It's travel time again!

Friday May 20, 2011

Current facebook status… It’s travel time J J J.  As I told a friend recently, “My name is Sadaf, and I am a travel-a-holic.  It has been nearly six months since my last trip.”

I don’t know how addicts must feel, but it can’t be much worse than the feeling of being grounded.  Work travel does not count, and recently I have been racking up miles [and squirreling them away for a future trip] due to some work travel.  The long, cold winter and the cool spring have just made me antsy.  Coupled with that, a passport near expiry meant a renewal in March, which means a brand new and completely unstamped passport!  How can that be??!!!  I was a little ambitious this time and got the extended 52-page version… even more pages to fill, and more travel tales to relate…

So let’s get started.  This particular trip to central Europe spawned during a discussion with a friend who mentioned hitting Prague, Vienna and Budapest on a trip.  Hmmm....  Shortly after this discussion, and the haunting of various travel forums to research the appeal of such a trip for my purposes, was shortly followed by a fantastic fare sale by Malev Hungarian.  It was fate…  Unfortunately my friend cannot accompany me, but off I go.

Central Europe… where the Euro zone has not yet invaded, so it’s a little more affordable with the current economy.  The more I read about the region, the more fascinated I have become.  From the language to the culture to the past to the present.  The architecture, the monuments, the food, and the people.  I can’t wait to get on this plane, and mostly because I need a nap in the worst possible way. 

So while the ticket for this trip was booked sometime in February / March, I really didn’t do any other planning until recently.  Leaving the packing till the last minute was just a bad idea all around, but I couldn’t motivate myself to do it until it needed to be done.  I hope American is not too picky about the size of the personal item, as I’ve strayed from the size of the “personal item” and it’s a backpack. 

The late night was followed by a loooong day.  An early check-in at work as it was a very important milestone… that almost didn’t happen.  That put me behind the rest of the agenda for the day, leaving it for a very hectic day.  The deadline of departure was 3:00 PM and thankfully, with some assistance from co-workers on whom I have foisted off work, I was actually able to leave as planned.  Another co-worker with a 5-year wedding anniversary graciously agreed to drive me to the airport, an excuasable offense to leave work early.

And that puts me at he airport, and currently in my seat.  Hopefully I can switch with whoever has the window seat, and get settled.  So for now, … hmmm.. I have no idea how to say goodbye in Hungarian or Czech, so it’s going to be English.  I’m sure more to follow.