Day 58. Thursday 28 May

Needless to say, a restless night with an alarm waking us at 0800 just as we were getting into a full, sleep! A less than ordinary, overpriced breakfast over at the Departures terminal and then on to Murray’s Bus for the road trip home. And there was a friendly green Flixbus parked alongside; it must have followed us from Europe.

Driver Christian did a great job. Off Murray’s, on to Action R7 to Coolamen Court, then 70 to home – 48 hours from departure ex Budapest. Bags unpacked, heating on….it’s all over after 58 days! D is delighted we came in on budget for daily expenses, and well under for accomodation and transport.

A few impressions from eight weeks in Europe

Stays: Istanbul – Dubrovnik – Hvar – Sibenik – Zadar – Zagreb – Ljubljana – Jesenice -Postojna – Vienna – Prague – Bratislava – Budapest.

We have flown Turkish Airlines for the first time and the service and comfort has been terrific: will happily fly with them again if that opportunity comes up.

Public transport has been very useful – and wherever we’ve used it has been efficient, clean and safe. A bonus is that being the ‘right age’ (over 65 in most cases; over 70 once) it was free – just flash proof of age to the ticket inspectors. Being asked for proof that we were aged over 65 was an additional bonus. We used mostly buses (Flixbus) and a train once (over twice the cost of bus, but other advantages) for travel between cities and the bookings, connections and journeys were easy. Because we were mostly in apartments near the centre of cities, bus stations were easily accessible.

We have  probably unfairly judged random people we’ve passed or contacted in all the countries visited as surly or old, but they are probably just contained and cautious as part of their normal social/cultural/religious environment, possibly partly a left over from recent conflict (Croatia, Slovenia), Communism (Czeck Republic, Slovakia, Hungary) or other conflict times. A greeting was sometimes completely ignored but there was usually a response, if slightly startled. But we never felt threatened or unsafe in any location. In contrast, communication with our hosts was always cordial and friendly when in person. T also managed to strike up conversations with passers by or fellow café patrons and these became enthusiastic engagements (for example the lady with the broken wing in Ljubljana, or the lass serving coffee in Budapest).

Language was of course an issue for us, but English was widely spoken, often very well. Google Translate came into use a bit, usually in supermarkets trying to work out what we were looking at. Courtesy phrases such as ‘Dobra Dan’ (Good Day) helped: at one point D’s use of the greeting confused a parking attendant who assumed we were locals. There were versions of this in Croatia, Slovenia and Austria – they all pretty much sounded the same to us!

Crowds were expected but it was surprising in some locations how big they were in this ‘pre-season’. Crowds were particularly big in Dubrovnik, Vienna and Prague. Crowd behaviour was an issue: little courtesy, particularly in queuing and getting on or off transport (that being so, there was an old guy getting on the Murray’s Bus in Sydney that pushed his way in!). On only one occasion did we see a seat offered up by a younger person to an older one, or a mum with baby or someone with obvious physical limitations. Shoppers were no better: D reckons the aisle blockers in Woolies are nothing on European shoppers – there was often a risk to life or limb either from a weaponised trolley or the death stare. Attempts at courtesy, such as standing aside, seemed to be met with either suspicion, contempt or ignored.

Despite the age/ history of the urban environments we were in and the volume of people traffic (and smokers!) cleaners & street sweepers kept the environments very clean (far cleaner than most public spaces at home).

Costs for food and wine were probably pretty much comparable to Australia, although we were at somewhat of a disadvantage by not being ‘in the know’. That said, there were plenty of locals at the suburban stores (IGA equivalent) and Lidl or Hofer/Aldi (Coles/Woolworths equivalent).  Occasionally T browsed in clothes shops (dissatisfied with the travel pants bought at home and the emergency patched gardening jeans that became the European routine) but clothes offerings were expensive.

Our apartments and hosts were terrific throughout – as expected given the research that T puts into finding the best option. On occasion there was noise from neighbours, as you’d expect in close living situations. In one instance (Hvar) loud music was intrusive but thankfully short-lived and on another (Vienna) there was a herd of hippos above us one morning, but they did temper their activity (maybe they ran out of cake). T reckons she will never live in an apartment.

We mostly booked through Airbnb and booking.com and only several days ahead, as T likes to stay open to changing any plan right up till the 11th hour or later.  Both platforms were great. We had a problem on one occasion only (Kolnavice outside Prague) where the location given was not useful – it was accurate but the house couldn’t be accessed from that side but the host quickly responded with alternative instructions. The exterior of the old inner-city apartments was sometimes grubby (graffiti or just stark) as in Zadar, Zagreb, Vienna, and Bratislava but inside décor and fittings were great; heating & aircon & those fabulous, double-glazed windows & doors made for very comfortable stays. If only the thumping/scraping/water running heard from above could be eliminated. And if only those induction stoves had standard operating procedures! A few things struck us as odd: kitchen & bathroom sinks without plugs…D prefers to hand wash dishes & this was challenging without a sink plug (it is presumed that residents will use the dishwasher). And we never really got used to the separate doonas, even though from a practical bed-making & sleeper comfort point of view, they make sense.