August 24-September 4, 2025
Dear Friends and Family,
Ellen’s new travel journey begins: together with my dear friend and Appalachian State University colleague, Dr. Charlene Sox, we begin our 12 day adventure behind the former Iron Curtain.
August 24: Day one flights into Hungary
Following church for Ellen at Alliance, we made our way to Charlotte for a 3:30 airport arrival time for our 6:40 flight with only two stops on the way, one at Ruby Tuesdays for lunch and one to pick up Charlene’s daughter and son-in-law who will “babysit” my Subaru during the trip. (thanks so much!)
The flight to Munich was easy. The Munich airport has some interesting additions that I have not seen in the states. In our wing of the airport there were free-sanding sleeping containers that could be rented for catching up on needed rest while waiting for your next flight.
The other interesting station was a coffee kiosk. You had your choice of selecting 7 different coffee combinations. You made your selection, used your debit card and the machine ground your coffee beans, added the requested extras and produced an excellent cup of coffee for $3.46 or 2.99 Euros.
Our second leg of the plane trip was not without a few hiccups. Our first plane was considered unsafe for out 55 minute flight to Budapest so we were bussed across the airport to a back-up plane (older and much nosier). Changing planes required taking 3 flights of stairs down to bus, then boarding the plane by way of another set of 18 steps. Fortunately we had wonderful help from our fellow passengers to take our Carry-on luggage.
We arrived two hours late and after passport control (I got a new stamp on my passport) Viking staff met us for our trip to our 5 star hotel, The Corinthia.
A wonderful outside dinner a few blocks away at the Cafe Vian, of traditional Hungarian food, (Wiener Schnitzel with homemade potato chips and potato salad for Charlene, and Hungarian Chicken Paprikash with dumplings for Ellen). Then a walk around the blocks near our hotel (we did not stay too far).
A return to the hotel and then in bed by 8:30 for the first real sleep on over 40 hours. It is now 3 AM Tuesday and my 7 hours of sleep came to an end so I am up writing!
(I am posting this without my editor-in-chief, Charlene, to check it. She will read it later today (Tuesday) and make any corrections or additions. Any mistakes are mine and my excuse is a lack of sleep!)
Signing off: Ellen
Ellen’s Travel Journal 2016-2025 