Don't ever get an overnight train...EVER!

Hey guys, so I'm going to write this post in two parts.

One I'm writing now at half ten in the morning as I'm waiting to check in at the "Party Hostel", as dubbed by hostelworld, of Budapest, which I was not expecting. I obviously did my research well. As I walk in, no joke, there is a stream of guys walking around half naked in just towels to cover their private parts and following them is a mist of cologne. Obviously they're trying to use the mystical powers of Lynx to try and

charm themselves with the ladies haha. Getting into this hostel was a nightmare too, the buzzer to be let into the building was broken so I had to wait half an hour on the street for someone to leave the building so that I might sneak in. Thankfully an Australian dude, who's name I didn't catch, was nice enough to walk me up the grand flights of stairs to the part of the building that was owned by the hostel. Welcoming me was an other Australian guy who'd been working there a couple of months, he's 24 and has informed me that tonight is the massive "Shipwreck Pub Crawl" for which they have a legends board to commemorate people that have spectacularly passed out or made a fool of themselves in someway.

Not to be a massive party pooper but I'm definitely giving that a miss after the horrific train journey I just had! If I was still 19 and one of the Sharks of Huddersfield then I would have been totally on it. That being said I cannot express how awesome the guys that work and live here were at the hostel, they all have nicknames for each other which is kind of sweet but the two people that really stood out were Syz & Gryndr. Syz was the Aussie guy who checked me in and bless him he made me a coffee while I waited for my room to get ready and we just chatted about random stuff like tattoos and piercings. But what was the best was that they made you feel like you belonged there which is pretty cool. Gryndr was literally my saviour! I was craving a cigarette sooo bad after that train but had run out of filters! No one there rolled at the time so he generously gave me a straight. Before I could walk off he asked if i knew about the balcony, I said no, so that's where we chilled for a bit smoking and chatting. He also sat me down and circled everything on the map from sights to cheap places to eat to rooftop bars so I didn't have to google a thing! I cannot recommend this place enough pee.

But yeah, so yesterday I left you with the lovely old lady who gave me an apple and I thought maybe this won't be too bad. I was wrong. So wrong. Shortly after, a German Woman, who did not speak a dime of English, rocks up with a Happy Birthday balloon, and loads of luggage. That didn't bother me so much as I was on the top bunk with my own private section and there were 3 other beds to choose from. Obviously she must of taken a shine to me because she picked the bunk right next to me. It's like that person on the bus that has, literally, every other row of seats free to pick from but they decide to sit right next to you! I thought that's okay I can deal with this and I give up some of my personal space which means I'm hugging my rucksack to sleep tonight. I stuck on a Walk to Remember (which FYI is my new favourite film! I so wasn't sobbing for the past part of half an hour haha) to try and make the time go by. Oh no no no. This German lady had an other night planned out for me. Both ladies in my cart fell asleep around 10 o'clock and since I'm a night owl, my bed time isn't usually until around 3am. What I had to endure for the next 10 hours was hell on Earth. My bunk buddy only bloody snored and when I say snored I mean she rocked the carriage harder that the rocket train tracks I was on. I could hear and feel her through the full blast volume of my headphones. It felt like an eternity. I don't think I'd fully considered pouring water over a sleeping person until then. When it came to sleep time I had no choice but to try and drown her out with some Kelly Clarkson. I was seriously jealous of all you guys at home, snuggled in bed peacefully.

As you can imagine it was a blessing walking out of the train station at Budapest to clear blue skies and the sun beaming down on me. The Ray Bans were straight out of my satchel and strategically placed on my nose for optimum cool factor. As soon as I spotted a Starbucks I legged it across the road to grab a vanilla latte. You know how people get hangry without food? Well I'm like that when I don't have a coffee, but thinking about it I was probably hangry too since I hadn't had a proper meal since four o'clock the previous afternoon. I looked up the route to my hostel, a 30 minute walk, which I welcomed after that long journey and there you have it we've come full circle of part one!

Part two of this blog is going to tell you about my first day in Budapest. So, once I'm eventually able to check into my room at half one the first thing I do is

crash into my bed. Over the last week, I've been staying in dorms, and thankfully I booked myself a private room in this hostel so I can just leave all my stuff lying around and don't have to worry about people stealing it. All I wanted to do was sleep the whole afternoon but I knew that would ruin me for this evening and I wouldn't be able to sleep. So I change clothes and head on out into the Hungarian capital.

I swear I must be subconsciously psychic because by happy coincidence I booked to stay in a city where a national holiday is taking place, again. It's is labour day! It used to be a holiday of political rallies and parades but in recent times it's for the celebration of spring and generally just a day off for everyone. As you can imagine when I took to the streets it was absolutely packed, you couldn't walk anywhere! I was thinking "Nah, I can't deal with this!" But then I heard the rev and wheel spin of a racing car. I walked a little further down the road and there it was two main streets in Budapest had been completed caged off and there were rally super cars literally flying down the street. I look up and there's a TV cube with commentators on the race. Budapest sure knew how to celebrate, this was something that I could definitely jump on board with! Walking around though, I told you how hungry I was, everywhere was shut because of the national holiday. Inside I was dying literally! I got google maps on my phone to try and find somewhere to eat and the only place open was a takeaway pizza thing, for £1 a huge slice of pizza I was game. However because of the rally race my direct route was blocked off. It took me an hour to walk what should have been a 20 minute journey. However it was totally worth, the pizza was out of this world! It tasted better than dominoes! And I don't say that lightly. (In a week or so I'll be in Italy so I probably go back on this haha). With my mojo refuelled i headed off to the St.Stephen's Basilica.

Europe sure does have a thing for grand cathedral, this building stood at 92 metres tall and it was impossible for me to get it all in one shot and the exterior was flooded with tourists so my only option was to admit defeat and see what pictures I could take from the inside. Since seeing the Notre

Dame, every church or cathedral I've seen after that has paled in comparison but that doesn't mean the basilica doesn't have a similar air of grandeur. The ceiling in the dome of the cathedral was truly beautiful, it's definitely the best design I've seen so far. And you just want to race your had across the red marble walls, it's definitely got the title of one of the grandest cathedrals in Europe!

I have to apologise that this post is a day late! I collapsed on my bed at 8 o'clock yesterday evening and literally just woken up to write part two! Hope you can forgive me the one reader I have! You know who you are haha. I'm also sorry for any spelling errors and if it doesn't make much sense since I'm still half asleep haha.

#budapest #labourday #traveling