Personal Blog

Growing up in Hungary you're going to expect certain things. For example, everyone is going to be sour all the time. If you're in the service industry people treat you badly, bus drivers are kings of their rides and they shout at you for whatever. Stairs everywhere. You need to keep an eye on your stuff at all times. So even though I'm on the same continent, I still managed to experience a couple of culture shocks. Let's start with trains. I've travelled a lot on trains in Hungary, because I would make the journey between Szeged and Budapest at least once a month to see my mum. I was used to stairs starting at my knees, and keeping my luggage in my sights at all times. Imagine my surprise when there were no stairs on the train from Glasgow, and there was a luggage rack next to the door for my monster suitcase! I had to leave it there, which I found pretty scary. I was compelled to check it every other minute. Of course, I was the only one doing that. There w...

It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining, and the temperature was possibly even going over 20. On my way to the bus stop I looked towards the meadow on my right, and spotted a brown creature grazing in the grass. I got out my camera, and used the powerful zoom on it to make sure. A deer! She was so lovely, though I couldn't catch a picture of her with her head raised, she was so busy eating. When she stopped, she jumped over a fence, all elegant and graceful, and disappeared from sight. I really felt that I live in the country in that moment. After that I stopped at the co-op, and got two small bags of grapes. They are cheaper if you buy in a bigger portion, but I didn't want to carry so much around. I ate one bag on the bus to Ambleside. It was an open top, and I could finally make use of it, as the weather was turning sunny. I took a few pictures as well. I decided to go to Ambleside, because it looked like a bigger place. I also wanted to get a nice blanket for...

On my way to Grasmere I had to go through Keswick. From the bus I spotted a nice pedestrian street, which had quite a number of tourists milling about, so I decided to make that the destination for my first excursion. The opportunity presented itself on my first day off. I got a quite expensive ticket on the bus, and walked up to the top floor on it. The view there was breathtaking, and I couldn't believe that this was actually where I was going to live for the foreseeable future. The bus took its time, winding around the roads. When another bus appeared coming the opposite way on a very narrow part of the road, I wasn't sure how they could possibly fit. As if they were the knight's bus in Harry Potter, they still made it work. In Keswick I got off at the main bus station. It is possible to change buses there to go to a number of different destinations. I decided to just follow the crowd. I did have two goals in mind. To buy some more warm clothing, and to get a ...

I woke up to my mum warning me to take my medication. We had a small breakfast in the breakfast room. It wasn't the best, and the coffee ran out fast, but it was something. There was another guy there, who was on his way to Canada. He had been living there for a while. He also left with the airport transfer we used. We did make it to the airport fast, but I misunderstood the woman when I checked my bag in. She told me that I could get in at B2 after 6:30. I thought she meant the security, so we sat down and mum had another coffee. I got through security fast, but had to wait a lot for passport check. I got talking with a British guy in line, and it was good to pass the time. I had to wait for the plane. I chatted with a Chinese girl, who was studying economics in Glasgow, and was returning from a holiday in Austria and Hungary. We ended up taking off half an hour late. On the plane I felt pretty scared. I had the middle seat, so I concentrated on talking with ...

After all of my things were moved to Szeged, I couldn't stay in Budapest anymore. I spent two nights at home, my last two nights for who knows how long. It was difficult. I kept thinking of all the things I was leaving behind, and found it difficult to think of all the things waiting for me there. It felt like saying goodbye forever. However, when I moved to Budapest I thought it was for good too. I thought I'd make my home there, get married, have kids. None of that happened. Maybe the UK isn't for forever either. I can't say though. I had so many long term plans in my life, and none turned out the way I expected. I've decided to stick to short term goals. I got a new suitcase and a new backpack. My old suitcase was too small, my backpack too big. I also got some money to take with me. We went with mum to the station in a taxi. He let us out in front of it, and getting the suitcase over the fancy stone pavement was a struggle. Who ever thought of putt...

