Lucky(?) for you guys, I have a lot to say about the one week adventure Sander and I just took in the Austrian Alps. There's no way I can get everything out in one post! So, keep your eyes on the blog for there'll be a bit more activity in the next two weeks.
If you want the short version, all you need to know is that Austria is beautiful. Here's some proof, though I encourage you to keep reading.
Just kidding (Mom, you can relax). We weren't going 150km/h being that we had a little Ford Fiesta (we named it Mrs. Vroom as it had about as much punch as our 2003 Ford Focus, Mr. Vroom, that we had in Canada). But I did have my first experience of being on a highway with no speed limit. It's still mind boggling for me. There were even areas with the posted speed limit of 130km/h! Crazy!
If you want the short version, all you need to know is that Austria is beautiful. Here's some proof, though I encourage you to keep reading.
Saturday, August 8: Fly to Munich
Sander and I decided that renting a car was the best option for us for this trip. We did a little research and it turned out that it was not only faster, but also cheaper for us to fly part way rather than driving all the way from the Netherlands. So at a respectable time of day (yay, no early morning flight), we caught our flight to Munich.
Sander and I decided that renting a car was the best option for us for this trip. We did a little research and it turned out that it was not only faster, but also cheaper for us to fly part way rather than driving all the way from the Netherlands. So at a respectable time of day (yay, no early morning flight), we caught our flight to Munich.
When we arrived in Munich, we went immediately to collect our car. If I said the airport was busy, that'd be an understatement. The car rental area was absolute chaos. The lines were about 50 people deep and hardly moving. We were dreading the wait, but when we turned the corner, we saw that our rental agency had hardly any line at all! Sander and I high-fived and marched on with our 16kg backpacks and waited....and waited......and waited. The line was a bit deceiving as it still took us nearly an hour to get our car, but that's alright. Soon enough we were on our way to the Oetztal Valley going 150km/h on the Autobahn.
Just kidding (Mom, you can relax). We weren't going 150km/h being that we had a little Ford Fiesta (we named it Mrs. Vroom as it had about as much punch as our 2003 Ford Focus, Mr. Vroom, that we had in Canada). But I did have my first experience of being on a highway with no speed limit. It's still mind boggling for me. There were even areas with the posted speed limit of 130km/h! Crazy!
It's also the only place I've ever seen the posted speed limit of 120km/h in a construction zone!
Anyway, as we tootled along and all the Audi's, Mercedes's and BMW's zoomed passed us, it dawned on us that we hadn't had anything to eat and we were starving!! Typical Sander and Kaylee move. We also needed to stop at a gas station and get a placard for our windshield (in Austria, you have to buy a permit to drive on the highways), so we pulled off to a roadside stop and had a very authentic German meal of burgers and fries at the Burger King. Funnily enough we did the same thing to ourselves in Seattle last summer and also ended up at a Burger King. I think this might be turning into a tradition. Finally, we had all that we needed and we drove into the Alps.
We arrived in Oetz just after 6pm and decided to stop at a grocery store and pick up food since the stores would be closed the next day (stores aren't open on Sunday's). Turns out stores also close early on Saturday's and we couldn't get groceries! We thought maybe a different grocery store would be open later so we kept driving to Umhausen-- where we had reserved a campsite where we thought we had reserved a campsite. Despite the fact that Sander reserved a site using their online system a week in advance, they had no spot for us and they were full for the night. We were annoyed, but not worried as there was another campsite 6km up the road in the next town, Langenfeld.
Off to Langenfeld we go.
No room.
No room.
But "there's another campground just a few kilometers down the road".
Off to Huben we go.
No room.
But "there's another campground just a few kilometers down the road".
Off to Winkle-- the second last campground in the entire valley.
Off to Huben we go.
No room.
But "there's another campground just a few kilometers down the road".
Off to Winkle-- the second last campground in the entire valley.
We had no food and nowhere to stay. Let's just say the worry was beginning to settle in a bit.
For no reason though because they had room! But they only take cash, and we had no cash.
Begged the lady to hold a spot for us.
Off to the gas station up the road.
