This trip is already the hilarious misadventure that any Jon + Elyse trip should be. My failed attempt to travel into London clearly set the tone for the rest of this trip.
Let me fill you in...
I finally arrived in Hungary, 2 hours later than planned. It was about 2am when I made it to the hotel, so Jon and Andrea had already paid a visit to B City and Instant, two of our most-frequented bars in Budapest. They'd also managed to consume chicken sandwiches from the little shop that we adore, which I'm devastated to have missed out on!! We also all missed out on cheap caviar, which Jon had tried to find with no success. Oh well...he at least had tasty mozzarella waiting for me!
W spent the rest of the evening in, since we had to leave Budapest in the morning. We took a train from Budapest to Balaton (For those who don't know, we're here for Balaton Sound, a big electronic music festival on Lake Balaton) after a stop at Kiado, our favorite restaurant in the city, for breakfast. It's always good to be back at Kiado, although the basement area was closed for renovations so it didn't quite feel like home. The train ride was an unenventful 2 hours, occupied with sleeping and beginning a new John Irving novel. Yay for my new Kindle!
Upon arrival, we had, as is often the case when we travel, 0 plans. Our afternoon can be summed up in one word: wandering. We were homeless for, quite literally, hours. I believe it was around 5:15-5:30 when we arrived and it is only now, at 9pm, that I'm able to write to you from a hotel room. EVERYWHERE was booked. Which I can't say was unexpected, since there's a music festival. It all would have been fine, except that Andrea is not used to traveling like that. She was clearly getting upset and frustrated with our lack of planning. Jon and I should probably learn our lesson about bringing other people on our travels...we travel in a very unique way, and it's definitely not right for a lot of people!
We stopped for food because Andrea was starving, then Jon left us with the baggage and continued on the search for accommodations. The girls passed the time gabbing on the shores of Lake Balaton - which is HUGE! It's so enormous that you cant even see all the edges, just water meeting sky. It's like staring out at the ocean. And I thought Almanor seemed big last week...
When Jon returned, he had nothing good to report. Nowhere had rooms, in the whole town. Our options were: hotel in a nearby town, rent an RV, rent a tent. I definitely did not want the RV, as it seemed like the most likely to be expensive, and because old prejudices die hard. I am not an RV person! Andrea, on the other hand, was most in favor of the RV. I think Jon and I both liked the idea of the farther-away-hotel. He suggested finding wifi to look into all our options. Andrea was vehemently against the idea, saying we should just go to the event and ask about tents/RVs because she was tired of carrying around her stuff and tired of walking. I thought that was a bad idea, but I didn't feel like arguing with someone who as already cranky. I was perfectly happy just to be on the road again!
Sure enough, when we asked at the festival, they said they had no more space for RVs and no more tents. Nearby hotel it is, we figured. We wandered until we found a place with wifi, then settled in to review our options. Andrea decided to continue on in hopes of dining something. Jon and I found several possible options at decent rates, and awaited Andrea's return.
When she came back, she made the announcement: she'd booked us at the expensive hotel in town because she "didn't know what else to do." Bad call. Now the two people who weren't cranky became cranky! It's $175/night! When you're traveling with other people, you don't get to make decisions for the group. It just doesn't work like that. But it was too late to change, and at least we had a home. The room is nice, on the plus side, although there's something I actually kind of love about staying in awful hotels...
Let me fill you in...
I finally arrived in Hungary, 2 hours later than planned. It was about 2am when I made it to the hotel, so Jon and Andrea had already paid a visit to B City and Instant, two of our most-frequented bars in Budapest. They'd also managed to consume chicken sandwiches from the little shop that we adore, which I'm devastated to have missed out on!! We also all missed out on cheap caviar, which Jon had tried to find with no success. Oh well...he at least had tasty mozzarella waiting for me!
W spent the rest of the evening in, since we had to leave Budapest in the morning. We took a train from Budapest to Balaton (For those who don't know, we're here for Balaton Sound, a big electronic music festival on Lake Balaton) after a stop at Kiado, our favorite restaurant in the city, for breakfast. It's always good to be back at Kiado, although the basement area was closed for renovations so it didn't quite feel like home. The train ride was an unenventful 2 hours, occupied with sleeping and beginning a new John Irving novel. Yay for my new Kindle!
Upon arrival, we had, as is often the case when we travel, 0 plans. Our afternoon can be summed up in one word: wandering. We were homeless for, quite literally, hours. I believe it was around 5:15-5:30 when we arrived and it is only now, at 9pm, that I'm able to write to you from a hotel room. EVERYWHERE was booked. Which I can't say was unexpected, since there's a music festival. It all would have been fine, except that Andrea is not used to traveling like that. She was clearly getting upset and frustrated with our lack of planning. Jon and I should probably learn our lesson about bringing other people on our travels...we travel in a very unique way, and it's definitely not right for a lot of people!
We stopped for food because Andrea was starving, then Jon left us with the baggage and continued on the search for accommodations. The girls passed the time gabbing on the shores of Lake Balaton - which is HUGE! It's so enormous that you cant even see all the edges, just water meeting sky. It's like staring out at the ocean. And I thought Almanor seemed big last week...
When Jon returned, he had nothing good to report. Nowhere had rooms, in the whole town. Our options were: hotel in a nearby town, rent an RV, rent a tent. I definitely did not want the RV, as it seemed like the most likely to be expensive, and because old prejudices die hard. I am not an RV person! Andrea, on the other hand, was most in favor of the RV. I think Jon and I both liked the idea of the farther-away-hotel. He suggested finding wifi to look into all our options. Andrea was vehemently against the idea, saying we should just go to the event and ask about tents/RVs because she was tired of carrying around her stuff and tired of walking. I thought that was a bad idea, but I didn't feel like arguing with someone who as already cranky. I was perfectly happy just to be on the road again!
Sure enough, when we asked at the festival, they said they had no more space for RVs and no more tents. Nearby hotel it is, we figured. We wandered until we found a place with wifi, then settled in to review our options. Andrea decided to continue on in hopes of dining something. Jon and I found several possible options at decent rates, and awaited Andrea's return.
When she came back, she made the announcement: she'd booked us at the expensive hotel in town because she "didn't know what else to do." Bad call. Now the two people who weren't cranky became cranky! It's $175/night! When you're traveling with other people, you don't get to make decisions for the group. It just doesn't work like that. But it was too late to change, and at least we had a home. The room is nice, on the plus side, although there's something I actually kind of love about staying in awful hotels...
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