*whew* I made it to Budapest. Safe and - well sound would be your own call. *wink* I am certainly safe.
My flight was fantastic. Other than missing it, which will come to a surprise to many of you. *wink* there was few things left to be desired.
I did sit next to a "Jesus Freak" for the first time ever. Considering how much I travel, I can't believe it hasn't happened before. I
so wanted to tell him, "Oh yea, Jesus lives next door to me. We hang out on Tuesdays and BBQ." or something similar, but when he asked me what I did for work, I said, "I help plan events.' rather than my traditional answer of, "I am a porn star." or the like. I humored him a a moment and then told him I was sleepy and it was nice to meet him.
(...which was not a lie. I was sleepy and I was glad I met him. I was MORE glad he was not on the cruise with me. Although that could have been fun.) He kept telling me about women and I wanted to say, "I am a flaming homosexual." but I think that was the REASON he was telling me about women. Whatever, I hope he's happy in life too. I want to be able to respect people even if I don't agree with them. I just put on my hot Bose headphones and used the noise reduction.
I am so not joking or embelishing when I say my ten and a half hour flight to Frankfort seemed like it was only 20 minutes. I took a well known sleep aid and boy it worked like a charm. I woke up, switched planes to fly right into Budapest and did the same thing. The entire time on the plane was comfortable, quick and painless. FABULOUS!
I landed, took a taxi right to the high end Holiday Inn flagship hotel the Intercontinental.
I am staying in the room with world famous drag enterainter Tommi Rose (
www.DragShowBiz.com) and notapparently the entertaining is not only for the stage, is carries through. He is a riot.
I met with the tour company header-upper and we talked about a few odds and ends
(...and some cute Budapest boys ends too as the walked by.) to finish up last minute planning.
As we decided what to do for dinner, I met one of the guys who will be on the boat. He's hilarious. He says, "Dahhling..." every third word and I love it. He's a hoot. He reminds me of Mr. Howell and Mrs. Howell rolled into one from "Gilligan's Island." (
http://tvland.classictvhits.com/GilligansIsland/Pics/Gilligan06.JPG)
We headed out as a group to the traditional Hungarian restauraunt where the only "Hungry" you can leave with is into the name of the country. My friggin' schnitzel was bigger than the plate. [insert your own funny joke here] Folks, my schnitzel was HUGE. I had this delicious bean soup too that was so yummy. The pounded out pork piece was just amazing. It was served on a 15 inch wooden pizza plate and was large enough to extend over the edge. I had a "Guiness" as well that was too strong. I think I prefer Pilsner and the pale ale taste. I am no frat boy in the department. Gimmie an umbrella in my drink any day to a overfull beer mug. The enterance was in this dimly lit alley, it made me laugh to head down a dark alley in Hungary at night.
We passed a bar called "A'r'Kadia." (I think just put apostrophe's wherever the drunk person who named the place wanted.) Joan would have been proud of the boys sitting in the bar waiting for ummm... business. "A'r'Kadia" was apparently what some would call a "hooker bar." If you need anything else tonight, you can call the bar and ask the bartender to hand me the phone.
(...JUST KIDDING! Don't call me there.) I wouldn't answer anyway.
I am SO bad about answering calls.Most of the arrivals get in today, so we head down the lobby at the arrival time to say hello and welcome them. After that, it seems we send them off to bed.
I have met three other pairs of the "cruisers" who are repeat offenders and have cruised with
OutBound Tours before. I like meeting happy couples. I am getting to the happy couple point with Fabrice.
(I just don't want it to be 'cause I am never home. I think I miss the crazy Italian a little.)Today, David and I went to a coffee place called "
Gerbeaud" that is on the list of
1001 places to go before you die.
(I need to get it so I can see how many I can check off.) I will try to get some photos online too, I haven't taken too many yet. It's six hours difference from the East Coast and nine hours from the West Coast here, so I don't know if I should be sleeping or waking or what, but I know it's set to be a hot party down the Danube River. *wink*