While in my bunk the night before, my other roommates and I talked in the dark. They were two girls from Sweden and arrived minutes before me. They had a pretty hectic travel day as well so made me feel better. They had been traveling for months and said that its normal for things to go wrong sometimes. We agreed that we were lucky to even have the opportunity to travel and tomorrow when we woke up, it would be a new day.
In the morning, I climbed down my bunk and headed out the door. I had slept a little later than I had wanted, but needed to rest up badly. I had only one hour before the only train for the day left for Budapest.
The train station was only a block away from the hostel, so luckily I knew I would not be getting lost. Zagreb in daylight was a different city. Old historic buildings lined the street to the station. I walked up to the international ticket station counter and bought my ticket to Budapest for 220 Kuna. They told me the train would be leaving in 15 minutes at number 1. I swung by the bakery stand and bought a pastry and cappuccino for breakfast. I sat on the platform and waited wondering if this train was similar to the bus schedule. They are never on time but thought it was odd that it was only minutes before departure and still no train. I looked across the tracks and now realized that I had been waiting on the wrong side. I looked at my phone that read 9:58am. I grabbed my pack and began running for the stairs that led through a tunnel to the other side of the tracks. I couldn't believe I was about to miss the only train to Budapest.
Once I reached the train, I wanted to be sure this was The right one. I asked the guy standing at the door with his wife if this train was going to Budapest and he began talking in a different language. I just repeated "Budapest?" and he shrugged his shoulders said words I didn't understand. The doors began closing and I no longer had a choice. Wherever this train was going, I was too.
I walked down the narrow hallway and a man pointed for me to take a seat in one of the rooms. The train was very old and run down. There was no air conditioning so open windows lined the right side of the train allowing the breeze to carry through. On the left side of the train sliding glass doors opened to each room of seats. The rooms sat six seats each with luggage racks above. The man motioned me to sit with the three guys sitting in the first room. I opened the sliding glass door and took a seat and asked the guys if this was the train to Budapest. "We sure hope so!" they responded. They introduced themselves as Michael, Leo and Gary. They went on to tell me they have been traveling from London and missed a train that resulted them to be traveling for over thirty hours to get to Budapest. They were exhausted and didn't know if they even got on the right train. It appeared I wasn't the only one getting lost in Europe. I assumed if we both thought we were on our way to the same place, that we were headed in the right direction.
The train ride to Budapest was very long. It was a 7 1/2 hour journey. Luckily, the guys in my car were very entertaining. They showed me video clips on their iPhone from the pranks they pulled throughout their travels, taught me how to sound like I had an English accent and filled me in on what there is to do in Budapest. Apparently Budapest is known for their Bath Parties. I had never heard of this. The guys went on to tell me that there is a huge spa that you go to at night where everyone wears bathing suits and drinks in the spa. I didn't even know what to picture but immediately added this to my list right below eat Chicken Paprikosh.
After several naps along the way, I headed through the narrow hallways to the restaurant. I ordered a Hungarian beer and asked the server for her favorite dish. She brought me back a pork dish served with fries. The meat was heavily seasoned and very flavorful. I ate every last bite before heading back to sleep off the last two hours of the train ride.
We arrived to Budapest and I had to make another decision. It was up in the air whether I had a reservation with my hostel. They had emailed me in the morning that they did have an apartment for me but I emailed them back and said I would be traveling alone so preferred to stay in a hostel with other people. I asked the boys if I could tag along to their hostel, check the availability and also check my email to see if my own hostel was able to put me in a dorm. The main reason I wanted to follow them was simply because I was over getting lost in Europe. I had screenshot the directions to my hostel and got confused after reading the first transfer on the metro. The boys nodded their heads and said they didn't mind at all.
We walked through the station and it was nice to just follow Michael and not have to worry. Our first stop was the ATM. I looked at the screen as it displayed the different options and asked the boys how many Hungarian Forint they suggested I pull out. "What do you think, will 1000 Forint do?" They laughed and informed me that 1000 Forint was only $4 American. With that tip, I pulled out 25,000 Forint.
All four of us jumped in a taxi and drove through Budapest to the hostel. The driver explained some of the history as he drove over the chain bridge. Budapest is said to be one of the most beautiful cities in Europe and I was in agreement as we passed the Parliament Building and drove down the busy streets of old historic buildings.
