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charmaine Joined: January 12th 2009
Logged in: March 30th 2010
Logged in: March 30th 2010
Travel Blog Posts
My host in Timisoara did not give me a number or an address and so when I got there just after lunch, I had no idea where I was or if I had a place to stay that night. The lady behind the info counter at the train station was nice enough to let me into her cubicle and search for the train timetable for my next destination but couldn't tell me anything else since she didn't speak English. I later found out that it was atypical behaviour and probably because I was a tourist. *shrug* eh, at least there's a perk to this tourist thing. I wandered around for a bit but couldn't figure it out so I stopped a guy who was speaking on the phone in English (after he hung up, of course) ... read more
Sorry it's been so long since I updated. Internet and traveling got in the way. And anyway, we all knew this would happen. So, picking up from where I left off, I went from Pecs to Szeged and met my host there. He was really nice but had to leave the next day so we did a quick tour of town, had a nice dinner and just hung out. Some of his stories were fascinating in a ˝Your life is like a soap opera and I'm glad I'm not you˝kinda way. The next day, I wandered around Szeged after a late start since it was raining in the morning. It's not that big and I tried to see as much as I could in the rain but really, walking around soaked is not fun. It's kinda ... read more
So, getting a host was quite an effort and I almost didn't go but I sent out a SOS on the group list and managed to get a host :) My host in Budapest was really nice and said I could stay longer if I skipped Pecs but I'm glad that didn't happen. Getting a bus ticket was a chore and as usual, my ISIC was rejected. Jeez.....ISIC has been pretty useless so far in terms of getting discounts for transportation. I think I should have gotten a Euro 26 card instead. Apparently it's cheaper and really, no one can ignore the big EURO 26 on the card. Transportation in Hungary is expensive! Especially after coming from the Czech Republic. So I headed down on the bus and arrived about 3-4 hours later. Pecs certainly looked ... read more
I was thinking of heading to Eger as a day trip from Budapest but I ended up making it a stop while going from Kosice to Budapest. I got the 9 something train and got off at Fusesabony where I got the train to Eger. However, I had to sit tight at the station when I missed not one but two trains to Eger. Basically the first one left 3 minutes after I got off my train and the other was totally my fault for assuming that the track would be the same as the previous one - I saw my train pull in and pull out....while I had my mittens performing a skit (I was that bored). Story of my life, really. Thank goodness that the trains are hourly. Got there and negotiated a train ... read more
The Keleti train station was kind of a miserable place to be in after the warm train compartment. It's pretty much an open plan and has no place for people to wait out of the cold..at least I couldn't find one and boy, was it cold! My host met me and we went back to the apartment and I got a taste of home cooked Hungarian stew :) I went to the central market which was quite big and interesting. I met up with some people there and got some food upstairs. I tried it since some people in a forum I read had said that the food there was good and cheap. Personally, it kinda sucked since it had been sitting there for a while and the prices on the shopping street outside were better. ... read more
I got to Kosice by train which is the best and possibly only option to get there directly. It was about 1 euro extra for the fast IC train but it cut about and hour or more off the journey time. It's kind of annoying that all these countries take ISIC but only if you are a student in that country. So far, ISIC has not worked for me in Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia. I keep trying to use it and sometimes they take pity on me and give me an under 26 rate instead but it really is quite useless in Central and Eastern Europe despite the fact that ISIC is supposed to be accepted! Anyway, Kosice is a nice town with a very small old town center. The church is pretty cool ... read more
Oh Bratislava. It's small enough for a day trip from Vienna which is what most people do but I stayed a night and my host introduced me to a traditional Slovakian dish - halusky. It's potatoes and goat cheese and is sometimes served with bacon. It smelled funky but it was pretty good :) It's been snowing since I got here which sucks for touristy stuff but crazy asian tourist that I am, I braved the cold and snow and wandered around town on the walking tour the tourist info suggested. I'm pretty sure some people were looking at me and thinking "crazy tourist." I know I was thinking that. Since I only had one day, I was determined to see Bratislava and the quirky random statues that are all over old town. I even went ... read more
I got into Vienna just fine although the lady sitting next to me had the worst perfume ever. She looked like your typical 40 something, very sex in the city type and she smelt like a whore house. urm. Maybe that isn't the right description. Anyway, I spent a miserable 2-3 hours trying not to breath because it was giving me a headache and making me slightly nauseaous. It like those perfumes you smell at some public toilets - not used because they smell good but because they overpower the stench of everything else. Okay, enough about that. Thomas met me at the station although there was some confusion since I got there earlier than I thought and immediately ran off to find somewhere warm. Haha. He eventually found me and we dropped off my stuff ... read more
I got on the bus from Brno and when it stopped in Olomouc, I didn't know where the heck I was. I went up to the infor counter where the lady didn't speak English and asked for Olomouc centrum which she understood :) yay! so with some funky hand gestures (hilarious really) I got the gist of it - go out, turn left, go under the underpass, go up and take tram #4. A little more asking around and I was on the tram in the right direction. The bus station isn't actually all that far from the old town, it's walking distance - probably about 15-20 mins. I got off at the right stop thanks to some maps on the tram and the fact that every town has a town square. I saw the clock ... read more
For a small town, Brno has quite terrible traffic, mainly due to the small one or two lane streets I guess. We arrived on time but it took about 15-20 mins more to get to the bus station. Despite an initial mix up (there are two bus stations) my host found me and we dropped off my stuff before heading out to get some food. He also took me to a local pub to try a special beer unique to Brno - Pegas. They brew it onsite and it's unfiltered. I have to say that it's probably the best beer I've had so far - light, smooth and not too bitter:) The also throw in lemon slices so there's a lemony taste too. Did a little bit of sightseeing at night on the way to pick ... read more
