Entries about hungary

Our day began with a metro ride to the Parlament. The building is huge with every inch full of detail. There are guards at all the entrences. We walked around the entire building before heading to the Shoes on the Danube. After visiting Aushwitz, it gave us a more moving experience seeing the brass shoes ~ Jews were shot along the banks of the Danube and their bodies were pushed into the river with some of the shoes being left behind.

After getting in our steps, we moved on to the warm mineral baths at Szechenyi. We indulgd in some wonderful soaks in some beautiful spas, pools, and saunas. We began in an outdoor pool with water temp in the high 80s. Just drifting around the pool letting our bodies relax. This was followed by an hour-long couples massage. The hungarians kneaded and beat us like bread dough. Then we moved on to some mineral spas and of course a dip in the ice cold waters to make sure we got the entire experience. This was a much needed day of rest.

After 5 hours of bathing, we headed to see the City Park and Hero's Square. People of all ages playing table tennis,, chess, and numerous other games and sports filled the area. It was a great way to finish the evening. We ended our day with dinner on Vaci Utica, a walk around town with plenty of shopping, and then a fish foot massage. We recommend this to everyone. Your feet will be softer than you could ever imagine.

Waking early on Sunday we were off to the Budapest Opera before heading to the train station for a 15 hour journey to Split, Croatia via Zagreb.

It should have been a shorter trip, but the train tracks were under repair and we had to be shuttled to a bus for a portion of the journey. What was supposed to be a two hour window became a twenty minute rush to make our next train. We made it and on the first train made friends with several other travellers who were packed in with us. We learned all about Iran and the fellings toward the US and their nuculear capabilities from a kind Iranian who wanted to chat.

Finally we were on our night train and tucked in bed late Sunday night and headed to Split.

Arrival in Budapest after a night train trip from Krakow was welcomed. The train provided us great accomodations while including travel and breakfast. We were ready for the change and upon arrival found lockers to store our luggage as we could not arrive at our BnB before 2:30 p.m. and arrival was at 8:30 a.m. Friday.

After changing a little US currency to Florints, we found the lockers after being accosted several times by the station lurkers wanting us to buy currency from them at a better rate. From here it was time to head into the city proper and do some exploring.

Once again we purchased the 24 hour pass for all forms of transport throughout Budapest and set out towards Buda and the Royal Castle. As we got close to the Chain Bridge, we were amazed with all the detail and the beauty of the Danube. We could have spent hours at the beginning just taking in the views. The walk across the bridge was lovely, providing sweeping views up and down the river that divides Buda and Pest.

Once across, we rode the furnicular to the top. From here we were surrounded by the rebuilt castle that overlooks the city. The views up there were a must see. Wondering the grounds we were greeted by many statues, fountains, and gardens. We wandered up the path to a lovely cafe where lunch was served to sweeping views of the castle, the Danube, and Matthias Church.

After lunch we continued up the street to the church and Fisherman's Landing. After touring the sites, we headed back to town to find our flat. We arrived at the flat, where we were given keys and a quick tour of the place. Unfortuanately we discovered the WiFi was down, and the flat only had a washer, no dryer, but other than that it truly was a mini-flat as advertised. We took showers and headed back out for our evening dinner cruise on the Danube.

Next up was our evening of dinner and dancing on the Danube. The dinner cruise was well worth the money. We dined on traditional Hungarian cuisine with Goulash, cold fruit soup, assorted cheese, meats, breads, entrees, dumplings, and much more. The sights as we cruised the river became more and more impressive as the sun began to set. Lights illuminating the buildings along the river provided an impressive backdrop for dinner and dancing.

As the night wound to a close we returned to our flat for much needed rest.

Suddenly we look up and the calendar says its the middle of June. Oh my, where has time gone? As we finish the preparations for our European journey, it is time to make the final reservations on airbnb, check all of our needs, and start pulling the traveling pack together.

Yes, we have the hybrid Caribee Skymaster 70. The exact pack, filled with 30+ lbs., that we have been walking about two miles a day with to prepare for the upcoming adventure. As we talked about before, the pack offers the best of both worlds with a combination backpack and rolling bag. Sure, we most likely will not be having to carry it on our back for 2 miles, but taking a line from the Boy Scouts, we are going to "be prepared."

