After a rather fitful sleep, I woke up again as light started trickling into the bus – it was dawn!

Day break in Serbia
As the Sun changed from Red to Orange to White, most of the passengers in the bus were awake and ready to get into Budapest. After all, we were supposed to be there by 8:30 or so, and we were almost at the border. Looking around, I had an amused comparison. Just a few days ago, we were on a bus from Bulawayo to Victoria Falls. No A/C open windows (open air toilet when bus stopped). We were the only non-black passengers on the bus, thought there were a lot of families with kids, standing, sitting on mom’s lap, or even sitting by themselves. Cost < $15 per person. And here we were now, on a bus from Sofia to Budapest. With A/C and closed windows (bus had toilet but not really good. Toilets available at the rest stop, though there was only one of those last night and none today). And we were the only non-white passengers on the bus. No kids other than ours. It appeared to be a mostly backpackers’ (and senior citizens’) bus. Cost, again < $15 per person (Flexbus).
And just like that, we were at the border. Once again, there were hordes of cars to our left, in many lines to go through customs and immigration. As for us, we were in a bus (and truck) queue as well. As it was a merge into the two lanes leading through immigration control, buses and trucks were jockeying for position. We waited … and waited …. and waited. We could see the familiar scene of folks getting down from the bus that was three-four buses ahead of us but the bus didn’t show any signs of moving.

Border crossing into Hungary from Serbia
Finally after about at least 30-45 minutes, that bus went through (remember, first all the passengers clear the immigration point, and then the bus is waved through). All buses behind moved one bus length ahead. And it continued for the next couple of buses, though they took much less time. In the meantime, a truck to our right, trying to get ahead of us (either in our lane or the one to our right) grazed our bus’s rear view mirror. Here we go, I thought. Thankfully, the situation did not escalate as the issue was minor (I believe the glass was intact).
At last, we were at immigration and filed out of the bus – this time, we were prepared and exited the bus with our respective rows (unlike last night when we had been way behind). I was first among the family, followed by kids then Mrs. Porcupyn bringing up the rear. No problems for me and kids but Mrs. Porcupyn had some issue. Dude told her to step aside while he took care of the next passenger. [I had not seen this as I had already exited the booth]
But once kids told me (or somehow I learned that Mrs. Porcupyn was having issues – I don’t recall exactly how), I went back to see if there is anything I could do to bolster Mrs. Porcupyn’s case, After all, we were on US passports and there shouldn’t be an issue (it did remind me of Sydney a couple of years back where the officials had been unable to read my passport because my long name scrolled off the passport – they had to bring me to an office and then do some extra verification before they let me through). But Mrs. Porcupyn shouldn’t have had any such issue. Anyway, bottom line was there was nothing I could do except stand there physically in her support. In the meantime, the girl who was in the seat behind me came up … and got the same treatment. Oh ok, their machine is probably not working properly, I thought.
Now that there were two of them waiting, I got some courage and went back out to hang out with kids and the rest of the passengers. Slowly but surely, more passengers exited the booth, but the two ladies were still in there. Finally, after about 15-20 minutes, Mrs. Porcupyn came out – in all the language issue, she never figured out what it was that resulted in her being held up … but she did say that the girl from the seat behind me was still in there.
Finally, all of the passengers – but the girl – were processed and they even let the bus cross. We all boarded the bus – but there was no sign of the bus or the conductor. Discussions with passengers – in their broken English – revealed that they were now at the immigration control. OK, I assumed there is something to be reviewed of the bus’s papers.
And we sat … and sat, I was really sleepy and dozed off. But presently, I awoke – the bus had not been started and the air was starting to get stuffy what with the sun being up (remember, this was during the time when Europe was burning in the summer). I asked Mrs. Porcupyn what was going on. Apparently, she had pieced together that there was some issue with the girl and the immigration folks had seized the bus’s papers.
Lots of grumbling all around – I could figure that much! The bus was not moving, everyone was feeling hot and bothered, and we were all getting late. I was thanking our lucky stars that our flight out of Budapest was tomorrow morning and so we would only be losing any planned sightseeing for the day. And I was especially not too upset because I had a plan to return to Budapest within a month for a Reunion with old hostelmates (dorm mates for those in the US) from undergrad days.
Then, here comes an official with the now teary-eyed girl. He made her sit on her seat (behind me) and took her photo as seated. I thought – oh, good, he’s finishing up with some formalities and will finally let her go. But NOOO!! Then, he had her take all of her few belongings from the seat – a duffle bag along with some other stuff – and they both exited the bus. And we didn’t yet have permission to leave … without papers.
As I was wondering why don’t they just let us go if they were after that girl – who probably had overstayed her Schengen visa or something – or if we could get a replacement bus as other passengers might be severely inconvenienced as compared to us, the driver finally came back and started the bus. Everyone on the bus heaved a sigh of relief though there were probably a few thoughts on what would happen to the girl.
And we were off.
Soon, we lumbered into Szeged and a few passengers got down and a few others got on. As we drove through fields of greenery, I felt drowsy and slept a bit; soon, we ran into traffic – we had arrived at the outskirts of Budapest. And at about 1 pm or so, we pulled into Budapest Nepliget bus station.

