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Originally Posted by Fabo.sk
(Post 37106329)
Unfortunately, IC trains fell victim to "rationalization" of the timetable, and with them the direct connection from Košice to Vienna.
It also adds time to my travel today, but on the other hand, now the trains are running every hour all day on a regular schedule and don't interfere with each other. |
I was targeting the train at 12:27, which was timed just so that I could make it if I check out by 12.
As it turns out, I managed to check out about 15 minutes early, and called a taxi to take me to the train station. Booked a ticket from the taxi, and reached the station about half an hour before departure, decent result. https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...9bc002b03.jpeg A bit of a window not window seat, but I only had a choice of two and the other one was an aisle seat at a table of four, so this one it is. I was not really expecting the carriage to be this full, but the price difference between 2nd and 1st class is fairly small, while 2nd class has 10 coaches and 1st class only has 1, evidently enough people are choosing to pay the surcharge to travel in a bit more comfort. For a multi-hour trip (5 and a half, in my case) it makes a lot of sense. For comparison, I’ve looked at the train following mine, and it makes 25.70EUR for 1st, 20.20EUR for 2nd with seat reservation. Half an hour or so before departure, 1st is almost sold out with about 2 seats remaining, 2nd also quite full, some 80% booked I’d say in a mix of open space and 6-seater compartment coaches. Service wise, there’s not that much extra. You get a water and the option to have an order from the café car delivered to your seat. https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...f5b509be1.jpeg The brand name is a bit of wordplay, a portmanteau of “aqua” and “vlak”, which is the Slovak word for train. One weird thing about the service to seat was that I could not order a combo deal that was advertised on the flyers in the seat pocket… so I went to get it in the restaurant car. Turns out to be a good thing, seeing as I was told they were understaffed and had to prioritize customers in the restaurant car, and the delivery would happen at some point late. https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...0c5c8fe94.jpeg The lava cake was very nice though, even though I failed to keep it in place so it got a bit smushed. |
Originally Posted by gpb_croppers63
(Post 37106473)
Ah I see. Yes, very annoying. The engineering works on the line between Bratislava and Vienna don’t help either. Hopefully things will be back to normal soon.
One thing that will help a good lot either way will be when the new link from Schwechat to Bruck a/d Leitha will open on the Austrian side, allowing direct train connection from the airport into Bratislava (Petrzalka only, but even so). Unfortunately that’s not expected to open until sometime in the 30s. |
Originally Posted by Fabo.sk
(Post 37106683)
I’m not sure what’s the longer term plan there. I for sure hope the trains from Bratislava main station to Mitte will return, as they are quite practical.
One thing that will help a good lot either way will be when the new link from Schwechat to Bruck a/d Leitha will open on the Austrian side, allowing direct train connection from the airport into Bratislava (Petrzalka only, but even so). Unfortunately that’s not expected to open until sometime in the 30s. I agree about the first class supplement. It’s so cheap that I only ever travel in first. Interesting that it books up though. I’m only going to buy my train ticket next week once I know which bus I’m on to Bratislava so worth keeping an eye on availability in the coming days. Thanks for the inadvertent heads up. 😁 |
Continuing on with the journey, it’s not too bad, but I do kind of wish there was a possibility to fly. It’s just so much faster, even with the faff of having to get to the airport. (I suppose I could fly from Vienna, but OS does not make it easy).
Ride-wise, there is a very distinct difference between the ride to Zilina, which is on a new, smooth rails doing 160 on the open track, and from Zilina onwards, which is much bumpier, and slower, hovering around a 100 depending on where exactly the train happens to be https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...f7f3f291a.jpeg The views though, if sitting on the correct side of the train, can be great. The appearance of the mountains is a signal to pay a visit to the restaurant car. The Slovak Rail restaurant cars are not as good as Czech ones, but still quite serviceable. https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...ceccee9b5.jpeg They have some better options on the menu, but the deep fried cheese is traditional. The beer is railway themed, brewed by a local craft brewery. This is the 12 degree lager called Stationmaster. Just under half an hour left in my journey unless something goes very wrong. That should make it all for this section of the TR, The trip back will happen on Monday the week after next, a relatively simple LOT trip with a closer look at their onboard service and the LOT Polonez Gold lounge in Warsaw, which featured in my lounge record run last November. Maybe a hotel review in the meantime, we’ll see. |
Conclusion then from day 2: I used to do this Vienna open jaw more often. Not just with Austrian, but also when OK still flew, allowing me to fly KLM to Vienna (or OK to Bratislava for a brief period) and pick up KLM codeshare via PRG. It’s still a nice thing to stop by every so often, by the fact that going via DUS makes it a whole day travel affair instead of just the afternoon makes it a whole lot less appealing. I am still in two minds about the whole concept of railing to DUS (or, to a smaller extent, to BRU) and flying from there. It’s nice in theory. It would be worth it if the A220 Eurowings link survived. As it is, the added stress is not worth the modest savings offered, even without accounting for extra travel time. I think I will have to bite the bullet and start paying the outrageous prices charged ex AMS. The sole consolation prize being the fact, that for 2 or 3 times a year I might keep doing this trip, the upcharge to Business will make it reasonable for me to not have to think about maintaining frequent flyer status going forward. Opportunistic private travel will happen in whatever way it will happen, I care less about baggage and similar benefits in those cases, and I will be keeping my Priority Pass for now anyway. Business travel would be a bit more difficult as I have less control over there, but, it’s not like I have a lot of that in my future anyway.