Along with the whole travel planning that has been going on since last year, plans for some special happenings on this trip have been in the works as well. Celebrating ten years of marriage, Terri and I have a couples massage booked in the Hungarian baths, a dinner on-top of the tower in Vienna, and a night on a private boat in Croatia. Part of the fun of this adventure has been finding some things to do that would not be on our regular list of activities here at home.

We also have several cathedrals on the list. For anyone going to Europe and wanting to let the imagination soar ahead of time, I highly recommend reading Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follett.

The book shares some of the design elements used to build these magnificent structures, with a thrilling storyline that will capture the mind of the reader.

Many more thrilling items fill our agenda, as well as plenty of time to explore areas and get to know the locals as well. How's that packing coming you ask? Well the bags are full and we are under our 44lbs. limit. Have we forgot anything, hopefully not, thanks to the travellerspoint.com packing list. Yes, it is extensive, but it is good.

We have been months in the planning stages and now the trip is upon us, we look forward to sharing our journey with you over the next couple of weeks. Keep watching here for our story and pictures and we will try to update it regularly. Please leave us your feedback and comments, we want to hear from you!

Signing off until we hop on board that plane,

~Terri and Darren

There is a knot in the stomach, palms are sweaty, it is hard to concentrate and wonderment surrounds. That is the experience that surrounds the moment of no return, that moment when dreams become reality, when there can be no turning back. That is the moment when you actually purchase your airline tickets for the journey.

Deciding to fly into Warsaw, Poland may have been the easiest part of the decision. What proved to be much more difficult was determining when and where to buy the tickets for our trip. You may wonder why Poland was an easy decision? When we first started discussing a trip to Eastern Europe (Yes, I know it is actually Central Europe, but as an 80's youth, when communism and the cold-war still existed, it was Eastern Europe to millions of Americans, myself included), we looked at tickets to Hungry, Croatia, Czech Republic, and some of the larger Western European countries. The average RT flight from Los Angeles (LAX), California, to the destination cities that I looked at were $1,500USD for airfare in June 2014. However, as we continued looking at the map we decided to check Poland for flights, sure enough $987USD.

Once we discovered the difference in prices, the decision was made. We will fly into Poland and travel via train from there. The whole process seems easy enough, where does the previously mentioned angst come from you ask? Let me tell you, curses on that little "roaming gnome," I mean really does anybody know what he does for Travelocity? Or Hotwire, Kayak, WebJet, Orbitz, Expedia, Priceline, these companies quickly became a thorn in my side.

All of the companies have handy fare alerts that will tell you when the prices are going up or down, and it is as bad as watching the stock market rise and fall hourly. Really, how often can the airfare rise and fall during a single day? And Orbitz, well, they have all these great fares, but a "this fare is no longer available comes up on all of their lowest flights," what's that all about?

Information abounds about where to get you tickets and when to buy them. We researched and continued to watch the numbers rise, rise some more, and fall a bit. Again, they fluctuate, day-in and day-out. Eventually, you have to take that step and we did. Finding a $1000USD fare among the prices of several others that had now risen to $1100+, it was time to jump.

Yes, I hit that purchase now button and won't be looking back. We will be traveling on Lufthansa from LAX to WAW. That's right it is now official Eastern Europe 2014 is no longer a dream but a reality for Terri and I!

The stress of choosing a flight is gone, now it is time to plan some activities!

The research for our trip has begun, as well as the first reservations on where to stay and how we are going to travel. We always begin with a bang and try to have our trips paid off before we go with only the daily activities needing to be paid for upon arrival. The internet has become a travelers best friend and I love the hours of research that become part of my travels.

Living in San Diego, we have decided to fly Los Angeles to Warsaw, Poland as the air travel will be under $1000USD per person as opposed to $1200-1400USD flying into Hungary or Croatia. As a result of the addition of Poland to our trip, we have decided on 21days for this excursion. Look to our last post to see more and also below.

1. Warsaw - 2 days
2. Krakow - 3 - days
3. Budapest - 2- days
4. Zagreb - 2 days
5. Split/Dubrovnik - 4 days
6. Vienna - 3 days
7. Prague - 3 days
8. Warsaw - 2 days

You can follow along with the planning and trip, and many holidays leading up to this event on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/MrDarrenesl/ where I will post videos of what is going on and the thought process leading up to the trip. For now, as always, we look forward to your thoughts and ideas on how to make this trip a success!