"I always feel a little guilty when I am about to board an aeroplane at an airport. However, I usually manage to live with this guilt. What I am talking about is the fact that as a visually-impaired person I am usually spoilt rotten at airports in the UK and abroad. Invariably I wait in the Departure Lounge and then a staff member comes to collect me and takes me, for what is often a considerable distance, to the "gate" for my flight. There is always a long queue or crowd of people and I am taken past the head of the queue and into the aeroplane, being the first one on board and given a seat near the front with plenty of leg-room.
On this occasion I was flying with easyJet to Vienna on route for the 11th European Deafblind Holiday. In August 2008 that was to be held in Sopron in western Hungary. The easiest way to get to Sopron is to fly to Vienna and then to take a train to Sopron which is what I did. As I love rail journeys I had wanted to travel by train from the UK and to meet up with my Czech friends in Prague. We would then travel together by rail to Sopron. Sadly, that would have been just too expensive and anyway I couldn't get a good rail connection.
On arrival at Vienna Airport, the normal procedure ensued. I was politely asked if I could remain in my seat until all the other passengers had alighted. I was very happy to do that and one of the cheerful flight attendants saw me down the flight steps into the arms (well, not exactly) of an airport worker who whisked me through Immigration and Baggage Retrieval to the edge of the terminal. As I now usually travel with only a backpack there was no baggage to pick up from
the carousel and that saved a lot of time. The young man, who had learned his English In North Carolina, took me to the bus-stop where I could catch a bus for Sud Wien Bahnhof. It was all very easy. I befriended an Austrian woman who lived most of the year in Italy but who keeps a home in Vienna. She told me that my pronunciation of Italian and German words was good. This is true and useful but I can't conduct much of a conversation in those languages! The bus was modern and the journey trouble-free but rather expensive at about 5 Euros for a half hour trip. Vienna seemed to be an enormous city but perhaps it is rather spread-out.
I knew I would have a little difficulty in finding the ticket office and then the platform but I managed. To get to the platform for Sopron you go up a modern type of escalator. Not as many people speak English as you would perhaps think. Anyway, I found this monster of a train waiting for me. There was no one around but I got on it, hoping for the best. Slowly people boarded and as it was about 5pm I think they were mostly commuters. Off we went and the city went on for ever. Eventually we reached the Austrian/Hungarian border but you wouldn't know it because there was no border control or anything like that. Slowly the train emptied and I was concerned that I might miss Sopron if it were not the terminus. When I got off at Sopron I did hope that a friendly voice would ask if I needed help but that didn't happen. Suddenly everyone disappeared and I was left on this empty platform feeling rather alone. Also it was very dark as although it was still summer a great thunderstorm had started. I went up and down the island platforms, up and down steps looking for the exit and I couldn't find it. I met a few people but I couldn't make myself understood in English or in German which is quite well-known in Sopron. I have no Hungarian at all. After 15 minutes of this nonsense, going down Flight of Steps Number 17 (I exaggerate) a cheerful voice said "is that Colin?" I had rubbed my Aladdin's Lamp and Marta responded and stood before me. I had known that I would be met at the station which was nice to know. Marta is completing her studies in Budapest and was a volunteer on that deafblind holiday. Her English was good but her optimism was not as good as mine. She told me that she could not find any taxis and the company was not responding to her phone calls."Leave it to Colin" I said and off we went outside the station. Sure enough, there was a taxi waiting and it had on all sides in English "Air Conditioning" written. Of course there was no air conditioning and the driver had no idea what the words meant but never mind. If I had been on my own I would have taken a bus but that might have been a mistake as Sopron was bigger than you'd think and of course it was pouring with rain.
We arrived at Hotel Sopron and the magic began. I always love arriving at an hotel or whatever at the beginning of a holiday. You have arrived from overcoming any hitches on the way, you check in with an unfailingly cheerful receptionist and you meet old friends and start to make new ones. It's an experience that I know will end one day but, please, not just yet! There was no time to go up to my room and change so we went straight into the restaurant. This is something else I like. I like seeing the white tablecloths and the shining cutlery and glasses. I'm always hungry on these occasions and Marta found a good place for us to sit. One by one, friends from previous holidays came up to greet me and I felt really good. I had the soup which was wonderful so I had three of them as I am inclined to do. As it was the first dinner we had drinks on the house which I enjoyed. We were sitting next to three Icelandic ladies and I was trying to find out who was the "victim" and who were the communicator/guides. Marta told me later that she enjoyed me trying to work out who was who. What I didn't know at that time and Marta knew that I didn't know was that she was going to be my guide for the whole week. I was wondering "nice having this girls company at dinner but when is she going to leave me" she didn't and although her day with me came to an end mid-evening as a day with me is quite enough for anybody, she was wonderful company and a great help. I can get around and have always done this without any help but I have to say it is wonderful when you do have the company of a fully-sighted fully- hearing speaker of English and the language of the country.
I did embarrass Marta quite a few times and I did enjoy that but later she got used to it and became bolder as a result of my example. This was manifested one day as we were walking behind a couple on an excursion. I wanted to know who they were and I was about to catch them up to ask them. To my astonishment, without a word from me, Marta went up alone and asked them who they were. She told me she would never have done this before and that the heavens didn't fall. She agreed with me that if you want to find out something from somebody, the best way is to ask them; they are not likely to slap you across the face.
The next week was a really wonderful holiday. Every day was enjoyable and we packed so much in. The organisation by the Hungarian Deafblind Association was exemplary.
