The best memories on trips seem to be the unplanned parts. Some people think I’m crazy for not just traveling alone, but also thoroughly enjoying it. I don’t look at it so much like traveling “alone,” but rather traveling with strangers – different ones each day.
I arrived in Budapest at around 10pm on Wednesday (national holiday on Thursday and bridge day off on Friday!). My hostel was on “Oktogon” street…yes it was shaped like an octagon and yes it’s adorable that a math teacher found accommodation on a street with a polygon name. Only problem was I had to walk around the whole big octagon twice before I found the tiny sign with my hostel name on it.
My free walking tour was the next morning, and before it even started I met a girl from New Zealand who was also traveling alone. We became fast friends and we ended up spending the rest of the day together. See! Traveling alone is not alone!
Midway through the tour of the flat Buda side and the hilly Pest side, we had a break at an outdoor restaurant. My new friend and I saw that they had Palinka, the liquor that Hungary is most proud of. People compare it to Schnapps, so it couldn’t be too bad. We were so wrong. We each got a shot of mango Palinka and we couldn’t finish our teeny cups. I didn’t taste any mango…all I tasted was disgust. I hate shots. So does she. We don’t know why we did this to ourselves.
Anyway, after the tour we ate at a canteen with 2 other people from the tour – a couple from Australia who are living in Amsterdam. Even though our tour guide translated the menu for us, by the time we got into the cafeteria-like kitchen, none of the food had any labels so we just pointed and hoped for the best. And it’s not like I could have possibly remembered crazy Hungarian words to order the right thing I wanted. I just prayed I wouldn’t accidentally order liver.
One of the most fascinating sight-seeing bits was the communist tour we took later on (yes 2 tours in one day lol). Our tour guide was a child during the communist times. She had photos of herself among other girls in the girl scout type group all children were required to be in to start conforming to the communist mindset. Her memories of the 3 channels on TV were my favorites – they would show James Bond movies and dub them, replacing “Russian bastards” with “Chinese pirates.” No one cared that the people didn’t look Chinese. Also, there was an X Factor sort of talent show. Of course, there was no internet and people could not have landlines. Luckily, there was a monopoly on the electric company, so viewers would vote for their favorite competitor by turning on all the power in their house (even the washing machine) when it was time to vote for the one they wanted. Creative!
A “must-do” in Budapest is to go to one of the many thermal baths. That was my plan, until we realized that although it closes at 10, people aren’t allowed to enter after 6pm. By this time it was 7. We settled on a new plan as we shared a “communist pizza,” as our tour guide called it – it’s actually called langos. Fried dough, sour cream, cheese, and garlic. (just typing that made my stomach hurt)
After a bit more sight-seeing and some goulash-eating, we met up with the couple from earlier at a ruin pub. These are the trendy pubs that were created in abandoned WW2 buildings and they have the most random things inside as decorations.
It was really a good day. My favorite from my trip.
The next part of my trip was the most annoying. I had bought a bus ticket in advance to go from Budapest to Bratislava. Since I had such a short amount of time in each city, I really didn’t want any time to be wasted. But too bad for me.
I know how to navigate by now. I knew that I had to go to the central bus station and I knew how to get there. I got there about 20 minutes before my bus was scheduled to leave – easy peasy I thought. When I did not see my bus on the station’s timetable, I went to the information desk and showed them my ticket. The response was something like “Oh we are not associated with that bus company. I don’t know, try over there” *vaguely pointing in opposite direction.* So I go “over there,” back down to the underground train station and go out an exit on the opposite side. I saw no busses. I asked strangers where I had to go to find this bus, and every single one of them, without hesitation, pointed over to the main bus station that I was just at. Time’s a-ticking and I hurry back to the information desk. Her response to my frustration was “Well this is a big station. I cannot give information about any bus company except this one.” She said the next bus with her company was leaving 6 hours later. I went out a different exit, and I watched the clock change to the minute my bus was supposed to leave. I missed it. After a few moments, I saw a bus with my bus company’s name on it pass by…I did not see where it was stopped before but I watched it drive by. So that confirmed that it wasn’t some sketchy company that stole my money – this is a legitimate bus that leaves multiple times a day from wherever it was. Surely the information people at the main bus station knew about it…
I found a different information desk that I hoped could help me find another way to get to Bratislava sooner than 6 hours later. But, she also could not give me information about anything other than a specific bus company.
I find this so baffling. I’ve never seen such a lack of communication between companies that should obviously know about each other. Later on in my trip I met someone who had a similar experience in Hungary. Not quite sure why it is this way.
