Trip Update

Sorry guys but I don't think I got a chance to tell you about my Europe trip. I went to Amsterdam, London and Budapest and had a blast in all three cities. All were unique and had their own little charm. Stories in Amsterdam are funny. It all started with my crap $2 dollar shop umbrella that I bought for my trip on the day I left. It was raining in Amsterdam and quite windy the whole day I was there. So, as I was walking - my umbrella kept getting blown inside out and I was getting laughed at by all these local Dutch people. The coffee shops in Amsterdam are EVERYWHERE and the redlight district is right in your face too (no matter what time of day) - would you like something else with that breakfast of yours? Generally the people were quite nice and easy to get along with. I didn't go to any of the "shows" cause I thought they were too expensive and I also didn't want to go alone. Overall...I got a good feel for the city and don't think I need to go back anytime soon. Visiting a coffeeshop was a must and I did that. Ordering was interesting but I eventually figured it out.

London was grand. Raj was TOTALLY surprised when I knocked on his flat door and he opened it. He couldn't believe that I was there standing right in front him. Definitely a great surprise and awesome to see someone's jaw drop like that. I totally wished I had my camera ready...that would have been a priceless photo to have. My first couple days of London on this trip were spent celebrating the London Caribbean festival called Carnival. It's just like Caribana in Toronto but I think it might even be bigger. Raj's flat is located right on the parade route so it did get quite loud at times but the views were amazing. We would just sit in his chair on the window ledge so it was great. Throughout my trip to London we ate amazing food - italian, middle eastern spanish (the best tapas and paella ever), indian and english. And, I also had several other toxins throughout my body at various times during the trip.

Now, as I was in London - I was looking to find a cheap flight somewhere else so I could take off for a few days and check out another part of Europe. I found a flight for 90 pounds to Budapest so I took it. My trip to Budapest actually started on the wrong foot cause I was late leaving Raj's flat. I left the flat and was walking to porchester road to hop on Bus #36. I waited for a couple of minutes but realized it was going to take WAY too long... so i hopped in a cab. the cab driver raced and got me to Victoria station by 12:46 (so i was 1 minute after the Gatwick Express train left) so I had to wait until 1:00 pm. The cab cost 9 pounds. The train ride is about 30 mintues to Gatwick airport. I got off, ran to the above ground subway that took me to the North Terminal and ran to the British Airways check in desk. Got checked in at around 1:51 and then raced to the customs line. Got through that...saw that I was 10 minutes from my gate so I had to run to the gate for my flight (that was already boarding). I got there with about 3 minutes to spare (wow, that was close)...

On my flight, I was sitting beside a nice Hungarian woman who was just in paris/london visiting her daughter and niece. She spoke limited english but managed to tell me a couple of things to do while I was in Budapest and give me some good tips. She corrected me on some of the Hungarian i was trying to learn...like "kosonom" which means "thank you". I wasn't pronouncing the "o's" correctly. When we arrrived at the airport, she told me to wait for her and she would take me to the correct bus (which you ride for 25 minutes to get to the subway). After we passed through customs and she got her bag...we both changed some money. The currency there was quite low in value. 1 HUF (Hungarian Fuiret) = ~250 euro and ~195 USD.

When we got outside, the ladies' son was waiting for her to greet her (cause she had been gone for a month). Together, the three of us made our way to the bus (they bought me my ticket which was very nice of them). We chatted on the bus and then when we got to the metro station...the lady helped me buy my travel card for the metro. We then said our goodbyes (took a photo and exchanged e-mails (the son had e-mail, not the lady)) and that was it.

I got on the subway and within a minute, started talking to a guy from Israel who was flying home from Portugal. He had about 7 hours stopover in Budapest and decided to go in and check it out for a few hours. He came with me to my hotel...and i dropped off my stuff. It was a clean hotel, had a huge courtyard right in the middle with live gypsy music. I had a HUGE room (with 4 beds in it) but they only charged me the Single room rate (27 euro/night) which is really cheap compared to a lot of the others I saw that were 50 and 60 euro per night. Also, It is very close to the main city centre which is awesome. Me and the guy (Varana) left the hotel and walked around the city for the next few hours which was great while partaking in some "extra-curricular" activites. The sun was just going down and the skies were clear so we got to see some neat stuff. After dinner, Varana and I parted ways and I made my way back to my hotel. Prior to doing that, I stopped at an Internet cafe and then after, I ran into a nice Irish couple from Cork (southern Ireland). They were good fun and we had a blast.

More about Day 2 of my trip in a subsequent post.