Once at the airport, however, the high rate of speed was over. Our check-in experience was like something out of a bad movie. We were flying Ryan Air, and because the baggage allowance explanation on the website was somewhat confusing, we decided to book their "Priority and 2 Cabin Bags" tickets. It was a bit of overkill, but there didn't seem to be anything in between. It was either that or the regular ticket, which apparently did not allow any carry on luggage whatsoever. As I said, it was not clear, but we didn't want to take any chances.
The previous night I had tried to check in. I had the Ryan Air app on my phone, but when I used it for check in, I got a message saying the app could not generate boarding passes; I would have to go to the website to get those. Surprise, surprise, the wifi at the riad was not adequate for this task, so we thought we'd do it when we arrived at the airport.
The airport wifi was also really bad; we could not connect to the website at all, so we decided to get in line (it was a long line) and ask the desk clerk about it. A couple of things were kind of strange -- first, we were not really going on Ryan Air but on LaudaMotion. That took a bit of figuring out, as there was nothing about that anywhere. Then, every other airline except LaudaMotion had a special line for Priority, so we had to wait in the long slow line along with everyone who hadn't paid the extra money for the deluxe tickets.
Anyway, so we waited and waited until it was finally our turn. I showed the clerk my app results and explained that I couldn't get to the website. His reply: "Yeah, there's something wrong with the airport wifi." He gave us a form and told us to take it to a desk "over there" to confirm our booking.
After a little wandering "over there" we finally found the right desk, where the nasty little clerk told us we would have to pay 480 Moroccan dirhams to get printed boarding passes. That is about $65 Canadian. Needless to say, we didn't jump at the chance to do that. Finally, Dave set up a mobile hotspot on his phone and I connected to the internet using that. Our boarding passes were there, but at the top it said, "This boarding pass must be printed. For mobile boarding passes, please use the Ryan Air app." The clerk who wanted our first board child in exchange for a printed boarding pass was not busy, so I showed her the website boarding passes, and she said, "Yes, that's what you need."
Uncertain whether to believe her or not, we nevertheless returned to the line, which was even longer now, and waited our turn. This time there were some Austrian guys in front of us who also had the website boarding passes, so we were able to see that they worked. Whew! When we finally got to check in, we saw that the clerks were not using their computers -- apparently, the whole system was down -- but they were writing everything by hand. This explained why it took so long.
The four-hour flight also had some unexpected twists. About an hour into the flight, there was an announcement, "If there is a doctor or other medical professional on board, could you please let us know." A guy a couple of seats ahead of us was sick, so sick that he needed to have bottled oxygen and constant medical attention. On the other hand, he was not so sick that we had to make an emergency landing, so that was a relief. When we landed in Vienna, an ambulance crew was there, and we had to wait for them to give him the all clear before we could deplane.
But all's well that ends well; we were just a bit later than scheduled.
Our next concern was how to get to our hotel. I booked it using Air Miles, and according to the hotel website, it was a €55 taxi ride away from the airport. Ouch! But according to Google maps, taking the train involved a change of trains at central station. Also ouch. Of course, sometimes changing trains is painless, but other times it is a big nuisance. In this case, we didn't know which it would be. But the thought of spending only €12 for the train prevailed. It turned out to be quite easy, and we were glad we made that choice. From the train station, it was a short walk to our hotel, The Schoenbrunn Marriott.
Once we were settled in there, we used Google maps to find a nearby restaurant, settling on Restaurant Sokace, a mere two-minute walk. It was a Serbian restaurant, but they served wiener schnitzel, so Dave ordered that, while I had trout. Both were delicious. We were off to a good start in Vienna!
