I’ve written about this before, but one of the things I hate about traveling from here is that we only shift an hour or two in time zones, but we always have wicked jet lag because we have to travel in the middle of the night. Really, all the flights to go anywhere other than Dubai or Oman leave between midnight and 4am. This flight to Budapest was scheduled to leave at 2:30 am — not enough time to go to sleep before our flight, but enough time to sit around and get sleepy while Camille cried, “Can we go now?” 50 million times starting around 3 in the afternoon. She’s very excited about the trip except for the skiing part.
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| Meels chatting with Josie before we head out — probably showing off her toenail polish. Josie stays at our house whenever we travel and takes care of the pets. She makes our lives so much easier! |
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| Caleb crashed before we’d even left the house. We’re in for a long night . . . |
Yes, we get Christmas trees in Bahrain! They are in all the public spaces.
We headed over around 11:30pm so we could get checked in and try to rest in the airport lounge. I figure because of the way the flight is broken up into 4 hours and 2 hours (with an hour layover in the middle) no one is probably going to get more than an hour or 2 of sleep all night.
Scratch that. No one is going to be sleeping after that coffee shake. The plan is to arrive in Budapest at 8:30 am, hang on as long as the adrenaline lasts and then will either succumb to a nap or crash early. It’s the way our trips always go.
I was just drifting off when this group of women crashed in our lounge area — they weren’t going on our flight, they were super loud and there were 4 of them with a 2 year old boy that kept screaming and trying to hit his mama. They finally got a phone call and went rushing off. Because of the holidays it seemed that there were a lot more Saudi travelers than usual at our airport. Lucky Calvin slept through it all.
Why do we have all this time to sleep at the airport? Because our flight was delayed. No one was telling us why, just the sign listed a 10 minute delay that was never updated beyond that even after that time had come and gone. I was getting edgy, thinking that there must be a mechanical issue and I was going to be the test bunny after the repair. But after about an hour Josh was looking out the window at our plane (because it had been at the gate the entire time) and saw them moving a body out through one of the front doors of the plane and into a truck. So maybe someone died on the previous flight? Not that I’m happy that someone died, but I was relieved that all was fine with the plane. Sorry, dead guy.
A few minutes later they rushed us onto the plane like cattle, since we were over an hour late, and we took off. A few minutes in there was an announcement over the loudspeaker looking for any medical personnel, since someone was having an emergency on board. For a split-second I thought I might be trapped on a killer plane, like something from a Stephen King novel, but then it turned out to be nothing and we continued on. Our pilot tried to make up the time lost, but it wasn’t enough for us to make our connection. We landed just as our flight to Budapest was taking off. Oh well. More hours to spend in an airport.
We did get a meal comped by the airline to feed us while we waited. Whoppers and fries for breakfast! Why not? Our body clocks are all fouled up anyway.
Several hours later, up up and away to Budapest! This two hour fight was a smooth one except for the very end when the pilot was coming in for a landing and then changed his mind and shot back up into the sky. He came on over the loudspeaker and said there had been a sudden change in weather so he was going to try again for “a good landing.” Yes, yes. I’d definitely prefer that. As we were looking out the window and kept getting lower and lower, I was waiting to break through the clouds to see the ground. And then I saw the lines on the runway about 15 feet below and we touched down before I could even blink. Zero visibility on that one. Nice job, pilot.
All our luggage arrived along with us and we grabbed a cab to the apartment.
Our first views of Budapest. Lots of old buildings — it reminds me of Paris.
Our apartment is perfect. Under $1000 for 7 nights in a 3 bedroom 2 bathroom place right in the center of town.
Our bedroom. Chocolates on the pillows and it’s decorated for Christmas!
After dropping our luggage we added a few layers and went out to explore our neighborhood before it got dark (It’s 3pm, but it gets dark around 4:30).
There’s a yarn store around the corner — look at the name on the ball of yarn in the window! I’ll have to go buy some. It was meant to be.
The sign on the gun shop next to the yarn store. Maybe they can shop while I shop . . .
Walking up the main pedestrian street to the Christmas Market
Admiring the beautiful architecture
Getting closer, getting crowded
Christmas tree on the square
Merry Christmas 2015
And Happy Birthday to me. The end of my birthday is turning out WAY BETTER than the beginning of the day.
Stopping for mulled wine, of course.
All the booths lining the square selling everything from leather goods, to sweets, to pottery . . .
Dinner: sausages, sauerkraut, stuffed cabbage (my favorite), goulash in the bread bowl and pork with vegetables.
Topping up our mugs with lemon tea and some other version of hot grog for the walk home.
Pitch dark and it’s not even 5pm. We walked home and warmed up (gotta add extra layers and make sure to wear gloves from now on!) and I crawled in bed to relax. I was out by 5 and slept all night until 8:30 the next morning. I guess the rest of the family went out to the grocery store and explored a little more while I was in la la land, but they were all asleep by 8. Jet lag strikes again!
