Austria🇦🇹

Never in my life would I have imagined that my first real solo trip would be to Austria, of all countries.

I had visited Thailand for about three weeks back in 2015 before I enlisted, but that was to Udonthani for a mission trip and there were people there I knew, like Aunty Jane and Uncle Pramote, who took very good care of me, so I wouldn’t consider that a fully solo trip.

And then there was my trip to Australia, a couple months after ORD, which was more of a solo flight rather than a solo trip, because I basically spent all my time there either hanging out with Ivan or Deborah.

Almosttt went on my first solo trip last July to Japan but my whole family ended up tagging along haha. I’m not complaining though, because I never thought I would enjoy solo tripping in all honesty. And now that I’ve actually done it, my suspicions are verified. I understand the pros accompanying solo tripping, yet I feel the cons just outweigh them so much. Yes, you get the flexibility of your own itinerary, yes there’s no pressure of adhering to a time at each location, but but, you don’t get to share in the moment with another person, and that, I feel, is the beauty of travelling. I don’t want to go to the fjords of Norway, or the glaciers in New Zealand, and be greeted with the most breathtaking views yet have no one to share them with. Sounds like a romanticisation of travel, but it really isn’t. Having someone with you enhances the experience so much, I think it’s tightly intertwined with the fact that humans are inherently social beings. I won’t go so far as to say that solo trips serve no purpose and can’t be great, because there are times when the world, and people, get too suffocating and one simply wants to detach, but under normal circumstances I do think travelling with others allows for a much deeper appreciation of the experience.

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So now, back to Austria.

Did not have the greatest start to my first trip on exchange. Made a very expensive mistake which turned a cheap air ticket into a moderately-priced one. Okay, I flew with Wizz Air, and even though I travel fairly frequently I’ve never adopted the habit of checking in online. For one, I never saw the point of it because most times you still had to check in at the airport so I viewed it as an extra procedure. And secondly, the romantic in me adores having a physical boarding pass in hand so there’s that. All this meant that I was in for a nasty surprise when the ground staff informed me that they would be charging me close to SGD55 for printing my boarding pass – how ludicrous! But what had to be done, had to be done – I couldn’t possibly forfeit my entire trip because of this mistake so I grudgingly paid the fee. Didn’t help that I was already a lil’ flustered while making my way to the airport because while on the train to the airport, I wasn’t sure whether I had validated my ticket and so I got off at Lillestrøm just to make sure, which meant spending 30 minutes waiting for the next train.

Lillestrøm Station

Expensive mistakes did not stop there. Because I didn’t read the ‘House Rules’ carefully while booking my Airbnb for Vienna, I didn’t notice that I was going to be charged an additional €20 for late check-in after 10pm UGH. That’s a pretty hefty sum for a student on a budget.

Thankfully everything went well after these initial hiccups. Walking to the Airbnb near midnight was an experience in itself. The streets were so dark and empty they honestly looked prime for a potential mugging hahaha. But anyway, the Airbnb was decent enough. Could’ve been better for the price but ohwell. The bed was comfy but the floor creaked a lot, the heating in the common areas was close to non-existent, and the bedroom door couldn’t be locked – which was a big thing because I was sharing the apartment with others so it felt rather unsafe. (The Airbnb host initially gave me a good review but after reading my review of his listing he wrote in to retract his review and wrote a rather nasty response to mine, lol petty.)

The next day I struggled so much to wake up haha. Since I only checked in past midnight, I only went to bed at 1 plus(?) And I had a ‘Free Walking Tour’ scheduled for 10am so that was rough…

Anyhow, I dragged myself out of bed and managed to make it in time phew. I highly recommend signing up for free walking tours in Europe whenever you’re in a city where they’re available. It’s just a great way to kickstart your time there because the guide introduces you to the major attractions in the city and provides a summary of the history about everything that’s significant; and this grants you deeper insight into and appreciation of the city as a whole. Since time spent on each attraction during the tour is brief, it gives you the opportunity to have an overview of all the important stuff before deciding which are the ones you want to return for a more in-depth exploration haha. Here are some pictures of the places we visited during the tour:

Statue of Mozart

‘Political Square’, where all the important political buildings are located.

The Hofburg

St. Stephen’s Cathedral

I apologise in advance if I labelled any of the pictures incorrectly because I’m writing this more than a month after I returned from Austria.

