Budapest, Hungary - Day 1 (Bristol-Budapest)

During the Ryanair promotion period, I managed to grab a return flight ticket from Bristol airport to Budapest, Hungary for just a mere GBP20 (flight tix = GBP0.02; airport tax = GBP19.98). So off I went to the capital of Hungary, which has a reputation as the 'Paris of Central Europe', from 21 - 28 April 2008.

I parked my car at an off-site airport car park, Purple Parking, which cost me GBP32.37 . It's situated only less than 10 minutes from Bristol airport, kind of in the middle of no-where (some farms and residential area). After checking in my car, I was whizzed off to the airport in a minivan. During airport check-in, in order to save the check-in baggage fee, I need to fit my backpack into the hand-luggage measurement rack. It's a little tight but I managed to pushed through, a lady passenger queuing behind me came over and gave me a hand to pull out my backpack :p

Bristol airport is a medium-sized and basic airport similar to the budget airport in KL / SG. It's pretty crowded although its a Monday night and I can hardly find a place to sit down. Passing thru the security check, the metal detector went off. A male officer came over to check me and only as I spoke he realized I was a girl and called a lady officer over to check me. OMG, how embarrassing!!! The male officer also got laughed at by his fellow colleagues as the next passenger needed checking is a guy, they told him, "there, now this is a bloke".

After 2hrs 20mins, we arrived at Budapest's Ferigehy Terminal 1. It's raining and thundering outside. Just into 10 mins before landing, we hit turbulence. The airplane suddenly increased speed and out of sudden we dropped for a couple of seconds. Some of the passengers on board screamed. This is the worst turbulence I've ever encountered. Luckily, the airplane stabilizes and we landed safely. A lot of the passengers clapped and cheered in celebration.

Clearing the Hungary custom is pretty quick. The counters were seperated into 'All passports' and 'EU Citizens' so make sure you queue in the correct lane. The custm officer asked me a few general questions like 'Is this your first time in Hungary?', 'How long do you plan to stay here?', 'Do you have a hotel reservation?' before stamping my passport. Outside, it's still drizzling. I found the way to the railway station and met 2 brits who told me that the next train is due in 45mins. So I followed them back to the airport and took bus no. 200 to the nearby metro station, Kobanya Kispest and then took the metro to Nyugati Pu station. The bus tix costs 350Ft. The bus is pretty new and its like the SG's SBS buses but the metro is a little basic. A little wooded feeling and the doors slam closed pretty loudly.

I parted with the brits at the Nyugati stn and followed the directions to the hostel, My Place Bed n More. The hostel was situated behind the main road and I unknowingly passed the entrance the first time. When I turned back, I saw a guy opening a door so I asked him if that is the address of the hostel. Yeap, that's the place. After entering the main door, I walked up the staircases to the second floor and found the hostel. Yes, this hostel I booked is actually an apartment turned-into hostel. It has 2 rooms (4 beds and 6 beds dorms). I booked the 6 bed but as it was full that night, I was placed into the 4 bed dorm. It's pretty interesting as it felt like you are staying at someone else house. So that's my first day in Budapest.