Bags being offloaded from Flixbus at Budapest Nepliget bus stand

View of bus platform

Bus Terminal

We got down and collected our bags. It was quite hot at the bus stand. I looked around and spied the train station across a busy intersection. Poor Baab got to lug our one check-in bag around. Somewhere during our adventures, it had rid itself of one of its wheels and so was no longer dragable. When we finally reached the train station, it appeared that there were trains were underground and what we saw above ground was actually the tram station. Baab and I went downstairs to investigate, leaving Mrs. Porcupyn and Katya in charge of the bags.

We found out that we needed to make one change to get to our destination, which was near Deak Ferenc station (if I recall correctly). After about 30 minutes, we were out of the underground, but completely lost. The GPS appeared to want us to go in one direction, but our recollection of where the destination should’ve been was different (and we didn’t have internet at that point). Following discussions with a couple of passersby and local businesses, we finally figured out the route and were soon in the airbnb, tired and sweaty. Did I say it was HOT?

Back on the surface after being underground for almost half an hour
Our tentative morning outing was already out the window. Fortunately, Baab had reserved us for an afternoon walking tour of the area and we had to assemble near the statue of a lion, so we set out looking for it. We had only had junk food so were a bit hungry.
By the time we were refreshed and set out from the airbnb, it was already past 3 pm. And our walking tour was supposed to start at about 6 pm. So, though we were a bit hungry, we just had some snacks and decided to check out the local eateries at night – we planned to turn in early anyway as our flight out was at 8:30 am. Our airbnb host had called a reliable cab to come pick us up the next morning at 5:30 am for the 30-45 minute ride to the airport.
So, we were out and about in the main pedestrian area – you could call it the downtown I guess – of east Budapest, i.e., Pest. Family espied an ice cream place; but it didn’t accept payment in credit card. So, I went hunting for an ATM machine and soon found one. After punching in the password, I was confronted with a screen that asked me to choose the amount of money to be dispensed (in Hungarian Forints aka HUFs). I don’t recall the exact configuration but it went somewhat like this …
10.00
50.00
100.00
500.00
1000.00
The fact that 1000.00 was the last number (and the rate of exchange was about 3/10ths of a penny to a HUF), and so might be a significant amount did not really register in my jet-lagged sleep-deprived brain (excuses, excuses, I tell you!!).
I punched in 1000.00 and watched – flabbergasted – as currency bill after currency bill started popping out of the ATM the lowest in the 5000 HUF denomination (if I recall correctly). “Had I won the Hungarian ATM lotto?”, I wondered! Once I collared all the cash and saw the receipt, I was stunned beyond disbelief. I had withdrawn a hundred thousand friggin’ Forints! My mind was too numb to translate to USD and figure out if our checking account even had that much cash in there.
Anyway, soon the rest of the family was enjoying their ice cream, and I was contemplating how I could put back 90,000 HUFs back into my account without incurring a huge round-trip exchange rate hit!
Some photos that are representative of the walking we did after the ice cream and before the formal walking tour.

Ferris Wheel in action

The area near where the walking tour was to start … and also where I almost made myself a HUFing millionaire

General streetscapes of pedestrians – you don’t typically see as many pedestrians in most US cities, except in downtown

An ornate bench by the tram tracks which in turn run along the river in that part of town

A statue along the same sidewalk next to a tram (in service)

It is always fun to take photos of brightly colourded double decker buses

A lion guarding one of the bridges across the Danube – this one is right across from the palatial area in the Buda part of town (and close to the Hungarian Parliament building in Pest)

We walked across the river bridge

In Buda but only for a few minutes before starting our trek back across the river, to make our walking tour

Tram tracks in Buda (also parallel to Danube)

Don’t recall who this gentleman is, or where exactly I took this photo – but he looks very stern and regal
We enjoyed our walking tour and the quaint accent of our hostess. She appeared very knowledgeable of the local area though we knew, unfortunately for us, we would be unable to follow her tips for – fun dining experience, shopping from a nice and budget priced marketplace, climbing the one bridge that pedestrians were permitted to climb on and the Gellert Spa which she highly recommended (note that I was scheduled to visit Budapest a few weeks after this trip – but with my old undergrad buddies, so not the same experience!).
Without giving the game away (I think folks should patronize the walking tour, which is free, though tips are recommended and highly appreciated), here are some photos I took during and after the tour:

Statue of priest who was thrown down this mountain (assuming I recall the story correctly)

Souvenirs for sale – there were plenty of these along a pedestrian plaza

I loved these multi-coloured balloon lamps

Posh stores also lined the street we walked along

… as well as buildings that had ornate facades, dating back to the Communist era

A tram trundles past a marketplace (which was closed at this hour), a location close to which our walking tour ended

… as the sun was setting …

… by the bridge that folks can climb on and get photos (I ended up doing this – on my trip with my buddies a few weeks later)

The spa in Buda

… and another bridge over the Danube

We opted for a sit down dining experience at this place – Mexican cuisine in Europe 🙂

Vegetarian food!!

The food was very tasty and filling
It was close to 9 pm or so by the time we returned to our airbnb. It being the height of summer (almost), there was still enough light out for me to take some photos of the street from our perch on the fourth or fifth floor (cannot recall exactly which it was).



– big issue at Hungarian border control
– reach Budapest five hours late
– withdraw HUF 100,000
– free Budapest walking tour
– sleep early to get on flight early next morning