the same clothes three days in a row, and not having the decency to deliver my lost bag to my hotel. They made me come pick it up!

This morning (It’s about 6:30 now) I will do a full shave (I didn’t trust the flimsy disposable one in my Star Alliance overnight bag to do anything more than my neckline) and wear clean, non-jean, non-t-shirt clothes for the first time since Sunday morning at 4:00 Central European Time. I’m really looking forward to it.

I tend to ride to and from the office in a taxi while it’s dark when I’m here visiting. Various members of the hotel staff have been calling at all hours of the day/night to the Austrian Airlines department at the Iasi Airport and reporting back to me. I found out yesterday at 1pm that I’d have a two-hour window to pick up my stuff, starting at 12pm (so much for the two hours). I was prepared to take a taxi out to the airport and back, but Vlad suggested he drive me in the company car. Vlad has been very, very helpful in lots of office-related ways. He sacrificed his lunch hour and I am grateful for that. We got stuck in traffic, further shortening my 2-hour window to arrive at the airport. The image at left actually does not show one of the reasons we got stuck in traffic. Those horses were moving along at a good clip.

After work last night, I grabbed my camera and tripod (thanks Sarah) and tried to capture the city in a more festive light:

I fear I might not even notice my stench in these clothes at this point. I must praise the staff of the Hotel Unirea, because Virgil and Alina on staff there are repeatedly calling Austrian Airlines to check on the status of my suitcase. For the latest report, I am supposed to check back with them today after 10:00 to see what Austrian Airlines knows.

One small complaint:

I know that all Enrique needs is the rhythm divine, but the Unirea needs to expand its music selection at the breakfast bar. If they manage to get my bag back before I leave on Friday though, I’ll happily sing (if you can call it that) along with them and the Progeny of Iglesias.

…an EVIL charm maybe.

On this, my third and definitely final trip to Iaşi this year, I had high hopes that all my travel ducks would be in a row. Previous trips have gone off without a hitch — airport pick-ups and drop-offs, customs, luggage, hotels, and taxi transportation have all been no problem in the past.

But this time, something’s different. I flew Austrian Airlines instead of Carpatair, transferring in Vienna instead of Timişoara and decided to check my bag at the ticket window in Munich early Monday morning.

Well, right after that, I forgot that I still had my little Leatherman Squirt pocketknife attached to my keychain. I realized it before going through the metal detectors toward the gate, but my baggage (just one small suitcase) was already being checked onto the plane, so I couldn’t stash it in there. I went back to the Lufthansa (they do the check-in for Austrian…I guess the Anschluss lives on in some ways), and the ladies there were very nice, offering to walk me down to the Service Center where I could do short or long term storage of luggage and other items. I ended up paying €2,50 to store my entire keychain for up to three months (I plan to return on Friday afternoon). And with that, my first problem was solved. I thought to myself, “See? No sweat.”

I got to the gate still in plenty of time and waited and waited and waited. Finally they let us board the plane…and then we waited another 30 minutes. This was only supposed to be a 40 minute flight, and I had something like only 35 minutes between landing and take-off of the next flight in Vienna. I got picked up outside the plane on the tarmac in Vienna where I was rushed to customs, re-scanned for metal, and then rushed back out to the tarmac for boarding on my flight to Iaşi. I was the last person on the plane, and my ticket was for a seat in the last row, so I got the stinkeye from everyone on board, who probably assumed that I was responsible for my own lateness. Right after I buckled myself in, it struck me that there was very little chance of my luggage arriving with me.

When we landed in Iasi, I was pretty much the last person off the plane. There was only one person working the Austrian Airlines desk in Iaşi, and he spent like 20 minutes each on the first two people whose luggage also got lost. An older Romanian man pushed me out of the way when it was my turn to present my baggage claim ticket, which made me mad. A Belgian lady and an English lady behind me in line grumbled in what they probably thought was support, but it just made things worse — the Austrian Airlines baggage claim guy yelled at her when she asked if he was the only one working.

End result: I get to go to work and train my new guy at 8:00 am on Monday wearing the same clothes — my “plane clothes,” as it were — I put on an 4:00 am on Sunday. Yuck. And I was sleepy after my travels today, so I napped and now I’m up at 4:30 in the morning on Monday, waiting for the hotel’s restaurant to open for breakfast at 7:00.

But the good news is: I got a chance to walk around town in daylight for the first time and snap some pictures. You can see the full set here.