The bus from Vienna to Budapest was thankfully only about 6 hours long and so I arrived at about 6pm at Nepliget bus station. I had emailed my friend Rob and he recommended that I stay at 11th Hour Hostel. After negotiating the train, finding the hidden door of the hostel and trying to figure out exactly how to buzz the buzzer, I was invited into a sweet little enclosed courtyard and into the reception. As I had just said goodbye to Tucks and Carli and was now truly winging all of my plans, I felt a little lost...I also looked like a dirty hippy, first impressions, you know.
But after checking in and sitting around for a bit, John got the ball rolling by introducing me to some Canadians who had never met an Aussie before (?). John had just arrived to work in the hostel from England but had been there before; he prides himself on being the instigator of fun things. He’s also a Chopper fan and likes to impersonate New Zealanders, so he’s ok in my books.
Sitting down to watch Pleasantville with a few beers we all got talking and the rest is history. That night we went out to a bar that played reggae (Hungarian style...) and got our dance on.
Unfortunately I am writing this about a month after I was there and some of the details are a little sketchy, but Budapest was so much fun that instead of staying 3 days I stayed nearly 2 weeks, enough said.
Budapest lies on both sides of the river Danube and the west bank (Buda) and east bank (Pest) were unified in the late 1800’s to create Hungary’s capital city. The architecture, climate, and most of all, the people, are beautiful.
The next morning I dragged myself out of bed to explore some of Budapest. I ended up hiking up Castle Hill to watch over the city. I sat for the day and read my book in the sunshine and recollected my thoughts.
That evening as John and I were sitting in the courtyard he mentioned that he just wanted a big group to come in, offer beers and have some fun... and perhaps some Mexican guests to share their dinner with him. Well, no Mexicans, but a Welsh stag party did arrive and beers were definitely consumed. It was also interesting to see large Welsh men in dresses and high heels. We ended up going out again that night, and it was pretty messy.
Next morning I had to change rooms but was that hung over that the receptionist actually had to wake me up and helped me move my bags, bless. Lucky I did move rooms as I got to meet Lucy and Nuala, two awesome chicks from Oxford, England. We got on from the first moment and spent the rest of the time they were there as a little threesome. That day we decided to go to the Széchenyi baths, one of the largest bathing complexes in all of Europe. It was such a grand and bright place with baths both inside and outside. It was raining but we didn’t mind, but there was some minding of the all the Europeans and their budgie smugglers.
We spent the evening playing guitar together and practicing our ballet positions and then John and Simon took us out to one of their favourite places, Morrisons. It’s a bar, it’s a club...and it’s also karaoke. Good times.
The next day was a little bit of write-off although we redeemed our consciences by walking over Greenbridge and around the Danube. The evening though, was possible one of our most creative ever. If you ever hear a song on the radio called ‘Will You Be My Spoon Tonight’ by The Kebab Kids, then you are listening to the masterpiece written and performed by Lucy, Nuala and myself...geniuses. For something a little bit different, we all went out again that night.
Sadly the girls had to leave in the morning and I was also planning to move on, but as I had nowhere special to be and I was enjoying my time in Budapest, I decided to stay.
That day John played tour guide and showed me around Buda and the Fisherman’s Bastion.
The timeline for the rest of my time in Budapest isn’t as clear in my head anymore but there are definite highlights. The staff meeting which turned into a party was a very funny night, all the staff got on it and everyone went a little crazy, lucky all the guests loved it too and wanted to join in on transforming the reception into a dance floor.
For the rest of my time in Budapest I got to know Janka, one of the receptionists at 11th Hour and a very special person. We became really close and spent a lot of time together, miss her a lot. We spent a lot of time just hanging out, chatting and just generally being silly, a lot of healthy laughing was had.
It was difficult to leave and I continued to extend my stay at 11th Hour, putting off the inevitable, but eventually I had to bite the bullet and get a ticket out of there to Sofia. Saying goodbye was hard, I hope we get to see each other again. As much fun as travelling is, it is quite a solitary adventure and can occasionally break your heart a little bit; nothing is constant, all the relationships you form are transitional. But the great ones you do stay in contact with, it doesn’t matter how long or how far away you are from each other.
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