reunited and it feels so good

Friday December 28th, 2018

Mark and I enjoyed one last hostel breakfast and then checked out of Hostel One. We changed money, purchased two bottles of champagne and embarked on a half hour pack walk to Todd and Em's place. They live on a quiet London side street, tucked away from all of the hustle and bustle that is the city centre. When we arrived, Emily, Tash and I, so happy to be reunited, sat down for a cup of tea and talked and talked and talked. Jenna showed up shortly thereafter and the five us went on a walking tour of the city with Emily as our guide. (To those of you who haven't been following my blog since my Thailand days, Emily, Todd, Tash and Jenna are all friends that I met while completing my four week TEFL course in Cambodia. Emily and Todd have been dating for years and are currently living in London, although Todd's from Australia, Jenna is teaching in Spain but is originally from California and Tash is teaching in Texas. We haven't all been together since a meet up in Thailand over two years ago)
Anyway, Emily took us to Oxford Street, walked us around a famous curve, showed us the seven dials, recommended a delicious vietnamese pho place for lunch in chinatown, walked it off with us through the Christmas Market, but not before stopping for mulled wine, and finally ended with us at The Shard for drinks and a 360 view of London. The views were absolutely gorgeous. Mark had left earlier in the day to take care of some work so he and Todd both met us for a drink before we left for dinner.

 

Emily took us to Wagamamas (a deliciously asian spot) for dinner. I had ramen and lucky buddha beer-- when in London, right? We all must've had Thailand on the brain.

After dinner we took the Millenium Bridge across the river and visited a beautiful church that was lit up with a large Christmas Tree.

We stopped at an outdoor rooftop bar with a view. The streets of London may have been jam packed, but catching up with my friends made it all worth it!

Doing all there is to Do in Dover

December 27, 2018

We both got up and had hot showers (the hostel had really nice bathrooms) and made breakfast in the hostel for 3 pounds each. Mark and I had to change Hungarian Forints to Pounds so we stopped at multiple exchanges before finally finding an exchange that would make the switch.
We walked quickly to the station because we needed to take the tube to the national rail line in order to exit the city. We had to rush getting our tickets and ran down the platform to hop on the line with one minute to spare. The tube was delayed at one of the stops though so we were running from it to the international rail line. We were running, running, running to get the tickets at the machine and then had to run again to make it onto the train before the doors shut. Woof. What a ridiculous two days. Once we were on this really nice train however we got to relax and enjoy the countryside whizzing by us for over an hour.

After exiting we had about a half hour walk (uphill) to Dover Castle. Woof.

The castle grounds were vast and green and like nothing I'd ever seen before. I was in awe.

 

 After walking the grounds (and me stopping A LOT just to "take it all in") we headed underground to take a tour of the tunnels. There are over 4 miles of them. The tunnels were carved out during the napoleonic period but were used extensively during WW2s Dynamo Operation. The tour was absolutely fascinating.
 We exited the underground just in time to see an amazing sunset over the channel.

 We wandered down a set of stairs into the cute town of Dover below.

We found a free museum that had exhibits from the stone age and WW2, but what I found most interesting was the special exhibit dedicated to WW1. The exhibit was centered around the importance of remembering those who gave their lives during the war, especially during the Battle of Zeebrugee.

We then went to White Horse, an english pub rich in character. It's an incredibly old building that has served many purposes.

Mark and I each had half a pint of english cask beer (this beer isn't cold, it's kept at room temperature)

 The bartender was super friendly and explained that the graffiti covering the walls and ceilings of the bar belonged to patrons who had swum the English Channel. Fun fact: The water of the channel doesn't exceed 60 degrees Fahrenheit in temperature. Add that to the fact that most of the recorded times of the swims were between 13 and 15 hours. I'll just stick to consuming the cask beer and opt out of the swimming side of the pub thank you very much.

 The bartender encouraged us to try gin drinks next because the White Horse had over 40 different types of gin, in addition to multiple flavored tonics.

I was hesitant because I am not a gin drinker but I figured if I'm going to enjoy gin somewhere it's probably going to be at a bar known for it's gin, right? Mark and I were incredibly glad that we made the switch from cask beer to gin. The drinks we had were fabulously made with unique mixers.

