Travel Archives · Page 8 of 8 · Bon Voyage on a Big Adventure!

July 5, 2018July 12, 2018

Days 8, 9, and 10: We Love You Budapest!

Budapest, we love you. You are our favorite. Budapest, let us come live with you. We will learn Hungarian and never complain.

Alright, I might be coming on a little strong. Perhaps we were a little jaded by the coldness of Iceland. And the camping. And the hot dogs. But Budapest came through. I’m excited to share and tell you why if you have never considered a Hungarian vacation, you should.

Day 8: Dohany Street Synagogue, Lunch at the Great Market Hall, and Gellert Hill and the Citadel

The Dohany Street Synagogue

The Dohany Street Great Synagogue is the largest synagogue in Europe, and the second largest synagogue in the world. We weighed not going in because of a fairly steep entry fee- we are trying to be as budget conscious as possible- but our time in Budapest would not have been as meaningful without touring the synagogue and the cemetery in the garden. Our guide was amazing. He was knowledgeable and passionate– everything you would want in a teacher.

I was deeply moved by our visit and could write quite the lengthy post, so I will try to be as concise as possible, while also apologizing for glossing over important nuances and historical details. I am certainly no expert.

The synagogue was constructed from 1854-1859 and seats more than 3,000 people. At the time of its construction, over 200,000 Jews lived in Budapest.

In 1939, prior to German occupation, the Hungarian Arrow Cross party bombed Budapest but left the synagogue unharmed. Once Germany occupied Budapest, the Nazis used the synagogue as their headquarters (so evil) and broadcast radio signals from the top of the tower.

The Jews of Budapest were consolidated into a compact ghetto adjacent to the synagogue until many were forced on a death march to Austria and Germany, ending in concentration camps for those who survived the brutal winter. Between December 1944 and the end of January 1945, the Arrow Cross, Hungarian Nazi-sympathizers, killed nearly 20,000 Jews from the ghetto.

The garden outside of the synagogue which had been designed as an open space for community was turned into a cemetery with bodies piled on top of bodies. A current historical marker reads, “The park with the pool became a graveyard, a memorial to an era when all human feeling was lost.”

Each leaf of the giant tree contains the name of a Holocaust victim.

As William Faulkner said, “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” It is truly evil how much death and destruction was caused by racist and nationalistic ideals espoused within our grandparents’ lifetimes.

Lunch at the Great Market Hall

Imagine the biggest market you have ever seen, filled with fruits, vegetables, meats, spices, and Budapest “street food.” We ordered way too much food and then ate every bite. Delicious.

One small glimpse of the Great Market Hall

View from the Second Floor of the Great Market Hall

Hungarian Food — We do love Hungarian food! Pictured: stuffed eggplant, salad with feta cheese, and tzatziki for Amanda and goulash in a bread bowl, cabbage, and beans for Rich.

Gellert Hill and the Citadel

After our very big lunch, we walked up a very big hill to burn it off. Gellert Hill looks over the city, and it was quite the climb. My favorite part was a very active playground with steep slides that would most certainly not pass American playground regulations.

Climbing Gellert Hill — Great Views on the Climb

A Hungarian Playground with Very Steep Slides

Day 9: Parliament, Buda Castle, St. Matthias Church, the Fisherman’s Wharf, and Dinner at Mazel Tov

Parliament, Buda Castle, St. Matthias Church, and the Fisherman’s Wharf

I’m going to admit to not catching quite as much history here. The castle was raised, destroyed, and raised again. St. Matthias is covered in gold, and a Hungarian king and queen were crowned there. The Fisherman’s Wharf was a great spot to take pictures of the city.

Budapest continued to be beautiful, sunny, and in fine form. Also, Happy 4th of July, America!

Parliament in Budapest — The Front of Parliament

Fisherman's Wharf — The Fisherman’s Wharf

St. Matthias- Budapest — Inside St. Matthias’s

Dinner at Mazel Tov

Mazel Tov indeed! The internet is amazing. Rich found the perfect Israeli restaurant, Mazel Tov, online.

I will let the pictures speak for the experience, but it was an amazing meal in a magical atmosphere, complete with a musician covering Taylor Swift on an acoustic guitar. The food was delicious and so reasonable– our appetizer, entrees, and two glasses of wine cost 9900 HUF, the equivalent of $36, tip included. Heaven. We are the luckiest.

Mazel Tov Restaurant — Romantic Candlelight Dining

Day 10: Szechenyi Thermal Baths

On Day 10, we lay by the pool! Did I mention we love Budapest? We walked for about 45 minutes and arrived at a beautiful bath made of smaller indoor and outdoor pools. Talk about age diversity- young and old were loving life in the water. And sporting all kinds of bathing costumes.

