Fall Break Trip Part 1-Planes, Trains and Automobiles!

Sorry we disappeared for a while, we were on our Fall Break trip! Now that we're back I can share the adventures we had over the last week. It all started last Friday when we left our cozy town of Debrecen to go on our Mediterranean cruise.

We first had to take a train from Debrecen to Budapest airport. The train ride was uneventful except we somehow ended up in the one smoking car on the train (which meant we had to pay extra too). In Hungary all transportation is non-smoking, but on trains they designate one car to smoking. We would have gladly moved to a non-smoking car, but there was little room to switch. So we endured the smoking car and eventually got to the airport.

Once at the airport we had to figure out what terminal our plane left from. There are only 2 terminals (I think) and we were at the wrong one. So we took a short bus ride over to terminal 2 and checked in for our flight. We flew Czech Airlines to Prague and then from Prague to Barcelona. The flight from Budapest to Prague was only an hour and, but we had a five hour layover! So we ate dinner in the airport, I had the Czech version of goulash, which was good, but not as good as Hungarian goulash.

The airport in Prague.  

After dinner it was time for our flight to Barcelona, which was about 2 hours long. We had some interesting drunk people on the flight, who kept singing random songs. The airline stewardess was not happy with them either, she had to keep telling them to remain seated. Once we arrived in Barcelona we thought we could call the hotel and have them pick us up (it is offered free by the hotel). However our cell phone kept popping up with a Hungarian text message and something about the EU. We were not able to use our cell phones and the pay phones at the airport wouldn't work for us. Why must everything be so complicated now with credit cards and technology? After 30 minutes of trying to figure it all out we gave up and went for a taxi. They took us to our hotel for 24 Euro's --not bad, but not free either.

Once at our hotel we went straight to sleep. It was midnight and we had been traveling since 9:00 that morning!

Our view from our hotel window in Barcelona, Spain!

The next day we did get a free shuttle to take us to our cruise. We decided to go on this Mediterranean cruise because the deals are so good this time of year. It is considered the "off-season" right now and because of that we got very cheap tickets. We figured this cruise would be the quickest and easiest way to see some of France and Italy all in one week.

On the ship waiting to depart.

Ben enjoying the view of Barcelona.

Our cabin!

We soon discovered once aboard the ship that we were the youngest people on this cruise! The average age had to be around 50. But that didn't bother us since we are not the typical 20-something types who like to stay out late and party every night.

Bon Voyage! The ship leaving port.

That first evening on the ship was great, we got to meet a bunch of really nice people at dinner. We got to see the coast of Barcelona as we drifted off into the sunset of the Mediterranean. However the peaceful seas and sunshine were not to last! Come back tomorrow for Part 2!