It's been a while since I've written a post here. A lot of things happened. Things with my boyfriend are going well. We do try to see each other as many times as possible. Though he does go home every weekend, which makes meeting on a Saturday hard, but at least I have the weekends to play. Maybe we can work out a better schedule from January. We went to Vienna on December 4th though. It was cool as I hadn't been there for about 20 years. We did have a good time and he loved it. It was his first time abroad. He can understand now when I talk about how hard it is to come back to Hungary. You just don't want to. I guess we do have to though. One thing we did agree on was that next time we travel, we do it in warmer weather. It was really cold. Freezing even. On the train there we didn't have a place ticket, which we will need to get next time. I ended up sitting on the floor and he stood. I did tell him to sit down on the ground with me. On...

Full version with pictures and videos:  http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/Inverness-shire/Isle-of-Skye/blog-516694.html Sunday. On Sundays no buses run on Skye. So I decided to stay in Portree. The whole place is not that big, so I’ve already seen most of it. The weather was pretty bad, strong winds and rain.   On my way out I realised I had left my cap in the room. The day before I forgot it and when the rain was really bad, I could have used it. So I went back to get it. I ran into the wife and she told me about the Aros Center.   It’s a tourist center with a restaurant, shop, cinema, internet. Only four computers, but mostly unused, probably because not many know about it.   She explained where it was and I decided to check it out. It was quite a long way, mostly uphill, but I kept on walking. I did consider turning back a couple of times or thought that perhaps I had misunderstood something and went the wrong way. But the...

For the fuller version with photos and videos go to:  http://www.travelblog.org/fred.php?id=516415 Got up at 7 and was down for breakfast by 8. I got coffee, orange juice, porridge and some toast. I put some sugar into my porridge. I’ve never had it before, but I did like it. It reminded me of a Hungarian dish called “tejbegríz”, which is essentially very similar, it’s grain mixed into milk and cooked as well. However, we put cocoa powder on it and the grain is finer as we use grits and porridge uses oats. Good all the same. I also talked with John and told him where I was going. I planned to go to the Old Man of Storr, which is one of the walks I had planned. He told me to note his phone number in case I got stranded somewhere. So I got ready and went to the town center as my bus would leave from there. On the but I go a dayrider. A couple I saw on the bus coming here was also headed to the Storr. I took notice of them as the guy reminded me of a colleague I had, just b...

Full version with pictures: http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/Inverness-shire/Isle-of-Skye/blog-515812.html I woke up an hour early, but only realised it once I was all dressed. I forgot to set the time back on my phone. I remedied that and went down to breakfast when I could. Apparently you have to pay for cooked breakfast, but coffee and toast with jam was included. I got back to the room, and soon I was off. I had over an hour for getting to Buchanan station, so I took some pictures on the way. Got a bowl of salad at Subway for food. I took a lot of pictures on George square. I had to go up a really step street to the station. I was early there and bought some mags and drank a coffee. At the coffee place I still didn’t know the English coins, but the coffee wasn’t all that much, and I had several, so I wanted to pay with them. I was trying to work out what combination I could do with them and which coin was worth what, when I just got confused and...

Version with pictures: http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/Lanarkshire/Glasgow/blog-511811.html I'm finally on my way! It seems like I've been planning this trip for ages. I did want to see Scotland since I saw Highlander, but I decided to go last year. In February I bought the plane tickets, reserved the B&Bs. Today I woke up nervous. My nerves have been getting to me, so no relaxing. I did watch Top Chef and ate my lunch for breakfast. I packed everything I could last night. I added the remaining things, got dressed, did my hair in a bun and put on make-up. Still nervous. I checked my lists again and after making sure I had everything, I went on my way. I also took out the garbage. I'm wearing jeans, a grey top and sandals. Probably the most genius part of my outfit is the work-out bra. I have a Fit Dry Nike and it's great. It holds, no wires and you can't sweat in them. They're so great, I'm wondering why I'm n...