Check in, rest!

At 3am we woke with a start as our carriage door was knocked upon quite harshly and a gruff voice saying “passports” We sat up groggily and fumbled for these in the dark. A very serious, stern looking man watched on as we did this and then, upon receiving them checked them very carefully, before handing them back just as gruffly. We had entered Slovenia on our way through. We began to settle ourselves back down but there was a commotion happening next door to us. Being slightly nosy and curious I peeked out our door. The carriage of Columbians next to us were being told by a VERY stern looking woman “luggage, you get off train” (to be said in your best Russian accent) The passengers were asking why, but the passport checker could not tell them, so the carriage attendant went to talk to them, and he was just as unforgiving/unsympathetic and said very simply “you do not have the right visa, you must take your luggage and get off at the next station” Well, there was a bit of a kafuffle, which is understandable, but they got off at the next station, some god forsaken small station in the middle of nowhere with their luggage at 3.30 in the morning. Not a nice time for them I imagine. This of course, caused for me to go “oh god, oh god, oh god, PLEASE let us have everything right… did we need visas?!?!” After a time we settled ourselves back down for the night, or so we thought. 4am comes and we are now visited by customs, with huge bloody great big Alsatians asking us if we have anything to declare. “No” we shake our heads, they ask for our passports, then leave. 5am, we are now entering Croatia, “Passports” says one, we hand them to them once more, they scan it, leave. 6am we are entering Hungary and once more it is “passports” but this time the man smiles and is pleasant saying “good morning” I wasn’t convinced that the day was off to a flying start, but I smiled none the less and agreed with him “good morning” then there was just one more passport check, where we were, what it was for, I’m not sure, but a lot of people saw our not so becoming passport photos that day. I think they identified with me and thought me as one of their own there for abit as my passport picture is horrendous! I look like a very stern prison escapee. My stern face in that shot would fit right in with their team of passport checkers; they couldn’t crack a smile if there life depended on it! The first lot of passport checkers had no sense of humor either. After sitting bolt up right and handing the man my passport I commented “well, I look nothing like that photo now” as my hair was everywhere, my face crinkled with bed creases, my eyes all blurry and puffy… actually, it was probably a far better look than my actual passport photo…

Tired and feeling disorientated we got off the train in Budapest and made our way to our hostel where we fell onto the beds thankful to have made it finally. We lay there for a time, Chris falling into a deep nap, omitting small snores from time to time (he only snores when very tired, it had been a long night) I played about on the p.c for a time before we made our way into the city centre which is all of a 5 min walk away to check out the city and see what was about.

There are many beautiful old buildings and bridges surrounding the city centre, and it seems quite open and spacious, you don’t get that horrible feel that screams “TOURIST TRAP!” here, it’s very pleasant. As we hadn’t planned to come here at all during our travels we didn’t know what to expect, but we have both been pleasantly surprised by the area. The city is actually divided into two sections due to the river. One side is called “Buda” and the other “Pest” in typical fashion; we are staying in the pest side, which is nice despite its name!

After a quick look about, a hit of caffeine we made our way back to the hostel where we got talking to a lovely Canadian called Janene, who is travelling about by herself for a time, we chatted for a long time and were surprised when we looked at the time and saw it was 12am, we then called it a night and went to bed FINALLY!

written by  Chris and Emily on June 22, 2009 from Budapest, Hungary
from the travel blog: Europe 2009
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