Travel Vienna to Ely

I’ve flown all over Europe with Air Berlin. They are similar to many of the other point-to- point airlines but they also allow 23 kilos of checked luggage without having to pay extra.

As with others, you can check in online. This seems to be important in this day and age. So I dutifully check in for the first leg of my journey online but I fail to check in for the second part. This means that I will have the ordeal of carrying out the whole operation in Vienna Airport.

After turning up at Vienna Airport, I manage to find the Air Berlin desks and I see a long line for one of the desks. When I get closer, I see that this desk is for people who have checked in online!! The other desk for people like me has nobody waiting!!! So my details are processed immediately while the other more considerate clients are left waiting. I’m sure that my desk could have dealt with that line of considerate online checkers.

The plane arrives on time so there is no delay in boarding. My seat is in front of the wing so I am not disturbed by the slight turbulence on the way to my first stop in Dusseldorf. I order my usual drink of tea plus fizzy water but I pocket the sandwich given out to eat for lunch later on as I have neglected to bring any euro small currency.

We are soon bumping down through cloud to Dusseldorf airport. Being on time means that I have a fairly long wait for my flight to Stansted. I still remember my last journey along this route when we arrived at a time well after the departure time of the Stansted flight. We were all taken personally to the aircraft waiting for us. I was very impressed by the way we were treated then so I am looking forward to this Stansted flight.

But this is not to be. We are shepherded on to a bus and taken for a long trip along lines of planes until we reach . . . . . a wind-up propeller plane!!!! My last trip on this route was by a small airbus. It was a short flight but with the degree of comfort which we have all become accustomed.

Instead of the adjustable seats we had on the airbus, this plane has fixed seats. I cannot see why the comfort within such a plane should be so limited just because it is not an airbus.

We take off and don’t have too much turbulence at all. One lady, who seems to have some ‘help’ somewhere elsewhere seems to be doing everything except fly the plane. She literally runs up and down the plane to collect stuff for our quick drink and munch. Somehow we are all watered and fed by the time we arrive at Stansted.

Stansted is a good airport at which to arrive in England. Heathrow is not pleasant these days. Getting through passport control and customs takes very little time and the checked luggage also seems to arrive very swiftly indeed.

The next advantage of Stansted is that it has a mainline station just below the arrivals hall. In no time, I am on the train to Ely via Cambridge. It’s countryside all the way until we reach Cambridge where commuters come aboard on their way home. They tell me that the train is cheaper than driving and more restful.

The train continues on its way through fens; a type of country similar to Holland on the other side of the North Sea. Before the fens were drained, Cambridge used to be a port. Now the River Cam is a very unimpressive stretch of water used by ‘bumping’ oars and punts.

We soon reach Ely after a very pleasant run through more fenland. I see a smiling face in the front of a taxi outside the station and I dump my heavy case in the back of her van. We drive towards the amazingly huge Ely Cathedral and I am dropped very near at my new abode.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6K6rr3bicPY

My first call is to ALDI just opposite. Then I make my way into the Cathedral for Evensong; a service completely sung every evening, In Ely, they still sing the office hymns which have been sung here for over a thousand years. The sound in the quire is wonderful. It may not be Vienna but I am happy.