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Hello!
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...0024044808.jpg Hotel report later today and tomorrow back home via Warsaw. |
Intermission
I am a big fan of wellness retreats in Hungary. I try go for at least a night or two a couple times a year if I can. Earlier this year, I visited Eger, even started to write a TR though it didn’t pan out. This time round, the choice was made to visit Tokaj, and the relatively new Minato MGallery hotel. Easy drive, about one and a half hours in pretty Hungarian countryside. https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...c61a2c29b6.jpg https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...c38ff9b022.jpg Rooms are nice and spacious, with Aztec style decorations. https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...ef5f6e7ad0.jpg The bathroom, green. But nice. All rooms have a balcony and either a view of a hillside (the hotel is built in a valley left by a quarry) or a vineyard view on the other side. https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...117fb89338.jpg From my balcony I could see the outside pool. The pool is heated to about 30 degrees, there is another one that is even warmer, more like a hot tub. Another pool is inside the wellness area, along with some saunas and oxygen therapy room. I did not take pictures there for obvious reasons. Depending on how you look at it, the restaurant in the hotel has a fairly big potential flaw., as it does not offer a la carte dining. You can get half board, but it's buffet dining. All the food was very good quality I have to say, including dessert. I would be more than happy to come back on this basis. https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...f536bd0d9a.jpg https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...7aefbf5a5b.jpg That said, the selection is quite good beginning with the cold starters https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...4953fcb112.jpg And carrying on with a bunch of hot mains. There was a veal cheek stew, pork schnitzel, some chicken, cod, couple types of potato, trust broccoli… https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...267117f35c.jpg I do admit I suffer from a bit of can’t choose, gotta have everything disease… All the food was very good quality I have to say, including dessert. I would be more than happy to come back on this basis. As this is a leisure hotel in Tokaj, the drink menu has a wide selection of Hungarian, mainly Tokaji wines, by the bottle but also by the glass. Reasonable prices too. https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...3f8293e145.jpg https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...95208d9e83.jpg Schooled by Japes and some of our other resident cognac enjoyers, I spotted a familiar name on a box, and later confirmed there is also a bottle in there. And confirmed in the menu… maybe one day. These days, I’m more of an Armagnac man anyway, even if I appreciate a good cognac https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...a5a7149a32.jpg https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...d663c1de3a.jpg More of the same in the morning – a good selection on most fronts, a bunch of drinks (including a local sparkling wine), bunch of cold cuts, vegetables, very good bread, various hot options, plus fried eggs and omelettes to order. You’ve already seen the trio has been out in force :) One night stay only for me this time, unfortunately, but we did make time for a little boat tour, so enjoy some random pictures from the water in Tokaj. https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...9377974ac8.jpg The other ALL hotel in Tokaj is a Mercure, close to the center of town. Also new, also looks decent. Maybe I'll stay another time. https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...aa14e00168.jpg Confluence of Tisza and Bodrog, made for a strategic placement of the town, I suppose. https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...50b11be13d.jpg Random waterfowl https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...a8ac2ebf45.jpg Other boat tour happened in a much larger boat than ours... there was a decent level of traffic of pleasure boats of different shapes and sizes. A nice day out. Overall, a good end to my vacation. Tomorrow (or I should say, today) morning I am picking up, hopefully, new ID and shortly after midday I will be flying out with LOT. I have already done my OLCI (and found out that due to seatmap change, I lost my preselected seat, oh well, just LOT things) so I shall see you in the KSC airport lounge in about 11 hours time. |
Well hello and good almost afternoon from KSC airport!