A random man asked me if I was going to Bratislava. He seemed stressed too, and when I told him that I am in fact going to Bratislava and that the next bus would leave in 6 hours, his stress bubbled. He also was annoyed at the companies not being able to help us find a quicker way to Slovakia. Eventually, he, his son (I think) and I had the adventure of getting a train together. Still, our journey on the Hungarian transportation consisted of further confusion, disorganization, and us getting yelled at. It’s nicer to get yelled at when you’re not alone, so it was comforting to have them join me in the adventure. An interesting trio we were…they are from Austria and the younger guy didn’t speak English. I practiced my German for a solid 2 minutes and then went back to English.
When we were approaching Bratislava, I was worried I was cutting it so close to make my free tour. When I mentioned it to the Austrian dudes, the older one said his friend was meeting them at the train station with a car and he would drive me to the city center. How nice of them! With their help, I made it in time to drop my luggage at my hostel (which was in a Thai massage building haha) and walk to the tour spot.
Bratislava was so much cooler than I thought. Also I didn’t realize that Slovakia was on the Euro but apparently they have been since 2008. Poor Hungary is struggling to meet the standards. It’s pretty much a disaster economically.
After the tour I was starving and I headed to a traditional Slovakian restaurant that my tour guide said is her favorite. As part of the tour, she actually showed us pictures of the traditional foods and described them to us so that we could easily order them even if we forgot the Slovakian name. I ordered a large glass of Slovakian wine (I learned that Hungary and Slovakia have very nice wine…even the French approve of it!) and Halušky, which is small dumpling dough with sour cream, herbs, and bacon. I was served the [large] glass of wine long before my Halušky. I’ll say again that I was starving at this point. Naturally I got a little tipsy by myself. Finally the food came and it was delicious…it tasted like macaroni & cheese except way better. I was happy.
On my walk home, these people approached me and asked if I was Slovakian haha…I said no and learned that they were just trying to get directions. Since I had the offline map of the city downloaded on my phone, I could help them and we ended up having a nice chat and walk together. They were college students studying abroad in Vienna, one from Kazakhstan and one from Taiwan. I walked with them partway to where they needed, and i headed off to the castle for sunset.
When I finally got back to the hostel to actually check in and get my room key, everyone immediately introduced themselves. This hostel has a reputation for wanting to house solo travelers and to have guests socialize. A large group of us went to a pub that evening – it was a really friendly and fun atmosphere. In the morning I got breakfast with an American girl who was staying in my room.
Next stop – Vienna! The coolest part about this transport is I took a boat! The river Danube connects the two cities.
Arriving in Vienna, one of the most distinct graffiti pieces said “Refugees Welcome.” Austria has welcomed an immense amount of refugees recently. My tour guide seemed quite proud of that, but surely it’s as controversial as it is everywhere else.
Vienna was ranked the city with the highest quality of life this year. My guide encouraged us to go to a traditional Viennese coffee shop – he comedically exaggerated (or not?) how everything takes forever, from placing your order, to receiving your food/drink, to getting your bill. In the USA, I’m pretty sure this is called horrible service, but in Vienna it’s relaxing. No one is trying to rush you out to accommodate more customers and make more money. No one is impatient (in fact, he told a story of a guy from a different country who tried to get his bill and he kept motioning to the waiter and sort of shouting “ZAHLEN” meaning pay, but the waiter purposely ignored him because of his impatience).
My hostel was right next to Naschmarkt, a huge outdoor market. I walked through it on my way to my bike tour, and I quickly remembered how much I hate walking through extremely crowded places. But it was so worth it. I bought fresh pineapple juice, an apple “zelten” (the sign at the bakery said it’s an Austrian delicacy so of course I believed the sign and had to try one), and 8 euros worth of dried mangos. When I ordered the mangos, it was at a stand with many other fresh, unbagged dried fruits. It said 2 euros for every something amount of kg (but I’m still not used to kg…dumb customary system). When I simply ordered “mangos” without specifying how much, the guy bagged a crapload of them for me. I didn’t mind though – it’s been a perfect snack all week :). Plus, he flirted with me by giving me a flower and saying something in German, but it failed when I said I didn’t understand haha. But yeah he offered me a dried hibiscus to eat. I didn’t know people ate those but it wasn’t bad!
Throughout my day in Vienna, what struck me the most is that every time I turned a corner, there was another extravagant building or monument. I’ve never been in a city quite like that.
My bike tour was perfect for exploring such a large city in a short amount of time. Plus it made me miss riding a bike!!! This week I mentioned that in the math office and one of the teachers said “I have an extra bike! You can have it!” so I’m actually getting one 😀
On my tour there were 2 other solo travelers – a girl from South Africa and Ireland who is living in Germany, and a guy from Canada who is changing careers and taking the time to travel in between. The three of us got dinner and drinks at the Naschmarkt after the tour.
I went back to my hostel to sleep afterwards…by this time it was late and I had to be out by 6am the next morning for my 8 hour train to Dusseldorf…sacrificing time to save money. All went well though.
Teaching and Learning in the Journey of Life 
Fascinating to read about your trip.
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