You should’ve guessed by now that the free walking tours aren’t really free, unless you’re thick-skinned enough; they run on a tipping system. I gave €8 this time. There was a lady at the end who asked to combine our tip probably because she was a little embarrassed that she might be giving too little, or it could also be because she didn’t have small change, idk haha. If she didn’t catch me by surprise maybe I would’ve given €5 instead of €8 since it wouldn’t have seemed so meagre now that we were combining our tips (sorry, I’m a poor student haha).

After the tour I had schnitzel for lunch. Had to try it because I didn’t have it when I was in Germany two years ago and it only seemed apt that I should try something as classic as schnitzel. The portion was HUGE.

Schnitzel at Figlmüller

Although for the price it better had been, but tbh it wasn’t great so I wouldn’t recommend. This cost me €22 (inclusive of tip). I had to tip because the restaurant was kinda fancy and they asked you straight in your face how much you wanted to tip so, sigh.

After lunch I walked around, basically explored all the places I had seen during the walking tour.

My only(?) solo shot in Vienna because awkward me really hates asking strangers to help me take photos.

I also spent some time walking around the Naschmarkt, which is like a food street of sorts. Didn’t get anything to eat though, cos I was tryna save money especially after my expensive mistakes at the start of the trip.

Chanced upon a supermarket while at the Naschmarkt and boy, oh boy, is the alcohol cheaaaaaaap in Austria. Just look at this:

I bought two 500ml cans of beer, both for less than €1 each. One of them cost me like SGD0.68, insane.

Then I went to visit the Votivkirche.

But it was closeddd sob.

Was quite tired and didn’t really know where else to go anymore since it was already dark so I went to the train station to recce HAHA. Because I had a 6.06am train to catch in two days so I thought I had better familiarise myself with the area and not risk missing my train, cos that would be yet another expensive mistake. That was basically the end of my day and I went back to the Airbnb after to get some much needed rest.

I usually don’t like to sleep too much while on holiday because I feel like I’m wasting my time and money doing that but I was so knackered I slept for 12 hours heh – made possible also by the fact that I went back early yesterday.

Started off the day doing probably the most touristy thing during my entire time in Austria, The Vienna Ring Tram. I basically paid €12 to take a 25-minute tram ride circling the city centre of Vienna *facepalm*, not sure why I thought this would be a suitable activity for someone on a budget but yeah, I did it.

The tram’s interior.

Some sights during the ride:

The Austrian Parliament Building, currently under construction.

Visited the Schönbrunn Palace thereafter, which was honestly quite underwhelming compared to the Sanssouci Palace in Potsdam, Germany – that really was oozing opulence, Schönbrunn was just meh.

No photos allowed inside the palace but I sneaked one haha.

Had a Döner Kebab for lunch, I remember being famished at this point, and also I had to remove my gloves to eat it and my hands were freezing haha.

Returned to the Votivkirche because I didn’t get to enter yesterday. Unfortunately it was dark already; I imagine it would be really pretty in the day when sunlight streams through all the stained glass.

Like the previous night I went back to the train station again, but this time because I wanted to visit the supermarket to get these jam-filled buns I remember seeing on sale yesterday.

Loitered outside the metro’s gantries for a good 20 minutes or so listening to a busker singing while playing his guitar.

Jam Buns

Had the jam buns for dinner and an ice-cold beer to accompany it, bliss. Can I just say Austria has a beer called Ottakringer and it might just be my all-time favourite beer as yet, delish.

Woke up at 4.40am the next day to catch the 6.06am train to Salzburg wew. I was so afraid I was gonna oversleep hahaha. The train was very comfortable, as is usually the case in Europe. Had the remaining of my jam buns for breakfasttt.

Train Exterior

Train Interior

Train View

Salzburg is such a pretty city!! This is what greets you when you first arrive in the city centre:

Rare solo shot I had to grit my teeth to ask someone to help me take haha.

I then visited St. Peter’s Abbey, the Salzburg Cathedral, the Franciscan Church, Domplatz, Residenplatz, Mozartplatz, and explored the Old Town of Salzburg, including a shopping street called Getreidegasse, which I’m guessing is their equivalent of Singapore’s Orchard Road haha. Tbh I’m a little confused as to where is what so I shall leave the following pictures unlabelled lest I label them incorrectly.

At the very least I know this is a statue of Mozart; Salzburg was his birthplace.

I have a fascination for eggs because they’re such perfect geometrical specimens, and even more so ostrich eggs because they’re the largest eggs in the world hehe.

This was lunch, omgosh just looking at it makes me hungry now because it was soooo good, and the portion was huuuge. Even though I was famished, I didn’t manage to finish the potato-ey thing.

