It had been nearly four years since we as a family last ventured abroad together, with our previous trip being to Australia in 2019. As my daughter was soon starting college and would have a demanding academic schedule for the next two years, we felt that we should plan a trip before her studies consumed all her time.
Where to go?
My initial preference was to travel to either the US or Canada, but both options were ruled out due to visa processing delays. Although visa conditions for the UK had improved, I was unable to submit my passport for a prolonged period of time due to an official engagement. As a result, I decided to focus on the Schengen countries, since I already held a Schengen visa and only my family members needed to obtain it. Furthermore, the processing time for Schengen visas had returned to normal.
In the meantime, I saw Air India starting flights from New Delhi to Vienna. The roundtrip from Bengaluru to Vienna costed 50K INR. It was neither cheap nor expensive. I would have never booked Air India in its earlier “Babu” avatar, but since their takeover by TATA, I expected improved service. I must say that my overall experience with Air India was positive, with noticeable improvements in staff behaviour, although they still have a long way to go.
What was the plan?
Finalizing a plan for a trip is a breeze for me once the destination has been decided upon. I’ve created a bucket list of places around the world with a draft plan, so when I came across the Delhi-Vienna flight, it didn’t take me long to retrieve the plan I had made long ago! Without delay, I booked the flight ticket.
The plan was to visit Austria, Slovenia, and Croatia, with “day trips” to neighbouring countries of Liechtenstein and Slovakia. Germany was simply a transit point for us. To sweeten the deal, Croatia joined the Schengen area in January 2023, which made our trip planning even smoother.
Visa
We had to go through VFS to get Schengen visa. Since our port of entry and maximum duration of stay was Austria, we applied to Austrian embassy. The consulate took only 2-3 days to process visa application. Super-fast!! But getting VFS appointment was not so easy. I had to wait for the slots to open up. It seemed like Bengaluru centre was always busy while slots were always available in cities like Chennai! Also, VFS site was not friendly when it came to booking multiple appointments in a single slot.
How did we travel in Europe?
Upon arriving at Vienna airport, I rented a car for the entirety of our trip. Having our own vehicle provided us with the flexibility to travel at our own pace and on our own schedule. Generally, the Indian driving license is sufficient for driving in Europe, but Slovenia also required an International Driving Permit (IDP). Obtaining the IDP was an unnecessary hassle, as it required me to deal with the officials at the Bengaluru RTO.
Car renting process
I opted to book with Hertz as I had previously had a good experience with them in the US, Europe, and Australia, despite there being cheaper rental options available. The next decision was whether to choose a manual or automatic car. While I’ve been driving an automatic car for the past few years and find driving manual transmission cars cumbersome, the majority of European cars are still manual. Additionally, automatic cars were pricier and had limited availability, so I went with a manual transmission car.
In general, rental cars from Austria cannot be taken into neighbouring countries of Slovakia, Slovenia, and Croatia. To authorize our car to travel to these countries, I had to pay an additional border crossing fee to Hertz on a per-day basis.
Tolls on motorways
The countries we visited had tolls on the motorways, but the way the toll paid was different. Austria, Slovakia and Slovenia had vignette system. Austria vignette was included as part of rental price, but I had to purchase one for Slovakia and Slovenia. Earlier, it was required to buy a physical vignette and paste it on the dashboard. Now, it is all digital. Just go to the website, provide car details and get digital vignette. Simple process!!
Croatia, on the other hand, had no vignette concept. Instead, they have toll booths at the entrance and exit of motorways, which can be paid for using either a sensor-based system (similar to Fastag in India) or cash/card. I opted to use a card for all toll payments in Croatia.
Thankfully, we didn’t encounter any tolls on the highways in Germany and Lichtenstein.
Hotel bookings
Like in Australia and New Zealand, we decided to cook during our travel. Hence I booked hotels/apartment with kitchen. I used booking.com and looked at the ratings to book the accommodation. Since we had a rental car, we were able to book accommodations on the outskirts of cities, which saved us a significant amount of money.
Communication
All hotels/apartments we booked had Wi-Fi. We could receive SMS with our existing Airtel prepaid connection. Offline Google Maps took care of car navigation. But we needed network connection for the two reasons.
- Public transport and walking directions in Google Maps. This worked only in online mode.
- In case of car breakdown on highway. Read our experience of car breakdown in Jordon here.
I took TSIM Europe card with 10GB data valid for 30 days. It worked well during our travel. In Slovakia, it stopped working after some time and asked me to top up. Not sure what the problem was.
Chaya also enabled International roaming on her Airtel connection for the first 10 days. It also worked well.
Currency
We found that all countries we visited, except Lichtenstein, used the Euro, making financial transactions very straightforward. I used the following modes for currency:
- Primary credit card: I used it for airline bookings, Hertz, hotel reservations, and all online purchases. My card charged very little currency conversion fees and was very convenient.
- Backup credit card: I didn’t need to use it, but I always bring a secondary card for emergency situations, based on a past experience in Argentina where my primary card got blocked.
- Thomas Cook currency card: Used it for all offline transactions such as parking, tolls, grocery shopping, and public transport. It was very convenient.
- Cash in Euros: Only used it in a couple of places. Coins are more useful in Europe, especially for toilets and parking!!
- Cash in US dollars: I brought some US dollars from a previous trip as a backup in case other sources ran out. However, I didn’t need to use it.
- Debit card: I brought it with me in case I needed to withdraw money from an ATM. However, I didn’t need to use it.
It’s important to note that foreign transactions are usually disabled by default on Indian debit and credit cards. So, I enabled it on the bank’s website and informed them about my travel plans. It’s also necessary to enable “contactless” transactions as many places only accept that mode of payment.
How much did it cost?
Europe is quite expensive, even basic amenities like parking and toilets costs a lot. Money just flows from our pockets and wallets like water. Apart from cooking, I did not cut corners to reduce the cost. We stayed in large apartments, and visited all the attractions we had planned.
The cost per head for 15 day trip was 1.67 Lakh Indian Rupees. It was fully self-organized trip, and it helped in reducing the costs. We were four of us and a lot of common cost (Ex: Car rental) got split.
What did not go well?
Traveling on your own requires careful planning and taking on a lot of risks and responsibilities. When opting for an organized trip, you can entrust everything to the travel agency and simply follow their itinerary. However, in my case, I had to ensure that everything went smoothly and be prepared to handle any unexpected situations.
Fortunately, our trip was successful though we encountered some minor challenges.
- Our flight to Vienna was delayed by an hour, which caused a problem as the car rental service at the airport closes at 8 PM on Saturdays. I immediately called Hertz upon arrival and the representative agreed to wait for me. Although I had to pay an additional waiting fee, I managed to secure the car.
- We encountered another hurdle when our planned Five Islands trip in Split was cancelled due to inclement weather at the last moment. As we had three days in Split, I rearranged our itinerary and rescheduled the trip to visit the islands on another day.
- Just two days before our travel to Split, our accommodation host had to cancel our booking due to a personal emergency. Although I understood the gravity of the situation, I had to find alternative accomodation at short notice. Thankfully, due to it being the shoulder season, I was able to secure a new apartment even though it costed more than expected.
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