Passage to Eastern Europe: Trip Introduction
Flight Review: LOT Polish Airlines 797-9 Business Class, ORD-WAW
Lodging Review: Hampton by Hilton Krakow
Our Time in Krakow, Poland
Flixbus from Krakow to Budapest
Lodging Review: Corinthia Budapest Hotel
Our Time in Budapest, Hungary
Our Time in Kalocsa, Hungary
Our Time in Osijek and Vukovar, Croatia
Our Time in Belgrade, Serbia
Our Time in Golubac, Serbia
Our Time in Vidin, Bulgaria
Our Time in Ruse, Bulgaria
Our Time in Bucharest, Romania
Lodging Review: JW Marriott Bucharest Grand Hotel
Flight Review: SWISS Airlines 777-300 ZRH-ORD
While I explained in detail what happened with my return flights in the Trip Introduction, I’ll give a quick recap here so you don’t have to click back to that post.
The Plan vs. Reality
The plan had been to use Aeroplan miles to book a flight on SWISS from Bucharest to Chicago via Zurich. From there I’d use the second half of my MEM-ORD-MEM positioning flight on American to fly home, landing in the 6 PM hour. But then, as usual, airline schedule changes happened and it was enough to have to scramble a bit. A few months after I booked my flight SWISS changed the timing of the ZRH-ORD leg such that it landed in Chicago about 10 minutes after the AA flight to Memphis took off. I kept hoping there would be another schedule adjustment but there was not. I eventually canceled the second half of that positioning flight and bought a flight on United (first with miles, then changed to cash when the price dropped) that finally got me home just before 10 PM.
The First Leg
But to get to Zurich I first had to leave Budapest. The flight was at 0630 which meant that we had to have our bags packed and in the hall at 0300 and be in the lobby of our hotel for an 0330 departure. Fortunately Viking provided us with a sack breakfast which was greatly welcomed. The flight departed on time and soon enough we were above the overcast Romanian skies just in time for the sun to peek out.
Zurich Airport
While I did visit a lounge in Zurich it was quite crowded and I didn’t feel comfortable taking photos. But I was glad to have a place to hang out because our flight was delayed. Due to inclement weather in Europe, several of the flights feeding our longhaul flight were running late and we needed to wait for them to arrive before getting underway.
LX 8 ZRH-ORD
Boeing 777-300
Departs: 1305
Arrives: 1350
Seat: 10B (Business Class)
When I booked my ticket I had a solo window seat with aisle access, but in addition to the schedule change there was also an aircraft change and now the window seats did not have aisle access so I selected seat 10B in the middle section where I did have aisle access and didn’t have to worry about anyone climbing over me.
Waiting for me at my seat were a pillow and a blanket, a bottle of water, the headphones, and an amenity kit.
The Victorinox amenity kit had just the basics: eyeshade, lip balm, toothbrush and toothpaste, earplugs, and compression socks.
The IFE screen was not huge but it did the trick. Underneath it was a small storage compartment.
The IFE controller was under the arm rest in the center.
The seat controls were on the center console and were fairly intuitive.
Pre-departure beverages were offered: champagne, a SWISS signature drink, and an elderberry drink was the non-alcoholic offering. I tried the elderberry but it was just too flowery for me.
A hot towel was offered about 20 minutes after we pushed back. You all know what a hot towel looks like. There was a decent selection of TV shows and movies, certainly enough to keep me occupied. Of course I was quite tired after getting up so early and I think I dozed off a time or two. The flight attendant on my aisle, Leonie, was great. Attentive but not overly so.
Here’s the menu and beverage list:
Our (by now quite late) lunch started with mixed nuts and a beverage – Coke Zero in my case.
Next was the first course. I had the beet carpaccio with walnut and balsamic dressing, horseradish cream and pears (and pretzel bread!).
For the main, I had the corn-fed chicken ragout with toasted almonds along with red quinoa and carrots with anise.
For dessert I had the caramelized chestnut mousse with raspberry and Gruyere cream.
For the arrival snack I had the creamy fregola sarda salad with pears, roasted butternut squash and lamb’s lettuce with smoked duck breast. It was very good, as I recall.
As I write this seven months later, the flight was not memorable which is just fine with me. While nothing was spectacular, it also means there was nothing terrible. Consistency is all I ask for in business class!
And despite leaving over an hour late from Zurich, we made up a fair amount of time in the air and were only about 30 minutes late landing in Chicago. At that point I was glad that the new schedule left me with nearly 4 hours on the ground there before my flight to Memphis took off.
In the end
Though the “scheduling gods” disrupted my original plans, I still enjoyed a perfectly pleasant set of flights from Bucharest to Chicago to Memphis. We were generally fortunate with the weather on our Eastern European trek and I got to visit some places I’d never have thought to see if left to my own devices – which is one of the reasons I love these trips! I can’t wait until my next Viking outing, scheduled for December 2027.
2B Traveling 
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