romantic weekend
It all started on August 8, when I received a message on Telegram about an offer to go to Paris for 66 euros.
The offer was very interesting, but then, as it turned out, this is the price, provided that you need to fly to Beauvais airport, and this is 100 km from Paris - a waste of time and financial extra. costs, and this idea faded into the background. But the thoughts of spending a romantic weekend did not leave, and I began to look for options.
I started looking at Poland and other countries, but either the budget was not the same, or the flight was on weekdays, and the main idea was to fly there on Friday, and back on Sunday and, of course, for the lowest possible budget.
And then I come across an option with Bratislava. Departure - Friday, at 19.55, back - Sunday, at 20.50, this is a full two days on the trip and the price is 400-500 UAH per person. The decision has been made, let's fly!
So, we arrive in Bratislava in the evening, rent a car at the airport and go to the hotel, check into the hotel and go to dinner, spend the night at the hotel, and in the morning we go by car to Vienna, walk around Vienna for a day, return to Bratislava in the evening and We spend the second night at the hotel. In the morning we check out from the hotel, go for a walk around Bratislava, in the evening we go to the airport, return the car and fly to Kyiv. This is briefly how everyone planned, and now how it really happened.
We book a flight through the site Ryanair, everything is simple there: check-in, select a date and pay by card.
The first step has been taken, now the hotel and the car. I chose the hotel through Booking, the main requirements are a 24-hour reception, since I arrive late in the evening, and parking for a car, since I had to leave my car somewhere for the night. As a result, the Hotel Viktor was chosen, which met all my requirements and was not too expensive. I must say right away: it was possible to find an option cheaper, but worse in quality, but I still like comfort, so I settled on this option, there is free parking and a 24-hour reception.
I booked a car through the service Cars Scanner, chose the cheapest option on the machine, since it’s easier in an unfamiliar country when you have an automatic. The cheapest option was Skoda Fabiaor equivalent. The price was obtained in two days 986.64 UAH.
An important point: when you rent a car, you must have 800 euros on your card as a deductible in case of an accident, this amount is blocked on the card and after the car is returned, the block is removed. I didn’t have such an amount on my card, so I decided to make a credit card with a limit of UAH 30.000, since now it’s easy to get such a card. The map was made in 4 days and I calmly prepared for the trip.
And then the day of departure came, the flight took off without delay, the only thing is that since it was a LOW COST, they flew without luggage, without food and got to the gangway on foot. But we were ready for this, especially since the flight was only 1 hour 55 minutes.
Arriving in Bratislava, without leaving the terminal, you can immediately see a number of rental companies that offer car rental. After 21.00, only one company worked - BUDGET, all the rest were closed.
We approached the manager, provided a car reservation form, which we printed out before departure, we were also asked for a driver's license and a credit card. The whole procedure took 5 minutes. We were given a map where the car is located and wished us a good rest.
I forgot to say: our car was not available, and we were given a Skoda Octavia for the same price (instead of a Skoda Fabia). One more thing: if the car manager is not there when you return, then you throw the documents and car keys into the slot with the inscription KEY BOX, and that's it!
The parking lot is located 50 meters from the terminal, there are a lot of rental cars there, you just approach, open it and go on a trip. To open the barrier, you need to present a special leaf, we had it in the car. We got to the hotel using a navigator, the airport is nearby, so the road took us a maximum of 15 minutes.
Checking into the hotel is also fast, we were given an electronic key to the room and parking, we parked the car in the underground parking and went to the room. We got room 012, the room is gorgeous, even better than in the photo.
Food prices are the same as in Kyiv, the portions are large, the food is delicious. It is hard to find a cafe or shop that is open after 22.00, even gas stations are closed. It was amazing to see people over 40 in a cafe after 23.00, who were sitting and talking nicely.
In the morning we went to Vienna. There are several options for routes: on a toll road (the fastest), but we chose a free one that passes through villages where the maximum speed limit is 50 km/h. On the way we saw beautiful places, the road took about an hour and we did not regret that we went this route.
Parking in Vienna is expensive, we chose Park&Ride, where a day costs 7.60 euros. These parking lots are located near the metro, so getting there is very convenient. Below is the location of these car parks in Vienna. When we put the car in the parking lot, next to the parking lot there were a lot of parked cars outside the parking area, I was still surprised why this was so. I suppose that it was possible to leave a car without entering the territory for free, but I did not take risks and parked according to the rules.
Vienna is very beautiful, especially the center. I recommend everyone to visit Vienna at least once and see this beauty, below are a few photos from the city center.
We were not very lucky with the weather, it was overcast, but this did not spoil the overall impression. We already got home when it was dark, and Bratislava at night is also beautiful. Especially the new bridge, which is especially beautiful in the evening.
Gasoline in Bratislava costs 1.35-1.50 euros per liter, in Austria it is slightly cheaper - 1.23-1.35 per liter.
On Saturday we got to the hotel quite late, drank some wine and went to bed.
The next day we returned the car and went for souvenirs. The airport is small and empty when we left.
And now the numbers. How much did it all cost in the end.
Travel costs
Tickets - 1989.65 UAH (price for two round trip)
Hotel - 2601.00 UAH (price for two nights)
Rent a car - UAH 986.64 (price for two days, excluding fuel)
Credit card - UAH 0.00 (card with a credit limit of UAH 30.000)
Electric train to Boryspil - 320.00 UAH (round trip for two)
Gasoline - UAH 602.8
Parking in Vienna - UAH 208.24 (it was possible to park a car for free)
Total: 6708.33 UAH + food and souvenirs, but this is already individual
