Meeting up with Jason Maybe?

[RKittine]

J.J.,

I leave for Vienna on Sunday the 22nd and arrive on the morning of the 23rd. I will be spending time in Vienna, Prague and Budapest. Which city would be closest and easiest to get to where you are? I will see if I can get a domestic flight into and out of something convenient, so maybe we can post some lunch pictures.

On my way back on the 31st, I have a layover in Frankfurt.

Hope we can make this work.

Bob

[jjbaker]

All three locations are definitely out of reach at this point. All a full day's trip even with a old but nice BMW 530d.

I am 25KM West of Bremen (BRE) Airport. Chris lives in the city, too so he would probably enjoy meeting up as well.

Hamburg (HAM) is 60 miles North but the city is a clustered mess second to none. Berlin (TXL) is 4.5-5 hours East.

Flights aint cheap, believe it or not, meeting and traveling in this tiny country is quite a PITA.

[chrisbuck243]

Bob, I would definitely enjoy joining in the meet-up if you are able to get anywhere near Bremen! Keep us informed about what you're able to do...

[RKittine]

Let me see what kind of flight I could get into and back out of Bremen. How long would the train be for me from any of the three cities I plan to be in now?

Chris, would love to meet you too.

Drop me an E-mail at rkittine@aol.com so I have yours and include your mobile number.

Cheers, Bob

[jjbaker]

Trains will take anywhere from 10-15 hours.
If they run on time, connections are made and it doesn't rain or have any wind exceeding 10mph.

We had some bad weather a few weeks ago and the German Reichsbahn is still finding passengers laying around who died waiting for their trains.

[jjbaker]

I just learned we are gone anyways that week.
Berlin might work, thats 2 hours south of where we will be. Or you fly to Bremen and you guys can talk about me, rather than with me.

:-(

[jjbaker]

Hi Bob,

my beautiful better half (she claims she likes me, but my coffee tastes like eyedrops) has reminded me of a trip from 26th late evening until the 31st. The week from 23-26 is free in Bremen in case you can make it.

Hope this will work, Bremen would actually work best as my old Flagship goes in for maintenance and extensive repairs while we are in the East.

Cheers,

Jason

[RKittine]

I will see what I can do. I am working on Inter-European travel plans today and tomorrow.

Bob

[jjbaker]

Uh ohhh. Bob went AWOL

[RKittine]

Nope, I am here, alive and well. I am in Wien and trying to figure out my schedule. The press conference for the opening of the new Museum and Exhibition is this afternoon and the opening is tomorrow with a special event then on Thursday. Then I have a trip to Budapest and one to Prague, which is where I am going to flying home from. Right now I am trying to extend the return flight without breaking the bank. The airline - the Luftwaffa (Hansa), has said that the more I wait, the BETTER chance I have to get a flight change for the least amount of additional money, guess do to waiting to see how many open seats they have on the flight I want and how many they want for the flight I currently have. Not sure if it will work, but I am going to try.

Bob

P.S. - Jason, I assume you speak Hi German, so I have a question. Is it better to say "Thank You, No" Danka Nien, rather than No Thank You? I was corrected at a restaurant last night buy a guy who obviously new I was one of them American's!

[jjbaker]

Nein, Danke will do but, maybe his English is as bad as his teaching style in German, a swift kick in the nuts will get the same message delivered.

Its a difficult little country. Try to open a business here!

[RKittine]

He was nice about it and told me that saying Thank You first is very polite than followed by No F'in way A$$hole!

Lunch today was Austria's version of German Wursts, but not sure about dinner yet. A few glasses of Vhetliner while stooling through the Muesum Quarter this afternoon too the edge off until dinner later tonight.

Bob

[jjbaker]

Have safe travels home.

[RKittine]

Hope to know some time today if my flights can get changed. Where will you be on Monday - Wednesday? In the Spring we will be back in Europe for 3 months on Holiday. We are looking for an apartment to use as a base and will than range around the continent. Will for sure spent time around Germany during that stay.

[jjbaker]

Its an upcoming holiday weekend and next week is booked solid. Lets see about Spring, in Spring. Meetings like that usually don't work well.

[RKittine]

OK - Enjoy and in the Spring I will be in the area for three months so we can make it happen.