HUNGARY for more BUDAPEST!

Ohmygosh... I had NO idea I would fall in love with Budapest the way that I have today! Right now I am typing this in my luxurious InterContinental hotel room, lounging comfortably in my white bathrobe (all Julia Roberts-'Pretty Woman'-ish), with a white bath towel wrapped around my head, and the super fabulous flat screen TV is chatting in the background... and as I look out my window, I'm not kidding, I can see both BUDA and PEST at the same time. We're RIGHT on the river, and it is a BEAUTIFUL late August day. The funny thing is... I have been up since 11pm LAST NIGHT, and it is about quarter after 7PM here now, and I'm NOT EVEN TIRED. How am I even doing this? Well...

We ended up having a mechanical delay yesterday morning leaving from Keflavic. Not a big deal, really. We ended up having to order a part that was being flown in last night, so they put all 25 crew members (Us + a deadheading crew that was going onto Thailand) AND 145 U.S. ARMY soldiers up in hotels. But that's not the best part... Our 'old faithful' Hotel Keflavic was all booked, so they had to put us up in Reykjavic, Iceland, instead... which is a completely different city that I got to see... entirely as a bonus! AWESOME! I love the surprises of this job. They don't faze me one bit... if anything, I was excited about the detour! So anyway, our showtime this morning was at 2am. I went to sleep around 7:30pm for as long as I could and woke up around 11pm. I've been up ever since. To make things worse... I have to be up again tonight (or this morning, however you want to look at it) at 12:30am for a 1:30am showtime to head back to Keflavic tomorrow. BIG DEAL though... Vicki told us today (over a deeelicious glass of wine on a sunny patio in Budapest), that we don't even have PASSENGERS on this flight. Its a ferry flight!! Thank goodness! We'll be on our way back to Keflavic to take it easy and REALLY get some rest after these CRAZY and LONG past 72 hours. Tomorrow we are on reserve, (AND Vennie, Carolyn, and Deb join us with their crew for the next 5 days... YAY! more FRIENDS!), Thursday we are on reserve, Friday we are on reserve, Saturday we have a quick trip to Bosnia and back, and Sunday is our day off. I don't think I'm going to think twice about spending at LEAST 2 of those days in and out of my bed... IF I'm not hopping off to the Blue Lagoon or possibly going shopping back in Reyjkavic to poke around for the day. :-)

SO ANYWAY... really quick, wanted to share some tidbits about our flight today with all the fantastic ARMY folks. They were SO polite, and respectful, and funny, and personable... that I seriously got a little teary eyed when I had to say goodbye to them. I have such respect for what they are doing for our country... how can you not?? They are men AND women of ALL ages. I had 2 women sitting in my section (which was first class, by the way... thank you Vicki for giving me such a GREAT assignment!), that I REALLY got a chance to talk to. One of them looked like she was in her 50's and the other in her mid 30's. They were both wearing wedding rings, and they both had sons. I can't imagine how PROUD those boys must be of their Moms. What amazing women! I asked them how long they'd be over there (they were heading onto Kuwait, eventually) for and one of them answered, 'We don't know. Three months, six months, a year, we're all going to different places. We just hope for the best!' Vicki, our lead flight attendant, always says on th PA when we land, 'Thank you for flying with us today, good luck, and we look FORWARD to bringing you HOME.' That always gets me... I hope we bring each and every one of them home to their families. I don't want it any other way! This job is so rewarding. I can't wait to meet more and more troops as I have more flights. :-)

Today in Budapest, we all took an hour to shower and get ready, and 7 of us headed out for a much needed glass of wine and some shopping! Budapest is ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL. I couldn't possibly see even half of it in a week here. Let alone a day! I would LOVE to be assigned 18 days in Budapest... and I have a funny feeling it MAY happen someday, if I play my cards right. :-) I made my first international purchase today... an orange pashmina scarf that just SCREAMS Budapest. It was 1000 FORES, equal to about $10 american money. I wrapped it around my neck immediately and continued on in glamorous Hungary style! The 7 of us stopped at a cute corner cafe for a couple glasses of wine and an appetizer, then went down further to this indoor market with fresh veggies, souvenirs, drinks, and food. Another Flight Attendant Deb and I split this fried dough thing with a sour cream mixture, ham, and cheese on it. I honestly don't know WHAT it was, but it was DELICIOUS! Maybe it was the wine... maybe I've just been eating crew meals and Iceland sandwiches too long. Either way, I was happy as a clam. We eventually decided to make our way back, took more pictures, and strolled along the opposite side of the river by the fountain. I can't believe how much we saw in such a short amount of time. I officially LOVE Budapest, and can't WAIT to come back again... NEXT MONDAY!!!! :-)






















Now I'm getting tired... ha! It's about TIME!

CHEERS!
Lisa :-)