A quick visit to Vienna, Austria was made during my recent visit to our Timisoara, Romania office. After a visit to Budapest, a short two hour drive was made to Vienna, Austria. After spending just one day of sight-seeing in Vienna, the drive back to Timisoara took a little over 5 hours. It’s difficult for me to get used to the idea that for the programmers that work on my team in Romania, driving to places like Vienna, Austria for the weekend is like driving to Boise, Idaho from Salt Lake City, Utah for me. Team members in the Romania office routinely take their summer vacations (what they call holidays) in Greece, Italy, Germany or Austria. They talk about going to other European countries as casually as we talk about going to other States. It’s all about where you live.

Dan and Dana Popescu (see the photo) drove my wife and me to Budapest, Hungary and Vienna, Austria from Timisoara, Romania for the weekend. Dan is the Manager of Progamming in the Timisoara office. This photo was taken during breakfast at a hotel in Hungary at the Austria border. Traveling with hosts that live in Romania saves money. They know where to stay to save money. If I had made arrangements by myself, I would have stayed in a hotel in Vienna that would have costed me at least $200, would not have been as nice and would not have included a breakfast buffet like the one we ate here. This hotel costed less than $100, but we had to drive a few kilometers to get to Vienna. We tend to think in terms of convience, but we would have had to check out of a Vienna hotel by 11:00 am anyway. Why not save the money, check out of one a short drive away? Dan and Dana were great hosts. Neither of them spoke Hungarian, so we all struggled in Budapest, but they both spoke German and were right at home in Vienna. They made the quick weekend tour a memorable experience for both Claire and me. [Sep 08]