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Saturday, August 13, 2011

Webcam with current video of Vienna from the top of City Hall

http://www.wien.info/en/special/webcam

The images are pretty cool but the music is lame. You might want to mute it as the same light Jazz song plays over and over and over again.
Check out some of the buttons over the images, like "Best of", and "New Year's Eve"


Saturday, August 6, 2011

The Saga continues...

So readers, I ended my last post with a few possible storylines. In this post, I will open with the international wire investigation and its outcomes. Depending upon my energy afterwards, I shall continue with a story about the "Baghdad call center," where I was able to quickly and easily purchase a cellphone with no identification (much like a terrorist or mafiaso would probably do).

Sorry it has taken several days for me to continue this blog. Our internet connection at Pilgram Apartments (our temporary residence) has been spotty at best. In the States, we’re used to receiving internet via Wifi (WLAN) or through a modem from a high-speed internet provider. Here, we have a little blue box with electrical plugs, which has dLan Ethernet (High Speed 85) written on it. We plug this into an electrical outlet just like any radio or hairdryer, and voila, we are online. However, this piece of machinery seemed suspect. Our on-site manager, Manuel, who is also the son of the owners, came twice and could not resolve our technical difficulties. Rachel, after finally calming down from her internet withdrawal seizures and examining it for 5 minutes, realized that the blue box was plugged into a power strip which was itself plugged into another powerstrip before reaching the wall outlet. Now we’ve plugged it into just one strip and directly into the wall. Surprise! This seems to have improved our connection. So, fingers crossed, surfing we shall go!

Ok, arrived last Sunday after all the problems with American Airlines and missing my connection at JFK, NY.

I didn’t have any difficulties getting into our temporary apartment here. However, upon arrival, I was told by Manuel- Mr. Onsite Manager- with the bloodshot red eyes, that our payment was never received.

I found this info most disturbing as we had most definitely sent an international wire from Bank of America (BOA) to University of Wien, and they received it with no problem. At this point, I was jetlagged and figured I’d wait to deal with it until at least Rachel arrived. However, she also had difficulties with a flight being cancelled (another blog, perhaps?) but was greeted herself with Manuel telling us again “the money is still not in the account.”

At this point, I start to wonder who exactly this Manuel character is. He’s young-looking with long, crazy Beethoven hair, multiple piercings, and always wearing heavy metal t-shirts and shorts. He's spending his days, as anyone can see, hangin’ out with friends stoned. As the account owner is nowhere to be found and has a last name different from Manuel, I wondered if Manuel wasn’t try to milk a little extra moolah from often perceived-to-be “rich” Americans.

So, after a second harassment by Manuel, I called BOA toll-free and inquired about the international wire. Their response was they they would start a trace, in effect, an investigation. BOA assured me that in two business days they would know into which account the money was wired. This was on Tuesday, and I hung up with BOA having been told to call back Friday if I hadn’t heard from them.

Flashforward to Thursday: Beethoven/Manuel returns. By this time, we had had a few more "conversations." According to Beethoven, his mom is the account holder, but she is in Bulgaria at the beach on vacation. His dad is in Vienna, however, we haven't been contacted by him either. Being prudent, I tell Beethoven there’s no way I’ll talk about this account with him (someone who has a different name from the account holder). For all we know, Beethoven has absolutely no relation to the building owners/account holders, and would love to get easy access to the account via some naive expats. As Beethoven cannot even produce a single piece of identification, and his only explanation of his authority is that he "has all the keys to the building," we really start to feel uncomfortable. Up until this point, we had received email correspondence solely from someone signing the emails as "Manuel." Finally we get a nearly illegible email from another sender, ostensibly his mother. According to Beethoven, "She is really angry!"

From our perspective, this is the third day we’ve been dealing with this scammer. In the meantime, I’ve doublechecked my paperwork. (Thank you, Baltimore City, for teaching me to always have a paper trail!) I am confident we are in the right, and they are in the wrong. Can you blame us for being suspicious of the motives and fearing extortion?

I have the paperwork from the original wire, and after doublechecking, all the numbers seem correct - the money went into the correct account. Nonetheless, we’re getting angry emails from the mother demanding immediate cash payment, and Beethoven is coming to visit multiple times a day.