And for your final viewing pleasure, enjoy a little Hungarian humor with my favorite signs from Budapest:

Snoop Dog Friendly — Snoop Dogg Friendly

I don’t always have a fantastic beard…oh, wait I do! I’m a regular here.

July 4, 2018July 12, 2018

Day 7: Travel Day!

I’ll try to keep this brief but wanted to include how we actual travel from country to country– we learned a lot already and wanted to provide some quick insights into what a travel day looks like.

3:30 AM Super early wake up time. I was jazzed- get me somewhere warm.

The last night of sleeping in a tent in Iceland. Hallelujah!

3:30 – 4:30 AM Cook breakfast, wash up, take down and pack up the tent, roll up the sleeping bags, look forward to not camping for a stretch.

4:45 AM Return camping equipment

4:45- 5:15 AM Travel to car return

5:15- 5:45 AM Wait for shuttle to the airport

6:00 – 6:30 AM Go through security and customs in Reykjavik

6:30 – 9:00 AM Make it to the gate, blog, wait to board

9:50 AM – 2:20 PM Flight from Iceland to London-Luton

2:20 – 4:00 PM Go through security and customs in London

4:00 – 4:30 PM Eat in the London airport

5:20 PM Board for Budapest

5:45- 9:00 PM Flight to Budapest

9:00 – 9:20 PM Customs in Budapest

9:30 – 9:50 PM Uber to AirBNB

It was a long day.

A few lessons we learned:

When you travel with a backpack, you have to travel as light as possible. This probably seems super obvious, but for us, it was having one extra set of a few toiletries (shampoo, soap, etc.) that got us in London. We each had one gallon sized Ziploc with our 3 ounce liquids which the less-than-friendly security women had us consolidate into two quart-sized bags a piece– which required us to throw out some toiletries in line. When we got to Budapest, we discovered that soap is cheaper here than it is in America so we should have just planned to buy it here anyway.
Avoid families in security lines. They are not the fastest. And they argue.
Grab a custom form and keep it moving. The customs line in London was crazy long. Before queuing up, as the British would say, we stopped to fill out our entry form, and then my kind-hearted husband loaned one of my good pens to another traveller to fill out his form. By the time he finished using it and we got in line, people we had previously been behind were twenty people in front of us. Also, we were carrying 20lb packs on our back. Next time, we know to fill out the forms while we wait.
Use the turtle feature of our backpack! Our backpacks have this fantastic feature where the straps in the back zip up into the bag itself. There’s no way we should have both been able to carry on our bags on the cheap airline we were flying, but this turtle trick totally got us through undetected. Not having to wait at baggage claim when we got to Budapest was a godsend.

When we made it to our AirBNB, we could have kissed the ground! Instead, we showered (GLORIOUS), watched an episode of Handmaid’s Tale, and slept like babies in honest-to-goodness actual beds.

We love Budapest! Excited to share about this wonderful city soon!

June 30, 2018July 12, 2018

Days Two and Three in Iceland: The Blue Lagoon, Thingvellir National Park, Haukadalur Geysers, Gullfoss Waterfall, Kerio Crater Lake, and Lots of Icelandic Horses and Anti-Social Sheep

Day Two: The Blue Lagoon and Thingvellir National Park

I don’t know if I mentioned that we went to bed at 6:45 PM on Tuesday night– remember, the Red Eye flight–but when we woke up in our tent in Reykjavik, Iceland on Wednesday morning at 8:30 AM, Rich looked at me and said, “You slept like an animal.” I think he meant some sort of bear or other hibernating creature, because we were both out. For fourteen hours. Apparently, being without a home and sleeping in a tent suits us. Sorry, mom.

After breakfast at the campsite, a quick walk down by the water in Reykjavik, and some campsite freshening up, we headed to the Blue Lagoon.

The Blue Lagoon

So what exactly is the Blue Lagoon? It isn’t natural– they have coined themselves a “geothermal spa,” probably because that sounds better than hot silica and sulfur runoff from the local geothermal power station. The minerals are supposed to do wonders for your skin, and the milky blue water makes for a banging Instagram picture so we booked our pricey $99/person entrance tickets as soon as we knew Iceland was stop #1.