No ATM.
"There's a bank in Langenfeld"
Back to Langenfeld we go.
Miraculously we find the bank on our first try.
Get cash.
Back to Winkle.
No ATM.
"There's a bank in Langenfeld"
Back to Langenfeld we go.
Miraculously we find the bank on our first try.
Get cash.
Back to Winkle.
We register.
"You don't need to pay now. You can pay when you leave".
Thank you, language barrier. That would have been nice to know before we drove around looking for a way to get cash!
In the end though it all worked out. We had a place to stay and we found a grocery store that was open from 9-12 the next day. Following that adventure, we cracked a beer (that we bought at the gas station while trying to find an ATM) and settled on eating out for dinner that night.
Sunday, August 9
We woke up refreshed and ready for a nice easy hike to warm up our legs! First, we headed out to get groceries, and then we packed day packs and hit the mountain!
It was a beautiful hike in the end, though we had a rough start. We wanted to start the hike on a side trail that met up with the main trail. Seemed easy enough according to the map, however, there was a serious lack of trail markers, and about 10 minutes in, we were off the path!! We continued to hike for a bit before we gave up and decided to just do the hike from the other trail head. So back to the car we went, and we drove to the other start point. That one was easy to find and really well marked.
Between the trees, we had beautiful views of the receding villages below us and after a 3 hour ascent, we were welcomed by an Alpine hut that was, sadly, not in service at the time. We had a lovely picnic lunch looking down into the valley before we started our descent back into town.
After hiking, we went to go join Jasper for a beer in a little village named Au. He arrived in the area a few days before us and had been hiking and staying in huts. He decided to come down to the valley and hang out with us for a couple days.
Monday, August 10
After hiking the day before and our muscles not being used to it, we decided to take the day easy. I had seen an outdoor pool somewhere during our frantic search for a campground and we were dead set on finding it and spending the afternoon in the glorious sunshine.
And we did just that. It was the perfect day to charge us up for a couple days of hiking.
Tuesday, August 11
Jasper woke up with the sun and hit the trail first thing in the morning. He was catching the bus from our campsite to Sölden and then hiking up to Breslauer hut where he was going to spend the night. Sander and I aren't nearly as hardcore and were taking the whole holiday thing seriously so we slept in and took a different route to the hut.
After tearing down camp, we drove to the trail head in this little village called Vent. It's basically at the end of the valley and not too far from the Italian border. It's also not too far from where Ötzi was found in 1991 which I thought was pretty cool!
I am going to give a more abundant summary of the hike itself in a separate post, but I'll give you this much: it was AWESOME. I was so excited to experience sleeping in an Alpine hut on top of a mountain!
Wednesday, August 12
Another hiking day. Details to come.
Thursday, August 13
After two days of hiking, we decided to have another relaxing day. I heard there was a lake close to our campground and I was looking forward to laying by the water reading my book for the day. We were both feeling a little crispy from all the sun so we hid in the shade at our campground for the morning and planned some hikes for the next day. Around 2, Sander and I packed our day packs and started walking to the lake. As we got closer and closer we realized that it was more of a pond.....and get this, it was completely fenced off and you had to pay to use it! We quickly abandoned that idea and decided to drive back to Langenfeld and enjoy the outdoor pool again.
It was the perfect rest day until Sander had the opportunity to experience the pain of a movement in full force being stopped prematurely. As he was walking barefoot at the pool, he stubbed his toe on the edge of the shower. It instantly turned purple and swelled up to a laughable size.
The other laughable thing encountered that day were the size of the slugs in our campground. I was absolutely fascinated by them and enjoyed conducting stimulus-response experiments on them.
Friday, August 14
Another hiking day!! Or so we thought. We had 2 trails in mind, but being that Sander's toe was three times its normal size and purple all the way around, we decided to do a shorter one. So we picked a trail and headed to the start. Nearly an hour later, we still hadn't managed to navigate ourselves to where we wanted to go. We ended up on a really steep, twisty and narrow road and couldn't find anywhere to park. In the end, we decided to do a different hike all together. We figured we'd do a trail in Sölden instead. It was perfect since we were meeting up with Jasper, Richard, Alissa and Nienke there later that day anyway. So we start heading to the trail head, and again, steep road and nowhere to park! At this point we were both fed up and possibly a little hangry. We quickly abandoned the plan to hike before any fatalities occurred and just drove to the campground. We thought we could have a bite to eat there and then revisit the hiking idea once we could think clearly again.