We arrived to the hostel and each paid the driver 1000 Forint. This hostel looked like a huge bar with rooms bordering the courtyard. The boys went up to the check in counter to see if they had availability while I asked a guest for the wifi password. I needed to check my email to see if my hostel wrote me back. I read in my inbox that I had one new email from Maverick Hostel. "Dear Julie, Originally you reserved an 8 bedded private apartment for two nights, details are here and previously in the e-mail. As a no show we should charge your credit card with the 2 nights but at least with the first night amount which would be 341,76EUR. I believe you do not want me to do this and to be honest, me neither. But the apartment was reserved for the 8 of you as it was booked for the known amount of money. Please advise something which would be still good for you. For today, as you and only you, like one person would prefer to stay with some other in a dorm room, we can give you a bed in our 10 bedded dormitory room for 17eur. I just reserved that bed for you. Please get back to me asap if you do not come tonight so I would cancel the reservation. Kind regards, Levi"
My heart sank, how I managed to book for eight people on an accident for over $400 American was beyond me. I really was beginning to question whether I was fit enough to be traveling on my own at this point. Gary ran up to me with excitement and said, "They have one room left for you here!" Still a little dazed from the amount I now owed my hostel, I shook my head and told Gary I had to go.
I jumped in a cab and showed the driver the screenshot of the hostel address. I looked out the window and wondered if they would really make me pay that much money. It was my fault, and I guess there were worse things, but I felt sick over the mistake I had just made. The taxi pulled up to an old mansion in the city. I paid him 1000 Forint and pressed the button to release the tall green iron castle doors. I walked through a beautiful elegant foyer leading me to another tall set of doors. I scanned the list of names on the keypad and buzzed the Maverick Hostel door. After confirming my name, the big double doors opened and I walked into a magnificent white courtyard. Marble floors guided me to a stone stairwell with two more set of doors. Once I reached the stairwell, I looked up as I saw the winding stairwell all the way up to the ceiling. This mansion exceeded all my expectations.
I followed the signs to the second level to the reception. When I walked in the clerk shook his head, "You are the Julie Kastler?" I nodded. He shook his head, "You booked incorrectly, reserving for 8 people for two night!" I put my head on the counter and apologized with embarrassment. He pulled out some paperwork and had me sign in. He then placed my key on the counter and told me not to worry and that they would only charge me for the single bed today and tomorrow. Relieved, I thanked him over and over as he guided me to the lift.
As we rode the elevator up to my room, he informed me that this mansion was built and owned by the Habsburg king who used to rule Austria and Hungary. Over the years it was divided into several flats. The hostel bought the entire right side of the mansion, housing hostel apartments in every floor.
Once we stepped off the elevator, he paused and said "Julie, it just came to me. Since you booked for an eight person flat and cost us a lot of money, I would ask that you do a favor." My heart sank, I had no clue what he was going to ask. "I request that you visit Hostelworld.com after your stay and require you provide us with 100% on the survey. Would you do that?" Extremely relieved by his small request for not paying $400, I nodded and assured him I would give 150% on the rating.
He swiped the keypad with a sensor and the tall white door leading to my room released. I walked in to a beautiful apartment. There was a living room in the foyer with a flat screen hanging on the wall and leather couches. He guided me through the kitchen with stainless steal appliances and into the dining room with windows from the floors all the way to the ceiling overlooking the courtyard. He showed me all four bathrooms and each of the bedrooms within our apartment. There were five bedrooms total with anywhere from 6-10 beds per room. Lastly, he led me to my room, the 10 person dorm. The ceiling were two levels high with windows lining from the floor to the ceiling. Single beds lined up across the walls and then a ladder led up to the balcony above where my bunk lay. I climbed up the ladder and was greeted by to Welsh girls. They eagerly introduced themselves as Ameila and Ameila, childhood friends who were traveling Europe together. The girls told me they were headed to the Bath Party tonight and asked if I wanted to join them. I told them I had only heard of this party for the first time on the train today. They filled me in on more details of the Szecskam Spa. During the day it was a luxurious spa and a night a Bath Party, I agreed to join. Apparently the Bath Party was only on Saturday nights so They told me I had arrived on the perfect day.
