Hungarian Surprise

Budapest, Hungary is nothing like I expected it to be. Having some of the old imagery and stereotypes in my mind about Eastern Europe, and the old Soviet bloc countries; I was expecting a run down, desolate, inefficient airport. I expected the countryside to be much of the same. It turns out that I was pleasantly surprised. The airport was very modern and clean, and the people helpful and friendly. It was quite late when we arrived, but finding a taxi was no problem, as they have a system set up where you can go to a little booth and order one. You receive a ticket with the taxi number on it, so you know which one is yours when they arrive. Even at that hour of the night, it only took less than 10 minutes for the driver to get there. We arrived at the hotel, which was only a short drive from the airport, and the desk clerk was waiting for us. The inn was very clean and comfortable, with a very reasonable mini bar as well which included mineral water, soft drinks, beer, nuts and chocolate bars. The next morning we explored the grounds of the inn. The surroundings were very green, with fruit trees and evergreens all around. There was a little play area for the children, along with picnic tables for outdoor dining. All in all, we had a very comfortable stay and look forward to visiting Budapest again, for a longer visit next time.

Moscow

While China was not what I expected, Russia kinda was. The flight from Budapest to Moscow was not the most pleasant. The flight attendants were a little bit mean and the men on the plane were smelly, even more so than you would find in Morocco, oddly enough. One guy in front of me almost made me pass out every time he raised his arms or shifted in his seat. The guy behind us wasn't much better, but luckily we were able to adjust the air vents to block his smell from drifting up to our seats. To make matters even worse, the food was absolutely horrid. Probably the worst airplane meals we've ever had the displeasure of tasting. 

As we arrived to Moscow, we were shuttled to an area for transit passengers after our carry on bags were scanned again and passports scrutinized. It was after midnight when we arrived so the food choices were limited.  One interesting thing to note was the huge cans of beer that could be bought from the vending machines very cheaply. 

We were in for a long layover so we tried to get comfortable. A woman in the transit passenger lounge told us that if we ventured out into the main lobby, we would find seats in which we could really stretch out and catch a good nap. We wandered into the airport, but all we could find was these bench seats that looked harder and more uncomfortable than the ones in the lounge that we had just left. The only advantage to these was that they did not have armrest on them, therefore you could conceivably lay down if you wanted to. 

It was pretty empty that time of the morning, so we had as many seats as we wanted. We brought four benches together and tried to get comfortable. The boys didn't want to lay down, they were looking at the hard benches very skeptically, eventually CJ relented and went to sleep while Jacob reluctantly curled up in the corner of a seat and sleep took over. As I drifted in and out of sleep, I heard more people begin to fill up the lobby area. 

Soon I heard a man arguing in Russian. I looked over groggily in the general direction of the voice, and I saw a man taking Leah's bags off of the seat and shooing her away so that he and his family could sit down. Leah was fast asleep when he began his diatribe, so she hadn't a clue as to what was going on. I told her to get her bags and come sit down next to me. Orlando had gone walking with a new found friend on his way to Hurghada who was a little drunk and scared to fly. I had looked the man up and down, he was sweaty, beefy and tattooed. Not someone whom I wanted to confront. So I kept my mouth shut and just had her and Asari move closer to me.

Being somewhat wide awake after that encounter, we watched the hours tick away while waiting to board our flight to Shanghai.  The Baskin Robbins counter was right next to us. Jacob did his best Jedi Mind Trick impression and ended up with some ice cream, along with the rest of the kids. That served to cheer them up a bit.  Another hour or so, and the gate from which our flight was leaving was finally on the board. That being set, we drifted closer to the area to try and find seats closer to the gate. 

Three tiny greasy, garlicky and overpriced roasted potatoes later, we were on our way to Shanghai. And not a moment too soon.