Budapest 2023 Chapter 7 - Done-gary
- Rob C
- Jun 30, 2023
- 4 min read
Updated: Mar 24, 2024
Last blog dear Readers. Homeward bound today. Boring blog I'm afraid.
We've just checked out by a young man called Florian (maybe his parents were Kraftwerk fans) and stowed the luggage for now. I glance across the desk and I see the name badge Monika but it's not the passive aggressive tea bag lady I've been sparring with.
We go to the corner cafe and I'm bombarded with orders, there's language issues but manage to get food for girls and manage to forget food for Lis & me. Serving lady is a bit churlish, puts me off going back. We're not to fussed tho. Lizzie has one of those hot dog things. It's good apparently.
We head off towards a charity shop. It's about a 15 min walk. We can't find it. Lisa is moaning. So we hit a little souvenir shop, Lizzie buys a kid's tee shirt and we pick something up for Stu to say thank you for the lifts.
A quick look in Creams (2nd hand clothes store) and then we head back. We see Tesco so decide to pop in. It turns out I have my own energy drink:
I buy what I think is a sausage roll but it's some sort of sweet pastry, which is nice enough. Lisa gets a doughnut, she didn't really like it. We walk a bit further and get as far as McDs because Lisa wants a milkshake and she gets a burger for the hell of it.
In the hotel they're seeing up for a conference - The Academy of Neurologists Annual Symposium. Florian gets our luggage and orders us a cab - no free lancers I say. He says standard fare of 34€ applies. Cab takes 10 mins to arrive. The guy is dressed smart and helps take the cases to the car. He's quiet at first but we have a good old chat about all sorts. His English is ok. He likes American accents and when we say goodbye we tip him 2000HUF and Lisa shouts "Now get outta here" with a US twang, he smiles.
Airport is decent. Bags are quickly deposited, security is again a breeze. We pass through duty free and head upstairs for some scran.
A little bit of shop mooching, followed by sitting at a little spot to charge Els's Nintendo Switch at a quiet gate, and then take it in turns to shop for airport tat. Gate for our flight is on the board well early - B6, but we hang and faff about. At about 16:20 we head to the gate. See more shops we missed. Forgot there's passport control, but that's done quickly. There's another duty free shop after this.
Plane takes an age to board. We're about 30 mins late. Dickheads have been standing for this time in a panic to get on board and get bags stowed. We've had a nice sit, BeReal goes off.
A sweet Hungarian lady asks me if this is the flight to London. "It's my first time there" she says. She seems a bit nervous. Her husband joins her and she then has a long loudspeaker conversation with some bloke.
We board, usual seats please, second from back. All the overhead stowage is full, but we just have bags which can go under seats. Once again there's no-one next to me, but a young guy next to window. Plane is pretty full.
A guy who looks like Daniel Wakeford in a bright yellow top is powering down the aisle, saying loudly "don't worry I'm no trouble".
He stops at the row in front. The middle seat is still free. A young European in the window seat looks up and says in euro-english "do you mind if I stay here?"...as quick as a flash DW says matter-of-factly with a point and nod "No I want the window seat". Euroboy is up and out before you can say asswhoop. Respect DW. These boys have to sit next to eachother the whole flight. I don't blame DW, the middle seat between strangers is pretty shit.
I eat my ear-pressure-soothing sweet prematurely, and Els gives me some Haribo strings. I goof about with mouth open, poised ready for take off. I'm like that for about 5 mins much to the amusement of the others.
Lisa does something like balance her earphone case on the seat arm, natch they go flying. I grab one from the floor, but we can't see other. Stewardess says she'll help if we can't find. Trolley goes past so I have a look, on hands and knees looking under some old lady's seat. Feels a bit pervy but I'm not caught. No joy, could be around her feet. I double check around toilet area - nuthin' fam. We grab stewardess and she gets old lady to move feet, they find it.
That's the end of the drama, so I zone out with music. I remembered to download more on WiFi in the hotel. A bit of Hot Chip, then I watch half of Tomorrowland.
We get off the plane, and Hungarian Lady catches up with me and is asking me about "lounge". At first I think she says lunch. I point her towards some Heathrow people, I don't have a scooby.
Baggage is super quick which means we have to hang a little for StuCab. We're happy to see him, and we give him a can of Rob's Energy drink. Before you know it we're in the Juke and Welcome Home by Peters and Lee is belting out.
FIN
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