Day 1-2 April 13-14 Boise to Yerevan Armenia
We had to be up at 3:00 am to be ready for pickup at 4:00 am. Rob was late getting to bed because our flights from JFK onward were changed at the last minute. Our pickup ride didn’t arrive so we ended up taking our car to the Economy Lot. We had never done this before so not sure how it works. We did get a spot very near the entrance. A light rain is falling but luckily the shuttle pickup is close. The shuttle drives around the lot picking up at various stops. By the time we left the lot the shuttle was full.
We made good time to the airport arrival area. So upstairs to check in our luggage. We made it with time to spare. We flew Alaska Airlines to JFK via Portland Oregon. The layover in Portland was about 40 minutes so we got to the connecting gate only a few minutes before boarding. Of course the flights were from the far end of one concourse to the far end of the other concourse.
At JFK we had a 6.5 hour layover. We gathered our luggage and rode the air train all around to the international terminal. We found the check in counter but it won’t open for a couple of hours. We found two empty chairs and camped there. We are now flying Austrian rather than Luftswansa because they are on strike for two days.
The plane was full and we weren’t seated together. The flight was fine but the food was terrible. We expected better. The evening meal was pasta with a bland sauce. The roll was so dry it crumbled when split. The dessert was a mild flavored pudding. The best thing was your drink. Breakfast was worse. It was some kind of breakfast sandwich that had shifted in flight so it was stuck to the wrapper. The orange juice wasn’t that great either.
We made it to Vienna where the layover was 10.5 hours. The gate number won’t be assigned until about 2 hours before departure. We do know it will be in concourse G. So we began the 2 mile walk to concourse G. Lots of shops and eateries but no moving sidewalks. When we got to the G concourse we saw it had 70 gates.
We stopped to buy water. Rob got caught by the clerk who was not a fan of Trump. He talked for 10-15 minutes about how far the American image had fallen and how much more the Austrians were paying for gas because of Trump’s stupidity.
After drinking some water we returned to the nearby food court to share a pretzel and a small baguette. Then we found a quiet gate to wait. We bought chicken sandwiches a couple of hours before the flight. The gate was now posted and surprisingly it was just across the hall.
Spoffords Travel 