Vienna - Departure

We left Vienna on a Sunday morning under an overcast sky and snow flurries. There was no traffic so the trip to the airport was made in about 15 minutes. We flew Vienna to Amsterdam to Memphis to New Orleans. There were no delays and all connections were made easily and with no long layovers. But no matter how you cut it, by the time you walk in your front door, you have been on the road for about 24 hours and its hard to sleep because you are chasing daylight the whole time.

Something worthy of note was a retinal scan security device at Amsterdam that allowed trusted travellers to bypass the immigration desk. You slide a card with a magnetic strip and let the device scan your eye and you are in! Also, Amsterdam uses body scan machines on every passenger but it is the type that only indicates "anomalies" in the scan. When you step out, you can see your screening while the agent gives you a fast pat down in the areas indicated. No doodles or other body parts canbe seen. (I did it because there was no other choice - everyone had to be scanned)

For you smokers, the Vienna airport "Jet Lounge" has a smoking room. Its a glassed in area with excellent ventilation where smokers can burn a last one before boarding. Also, Amsterdam has some bars on the concourse that have closed off areas for smoking. My wife compared it to the bar scene in "Star Wars" after observing some of the Euro-characters there.