Planning our Thanksgiving Feast
Since this is our first Thanksgiving in Europe, we were planning to do something special. Of course, we meant we wanted to travel to several new countries and take advantage of the American holiday! We yearned for delicious food and adventure!
[divider class="" ]Planning:
From the very beginning, Austria and Budapest were on our list since we have not been there and Austria is beautiful!. Since we managed to beg and receive Thanksgiving Thursday and Black Friday off, we knew we had to maximize our long weekend! I started looking into cheap flights and found what appeared to be a good deal where we could visit three cities and three countries! Since Mary Frances has been to Austria, we decided that Vienna would be 1 day, with a day trip to Bratislava, then two days in Budapest (new city!).
[divider class="" ]How:
From London, there are close to 15 ways to visit that route depending on your choice of airport. To try something different (and the cheapest flights!), I booked our outgoing flight from Stansted Airport on Eurowings to Vienna with our return into Luton on Wizz Air from Budapest. While in Europe, we would travel via travel to the various cities as they had hourly trains from Vienna to Bratislava and then Vienna to Budapest.We learned very valuable lessons while traveling to Stansted on Wednesday afternoon. First, do not go at rush hour. Second, do not go at rush hour. Third, if it is rush hour, go to a familiar airport. On this day, it also did not help that Mary Frances and I were working separately so we met at Euston at 5:30pm since her train was late. Next, we took the Tube and Stansted Express. On every train, since it was rush hour, we were packed in the Tube and it was standing room only. It was not a comfortable experience. A journey that should have taken an hour and a half ended up taking 2.5 hours! Mostly do to delayed trains, but exhasterbated by rush hour. Lesson learned.Luckily, thanks to our Priority Pass, we were able to visit the Stansted Lounge and grab a drink to calm our nerves! And eat and repack. Also, it helped to sit down and relax in our own personal space.Eurowings, on the other hand, was a completely different experience. Wow! It is the model of German efficiency! The boarding process was organized, streamlined, on-time, and everyone was nice! The plane felt spacious and very clean compared to our EasyJet and Ryanair experiences. Similar to EJ and RA, they continued to sell products, etc., but mostly left you alone. Once we landed was the real difference because we actually boarded and exited on a gangway!!! If possible, I will try to fly with them next time!
Wizz Air, on the other hand, was a completely different experience. See, this is similar to how our trip went. Up and downs! The Budapest airport, while really easy to access from the city, is too small. We had plenty of time, but it is a small airport. Once we relaxed in the lounge about 1 hour before departure, I saw suddenly our plane was on last call! I made Mary Frances dash to the gate only to find a massive queue because it turns out they pressed the wrong button! We ran for nothing! Luckily, my saving grace from Mary Frances’ glare, was we saw quite a few people do the same thing - rush to the gate, only to find this massive queue, then look frustrated. After that, Wizz Air really wasn’t bad - same as the other budget airlines.
[divider class="" ]Costs:
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- Flight to Vienna (Eurowings): £81
- Flight from Budapest (Wizz Air): £99
- Trains: £50
- Vienna Hostel (3 nights): £100
- Budapest Hotel (1 night): £67
- New Thanksgiving memories: Priceless
[divider class="" ]Lodging:
For Vienna, after our positive experiences at Wombats Hostels, I decided to book there. It is located near the Naschmarkt, an ethnic farmers market full of Asian/African/organic food. It is well-located compared to the big sights of Vienna - 10 minutes from the closest Christmas market, 25 from the main Christmas market, and 20 minutes from the main square as well as the train station. The rooms were spacious and wifi is really good as well! For the price, it definitely was worth staying!
In Budapest, I treated Mary Frances to a special boutique, fun, hipster hotel in the old town. Not going to lie, I now see why people pay the big bucks for the location and amenities! Granted, I have travelled for work and personally with Hilton for years, but this hotel went above and beyond. We stayed at Bohem Art Hotel and it was a fifteen minute walk from the main church and about 2 minutes from the nearest Tram station and the riverfront! We also had a decent size continental breakfast the next morning.
For our actual experiences on Thanksgiving day, read the next post! -