Budapest: Getting Started

I'm still working out which vacation blog posts belong here at PillsPress.blogspot.com and which belong on my new blog, PillsburyTravels.blogspot.com. The plan is to include the tours on the travel blog, which is the public site, and keep the colorful details here for friends and family to enjoy.

We left New Jersey on Monday, October 26. After much debate about where to park at Newark Airport, or how to get there, we decided to pay $260 an park at the Victoria lot. That's more than we wanted to spend, but the place that charges half as much wanted to charge twice as much because Don's Honda Element is considered an SUV (funny, that was not mentioned in the original quote), plus the place looked sketchy. We really should have tried harder to find someone take us to the train station. 

Victoria has a bright green shuttle bus that circles the airport 24/7. The lot is well lit. The staff is always friendly. If only the price was less.

Our flight on SAS was divided into two parts: EWR to CPH (where we had to disembark the plane on the tarmac), and CPH to Budapest. Due to a wet spot on Don's seat, the flight attendants moved us up a row to the bulkhead seats. Ahh...for once no one was leaning into my long legs. Our original flight was to be the next night, but was changed because that flight was cancelled. Our flight was full. Airlines are really trying to make sure every seat is taken.

SAS barely allows enough time between flights. An hour between flights in Copenhagen was only possible because their customs agents go through the line and allow those with quick turn arounds to cut the line. We faced the same stress on the way back. It sounds like three of our return flight passengers missed their flight (though one of their bags made it), possibly because of the mile walk from one flight to the other, and having to clear immigration. 

Once we landed we had to wait over an hour for the shuttle bus we paid extra to pick us up at the airport. In hindsight, I should have just taken the bus that runs every seven minutes and goes directly to the center of Budapest, then taken mass transit to our hotel. I did use the wait to buy transit tickets for our stay.

While waiting we met Ann and Tom, a couple on our same tour. We led parallel lives over the two weeks meeting up again at train stations and the airport home. We booked our trip through Yes, Getaways. Yes, Getaways booked our flights, hotels, and transit. They then left us alone. We added an extra day in each city (as did Ann and Tom), but had much flexibility. Ann and Tom were in a different hotel each time. They seemed to be closer to the center of town. In some ways I wished we had swapped contact information. Watching them leave their luggage unattended at the airport and later at a train station, I was too busy shrugging my shoulders to give them one of my cards. I'll trust they figured out how to get back home safely, with their luggage.

Due to the change in our flight, we had an extra day in Budapest. I am thrilled it worked out this way because of the three main cities, Budapest was my favorite. In the end, it felt as if we spent half of our trip in Budapest instead of a third. Our first night hotel room was an upgrade because they were out of the tiny rooms. It even had a balcony overlooking a courtyard. It was our only hotel to include a breakfast buffet. What a nice way to start each day.

The other four nights the room was so
small ("how small was it"), it was so small the beds were head to toe instead of next to each other. It would have taken up too much space to unpack. Instead the dirty clothes went in one bag, and the cleans stayed in another.

Back to our first day in Budapest, after cleaning up we headed to Elizabeth Square, where our first Free Walking Tour would take place. It was sunny and 60 degrees. It was peak fall foliage with many of the trees already changing from green to yellow, but not next dropping. We found lunch at a cheap sandwich shop (cheap as in $10 for two sandwiches and a bottle of water), then wandered for treats (a local pastry for Don, and ice cream for me). We were early for the walking tour, so we wandered around the square. Our meeting place was across from a giant Ferris wheel. In one corner was a tribute to Michael Jackson. That seemed odd, so we asked our tour guide, Bulag, about it. He said in the 1980s Michael Jackson stayed at the hotel across from the park. After his death in 2009 the tree became a memorial. On it are pictures of him, drawings, flowers, and candles. An odd tribute to someone who did not have a big connection to the city.

Barely five hours since landing we were ready for our first tour.