Crispy pork knuckle at Gasthof Alter Fuchs, so darn satisfying – highly recommended!!!!

Checked in to my hostel before heading out again for more exploring. This was my first authentic hostel experience because although my very first time was in Perth, I had the three-person room all to myself during my entire stay there. And then in Berlin although my parents and I booked a room in a hostel, it was a private room with an en suite bathroom so that doesn’t count either. This time however, I really had to live communally with others, meaning putting up with snores, late-night noise, not feeling completely at ease about your valuables, etc. I’ve always known the hostel life isn’t my kind of thing and this experience hasn’t changed that but a student on a budget cannot afford to be picky.

Some photos from my evening stroll:

I ended off the day with a milkshake at McDonald’s – there’s a kinda funny story behind this. I was already craving a milkshake and since it was so much cheaper in Austria I wanted to get one, but they were sold out in the Old Town’s outlet. So, since I had already bought the 24-hour public transport ticket for the day but had only used it once to get from the Central Train Station to the city centre, I thought I had better use it so as to make myself feel better and not seem like I had wasted money unnecessarily. Ironically, by using it I spent more money on the milkshake but whatever, at least I satisfied a craving heh.

Last full day here in Austriaaa (tbh at this point of writing I’m just glad I’m almost done with this post HAHA).

Started off the day at Festung Hohensalzburg – ‘Festung’ means ‘fortress’ in German.

Pretty rainbow in the cloud heh.

View on my way up.

Some photos from my visit:

Some photos as I made my way to the Mirabell Palace and Gardens:

Here’s a couple photos from the Gardens – the sky was lovely that day, blue and filled with wispy clouds of unique shapes.

Thereafter I justtt made it in time to St. Sebastian’s Cemetery, about a half-hour before it closed. The famous physician, Paracelsus, is buried here (he’s famous but I must admit I didn’t really know who he was lol), and also Mozart’s father, Leopold Mozart, is also buried here.

Paracelsus’ Grave

Leopold Mozart’s Grave

Random Pretty Photo

Was ravenous so I went to get meself some carbonara – the waitress made the mistake of asking whether I wanted parmesan cheese because after she passed it to me I’m pretty sure I emptied like half the container into my pasta LOL.

I’m not usually a dessert person but Sachertorte is famous in Austria and I couldn’t leave without trying some, so I went to a café I chanced upon the previous day for some cakeee. Was it any good? Tasted like an average chocolate cake to me but worth the try I guess.

Sachertorte

Retired to the hostel for the night and had good conversation with Saurabh, a fellow hostel mate. Quite a novel experience for me because knowing me conversation with a stranger is wayyy outside my comfort zone, but exchange has had a queer effect on me because I’ve been a lot more at ease striking up conversation with people I barely know/have never met. It’s a good thing though, and I hope I don’t lose this boldness upon returning to Singapore.

Caught the 6.22am train back to Vienna from Salzburg today. Honestly, morning trains are not fun because they are sooo nerve-wracking, you’re constantly worrying about whether you’re gonna oversleep and whether there’s public transport to the train station, etc. I walked all the way from my Airbnb to the train station which took me about 20 minutes, although such distances are nothing in the cold – you would never in a million years catch me doing something like that in Singapore, I would take a bus for anything that’s more than a 5-minute walk lol.

I don’t usually have breakfast but there’s just something about having them in trains that’s so hearty and nostalgic.

Breakfast

Visited the Natural History Museum Vienna today. I’ve always wanted to visit a Natural History Museum because I’ve heard great things about them but my experience here was kinda meh? There was too much about minerals and rocks which I have absolutely no care for. And maybe it’s also because the evolutionary model propagated in such museums doesn’t cohere with my views as a Creationist. But anyhow, here are some photos from my time there:

Natural History Museum Vienna

Isn’t this just the most adorable elephant!!!

I got to touch a real dinosaur bone, how cool is that!!!!

The museum’s most famous exhibit, Venus of Willendorf:

Front View

Side View (Left)

Side View (Right)

Back View

Headed straight to the airport after this to catch my flight!

Had to make a stop at the airport lounge first of course hehe.

Jet Lounge

Back in Oslo

‘Twas a great first solo trip, but as I mentioned previously, I don’t think solo-tripping is really my thing and as much as I can in the future I hope to always find people to travel with. I realise even though I’ve travelled quite a bit I rarely travel with my closest friends and that’s really something I hope to change in the near future – looking at you LK peeps, please let’s organise something soon!!

(You don’t know how relieved I am to finally be done with this post, phew.)

Signing off,

#kaiINaustria🇦🇹