We were staying at the Hotel Sopron a 4-star hotel in a pleasant district of Sopron. There was an outside swimming pool which proved a popular venue as there were chairs and tables all around it together with many trees and flowers. Since the weather was wonderful except for one day one could often find the Holiday participants socialising there.
The first full day was spent in being given a guided tour of the ancient monuments in the centre of Sopron and the Goat's Church. The first thing we did however on that day was to attend a Reception in the Town Hall. We were given a formal welcome by the Mayor together with copious supplies of wine even though it was fairly early in the day. I complained vigorously about that but had it forced down my throat but I survived. To tell you the truth I forget on which days we did what. However, I can tell you that on one day we visited the wine cellars of the Hotel Sopron and we were given a very good exposition of the history of wine-growing in Hungary. Apparently, the Hungarian word for wine is the only one in Europe which is not derived from the Latin word. Again, I was forced to drink ample supplies of the vino together with plentiful supplies of cheese and apples all of which were excellent.
Still on the alcohol front we visited the Sopron brewery, which is now owned by the International firm Heineken. Our guide that day was a young Hungarian man really fluent in English and whom I think some of the girls fancied. We had plenty of the beer to taste. I also had the chance to discuss the privatisation of that brewery in particular and privatisation in Hungary in general. This was a subject of considerable debate. I was able to enter into discussions into the political situation in Hungary with several of the volunteers and other Hungarians. I think it is fair to say that the general educational standards of young people in Hungary and their interest in politics (though not as great as I would like) are greater than in the UK. As in the UK, the gulf between rich and poor constantly widens and I do find it surprising how working people in Hungary can afford to live.
A memorable day was spent visiting the Nagycenk castle belonging to the family of the celebrated Hungarian Szechenyi. The grounds were beautiful and as I am a fully paid-up tree freak I was delighted to find there hundreds of mature linden trees together with lovely flower beds. Also in the grounds was an open air railway museum. Jan Jakes from the Czech Republic was in his element as he knows all about trains-and much else besides. We had lunch in the house and I have to say the atmosphere was very relaxing. It seems so long ago now but one of our enjoyable visits was to a stables and horse riding centre. We all were given the chance to ride on these wonderful animals including Steve Thacker from the UK who is usually wheel chair-bound. I too had a ride on one of these horses, albeit at a sedate pace rather than the gallop which I now misinform people I did. Actually, I didn't fall off as I did in Sweden in 2004. The most shameful thing about that episode was that the horse did not notice. My late father observed this debacle from the Great Stables in the Sky and he strongly disapproved since he was a fine horseman. Yet another pleasant day was spent experiencing a boat trip on Lake Ferto. This lake is shared by Hungary and Austria and most of the vessels on it are pleasure boats nowadays and there are many holiday homes around it. Lakes in Hungary are very shallow and the fish over the millennia have adapted by being very flat to evade capture. Typically they are one centimetre thick and four square metres in area. It is possible to walk across most Hungarian lakes in Summer without getting your knees wet. As on all our trips out we had the good fortune of narration by guides who knew what they were talking about.
As well as these excursions there was plenty of activity back at the hotel. These included a demonstration of Hungarian folk dancing in which many of us, with varying levels of competence, participated. Talking of dancing, we had a wonderful display by professional folk dancers one evening. Where they got all their energy from no one knows but it was exhausting just to watch them! They went in for a lot of boot-slapping and cavorting as we associate with Russian dancing. That display turned into a dance for all of us. Another interesting event in the hotel was a talk about schooling for deafblind children and young people in Hungary and in one school in Budapest in particular.
The days passed quickly and inexorably towards the holiday's end. On the last day, the Sunday, we had the final banquet and dance. As you can imagine this was enjoyed by everyone. I particularly appreciated the music played by the "DJ". He knew a whole range of music and reacted immediately to requests. I think he was a blind musician from Budapest. During the latter part of the night people drifted off to bed as many people had to get up early to make their travel connections home. When I say early, I mean early such as 4am. I always find this part of these holidays a very sad time especially as it is my practice to stay a day or two extra on these holidays. I do this because it is an occasion sometimes to talk to people whom otherwise I did not have the chance to chat to. On that final day I sat by the pool nearly all the time enjoying the sunshine and conversing with people many of whom I had met before and hoped to meet again. By evening everyone had gone but me but I survived getting very good service from the restaurant staff and making a couple of new chums among the Hungarians. I did spend my last night in Hungary in a pension mainly to get experience of such accommodation. It was brought home to me again that Hungary is not a cheap place especially for the Hungarians. On 14 August I found my way to the railway station. That was not too easy as Sopron is much bigger than I had thought. Anyway, I had a good journey by train to Vienna and thence to the airport in that city leaving to an uneventful flight home to England. I say uneventful but in fact, as always, I was given every help by the airport workers both on the ground and in the air.
I made some good friends in Hungary with whom I am still in contact and no doubt I shall return to that land-locked country. I have been asked to head the Hungarian Ministry of Sea-Fishing and that shouldn't be too difficult a job.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the organisers of the Holiday and the volunteers for the unstinting help they gave all the participants.
Many photos were taken on my behalf and they are all on my computer and on my Flickr Photo Gallery. You can view these photos by going to this link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/hova/ You can also gain access to those photos by going to my blog and clicking the link there. This article is also on my blog and I invite you to visit it at: bennettsworld.blogspot.com If you would like to communicate with me you are very welcome to do so. My email address is: colinbbennett@palmeira.org.uk
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Colin Bennett
Hove
(2008-12-09)