Chapter I
My introduction to international traveling was both memorable and unpredictable. I was flying alone, so it was an extremely difficult challenge to partake.
I left Indianapolis International Airport on June 30, 2003 on Delta Flight #6466, at 1:50 p.m. A flight delay in New York City (JFK), due to unexpected storm conditions, presented a ripple effect.
I recall being extremely disoriented in the mammoth John F. Kennedy Airport. I attempted to get assistance from multiple airport personnel; from the Delta Wing to the Austrian Airlines Wing. However, I was more-less ignored.
There was a covered sidewalk from Delta Airlines to Austrian Airlines, which finally weaved me into the correct place I was attempting to venture.
My scheduled departure time in New York City was 4:45 p.m. However the storm caused a delayed ascent of my flight. I was scheduled for a 6:30 p.m. take-off; we ultimately took off at 7:00 p.m.
My flight from JFK to Vienna (Austrian Air #88) took approximately twelve hours. I got absolutely no rest. It was the first time I heard a choir of crying babies on a plane, screeching in unison.
I viewed Maid in Manhattan, in French. Once I touched down on the runway in Vienna, Austria, I was allotted twenty minutes to catch my connecting flight to Odessa, Ukraine. There was a group of people headed to Budapest, Hungary, who had less time than I.
My scheduled arrival time was 9:10 a.m. The flight exceeded this time. I had switched my watch to the local time in Vienna, as we were approaching Vienna International Airport, and I was attempting to find Flight PS 819 in Vienna for Ukraine International Airport (Aerosvit Airlines).
This departure was at 10:45 a.m. As disheartening as it is in my mind to replay once again, all I saw was the courtesy van for Aerosvit Airlines leaving the gate for the airliner. Everyone on that same flight into Vienna missed his or her connecting flights.
There were a few people headed to Dublin, Ireland, who missed their connecting flights out. A couple and their child, behind me, missed their connecting flight to Egypt.
I had two possibilities; either fly from Vienna, to Tel-Aviv-Jaffa (Israel), and then to Odessa; or stay in Vienna, Austria for the remainder of the day, that night, and then fly to Odessa the next day. I chose to stay at the Vienna Hilton Danube Waterfront.