The Amelia's asked if I wanted to grab dinner with them before we headed to the party. As we walked down the streets through Budapest, they filled me in on what there was to do in this city and were incredibly kind. I was in love with their British accents and was having a great time getting to know the two Ameila's. They had never been to America and asked me question after question about our country. They said everyone in Great Britain talks about how all they want to do is go to America. They picture it like the movies. Everyone wants the "The American Dream," they said.
After we got dinner we stopped at the liquor store and picked up a few beers to take back to the hostel. When we arrived, all of our roommates were gathered in the dining room playing a card game before heading to the Bath Party. There were Brazilians, Finnish, English and British circling the table. When it was my turn in the game, I picked a card that required me to make a rule. I announced that my rule would be anytime someone had to drink they would have to cheers the group and shout "America!" This made for a good joke and throughout the entire game, every few seconds they would yell America.
After a few drinks we all took cabs to the Bath Party. I had no idea what to expect but everyone was saying this is the highlight of Budapest. The taxi pulled up to a huge Palace. We stood in line in front of the palace until we arrived to security and they checked our bags. Once we walked in it looked like we had just stepped into the 1920's. The floors lined with black and white checkerd tile and the walls had old dark wooden cabinets. In the lobby, we were handed rubber wristbands with circle code readers for the locker. Then we were guided to the next line and handed lanyards with plastic credit cards. The minimum amount required to place on the card was 6000 Forint. We added the money to the card and were pointed in the direction of the lockers. It was 11pm at night and we passed grown people through the hallways of this locker room with cocktails and strolling around in their swim suits. What had I got myself into tonight?
We arrived to the lockers and big buttons were on every door. The Ameila's and I were confused so asked the girl next to us how to operate them. She took her wrist and placed the circle scanner on her band up to the button on the locker. Once it blinked red, the door released. We stuffed our clothes in the locker and followed the herd of people up the stairs to the spa. Once we stepped outside, my jaw dropped as I turned to the girls in shock. This was the craziest thing I had ever seen. I felt like I walked on the set of The Great Gatsby. the pool party rest in the center of a huge palace with a big white bubbled DJ booth in the middle of the three massive pools. Red, blue and green lights waved through hundreds of people dancing around the spas.
The girls and I went up to the bar and ordered red bull and vodkas. The bartender handed us our cocktails and then placed a scanner on the counter. She signaled for our lanyard so I lifted mine to the scanner and it blinked a green light with my remaining balance across the screen. We headed to the spa and the water was as warm as a hot tub. It was 91 degrees in the spa and felt so warm as we made our way through the water toward the DJ. We danced around in the water and toasted to an amazing night out in Budapest.
People were dancing around in the water and then in the center of the pool rest a stone circle above the rest of the pool where people were dancing around the circle constantly moving forward creating a whirlpool effect. The girls and I were enjoying not getting to wet and stayed clear of this massive rage in the center of the pool. We danced away in the big pool party and I was having a ball. Amelia was the sweetest girl and we got into a deep conversation about relationships. It's funny the things you end up discussing with strangers from all over the world. She was very intelligent and had some great insight that she shed on me. I was so glad that I met her and was having the best time with my new Welsh friend. As the night went on we made our way up to the whirlpool and decided you only live once so climbed over the stone wall and into the circle. This was complete mayhem. The current was much stronger than we imagined. Water was splashed around to the point where you could barely see in front of you as the water carried us around in circles. I've been to Vegas pool parties but this was by far the craziest scene I have ever seen in my life. Amelia and I held on to each other as we were carried through the current, laughing and having a blast.
We ran into Michael, Leo and Gary at the pool. I was shocked to run across them through all the people at the spa. The Amelia's and I had the best time time at the spa and was beginning to wonder how each night on this trip to Europe could outdo the last. I didn't even know Bath Parties existed twenty four hours ago and here I was dancing around a whirlpool inside a palace in Budapest.
We stayed at the pool until the early morning and then took a cab back to the hostel. Amelia and I stayed up late together talking about life, love and her future trip to America. I was so incredibly glad I met her and knew that both Amelia's made my experience in this city the best experience I could ever ask for.
So another day down in Europe and another crazy experience to file. That grueling train ride was worth it. I had no idea when I arrived to Budapest that I would be sleeping in a mansion and attending a Bath Party. I guess that's what happens when you wing your trip. I was looking forward to what tomorrow brings. At this point, I never really could tell.