After lunch, we were both feeling much better and were ready to hike....that was until Sander actually tried putting on his boots! His poor toe was being squashed in the most painful way and there was no way he could hike. At the third failed attempt, we finally decided to simply give up on the idea of hiking.
Instead we did a super mini hike in flip flops to a pasture overlooking Sölden. It was a beautiful view and so relaxing to sit in the long grass and just take in all the sights, smells and feelings. And read, of course.
Sander and I woke up early and tore down camp. Our plan was to hit the road at 8, however, we ended up being a few minutes behind and left at 8:11. We figured we were fine since our flight wasn't until 3pm and we only had a 3 hour 15 minute drive back to Munich. Assuming our math is right, we expected to get there at around 11:30. We figured that'd leave enough time if something happened or if we got stuck in traffic. What we didn't plan for though was being stuck in traffic for HOURS. At one point, we were trying to calculate the average speed we had to travel in order to get there in time. Our math wasn't giving us very promising numbers especially since we still had to stop to fill up the rental car with gas. Surprisingly though, we weren't freaking out. I think it's safe to say we were properly stressed, but it was more of the pit-in-your-stomach type stressed rather than the freak-out kind of stressed.
Sander: hmm....I haven't seen our keys in a while. Do you know where they are?
Me: yeah, we put them in the toiletry bag. Remember?
Sander: riiiiiight. Oh good. Glad we know where they are.
[standing silently watching bags going past, waiting and waiting and waiting for ours to come when we glance over to each other, wide eyed and horrified at our joint epiphany]
Together: the keys are in our checked bags!!!!
I am going to give a more abundant summary of the hike itself in a separate post, but I'll give you this much: it was AWESOME. I was so excited to experience sleeping in an Alpine hut on top of a mountain!
Wednesday, August 12
Another hiking day. Details to come.
Thursday, August 13
After two days of hiking, we decided to have another relaxing day. I heard there was a lake close to our campground and I was looking forward to laying by the water reading my book for the day. We were both feeling a little crispy from all the sun so we hid in the shade at our campground for the morning and planned some hikes for the next day. Around 2, Sander and I packed our day packs and started walking to the lake. As we got closer and closer we realized that it was more of a pond.....and get this, it was completely fenced off and you had to pay to use it! We quickly abandoned that idea and decided to drive back to Langenfeld and enjoy the outdoor pool again.
It was the perfect rest day until Sander had the opportunity to experience the pain of a movement in full force being stopped prematurely. As he was walking barefoot at the pool, he stubbed his toe on the edge of the shower. It instantly turned purple and swelled up to a laughable size.
The other laughable thing encountered that day were the size of the slugs in our campground. I was absolutely fascinated by them and enjoyed conducting stimulus-response experiments on them.
Friday, August 14
Another hiking day!! Or so we thought. We had 2 trails in mind, but being that Sander's toe was three times its normal size and purple all the way around, we decided to do a shorter one. So we picked a trail and headed to the start. Nearly an hour later, we still hadn't managed to navigate ourselves to where we wanted to go. We ended up on a really steep, twisty and narrow road and couldn't find anywhere to park. In the end, we decided to do a different hike all together. We figured we'd do a trail in Sölden instead. It was perfect since we were meeting up with Jasper, Richard, Alissa and Nienke there later that day anyway. So we start heading to the trail head, and again, steep road and nowhere to park! At this point we were both fed up and possibly a little hangry. We quickly abandoned the plan to hike before any fatalities occurred and just drove to the campground. We thought we could have a bite to eat there and then revisit the hiking idea once we could think clearly again.
