German Efficiency

Upon arrival in Frankfurt, Germany, I had already accepted the fact that I would be unable to make my connection to Vienna.  After sitting too long in Chicago during the snowstorm, we had to D-Ice the plane before we could being our journey abroad.  With a plane that big, it was about a 40 minute process and I had just over an hour for my connection in Frankfurt.

I had planned to find the nearest Lufthansa Service Center and reschedule my connection.  To my surprise, when I exited the Aircraft after a 9 hour flight, there were Fraport employees in neon jackets and a sign that read Wien LU1234 (my connection to Vienna).  They took me along with fellow passengers for this flight and a flight to Moscow and Munich on a bus and drove us around the airport, trying to get us to our connections on time! We weren't on those handicapped trams that drive slowly and beep at people inside the terminal, we were outside, swerving in between planes and other vehicles with food and luggage.  I was so shocked that they were trying to hard to get us to our connections, but then I thought, "I'm in Germany, if there is a way these passengers can make their connections, they are going to do it."  Of course, with my luck, the passengers to Moscow and Munich made their connections, but it was too late for me and the two other people trying to make it to Vienna.

The "casual" picture I snapped of my bus-ride around Fraport. 

Honestly, I was relieved we didn't make the connection.  There was no way my baggage would have made it and I didn't want to deal with trying to get my bags from the airport, jet-lagged and in a new city.  I was put on another flight and ended up arriving in Vienna an hour and a half behind schedule.  No biggie.

I signed up for the iHouse service, something I would recommend to any students traveling to Vienna for a semester.  iHouse is a service that picked up my key from the housing office in Vienna and then picked me up at the airport and drove me in a private car to my apartment.  It was a little pricey but it was such piece of mind knowing I wouldn't have to figure out public transit with 2 suitcases, a duffel and a BIG purse.  Thank you to my mother for being a true packing "Houdini" and fitting all 11 pairs of shoes in my suitcases and to my father for letting me book the iHouse service.  It definitely made all the difference when arriving in Vienna.