Rachel hates to ask for favors. But I talk her into communicating with one of her future colleagues, who can speak German and has lived here for years. She calls the account holder (the "mother") to assuage her fears that we’re not some meth-addicted gypsies who are planning to leave without paying. Meanwhile, I call BOA to follow up on the investigation.

Yes, finally, the investigation has been finished! Here’s the resolution: 1124 Euros (a lot of dollars, according to CNBC) was in fact transferred to the mother’s account way back on July 20th. Importantly, the total amount we had agreed upon was 1132 Euros, 8 Euros more than what went into her account… the difference had been due to *her* bank taking an 8 Euro fee.

For those who don’t have much experience with international wires (and I didn’t up until now), everyone puts their hands in the cookie jar. First, BOA takes its cut via a wire fee and also by giving us a lousy exchange rate. Then, when the money arrives in the foreign account, that bank takes its cut, too.

The BOA rep informs me that often clients don’t realize their bank is taking a cut; thus, they are looking for a slightly different amount and do not recognize a deposit. Perhaps this is what happened in this case?

So, after this discussion, Beethoven again appears and asks me to speak with his father on the phone. According to him, the father had stopped by earlier but we were not in (due to the fact that the internet wasn’t working in our apartment...again (!)...and we had gone out to use an Internet café).

I tell the father, please re-check your accounts: 1124 Euros were deposited on July 20th, as per my bank’s investigation. Oh and by the way, "when you find the money, email me in writing, since I want to know you have the funds." A paper trail is important, people!

Finally we got resolution by way of an email from the father. As it all turned out, it was a “bookkeeping error” on their end and we should give the 8 Euros we owe them to Manuel. No apology, no admittance of their mistake. However, no more harassment, either. Yay....

So now you all know the competency level we’re dealing with, if over 1100 Euros can be deposited into an account shortly after it was requested without being noticed. Ahhh…. If only I had such amounts anonymously being deposited into my account. If anyone would like to deposit some money, I’ll gladly pass along our info!

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

And so begins our life in Vienna...

I entitled this blog or whatever it shall morph into as "Wiener Living" because only four days ago, I flew over to Wien, as Vienna is known in German. Many of you have probably eaten the Viennese delicacy Wiener Schnitzel. You'll notice the Wiener in front of Schnitzel; therefore Wiener means all things Viennese.

And so begins our life in Vienna...

It's an interesting thing to pack up your life into a small 8' X 4' X 8' smartbox and depart to a country where you neither speak the language nor have a job.

That's where I find myself. Luckily, my wife Rachel, does have a job starting in Sept. with Universitat Wien (Vienna University). Yesterday, I took a placement test and was enrolled in Level A1/2 German courses at Uni Wien. Today, we students met our teacher who will guide us for the next month through the trials and tribulations of language learning.

Starting to learn another language was one of the most exciting things for me, having previously studied Hungarian intensively in Budapest and French throughout much of high school and college. I feel in my element in the language classroom.

On the other hand, there have been quite a few hurdles since arriving last Sunday.

(Side note: Although this will be Rachel's first experience living abroad, I should be an expert having previously lived in Budapest, Hungary from 2001-2003. As the reader shall see, this move has proved more challenging.)

Now is where I gripe:

I am surrounded by a beautiful, centuries old city. The seat of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, where Emperor Franz Joseph summered in Schönbrunn. I am thoroughly enjoying walking around the city, exploring its shopping boulevards and taking the U-bahn (underground metro system) easily and conveniently anywhere.

Getting back to those challenges, though...

My original flight itinerary had me board American Airlines at BWI, transfer at JFK to Aer Lingus, which would then fly me to Dublin and onto Vienna. My wife is traveling separately as she has our cat, Simon, as her travel companion. The original flight itinerary I was given was to take around 15 hours of air travel time. Unfortunately, things did not go well from the start.

The American Airlines leg was delayed. Although they had listed the flight time from BWI to JFK as 1 hour 25 minutes, in actuality the flight time was less than 40 minutes once we got airborne. The difficulty lay in the inexplicable delays before we took off. So when I should have had a window of a couple of hours to land at JFK, take the airtrain to the International Terminal and catch the Aer Lingus flight, in reality we landed at JFK around 5:10 and my next flight departed at 5:45. After running through the airport with at least 50 pounds of carry on baggage, I arrived at the Aer Lingus check in just as the last call sign was posted next to my flight. As if in a scene from some overly dramatic movie, I yelled out (disregarding the two couples ahead of me in line) "I'm about to miss my flight, it's leaving in 5 minutes"

The woman at the counter asked, "Are you Lantos?" After responding in the affirmative, she had a prolonged discussion via warlike talkie with someone at the gate, to then confirm what I had most dreaded... I missed the connection.