 For dinner we had fish and chips and meat casserole (although delicious, it definitely didn't fit the American version of a 'casserole')

The best part of our pub experience though had to be when the owner came round and opened up a trap door in the floor to get downstairs to the liquor room.

Mark and I were definitely spoiled by our first time pub experience. We headed back to the train station and comfortably made the 7:55pm train (no running necessary!) In fact, it was smooth sailing all the way home. Once back in London we headed to Snowflake, a shop that promises a "luxury gelato experience". I ordered hot chocolate over salted caramel gelato which was ok while Mark had a chocolate lava cake which was quite good. (We both vote that Cioccolatitaliani in Tirana is better though!)

We got back to the hostel around 10:45 and were absolutely exhausted but excited at the prospect of spending another day in London tomorrow!

and this is why i wouldn't suggest traveling the day after christmas...

Wednesday, December 26, 2018
Boxing Day

Our hostel was really cold and without hot water (and a bathroom light) so we decided to grunge bus it to the airport and shower once we'd arrived in London. The bus to the airport was packed shoulder to shoulder. Mark and I barely got on and once we did we were sandwiched between suitcases and smelly passengers. I was praying the entire 30 minute ride that the man standing right over me didn't lose his late night snack because the signs of his hangover were all too apparent. When the bus stopped the doors opened inward and sent me and my backpack flying into the man's stomach. I braced myself for the inevitable. But, instead of getting stuck I bounced off like I had hit a trampoline and made it out the doors before any projectables flew. We arrived at the airport about 10:15 AM but the check in counter for WizAir was not yet open. The boards said the counters would open at 10:30 so a large group of us made a clump near the WizAir signs. Unfortunately there were no lines set up, so when the counter did open agents had no idea what to do. They started randomly selecting people from the clump to check in. What? We moved from one end to the other in hopes that we would be in the "chosen" spot. It was absolute madness. We were finally selected for check in at 11:30am. The woman behind the counter informed me that I was checked in but that Mark was not. She didn't understand how this was possible because both tickets were on one itinerary so there was only one check in option. She said that there must have been a malfunction within the system. She explained that in order to check Mark in we would have to pay an airport check in fee of 60 euro. WHAT?! No. That's not possible. We checked in online. The proof is right here. The woman explained that she is employed by the airport, not by our flight operator, WizAir so there was nothing she could do about the policy except refer us to email WizAir directly (hmm... sounds familiar, doesn't it?) To make matters worse, we had to move to another line to pay this fee and then move back to this woman for check in. We asked to speak with a manager but were told that if Mark wasn't checked in for our flight by 11:50am he would not be able to board AT ALL. But we're right here! At the airport! Isn't this what airports do? Check people in for their flights? We were livid. What about ALL of these people behind us, still waiting to check in for this flight? If they didn't complete online check in they won't board the flight? The woman told me I was correct. Dear God what a nightmare! We paid the fee and Mark's ticket was printed at 11:48am (Phew!) However, our plane was now boarding but our gate number wasn't printed on our tickets. The desk staff couldn't help us, so just advised us to 'check the boards'. We ran to security only to be greeted by an incredibly long line. We explained our situation to the line attendant but she wouldn't allow us to jump the line. To add time we didn't have to the ticking clock my bag got flagged, as did the bin with my coat and passport. I'm asked to remove my shoes while Mark is allowed to pass through with his on. What is happening?! We are now sprinting through the airport only to be stopped by customs counter. One of the passengers in line took pity on us and waved us to the front of his line. Thank you, sir! "Last Call" was echoing from the overhead speakers. How were we going to make it? We ran and ran and ran to the gate just as the gate attendants were closing the doors. "Quickly down the stairs. You still have to get on a bus," they called. OH MY GOD. This saga is never ending. We haven't eaten today, didn't get to change money and aren't sitting together but we are both physically on the airplane. Somehow, by the grace of something, we have made it onto this plane. WizAir does not do food or snacks on their flights except for purchase. Well, we already gave Wiz 60 additional euro today, what's a few more? Unfortunately, the heating and cooling mechanisms for food storage and preparation were not working properly so we had no hot food options and oops the cold food options had accidentally frozen. After 45 minutes I ended up with a bag of peanuts that I happily inhaled and as a bonus, a Nesquick Bar, courtesy of WizAir, because the flight attendants didn't have enough change to give me. Once our plane landed we had a nice leisurely 30 minute sit while we waited for the correct deplaning stairs. But wooo! We were in London! We had made it! We waited about an hour to get through customs but the agents were some of the friendliest I've ever encountered. Mark had a conference call scheduled for 3:45 so we hunkered down in an airport cafe and had something to eat before embarking on the second leg of our journey. The airport trains were not running because of Boxing Day so we had to take a bus to our hostel. Because the number of passengers far exceeded the number of buses there were incredibly long, unorganized lines winding around the outside of the airport. Thank God Mark and I got a pro tip to buy our tickets online as opposed to waiting in the indoor ticket line only to then wait in the outdoor bus line. We boarded a bus at 6pm and were dropped off around 7. The walk to our hostel was about half an hour so by the time we arrived we were exhausted. The hostel staff made pasta and garlic bread for dinner which Mark and I happily ate. We met some really friendly travelers who told us to forego our showers and hang downstairs with them instead, so we grunged it up while playing cards against humanity and eating delivery pizza until one o'clock in the morning. It was a great end to a very hectic boxing day.