And it was 100% worth it. Here’s why:

Iceland is cold. The Blue Lagoon is warm. I get it. We booked a trip to a country named Iceland– of course, it’s cold. Still the shock of leaving balmy DC in June and landing in a place where you have to wear two long sleeved shirts, a scarf, a hat, and a jacket was a little jarring. BUT the water in the Blue Lagoon is 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Spending HOURS in a huge jacuzzi was exactly what I needed to start to warm up (ha!) to Iceland a bit more.
As advertised, it makes your skin feel amazing. Your entrance fee includes a silicon mask that took years off of our faces. Maybe. They definitely felt smooth and tight when we rinsed the clay off.
We got to shower. We’re camping. The hot shower was glorious. There was a hair dryer. The end.

ThingvellIr National Park

Not our favorite. Our first campground in Rejkjavik had a large kitchen and indoor eating area, free wifi, and super clean bathrooms. The campground at Thingvellir had bugs. Like really a lot of them- gnats that flew right at your face and swarmed around your head like Linus on Peanuts. I know things could be much worse than trying to set up a tent with twenty five bugs trying to fly in my mouth, but I would like to spare my dear readers this experience. If you ever camp in Iceland, camp at the campgrounds with indoor kitchens and no bugs.

On the upside, Wednesday was our third wedding anniversary, and once we finished cooking outdoors being attacked by gnats, we enjoyed an incredibly romantic hot dog dinner in our SUV.

Day Three: Haukadalur Geysers, Gullfoss Waterfall, Kerio Crater Lake, and Lots of Icelandic Horses and Anti-Social Sheep

Haukadalur Geysers

The earth spontaneously spewing gas into the air is kind of crazy, right?

Gullfoss Waterfall

The first of many, many Icelandic waterfalls on the Golden Circle. This waterfall was mighty and awe-inspiring, but I think my favorite part was that all of the signs and literature were devoted to Sigríður Tómasdóttir, an Icelandic woman who led tours for years and then fought to keep the beautiful falls out of private hands. She was rather severe looking but determined. Love it.

Kerio Crater Lake

We almost skipped this one because there was a charge and Iceland is expensive, but we didn’t and it ended up being one of our favorite spots. It is a giant crater with a lake at the bottom, and we were able to hike in a big giant circle and then down to the bottom. Our pictures turned out great, in my humble opinion, and still don’t do the spot justice.

We should really ask someone else to take our picture.

Rich climbing on some volcanic leftovers.

Icelandic Horses and Anti-Social Sheep

So in Iceland, there are horses and sheep everywhere. Since Iceland is an island, the horses were isolated for many years and are a different breed from, umm, normal horses. They are really beautiful but to take a picture of them, you have to pull off the road and then approach animals on someone else’s land. We are not very good at that.

Evidence A: We were driving along, and we saw some sheep! These sheep were outside the fence. Maybe they are wild sheep! Here is our opportunity to Instagram some wild Icelandic sheep!

So Rich pulls a u-turn, we pull in a driveway, approach the sheep….and they run away. Who knew sheep were fast? Maybe they are tired of appearing on Instagram. I got a terrible shot of the sheep, but ended up with a great shot of my handsome husband. More soon!

My Handsome Icelandic Lover (Not a Sheep)

April 29, 2018June 3, 2018

Hello world!

Here we go! As I write this, we are t-minus two months from camping in Iceland during our first week of 10+ months out of the country. There is so much to do, and yet, when I start feeling overwhelmed, somehow the idea of climbing into a tent on top of a car with my husband in Iceland, who has never spent a night in a tent anywhere before, brings me peace. I cannot wait.

So with two months left in the states, here are a few things we have already done:

Bought our packs and gear (using the word gear like 50% of what I’m taking isn’t from J. Crew).
Booked flights and lodging (lots of AirBNB) for our first two months using travel credit cards.
Updated my passport to reflect my married name and got approved for Global Entry.
Made concerted efforts to get in good shape so we can meet all of the physical demands of the trip (i.e. through running, hot yoga, moderate weight lifting).
Notified our principals (we both work in schools) of our plans once the school year ends.

Here are items we are working on:

Obtaining visas for countries where we will need them.
Scheduling and completing medical appointments.
Figuring out how to store and/or get rid of our stuff.
Seeing family and friends before we go.
Creating this blog.

We also have a few outstanding questions we are working through. Do we sell my car? Have we picked the best route for hitting six continents? How many books can I reasonably fit in my backpack? Can I take a hair straightner and stil refer to the trip using words like expedition and adventure? How many tubes of travel size toothpaste do you start with?

And then there are bigger questions: Will we be homesick? How will we stay connected with friends and family when we go months without seeing them? How do you build a home when the place you sleep changes every 3-4 nights?What will we do when we get back? Will this sort of adventure change our lives and the way we live forever?

Here we go!