After lunch, we were both feeling much better and were ready to hike....that was until Sander actually tried putting on his boots! His poor toe was being squashed in the most painful way and there was no way he could hike. At the third failed attempt, we finally decided to simply give up on the idea of hiking.
Instead we did a super mini hike in flip flops to a pasture overlooking Sölden. It was a beautiful view and so relaxing to sit in the long grass and just take in all the sights, smells and feelings. And read, of course.
After a while of hardcore chilling, the clouds began to roll in (which was actually the first time all week despite the doom and gloom they had been predicting). We decided to get down before the rain. Though sliding down a muddy path in flip-flops sounds like fun, I wanted to do a pretty massive hike the next day so I was doing my best to avoid injury.
When we got down, Jasper was waiting at the campground for us and we made a trip to get beer from the grocery store. We visited over drinks while we waited for Richard, Alissa and Nienke to arrive and then realized that the next day was a holiday and that the grocery store was going to be closed! So, back to the grocery store to get food for the next day. We made a third trip sometime between that one and the rest of the gang arriving, but I cannot remember why. I do remember buying a ridiculous amount of Austrian foods and some liquor to take home with us, but I'm fairly certain we didn't make a trip simply for that. I also bought a trail map that time, but I've already lost it. =( I'm 99.9% certain it made it home but I cannot, for the life of me, remember where I put it after that!
Once everyone else arrived, we went out for dinner and had the most delicious and gigantic pizzas! We then visited for a bit and hit the hay early since we were starting our hike at 8am sharp.
Saturday, August 15
Hiking day with this lovely group:
We thought our car lacked punch with two people and backpacks. Add three more bodies and day packs and we basically were dragging the back end up the mountain!
More details about the hike to come.
After hiking, we made dinner and hid inside the reception area of the campground since it was raining so hard. We tried to create a 5 person version of the Dutch card game Klaverjessen. It was a bit ridiculous at first, but once we ironed out some of the rules it ended up working out alright. At the very least, it was entertaining and was a really fun way to spend the evening!
Sunday, August 16
Sander and I woke up early and tore down camp. Our plan was to hit the road at 8, however, we ended up being a few minutes behind and left at 8:11. We figured we were fine since our flight wasn't until 3pm and we only had a 3 hour 15 minute drive back to Munich. Assuming our math is right, we expected to get there at around 11:30. We figured that'd leave enough time if something happened or if we got stuck in traffic. What we didn't plan for though was being stuck in traffic for HOURS. At one point, we were trying to calculate the average speed we had to travel in order to get there in time. Our math wasn't giving us very promising numbers especially since we still had to stop to fill up the rental car with gas. Surprisingly though, we weren't freaking out. I think it's safe to say we were properly stressed, but it was more of the pit-in-your-stomach type stressed rather than the freak-out kind of stressed.
We pulled into the rental car return at 1pm and somehow made it through check-in, luggage drop and security in a mere 35 minutes. We still had plenty of time to be bored at the airport which was fantastic since we felt like we were in first class! The airport lounge had free coffee/tea and the most comfortable waiting area. It was a mini library with reclining chairs!! It was a really nice way to unwind after being so stressed all morning.
The flight home was quick and uneventful. We pulled into Schiphol exactly on time and made our way to baggage claim in record time. Like usual, you hurry up to wait and our luggage took forever to arrive.
And that's when my favorite holiday conversation occured:
Sander: hmm....I haven't seen our keys in a while. Do you know where they are?
Me: yeah, we put them in the toiletry bag. Remember?
Sander: riiiiiight. Oh good. Glad we know where they are.
[standing silently watching bags going past, waiting and waiting and waiting for ours to come when we glance over to each other, wide eyed and horrified at our joint epiphany]
Together: the keys are in our checked bags!!!!
Yup, we're the dumb travelers that put both sets of keys in the CHECKED luggage. Annnnd The Stupidity Award goes to Kaylee and Sander! Let's just say we've never been so happy to see our bags come out on the belt!
We grabbed our bags, high-fived and tiredly trudged towards the trains exhausted and completely content from the perfect holiday we just shared together.
Stay tuned for Part 2: Hiking. It will be making an appearance next week sometime!!!
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