What then ensued can only be described as the equivalent of when one calls a customer service department to lengthily detail a problem, only to be forwarded to another department to again state one’s situation, only to be passed along once again… you get the point!

The buck stops here--- with Lufthansa.

After racing across the airport from Terminal 8 (AA) to Terminal 4 (Aer Lingus) only to miss my connection (the first time this has ever happened to me on an international flight in over 30 years of travel experience), I finally got through to an AA rep who could rebook me on another flight. At this point, I am still at Terminal 4, talking to the AA rep over the phone. First they tell me there are no flights that would bring me to Vienna earlier than Monday but after persisting, I finally got re-booked onto a Lufthansa flight. On another side note, Lufthansa is a marvelous airline that I wholeheartedly recommend, showing as much competence compared to AA’s polar opposite.

So now I have a flight, but I had to return to Terminal 8 to get paper tickets according to the rep who helped me (As I later learned, the rep should have electronically processed everything and sent me straight to Lufthansa). So I trudge myself, my 50 pounds load back to Terminal 8 only to be told by a rep there that, “No, you are booked on Lufthansa, you must go check in with them at Terminal 1.”

But first, I inquire, I need to figure out what is to become of my checked luggage. Please bear in mind, we’re moving to Vienna for two years and so I fit mostly all my clothes in two pieces of checked luggage. The sweaters, the pants, the collared shirts, the suit, the winter coat, not to mention boots, shoes, and sandals.

I wanted to make sure this sudden change in itinerary wouldn’t negatively affect the chances of my luggage making it to Vienna. So after standing in yet another line for 30 minutes at the baggage claim center for AA in JFK airport, I was informed by what looked like a very competent worker (looks can be deceiving) that once my itinerary was updated in the system, the luggage would be forwarded to my next flight. THIS IS FALSE! If anyone ever tells you this, scream liar in their face and present this blog as proof.

She did correctly educate me as to the intricacies of the airport baggage handling system. If you thought your luggage stayed with the airline, which treat it with kid gloves, ensuring your precious cargo arrive from point to point in a complicated travel plan, think again.

Like everything else in life, AA doesn’t handle baggage movement, they outsource. Apparently there is another company called Triangle something or another that is in charge of moving luggage between airlines.

Well, mine didn’t get moved.

In fact, when I later returned to Terminal 1 (Lufthansa) to check in. (Try to picture, a small man with a huge pack on his back weighing at least 30-40 pounds and dragging a wheely carry on behind going back and forth between Terminal 8> Terminal 4> Terminal 8> Terminal 1)

Finally arriving at the Lufthansa desk, hoping for the best but fearing the worst, it is at this moment I find out just how incompetent American Airlines is. I would go as far as saying AA makes the US Congress look like it’s run as well as Apple Inc.

So, Lufthansa proceeds to tell me: “No, we don’t have your info. You were supposed to have been issued paper tickets.” “No, your luggage probably won’t be forwarded and we recommend you initiate a claim upon arrival in Vienna.”

And here appears the superhero in this grisly, grim tale… LUFTHANSA.

Instead of forcing me to do the round-trip Terminal tour yet again (to be honest, I was running out of time before the rebooked flight would leave), they called AA and sorted my ticket out.

In the end, I had an awesome flight and arrived in Vienna the same day I was originally booked to arrive!

However, my luggage is still missing L

Stay tuned tomorrow for more adventures in Wiener Living.

Tomorrow I will focus on the following events:

1. Almost getting jacked by some hoodlums while taking the U-bahn from the airport to our temporary accommodations in Wien

2. Purchasing a cellphone from a shady shop in the city

3. Being told that the 1100 Euros that I received confirmation were wired from Bank of America to our Austrian landlady never arrived and initiating a trace on the monies.

As you can see, living abroad is part James Bond adventure, part Alice falling down the rabbit hole.

For your viewing please, some pictures here.