Budapest, Hungary!

We hit the road around lunch time to drive to Bristol to catch our flight. Bristol is a three hour drive and this gave us plenty of time to stop at a pub for food and check in early enough for our flight that left at 6pm.

We had purchased parking online (as this is the thing to do here and it's cheaper that way) so we drove to the parking area and they shuttled us to the airport (15 min drive). This was very convenient as we didn't have to deal with airport traffic.

Once checked in and through security I realized I left my coat and phone at the security desk - I'm bound to lose this jacket and phone at this rate! By the time I made it back to get my things and returned to Keith, he realized his boarding card was missing! Oh dear, what a start we're having to our vacation. We never did find his card but it wasn't a problem once we boarded. Bristol airport has an interesting setup. When you go through the boarding line up you're put on a bus and driven to the airplane! There isn't enough space at the airport itself, so the planes are at a different location on the property. Interesting! We flew with Ryanair which is the low cost airline here. That being said, it's a charter flight which is very cozy with limited leg room and no free munchies. Not a big deal, it's only a 2 hour flight and a return ticket for the 2 of us was $160. I wasn't complaining. I met a wonderful Welsh lady on the plane and she gave me lots of pointers for our visit to Budapest.

We arrived in Budapest at 9:30pm. From here we caught the airport shuttle and they took us directly to our hostel. I don't normally stay in hostels as they scare me a little but this was a double room with our own bathroom so it was perfect and of course cheap! I tried to make this trip as cheap as possible as we're both traveling home to Canada this year and that's not cheap. Once we were here we didn't worry about cost it was just the main items we wanted to save money on (flights, parking, shuttle and accommodation).

I was so excited to be in a new country I was checking out all the sights on our drive. We arrived at our hostel and I was scared! Oh my God I think we're in the hood! We got out of the shuttle and I said to Keith holy shit where the hell are we? I had booked this hostel also because it had hundreds of rave reviews - now I'm thinking those people were drunk!

There was no sign, barely any lighting and graffiti all over the building. As we approached the door a dark figure came out of the small park behind us finishing his cigarette. He asked if I was Amanda and helped us in to the hostel. He was one of the managers and once we were inside it was a completely different place. Thank God! It turned out to be a very cozy home, and our room was great. Nothing fancy, but clean and comfortable - what more could you ask for? And the manager was wonderful. Very friendly and welcoming. He spoke decent English but it was a bit broken with his Hungarian accent.

Not ready for sleep yet and anxious to see what's around us, Keith and I took an hour walk along the Danube River which was on the backside of the hostel. It ended up being a great location as well. I would stay again! It was a beautiful evening and Budapest looks amazing at night all lit up with the city lights. We crashed hard when we got back after our travels and fresh air.