Can't get ANY better than this: a 6 Day Budapest-Kuwait trip!

Ahhh... Just when I think this job can't get ANY more exciting, it does. Really, someone was on my side when they were thinking about where to send me next. I owe someone out there BIG!

I got a call Friday afternoon at around 4 o'clock from Crew Scheduling and they told me they had "a change to my schedule", which means quite simply, I HAVE A TRIP! :-) I grabbed a pen and paper and could barely write all the details fast enough about this EXTRA trip I'm picking up this week. (See, I'm supposed to have my 10 days off after doing an 18 day nonstop, but I am so ready to get going, see other places, and most of all... make some extra MONEY that I told them I'd be available on my off days to see what I could get. It worked!)

She told me quickly, "Tomorrow morning, Saturday, your showtime is at 0845. You are deadheading from Rockford to Budapest, and will arrive in Budapest at 1145 Budapest time Sunday morning (after making a necessary tech stop in Keflavic and continuing on to fly all night). When you get to Budapest, you will start your 24/7 Crew rest and will be off from the time you check into the hotel for 24 hours, then be on reserve until Tuesday morning. Tuesday afternoon you will do a leg to Kuwait, and turnaround and come back early Wednesday morning. (The flight to Kuwait is about 6 hours, and we just drop the soldiers off and come right back, we don't check into a hotel or anything.) When you get back to the hotel in Budapest on Wednesday, you will be on reserve then until Friday morning. Your showtime Friday is at 1200 and you will deadhead back to Rockford and arrive at 1700." I thanked her, hung up the phone, and pretty much did a little 'victory dance'! Ha! I SAID I wanted to be stationed in Budapest and look what I got for my VERY next trip. I am SO lucky! I'll finally have more time to explore during the day! And maybe go out at night?? I'm sure I can make time for that! haha! :-)

So we left the rainy Rockford weather yesterday morning at 8:45 and we literally had to be DRIVEN across the tarmac because the rain was coming down in buckets. We flew to the military base which was right outside of St. Louis and we picked up the soldiers, and we spent about 2 hours on the ground there to re-fuel and re-cater the plane before we headed to Keflavic. We ALSO got to step off the plane at the base and enjoy a hotdog and bag of chips from the hotdog stand the families had set up for the soldiers. They were all leaving for Iraq for at least 6 months and it was like a 'last goodbye' and 'thank you' for them. It was SO cool... they also had a table set up with toothbrushes for each soldier to take with them, and granola bars, and cookies, and my favorite... AT & T donated hundreds of calling cards good for 100 minutes for calling within the U.S. or 20 minutes from Iraq to the United States. Each soldier could take as many as they wanted. I LOVE being able to call my family from overseas, and I can't even imagine how great it would be to hear from your son or daughter thats fighting the war in Iraq. Unbelievable.

The soldiers said their goodbyes and boarded the plane, and we were on our way to our first tech stop in Keflavic, Iceland. It was a 6 hour flight, and I slept for most of it. I DID, however, wake up for the crew meal, which was the most delicious meal I've had on one of our planes yet! It was catered from Rockford, no wonder it was so yummy. It was a marinated italian chicken breast, with FRESH steamed veggies and thick potato wedges. It was also served with a side of Italian pasta salad and a dinner roll with butter and jelly, and a string cheese that I put in my bag for later... ;-)

We made it to rainy Iceland and BOY was I glad I wasn't staying there! It was almost like I was back in Rockford, only it was 1:30am Iceland time and dark. Our last flight to Budapest was 4 hours, and I don't think I could have looked ANY more wrinkled by the time we stepped off the plane! I was in desperate need of a shower. There was also another crew deadheading with us to Budapest, and the crew that actually worked the flights was with us as well. So the 24 of us all piled in a van and were on our way to the hotel.

We always have to let the "working crew" check into the hotel first (which is totally understandable... I was getting paid to sleep and look wrinkled and they were actually serving the troops and staying awake... hahaha!), and as we were waiting, we kinda noticed that our 'old faithful' Hotel InterContinental lobby was HOPPIN' for a Sunday morning at 11am. Sure enough, the other two crews get their rooms and are on their way up the gorgeous elevators, and our lead Amanda gets a phone call that we are, indeed, checking into ANOTHER hotel in Budapest because the IC is all full. Damn. The shower was SO close, too! The taxi was outside to take us to our next destination... where we were going we really had NO idea... we were joking that it was going to be a DUMP and the cab would drop us off and leave us to fend for ourselves.

The name of it is 'The CORINTHIA: Grand Hotel Royal Budapest', and it absolutely BLOWS the Intercontinental out of the water, in my opinion. It is absolutely GORGEOUS, and we got to check in for an entire 5 nights!!! This is unbelievable.

We walked into this GRAND lobby with a gorgeous water fountain in the middle with gold lining the rim, a huge grand staircase behind it leading up to a beautiful balcony, and marble walls all around. We walked up maybe 5 steps to the receptionist area and the woman behind the desk not only had all of our rooms ready and waiting for us, but our keys laid out to just hand them to us so we could be on our way. Just above the receptionist area is a HUGE bar and restaurant, and all I could see were decanters of orange juice and champagne for mimosas... it IS Sunday, ya know :-)... and I think there was a breakfast buffet going on for 25 euros, or about $40 American money. (No thanks, I'll pass on that... it's nice to IMAGINE how nice that would be though! Ha!) The elevators are all marble as well, and the doorframes in the hallways are dark wood that stand out against the marble floors. We walked through this adorable bridgeway overlooking the hotel restaurant, and it was a courtyard setting with floors upon floors of guest room windows pushed open to overlook all the tables. I finally got to my room, 2116, and I opened it and gasped at how BIG it was. HUGE tall ceilings, and an entry way with closets that envy any multi-millionaires, honestly! When you open the closets, a light comes on from above, and theres a middle section between the two with a marble top and a mirror to do makeup in. The bathroom... has a seperate shower AND bathtub jacuzzi. There's toiletry samples on the counter of course, a white robe hanging on the back of the door, and slippers on the scale. The window in my room opens up to a courtyard outside and there are flowers on balconies across the way.

Of COURSE I will post pictures as soon as I put them on the computer, but I had to charge my good ole Canon battery because it was on its last leg. We'll be here for 5 nights, so I have plenty of time to snap a couple to try to capture how gorgeous this place really is. I can't believe people can afford to stay in places like this, and I can't believe I have the opportunity to do this and get paid to be here. When am I going to wake up and realize this is all a dream?? Somebody please pinch me! Just in case!

I'm meeting my crew downstairs at 6pm and we're going to poke around this new neighborhood and grab food and a couple drinks somewhere tonight. I thankfully picked up a mini bottle of wine from the Duty Free shop at the Keflavic airport today, so I'll be cracking that open while I get ready in my robe! I'm SO glad I got this trip...

CHEERS!
-Lisa :-)