Oh, Vienna - It means something to me (trip quest)
No commentsBy Maida Busskohl
In 1804, Vienna became capital of the Austrian Empire and played a major role in European and world politics throughout the 19th century, before playing host to many of the decisive moments in the epoch-defining European wars of the 20th Century.
Vienna is a city that prides itself on its culture, this is reflected in the habits of the local population; the Viennese’’s famous coffee culture, and despite incursions by Starbucks and Italian-style espresso bars, the Kaffeehauskultur is still the traditional way to drink a cup of coffee, read the newspaper and meet friends. There are several cultural delights to be savoured in the city amongst which the highlight is the Kunsthistorisches Museum (Museum of Fine Arts), one of the world’’s greatest art museums. The museum itself is a beautiful example of late 19th century Austrian architecture, Emperor Franz Joseph I commissioned the museum and the Naturhistorisches Museum to be constructed simultaneously, with both museums having identical exteriors and standing facing each other across Maria-Theresien-Platz. The Kunsthistorisches contains a world-class exhibit of the Habsburgs” art collection, including Raphael, Titian, Caravaggio, Bosch, and Brueghel.
In a city so evidently full of imperial history no trip to Vienna would be complete without a visit to one of the city’’s palaces and Schloss Sch?nbrunn is as good a choice as any. Inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1996, it is not far from the city centre and served as the Hapsburg summer palace. It is comparable in grandeur to Versailles with expansive gardens and the world’’s oldest zoo (built for Maria Theresa’’s husband in 1752). The palace has also seen meetings between John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khruschchev at the height of the Cold War.
A further sight worth a visit is the Karlskirche, the largest Baroque cathedral north of the Alps, designed by the famous architect Bernhard Fischer von Erlach. Within the cathedral there are frescos by Michael Rottmayr and paintings from the Italian Baroque painters Sebastiano Ricci and Giuseppe Antonio Pellegrini.
Vienna offers a complete range of hotels, concentrated in the central district (Vienna 1010), from where you can walk to most of Vienna’’s attractions. Vienna has a well-developed public transport network, including an underground system, meaning a hire car is not necessary.
Maida Busskohl is living the dream safely, accompanied by his gap year travel insurance. He is safe in the knowledge that his cheap student travel insurance from eTravel Insurance won”t leave him stranded.
Don”t look back in anger
By Mui Aponta
The first thing to do is to make sure that if a problem arises you should speak to the operator’’s representative right away. This is to give the operator the opportunity the fix the problem and if they don”t you are more likely to be successful in receiving damages. Further, no one wants a bad holiday and if the problem is fixable then you may rescue a much-needed holiday that had been turning into a nightmare.
It is also best to take the brochure or the advertising details with you so you can check that everything has been described accurately. Whilst this might not be the first thing that springs to mind when packing for a holiday, if something goes wrong and you are able to prove that the description of the facilities was inaccurate the tour operator may be in breach of contract or have committed a crime under the Trade Descriptions Act.
If you have to pay for anything that should have been included in the holiday cost then you should make sure that you keep the receipts. It is often difficult to work out what should and shouldn”t have been paid for, but you will often find that anything to do with transport or the hotel itself should have been paid for.
If something goes wrong then it is best that you have voluminous evidence, just like complaining there and then, it’’s best not to do anything retrospectively so make sure that you keep some sort of record of poor facilities and take the addresses of other holidaymakers who will be able to back up your claim should you need support. Don”t, however, become obsessed with the process, if you are trying to get compensation there is always a chance that you won”t be able to get it and you don”t want to have ruined your holiday for no gain.
When you get home ask for a complaints form and keep a copy of your complaint for your own records. It is important to write to the tour operator within four weeks of your return otherwise it may be considered too late.
Any holiday that you pay for, particularly through a travel agent, shouldn”t carry an element of risk with it, but that element will be there and it’’s important that you cover yourself just in case. The value of taking out some decent insurance can”t be emphasised enough. However, if things aren”t quite up to scratch, whilst it’’s worth complaining, it’’s not worth ruining your own holiday for.
Mui Aponta recommends that you always take out travel insurance. He’’s recently opted for this holiday travel insurance offering from from AA Travel Insurance.
Your Online Source For All Your Road Trip Needs
Friday, February 5th, 2010 at 7:20 pm and is filed under travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
