Normally the girls have two days off and the weekend for fall break, but this year they changed the calendar so that they have two weeks off! We had looked into going to Japan. My wife lived in Japan for a couple of years and really wanted to go back. As the date got closer, it became clear that Japan would not work for stand-by travel. The flights were very full! We then looked at South America, including Santiago and Buenos Aires. They were not full, but they did not look great either. Besides that, the reciprocity fee down there turns me off. Finally, we decided to fly into Europe and visit a couple of places, specifically Vienna. My wife really wanted to go to a beach, and with winter coming soon, that did not sound ... read more

We awoke at 5am, got ready, and checked out of the Mercure. It was Easter morning and we were pleasantly surprised to find 3 large chocolate bunnies outside our room when we left. All down the halls of the hotel you could see different amounts of chocolate bunnies outside rooms, depending on the number of guests. How cool that the Mercure "Easter Bunny" visited us and was so kind to leave chocolates! We took the shuttle at 6:30am to FRA airport and checked in for our flight. We went to the gate and waited, while having some breakfast snacks. At 9:40am, we were on board Delta flight 143, a 767-400 aircraft to Detroit. Once in the air a lunch was served. I had the rigatoni pasta, which was ok. The appetizers of Thai curry shrimp and ... read more

Woke up early once again and this time bought our breakfast foods at the Great Market. We ate them in the square across the street again. We then purchased tickets for the "hop on/hop off bus. Normally I think these buses are a great way to see a city for a low price. However, I do not think this is so for Budapest and I do not recommend doing it. The tour was not very efficient and they screwed us out of our "free" Danube cruise that evening. Anyways, we rode the bus around the Danube to Buda Castle Hill. We stayed up there for well over an hour, admiring all the different views of the city. We snapped many photos and also got to see the changing of the guard. We walked over to Fisherman's ... read more

Our connection from Frankfurt to Budapest was at 12:40pm, on Lufthansa flight 1338. I was seated in seat 34C on the Airbus 321 aircraft. The flight was quick and mostly smooth until the approach to Budapest. Once on the ground, we went out to the curbside and caught a taxi to the city. It took about 20 minutes to get there. We checked in to the Mercure Korona hotel and then we showered and changed. My wife and daughter went swimming, while I went out to explore the city. I walked down to the banks of the Danube River and took some pictures, and then continued walking across the Liberty Bridge, and went halfway up Gellert Hill to get a good view. I was out for an hour or so before heading back to the hotel. ... read more

To leave from a holiday is tough. To leave from this paradise is even tougher! The day had come though. It seems like you have forever when you arrive and then bam! The time is gone. We awoke early and ate some breakfast. We then decided to walk the beach one more time. At about 11am we went back to do the final packing. At about noon, we caught a taxi to Exuma airport. The ride was about 20 minutes and it was with the same driver who brought us from the airport. He was real nice and he gave us a CD of local music. Our flight was at 1:15 pm and the whole airport check in procedure was very easy. This flight was wide open for stand-by travel and they cleared us for business ... read more