How touristy is Budapest?

Tourism does any economy a lot of good and we all know what the economic crisis did to the European Union. But for the past two days I have been not pleasently surprised by the many tourists in Budapest. Last year when we visited in December it was cheaper and less crowded. Heroes Square was…

Hello, Budapest!

We woke up at 3 a.m. Alarm was set for 3:30 but somehow I was better at waking up without it. By 4:30 we were out the door looking for a cab. At that hour there’s no public transportation available and walking in -7c wasn’t a choice. I felt the driver was a bit cranky…

Packed and ready to go

I just finished packing for our next 5 days (Dec 29 to Jan 2) in Budapest, Hungary. Thankfully I also remembered to ask the staff at the place we are staying whether they provide towels (and they do!) so I don’t carry any dead-weight around. I also decided against taking the fleece and opted for…

13 Travel Resolutions for 2013

I know that resolutions are usually meant to be broken – how many of us resolved to lose weight the next year or work out more or learn a new language but never did it ? – but somehow, putting some ideas in writing makes everything clearer. And at the end of 2013 I’d be…

Something to Read: Best Christmas Books

Many of us travel during this time of the year and the long hours spent in airports, train stations and getting from one place to another are sweeter when we open a book to read. And while I read year-round, there’s only a small fraction of time when I can stomach Christmas Books. By mid-January…

Top 9 Places to Spend New Year’s Eve

If money were no object, where in the world would you like to ring in the New Year? The question has been stuck in my head pretty much since I started planning our New Year’s Eve escape. In general we’d stay home, but this time we are traveling. To Budapest, Hungary. It’s close, it’s cheap,…