I'm in Budapest right now, sipping some mint tea and hoping for a room of ten to be a quiet place for a weary traveler. Hah, jokes on me, ms. save-a-buck.
Right now I'm on the must-save-every-cent, as I have zero on the cash scale. Well, that's an exaggeration, I have about 10 dollars in Fint... or huf, or whatever its called. 10 dollars of fint, or huf, or whatever it's called is actually about 5000, numerically... which feels incredibly lavish. Oh, how much is in my wallet, a mere 5000 dollar bill. What??!?
I want to recall all the moments of my journey, but my tired shoulders and blistery feet tell me i should be horizontal and leave this 'chair' business to the man next to me who is actually being paid to sit and type. So, I shall only back up to the morning.
I woke in Paris, too early for my liking with about 6 hours of sleep under my pajama belt. I begrudgedly showered and packed my stuff, mostly. In a whirl of what was less than 3 minutes Anne and Jo were ready and at the door, and I was shoeless and flustered.
We got the car from Jo's parents,' and I felt very lucky to have a brother-in-law (almost) who drives in Paris (and is also an awesome guy). They were tired, the fiance-ed couple and they hauled my quiet and tired petoot to Orly, the airport disconnected from connections to Paris. Well, Orly is actually two airports, South and West... but my ticket did not indicate any difference. So, suffice it to say, I felt like even more of a jerk sister.
They dropped me off in a flurry which felt a little bit like the curtains had been drawn open and light flooded back into their life. I thought I heard a sigh of relief as I shuffled into the EasyJet crowds and they turned back to their life of two. Not two, and a bumbly sister living in the living room and not having her own schedule, but just two. The more time I spend with them, the more I feel like life has a long road for their relationship, and they are all too ready to get on that road, whatever it may bring. Bless his heart, that Jo.
Hunger and cramps ate at me as I waited in line and were easily replaced by the feeling of smugness that I had traveled lightly, ahhhhh... yes one duffel, one 'sac a main.' I gave easyjet my duffel and grabbed a coffee, sweet nectar of life, and proceeded to play "pajama-ification." This is a game where I guess everyone's favorite pajamas and place them into them as they walk by me. Simple, and fun. This is a great way to make the cool kids, well, just kids.
A few aironautical bumps and some unecessary screams from the back row and we'd landed in Budapest. CRAZY TALK. I got off the plane, and that's when it started to rain.
It was bright and sunny, and to stay that way for several more hours. However, the atm machine decided instead to provide some storms. No money for you Christine. How about you remember your pin number? I swear that I do, evil machine, I do, I do, I do!
Thank you foreign money exchange and my good sense not to use up all my money (Annie and Jo must be thanked on this as well). 50 exchanged euros and I bought a train ticket and 30 minutes of gut gnawing concern (and real gnawing, as food was needed). Money, how will I live without you? Cash, the bread and butter of gluten-loving Budapest. Damn!
Country side, lacking country, rolled by as i sat in the ticket checkers booth on the train, which pleased them about as much as my blisters please me. I listened and enjoyed the softness of Hungarian which I thought would have sounded like rice getting stuck in the throat. It was rather pleasant. I would have enjoyed it more had it not been for that dreading "i suck at traveling" feeling which was enhanced by many factors listed so aptly by a man named Maslow.
Some confusion at the train to tram transition and some more on the street of the hostel, and finally, I lugged myself into a cool and calm and ancient building to find my hostel. Big Fish, it's called, and I could kiss this fish.
After a few hours online with ESL and some people who spoke some english, I realized that cash was not coming. I was a fool, and I would pay. No changing that sometimes.
An orange and some peanuts smuggled in from Paris changed at least the hungry part of my hungry foolishness.
My roommates arrived and I immediately was granted the serenity that I can find in well-timed human interaction. Laughing, sharing, all that jazz. Portugese kids on an eastern europeean whirlwind tour. And some overly curious and overly nice Nigerian guy who now resides in Sweeden (he appeared much later).
A not-so-friendly girl from LA asked if I wanted to go to dinner, and I pounced on the idea. This is how I would make my wallent jingle with change. I would buy her dinner on my credit card, she would give me cash. Cha ching!
I doubled my 5 dollars, for the price of boring conversation and the refreshing feeling of not being from LA. Oh, you drank too much last night and the night before that and so on and so on.... NOT interesting.
I returned to the hostel, deposited my food and hit out again. I was to stroll before night fell.
I laughed to myself about silly signs and calmed my feet with promises of a hot shower as I walked to the 'second largest' synagogue in Europe. Before that, however, Budapest's big buda belly rumbled with anger. Rain was coming, and I was happy.
It would ruin my walk's length, but not it's quality. I passed many restaurants and funny signs that I wanted to dwell on, pronouning them slowly and giggling in a way that only a foreigner could. It's like the joy that the french get when an american says "do you want fries with that?"
I picked some ginko leaves, and let rain push me back towards a shower, some tea and some blog debriefing. Now, I will read in bed, and awake early in budapest to have some coffee with the big fish and plan my day with the big Buda.
It took just some rain and the realization that I would be fine. After all, a deep breath, some coffee and the ability to ask for what you need from the universe can sometimes really work. If not, there's some free candies at the reception desk, you can live on those.