Merry Christmas from Budapest

Tuesday, 25th December, 2018

We spent Christmas Day the Szecheniyi (say-chen-ee) way! Most everything is closed in Budapest on Christmas except for the turkish baths. It's a tradition for families (and tourists) to spend their day celebrating at the baths. The Szecheniyi baths are the largest medicinal baths in Europe. The water in the baths is pumped in from two thermal hot springs near the area. The yellow building that houses the baths is huge.

 There are multiple entrances and of course Mark and I went in one, two, three before we finally got it right. We made a reservation online to "skip the line" but like most things in Europe we found out there's a "line" to "skip the line". 😆The baths were incredibly crowded. The first one we got in was not my idea of warm. Surely this many people didn't enjoy sitting in somewhat warm tubs, right? I decided to try my luck with another bath and was relieved. This bath felt much warmer. I snuggled up to the side and let myself relax in the warm, sulfur tub. Although we were very much enjoying the temperature of this bath we figured we had to see what else Szecheniyi had to offer so we went exploring for another tub. We found one that only had 3 or 4 people in it so I dipped my toe in only to realize that it was a "cold" tub. No thank you! We kept moving and found that there were multiple HUGE tubs outside. Did we really want to go outside in the cold to get in the baths? When in Budapest, right? So we did. We ran. Really, really fast. I hopped in and while it was warmer than the air outside it was definitely not a "hot" tub. 😞I did my part and indulged in the human made whirlpool that was happening in one of the smaller sections of the bath and I even swam around with Mark in the big pool for a bit. But 15 minutes is 15 minutes and at the end of that time I was ready to head back inside. I braced myself for the frigid air and took off in a sprint for the bathhouse. We entered on the opposite side from where we had exited so into a new pool I went. This one felt even warmer and was much less crowded. I liked it very much. We spent the remainder of our time between the two pools in these rooms. In order to get to the cafeteria we had to wander through the entire bathhouse with bare feet and wet towels. We enjoyed overpriced cafeteria food and irish coffees to help us warm up before heading to the showers. Since the shower experience at our hostel was subpar we decided to indulge in the hot water showers at the baths which were fantastic.
To finish off our day we went on a beer tasting cruise down the River Danube. We walked to the meeting point where there were hundreds of people. They then separated us by cruise type and walked us to the docking area. It was incredibly windy and very, very cold. We boarded our boat and ended up sitting next to a young couple from Estonia. We enjoyed lit up river views, traditional gypsy music from a live quartet, craft beers and good conversation from the couple at our table.

The boat was lovely and it was a great way to see the lights of the city for Christmas. The only downside was that the bathroom was on the outside deck of the boat. Brrrr! After our boat beers were done we went to a traditional Budapest-ian restaurant with our new friends for Christmas dinner and a few more drinks.

It was a lovely way to spend our first Christmas together as a Mr. and Mrs 😘