I’ve mentioned in several different places how the airport is dear to me. It was my local growing up, and it was where I had my ground crew experience almost 20 years ago. In the intervening years, I have enjoyed the airport of course as a passenger. Like the Radisson hotel in Bratislava, it has a bit of a time capsule feeling, as not that much has changed since the opening of the terminal in 2003 and remodeling for Schengen operations in 2008. The terminal, back then built for numbers which seemed impossible to attain, is nowadays bursting at the seams, and planning is underway to extend, though no plans have been unveiled yet. https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...f1a4ff849.jpeg He is a little dusty, but he’s cute. “Letko” is the mascot of the airport and can be seen in many promotional videos of the airport, and the “Z Košíc do sveta” (From Kosice to the World) organization promoting outgoing tourism via the airport. I particularly like the ones where he interacts with a hapless traveller as this otherworldly existence having him comply with travel regulations. I’ll link some of them as a bonus after I get home. The business lounge, in particular, looks almost exactly the same as it did back in, I want to say, 2008, when I visited it for the first time. The F&B offering has changed a bit (I still decry the loss of very good sandwiches which were delivered daily by the local catering company around 2010) but the armchairs are still the same and the only difference with the work area is that it used to have computers in it, which were removed in favor of having people simply work on their laptops. https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...290cac373.jpeg https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...5e797f5ad.jpeg https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...577d056c1.jpeg The food selection is abysmal with only long-shelf-life snacks and a lonely single cup of yogurt in the fridge, but drinks are OK. I like how they promote Slovak or Slovak owned wineries, though I am more often having a beer. There’s a French non-Cognac XO brandy, which some poor souls decided to put in the fridge… |
The inbound flight had some 50 ish pax on board, and a similar number has boarded the outbound, decent numbers for a 170.
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...8d7c14d51.jpeg Sorry about the nightmare fuel. I could not find a better tool to hide my face in google photos Not sure what is worse though. The tiny toilets on the Embraers or the ones they used to have on the Dash 8s. Surprisingly, the business class is full, even if it only includes two seats – J loads are not the strength of the market. The front row seat on the right (in this variant of LOT E170, port side starts with row 3, 1 and 2 are starboard only) was snatched by the other *G on the flight (or at least the only other one, besides the two J pax, who bothered with the lounge) so I can’t be too mad. At least the seat next to me stayed open – unlike AFKL both LH group and LOT are good with blocking seats for status pax. AF can’t even make sure to make it work for Ultimates... I just can’t understand that. If I ever got into a position to do something about it, it would be the first thing I would change. Service wise, I would say LOT is above average in Y. The service is still BoB based (this route being too short to offer this though), but even the fact that you do get a small pastry (a blueberry one on this flight, which I did not partake), water and a hot drink is not a given these days. https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...771f22ac7.jpeg I just got a sparkling water and a coffee. Business class gets a small snack, it is served on white linen though, which is not a common feature these days, it does add class in my opinion. As we have left a little early, we have also arrived about 15 minutes early on a remote stand. Unfortunately, we spent more than 10 minutes waiting for some stairs to show up. I have a long connection, so it makes next to no difference to me, but still. I’d rather just get walking... https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...234c01b32.jpeg The A220 the next stand over was enjoying a similar fate, but for departure. Apparently it was supposed to leave at 6 in the morning, so I have to assume it went tech. Stopped in the duty free on the way to the lounge... Seems this is a theme of the weekend. https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...a58d2f79a.jpeg This is the 1.5l bottle, the 0.7 is there and retails for just under 18000pln. |
Great to see your home airport, and thanks for sharing - marvellous trip report! :D
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Thanks. It does not appear much in reports for, I think, obvious reasons. But it is my favorite.
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https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...80ef2b6d0.jpeg
After that, I ended up in my happy place. The LOT *G lounge has long been a rung above the other elite lounges in Europe as far as I was concerned. Real champagne (used to be Piper Heidseck, nowadays Jean de la Fontaine), a wide selection of food hot and cold, comfortable seating. An oasis of good mood before the journey and largely the main reason why I even bothered with *G over just keeping with the FTL over the years. https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...da688c24e.jpeg I felt that since the recent renovation, the hot food offer in the Gold lounge is a bit worse than it used to be. https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...43719ec5e.jpeg The advertised biryani failed to appear, instead I was treated to some butter chicken. It was good, I do have to say. |
I too love Kosice airport. Very small and friendly, and the lounge is surprisingly pleasant. It’s also much easier to go through there and connect in VIE than starting your journey in Vienna. Not to mention it’s much easier to get to Kosice than Vienna from Zilina these days. LOT looked decent too. I enjoyed my flights with them a few years back but don’t fly them as often as OS when I’m headed that way, as they credit barely anything to A3 even in business. Thanks for the enjoyable report. It’s always interesting to read other perspectives of places I travel too quite frequently. :)
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