Trains, planes and automobiles …
Transport is a pretty major component of any trip. Our recent trip involved quite a number of modes of transport and quite a bit of logistical figuring. We used all of these forms of transport on our recent trip. Some were great and others shocking. Regardless it did not detract for our fabulous holiday but rather gave us a lot to talk about.
Planes
Coming from Australia, we are always going to have to put up with a long haul flight to go overseas. For us the trip to Japan was just about on the border between a reasonable length and a long haul being a bit under 9 hours. The flight was ..ok. Not bad but not great either. You can certainly see the problems besetting a certain airline, but regardless the crew was attentive and cheerful and well …old. I seriously thought that they must have made a pit stop at the retirement village for their crew.
Long haul flight
The next flight fell definitely into the category of long haul and was a different carrier from Tokyo to Europe. This was the worst airline I have ever been on. Not only were you sitting on what amounted to steel as any cushioning had well and truly gone, but the attitude of the crew totally sucked. They had no knowledge of customer service, and everything was a major hassle. When the lady in front of Gordon moved her chair back mid-meal and his dinner and wine went all over him; they wouldn’t even bring a cloth. When he changed pants, they told him to put the dirty ones into the overhead compartment. That is just a disgrace. He had to endure this for 13 hours. The way we choose to complain is never to use them again and to tell everyone that we know that they were particularly bad. So planes were a mixed bag and certainly a worry in many respects.
Trains
I love trains. Even the bullet train in Tokyo where we sat for 10 hours because of a freak snow storm and then crawled along to Nagano because of an avalanche on the tracks was interesting in unusual ways. The little train from Nagano to Nozawa was so packed and it was so dark outside that it was hard to appreciate what a lovely trip it was. Luckily we have done it many times before and I still sing Lara’s theme from Dr. Zhivago as we come though each tunnel. Switzerland and Austria and trains. Bliss in the first degree. Not only do these trains run on time but you can sit in the dining car and watch the stunning countryside go by. What I noticed was that the Austrians have the neatest farms that I have ever seen. No rusting machinery lying around the sheds (hello Australia), everything was in place and everything was totally buy cialis lowest price orderly in a stunning way. 
Switzerland trains are awesome. Again efficiency from beginning to end. Right from the ticket counter where these people know exactly which route you should take right down to which platform you arrive at to which platform you leave from and the time in between. They also told us that we had 3 minutes to get from one train to another so to sit in this certain carriage, which would arrive next to the elevator. The countryside speaks for itself – totally over the top beautiful. I started my love affair with cog trains when we went to Grindlewald and this was taken to a serious level we went around and up and down the mountains to Wengen. The train to Interlaken around the lake was also seriously breathtaking.
Automobiles
I am putting tuk tuks in here. Yes we took some other cars for convenience, but when people say don’t take a tuk tuk in Thailand, I will say ‘do’. It is something to be experienced in Bangkok. Yes you need to haggle, yes it is smoggy and hot and humid but it is representative of the capital city, so enjoy it. It is also fun as they decorate their tuk tuks with seriously garish ornaments. You have to love them for this alone. 
Other
Gondolas We probably took as many gondolas as we did any other transport as were on a ski/snow trip. We were on them in Nozawa Onsen, took the famed Hahnenkam in Kitzbuhel, the scary as hell gondola up to Mannlichen in Switzerland. Think of James Bond here and you get the picture but Mannlichen was 100% worth it. We then traversed the mountains via gondolas from Wengen back to Grindelwald. 
In Zermatt, we took heaps of them each day going all over the mountains as well as a funicular. We were climbing up further and further each day until we hit 3830metres. A pretty good effort I think. 
Shank’s pony We walked … a lot. Apparently this expression come’s from Scotland and is more used by country folk in Australia. As I lived in the country for a while then I started using it also. We love walking and due to being in mountainous locations this involved a considerable amount of steep hills. I am adding this because I feel so virtuous in this exercise regimen, that’s it. So, as far as transport goes it helps to mix it up. It is part of the travel experience so it is well worth making the most of it and accepting both the good and the bad parts. When we arrived back home our airport pickup was a limo. Though we looked like nothing on earth it was an amusing end to our trains, planes and automobiles experience. 
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