September 7, 2022
Bad Radkersburg, Austria to Szentgottard, Hungary (Sept. 7, 2022)
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Why is it that two reasonably intelligent, organized people who work really hard at NOT losing stuff, constantly lose stuff?
Dave and I suffer in general with the typical middle aged/senior memory lapse syndrome and of course it’s more complicated when we are traveling. We have sadly many stories -akin to the Andersons’ memory sagas - of misplaced phones, wallets, hats, glasses. One particularly memorable one was a tablet left behind on an Air Rwanda plane in Kigali. The memory of Dave trying to communicate with the airport agent in Swahili with mobs of African passengers behind him, necessitating his visit to the Kigali airport Lost and Found (which looks like the final warehouse scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark) with thousands of unclaimed computers, laptops, tablets, phones, is forever in our dreams/nightmares. (Happily, he actually recovered the tablet!)
To avoid the loss of something that actually matters on this trip we implemented strict protocols: (1) Jill carries both passports, her credit cards, phone (when its not attached to the bike) and wallet in her cool, nifty water proof Lululemon belt pack. That puppy is around my waist at all times except in the tub or in bed ala Rick Steves recommendations on safe travel. (Its around my waist right now in the garden of a Carmelite Monastery in Hungary as I type this.) Also in the belt pack with a chain attachment are the keys to the bike batteries and our storage unit in Munich and an Apple Airtag. I stand there while Dave uses the keys to unlock the bike batteries and return them to my pack immediately . (2) We each pack our own tablets and charging equipment, important medications, etc. in a lightweight daypack that we load last in our panniers. If we have to leave the bikes we grab our daypacks and carry them with us. (3) We have heavy duty locks (and we use them) on the bikes and we also remove the batteries when our bikes are stored in a more communal storage area. (4) We always put out the Do Not Disturb sign on our room and forgo the cleaning.
Philosophically, we have decided we will take reasonable efforts to avoid our stuff getting stolen but not extreme efforts. So, we understand that someone could rifle through our panniers on a left bike, and that a left bike in a communal storage unit could still get stolen, even if its locked. Incidentally, we - and our stuff — have felt extraordinarily safe on this trip.
Of course, careful consistent protocols helps with eliminating the possibility of theft, but there is still the issue of losing stuff, which is far more likely to raise its ugly head with Dave and me.
So, to date on this trip we have left behind a keyboard (accidentally left at home), misplaced a hat in Munich (recovered), temporarily misplaced our one keyboard (twice, but each time recovered by restaurant personnel), lost water bottle (had to buy a new one), lost Smartwool arm warmers (will need to buy new ones in Vienna) and then FINALLY, and most distressingly, lost our US to Europe AC adapters for our electronics.
As an aside, Dave is very particular about his electronics and their functioning (probably something to do with working at Microsoft for 22 years). He likes lots of chargers; to my way of thinking we carry way too much associated electronics stuff and I would much prefer a more streamlined approach, but hey, we all have things we care about. (With Jill its tubs). So, the upshot is that Dave is always concerned that we not leave our adaptors behind. He has a valid concern: we lost two adapters in the first three days of our spring trip to Europe when we bought the bikes. Those little suckers are so small that you pull your charging cord out of the socket and leave the adapter behind. And they are not easily replaced once you reach Europe because Europeans don’t need an adapter that adapts American plugs to European. Two days before we left Oregon for this trip we went to REI and purchased three new adapters; one for each of us and then a spare I carried in my miscellaneous bag.
On day 2 of our bike travels I left mine behind. As a supportive spouse, Dave kindly wrote me a “reminder note” to keep with my computer bag, to wit:
At the same time however, and to his considerable chagrin, he also left a charging cord. We could struggle on with what we had left but then a week later at the Hotel Ertl in Villach we learned he left his adapter behind. This resulted in Dave scouring Villach and purchasing a couple of European USB chargers and cables. We were down to one US adapter and the European chargers, which would have been sufficient so long as we didn't lose anything else……
Cut to Bad Radkersburg unpacking: we have determined that I have lost my new European USB charger (purchased in Villach) AND he had left behind the final adapter. (This electronic-related memory loss seems to strike both us at the same time.) Bad news on the adapter; Dave REALLY needs it to charge toothbrush, camera & shaver, none of which uses USB. As to charging tablets and phones, we are down to one (slow) charger. This is a crisis in the first degree! We are entering Hungary the following day and we are not near anything remotely approaching an electronics store. Dave stomps around for 10 minutes saying this is a catastrophe. He calms down sufficiently to work on plan. He determines there is a phone store in Bad Radkersburg and he dashes down there before closing to purchase a new fast European charger. (He likes it so much he buys another the next day — you can see how his brain works on electronics). But we still can’t charge his camera, toothbrush or shaver and he is confident the only place we can find an adapter is at an international airport which services inbound US travelers. We have plans to be in Vienna on Sept. 12 and I determine there is a travel store in the Vienna Airport that advertises adapters and that it is open Sunday until 9pm. I report that rather than spending Sunday night in Wiener Neustadt we can do a longer ride to the Vienna Airport and spend the night there. (Happily, I once spent the night in the Vienna airport, en route from Morocco on a family trip, and I remembered the NH Vienna Airport Hotel very fondly — it had a tub). So, I cancel our Wiener Neustadt reservation, make one at the NH hotel in the Vienna airport and start redoing our bike route for Sunday. It means a 70 k day but hey — with the thought of a new adapter and a tub at the end of it — we will be like horses to the barn at the end of the ride! We now have a plan - and I promised I wouldn’t grouse too much if his face looked a little scruffy over the next few days from lack of shaving.
Whew… now back to our regularly scheduled programming (Sorry, I must had a lot to process in my brain on that particularly topic). (And from Dave: As you can well imagine, this topic has sorely tested our relationship skills (see my lovely reminder note above) as I was pretty torched with Jill misplacing key electronic components, only to be totally abashed at being guilty of the the same thing. To her eternal credit, Jill never threw this back in my face, even though I richly deserved copious pay back. No wonder I love her! 😎)
Today we rode to Hungary! Most of the day was in Austria, and was lovely but not memorable riding, no big climbs or horrid single track (that was still in our future). Our destination was Szentgottard where the following day we planned to pick up the Eurovelo 9 (Iron Curtain Trail) and ride the portion of the Eurovelo 9 that bordered Austria and Hungary.
Immediately upon entering Hungary things looked different and this was to be born out by the next few days as we continued our ride. Overall, it looks much less affluent. The roads are in poorer shape, houses and infrastructure are not nearly as well-maintained. There are fewer inns, cafes, restaurants, not to mention fewer cycleways. And, Hungarians haven't quite got the hang of hospitality that other European countries have.
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That being said, our experience at our flat in Szentgottard couldn’t have been better. For the princely sum of 37 euros we stayed at 16 Deak Ferenc booked through REVNGO. Laura our owner rep was very nice and sent clean straightforward directions. We parked our bikes in the locked storage shed on the ground floor. The flat was redone with a tidy little kitchen, a tub in the bathroom and good internet and tv (to watch the Vuelta).
We split an okay burger at the local restaurant - there wasn’t a lot of choice —and I tried liver dumpling soup to go with it. (Fyi: its an acquired taste).
Food and wine is very inexpensive and dinner was 20 euros with wine. Szentgottard is a fine for a one night layover but there is not a lot going on. It had some glory days but its been awhile.
We went to bed knowing that tomorrow we had one of our longest days ahead of us, 75 k to Koszeg, so we were a little anxious. We swore we would rise early (for us) and get on the road.
Today's ride: 60 km (37 miles)
Total: 1,021 km (634 miles)
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