Sat 12th July
It was an early start as the taxi collected me at 5.30am for Gatwick and the flight to Vienna. I hadn’t flown for a while and was worried that I had forgotten something or would miss the plane, but as it turned out there was little traffic on the road and plenty of time to get through security and to the gate.
I’d never been to Vienna before and the flight was uneventful. Once off the other side the instructions were to meet in the café just outside the exit, and it seemed that I was the first one there, but less than a minute later and the Ducati clothed people started to arrive with both old and new faces! After some introductions and some reuniting hugs, we took a short ride in a minivan to the hotel.
Today was a rest day with just a dinner for the evening to ease us into the World President’s Meeting (WPM) slowly, so I went and unpacked, got changed and went down to the bar for the first beer, and boy did it taste good!
More and more presidents began to arrive and we drank and chatted until the coach arrived to take us to the fair in Vienna for a meal and a wander around. The meal consisted of a massive amount of pork – and I mean massive! – and a huge bowl of chips which was all washed down with plenty of beer.
We sat and chatted and then wandered around the funfair late into the evening as it was still very warm, before finally heading back to the coach for the hotel and a good night’s sleep.
Tomorrow we start riding and I didn’t fancy doing that with a hang-over!