Europe
Woke up and walked into town for a coffee and to mail postcards. We sat and reminisced about our time in Budapest. Blown away by the beauty of its architecture, how clean everything is, how hip and fun. Regarding our hotel, we definitely would stay on the Buda side again. It was so fun to dine and hang out on the Pest side but then returning to the calm, elegance of Buda at the end of the day was wonderful. Our hotel PestBuda was perfectly situated and our room was very nice (#15) but when we return we will stay in room #14 or #32 apparently has a wonderful balcony. The decor is super cool, very Ace Hotel-ish. My only issue was that our hotel room had the bathroom and shower literally in the room. So you really need to feel very comfortable with your travel companion as there is NO pooping privacy.
Packed our bags and headed for the car rental at around 9:30am. A few bumps in the road at the car rental as our US drivers licenses don't allow for international driving. Fortunately, my old provisional license from London was still in my wallet and seemed to be suitable. Nevertheless, we still had to pay additional insurance for whatever reason. And because we are renting the car in one country and returning it in another country we had to fill out additional paperwork and pay additional fees as well as procure a shengen visa for Slovenia. After much to-do, we finally got into our SERT Leon (car brand from Spain) and headed southwest toward Slovenia.
The trip was supposed to take about 5 hours.
We stopped briefly to pee and grab a bite to eat in this silly, beach town on Lake Balaton in Hungary. It felt like the tv show Jersey Shore. I ordered the "extra hotdog" and received a hotdog with a mountain of freeze dried fried onions on top. Note to self, do not order "extra hotdogs".
Got back on the road and followed our SatNav instructions which took us through a bit of Croatia to get to Slovenia. We clearly should have looked at a map before we selected this route because it meant going through multiple border crossings.
Finally arrived in Ljubljana around 8pm.
We are staying at an AirBnb in what was described as an old tobacco factory. The AirBnb description did not say that it is now a weird, rundown office building where office are turned into AirBnb loft apartments. There is a bar and restaurant called Food Sex on the side of the building. This AirBnB is near the university so I think that is who this apartment appeals to. People in their 20's to early 30's would find this set up super cool. People who haven't been to college in 25 or more years are not going to have the same reaction. Nevertheless, it is an interesting chapter in our travel adventure.
We spent much of the night trying to figure out the washing machine/dryer. Couldn't get the dryer part to work so all our clothes just keep getting washed over and over again. And when we try to cancel the program and just take the clothes out -- the door wouldn't unlock....
Stay tuned.
Galen Hermelee
25 chapters
Budapest to Ljubljana - Day Seven
July 04, 2018
Woke up and walked into town for a coffee and to mail postcards. We sat and reminisced about our time in Budapest. Blown away by the beauty of its architecture, how clean everything is, how hip and fun. Regarding our hotel, we definitely would stay on the Buda side again. It was so fun to dine and hang out on the Pest side but then returning to the calm, elegance of Buda at the end of the day was wonderful. Our hotel PestBuda was perfectly situated and our room was very nice (#15) but when we return we will stay in room #14 or #32 apparently has a wonderful balcony. The decor is super cool, very Ace Hotel-ish. My only issue was that our hotel room had the bathroom and shower literally in the room. So you really need to feel very comfortable with your travel companion as there is NO pooping privacy.
Packed our bags and headed for the car rental at around 9:30am. A few bumps in the road at the car rental as our US drivers licenses don't allow for international driving. Fortunately, my old provisional license from London was still in my wallet and seemed to be suitable. Nevertheless, we still had to pay additional insurance for whatever reason. And because we are renting the car in one country and returning it in another country we had to fill out additional paperwork and pay additional fees as well as procure a shengen visa for Slovenia. After much to-do, we finally got into our SERT Leon (car brand from Spain) and headed southwest toward Slovenia.
The trip was supposed to take about 5 hours.
We stopped briefly to pee and grab a bite to eat in this silly, beach town on Lake Balaton in Hungary. It felt like the tv show Jersey Shore. I ordered the "extra hotdog" and received a hotdog with a mountain of freeze dried fried onions on top. Note to self, do not order "extra hotdogs".
Got back on the road and followed our SatNav instructions which took us through a bit of Croatia to get to Slovenia. We clearly should have looked at a map before we selected this route because it meant going through multiple border crossings.
Finally arrived in Ljubljana around 8pm.
We are staying at an AirBnb in what was described as an old tobacco factory. The AirBnb description did not say that it is now a weird, rundown office building where office are turned into AirBnb loft apartments. There is a bar and restaurant called Food Sex on the side of the building. This AirBnB is near the university so I think that is who this apartment appeals to. People in their 20's to early 30's would find this set up super cool. People who haven't been to college in 25 or more years are not going to have the same reaction. Nevertheless, it is an interesting chapter in our travel adventure.
We spent much of the night trying to figure out the washing machine/dryer. Couldn't get the dryer part to work so all our clothes just keep getting washed over and over again. And when we try to cancel the program and just take the clothes out -- the door wouldn't unlock....
Stay tuned.
1.
Amsterdam-Day One
2.
Amsterdam - Day Two
3.
Amsterdam - Day Three
4.
Amsterdam to Budapest - Day Four
5.
Budapest - Day Five
6.
Budapest - Day Six
7.
Budapest to Ljubljana - Day Seven
8.
Ljubljana - Day Eight
9.
Ljubljana & Bled - Day Nine
10.
Ljubljana to Croatia - Day Ten
11.
Croatia - Day Eleven
12.
Croatia - Day Twelve
13.
Croatia - Day Thirteen
14.
Croatia - Day Fourteen
15.
Croatia - Day Fifteen
16.
Hvar - Day Sixteen
17.
Hvar - Day Seventeen
18.
Hvar – Day Eighteen
19.
Hvar – Day Nineteen
20.
Hvar – Day Twenty
21.
Hvar – Day Twenty-One
22.
Hvar to Dubrovnik – Day Twenty-Two
23.
Dubrovnik – Day Twenty-Three
24.
Dubrovnik - Day Twenty-Four
25.
Dubrovnik to Amsterdam - Day Twenty-Five
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