Travel to Bpest!

Well, it has been a while, but I have arrived in Budapest!

The last few weeks have been crazy, with all the good byes, the packing, the moving (to Toronto), the unpacking (of university stuff), the repacking (of bpest stuff), and then the second move (to bpest), has meant that I have been going non stop!

The flight to bpest was just fine though, actually, it was relaxing. The volcanic ash that is currently annoying most of northern europe, meant that our flight to munich was diverted a hour or so outside of the normal flight path. This meant that I missed my connection to bpest, which then meant I spent most part of the day hanging out in the Munich airport. It was pretty big and they had this huge outdoor area, so I sat outside for a while and ate a pretzel sandwhich and had a, ready for it?, a SCHMECK(T) coffee. Seriously, I have no idea why the word 'schmeck' was on the coffee cup, but it instantly made me happy. (I took a photo and attached if for all the schmeckers to see!).

All day wednesday, me and timing and all things 'technical' just were not in sync (including, apparently my connection to Bpest). That day I missed every TTC connection by literally seconds, got stuck in people traffic all over down town Toronto, and became very very very late for a lunch with my dad. Thenthere was traffic all the way to the airport. When we finally got there, I was told that the '2nd' bag that I was allowed, I actually had to pay for (which was NOT specified when I checked in), then after i just paid for the bag, there was printing problem at the check-in boarding pass desk. I also couldn't to reset my blackberry (thanks mum for figuring that one out), and I couldn't to purchase snow patrol tickets for their concert in Belfast because ticketmaster Ireland won't let someone without a UK billing address book the tickets! Basically nothing was going my way.

At the airport I saw a women waiting to board a flight to Munich and she brought with her a dozens of tim horton's donuts. I thought, 'hey, that's sort of cool, her bringing donuts from a 'famous' Canadian coffee ship. Then it reminded me of when I took Max to tim hortons in Ottawa and Toronto and BOTH TIMES it was horrible and BOTH times he wondered why a 'double double' was so popular, and why Tim Hortons was so popular. (Don't worry, I assured him that Tim Hortons was a bit hit or miss, but there are times when you can get good coffee!). There was also a man on the flight that reminded me of one of the profs at uOttawa but a bit older and a bit more vocal. He was pretty entertaining! The man sitting beside me was a canadian, and was probably 6'5. The only thing he said the whole way there was "that man standing there, he's famous, I can't place him, but he's famous" then silence.

Arriving in Munich was fine. But when I realized that I missed my connection I went strait to one of the Lufthansa desks. But Munich airport isn't labeled very well, so I had NO idea where I was in the airport. I had to ask the attendant and when I asked "where am I in this airport" she looked utterly confused. I realized my question was a bit odd, so I clarified that I wanted to know where 'outside' was, if I was in a secure zone, etc and she gave me this 'wow this girl is really out of it look, and explained very slowly exactly where we were). In hindsight, it was pretty funny.

When I got the airport, J, the women who has been helping me with the logistics of bpest moving, had to unexpectedly cancel her meet and greet. She gave me clear instructions on which cabs I should take (and which ones wouldn't gouge for tourist money), and so following her instructions, I got to my house in no time.

The cab couldn't actually drop me off in front of the house, so he dropped me off about a block away from the apartment (I had to walk around to get to the cross walk). Uneven streets and two rolling suitcases is a recipe for hilarity! expecially trying to get them both over curbs and bumpy streets! ( and me, who can't walk in a strait line already, carrying a backpack and a purse (along with the two suitcases!).

next post: first few hours of Bpest!