Guildford to Budapest (Feb 15-17 2011)

Posted on April 13, 2011 by Stuart Trigg

Less panic than normal trip departure. 10:30 taxi on time. Meet Stu G at Waterloo at 12 noon. Tube to St Pancras, then Eurostar to Paris Gare du Nord. A walk around the corner to Gare de l’est (via Burger Bar to bulk up). Then board the sleeper train to Munich.


Departing Paris on the first sleeper train of the trip

The 6 berth couchette was adequate. 3 Germans (2 female) and us. Similar to the Guilin-Shanghai overnighter last year. Adequate comfort, but 5 games of Rummy across the gap between top bunks was a challenge. Sleep 4-5 hrs on/off music then ear plugs.

Just us and pretty young German girl by Munich, who smiled and said goodbye – her first words of the journey.

Munich station for 2 hrs, croissant breakfast and Cappucino, pick up lunch for journey.

Train pauses at Salzburg and Vienna (must visits on a future trip – when my thirst for extremes has dissipated!), then cross into Hungary. Trolly staff and information on the screens switch to Hungarian – and my level of understanding plummets from 50% (for German and French) to 0.


Our Budapest pad for 2 nights

Arriving at Budapest Station we feel like we have travelled through a timewarp in to the 19th century. Walk to hotel that we pre-booked back in England, and are greeted by a nice reception guy, who takes us to our great self-catering apartment. Maid had forgot to switch from double to twin, but this was quickly rectified to leave us with luxury at a rock bottom price.

Out to restaurant area – a whole set of great looking joints, but the girl dressed like a monk (actually just coat for the very cold temperature) on the door of ‘The Bohemian’ helped us decide. Beyond budget, but the Hungarian tenderloin pork was fantastic, and the local beer was good too. Capped with excellent service.

Sleep is soon reached after a first journey of epic length.

Long sleep, then rustle up breakfast.


View over the funicular and the Danube

Walk down the boulevards of Pest to the Danube and cross the river via the Chain Bridge to Buda the old twin city on the far side. Avoid the funicular to walk to the top of the hill on which the palace sits. It has started to snow so we retreat to a coffee house-supermarket to plan our day.


Stephen’s Church – Budapest

St Stephen’s church is exquisite from the outside with its coloured tiles, but the price to go in caused it to be cut. From a ballustrade nearby, we ate a ham-cheese lunch while gawping at the Danube and Pest far below.


Lunchtime View

The National Gallery was our chosen pursuit, given that we both enjoy a decent gallery and the snow had grown heavier. Hungarian artists, mostly 19th century – very extensive collection – good but not amazing was our opinion.

Cook thai curry in the evening to balance the budget.

Lunchtime View
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Chiang Mai – Ash Clouds, Bangkok Riots and Curfew at Sunday Walking Street (May 21-May 23 2010)

Posted on August 29, 2010 by Stuart Trigg

It was once more time to do an overland point to point journey and the trip from Chiang Mai to Shanghai, that would connect all of my previous overland journeys in South-east Asia and China had risen to the top of my priorities. Chris, who I had travelled with previously, became interested, and so what I had been prepared to do alone, became a two man trip.

The trip, however, was in the balance until the day before take off…

First,  there had been the ‘visa or flights’ decision – i.e. which to obtain first. The cost of flights had been oscillating wildly, and conflicting stories abounded on how easy it was to obtain a Chinese visa. Booking flights and then not being able to obtain a visa for the country where the return flight flew from would be a disaster. Likewise, obtaining the visa and then finding the cheapest flights that remained were double the initial price would be catastrophic. I had previously dealt with Trailfinders successfully, to obtain a visa for India, so I sent off our passports and application forms by post, prayed that they would return swiftly, and booked the flights online with Ebookers. Our passports returned with Chinese visas installed more rapidly than predicted, with one week to spare before the flight.

Next, news of the riots escalating in Bangkok dominated the main TV news. Although we only planned to visit the airport in Bangkok, if the protestors took the airport, or the violence spread to the north, the trip would have to be cancelled. In addition the dreaded ash cloud from the Icelandic volcano was once more threatening to close down airports in Western Europe. I watched the comments of respected posters on the Lonely Planet Thorn Tree, one of whom was on the ground in Chiang Mai. Just days before we were due to fly out, there was a curfew in Chiang Mai and the burning of vehicles – but my man on the ground suggested, the day before our flight, that the worst seemed to be over.
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12 Reasons Why You Should Travel Overland (Part 1)

Posted on August 28, 2010 by Stuart Trigg

Disruption Free:
A trip can be spoiled before it even starts – ash clouds, airline strikes, airline bankruptcy. All are  risks connected with travelling by air. Of course, due to time restrictions, reaching the start point of a trip and returning from the end point often necessitates use of air transport, but avoiding any additional, trip-breaking disruption is a reason to travel overland.

Soak-up The Scenery:
Yes, fluffy clouds can be pretty to watch outside of an aircraft window, but no matter how blue the sky behind them, the interest wanes, and then, given the westernized culture of the aircraft, you might as well be sitting in a cafe back home. Except that cafes are generally more comfortable. When you arrive at your destination there is a feeling that the land in between take off and landing doesn’t really exist.

In stark contrast, travelling from point to point overland, you are brought into close proximity with the land of the country or countries through which you are travelling. A different vista awaits around every corner.

My own overland journeys have included: taking a high altitude train from historic Cusco to majestic Lake Titicaca, across high plateau, with close views of rare groups of graceful guanaco; descending by car from the rugged Atlas Mountains to the golden Sahara in Morocco; and countless more vivid experiences.

Meet The Real Locals:
A negligible percentage of a country’s population is of the tourist-facing, commercially-oriented variety, but without travelling overland, these are likely to be the majority of the people that you see, thus giving you a distorted view of the land that you are visiting.

Travelling overland gives access to the real people. Whether it be the old woman sitting next to you on the bus, smiling and looking over your shoulder at your guide book, or people diligantly planting rice, knee deep in the paddy fields. Suddenly the country comes to life and shows its true colours.

One favourite experience of mine occured at Litang, in the wild west of Sichuan, China. Nobody spoke English on the streets, and I really did feel that I was in an alien world… until a buddhist monk approached to ask, in fluent English, if I had any pictures of the Dalai Lama. The Tibetan border was close by, thus sparking a long conversation about Tibet, his views on the Chinese, and his life history.

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Travel Geek Confession

Posted on August 20, 2010 by Stuart Trigg

Since my Round the World Trip in 2002/03 I have become increasingly addicted to travel, and could now be said to be a ‘travel geek’.

I have always winced at being called a ‘computer geek’, because that is not something I desired to be – I have always used computers to do things and most of all to earn enough money to live, but I DON’T get excited about the latest whizz/bang gadget that does something a tiny bit better than you could do before. People often fail to ask themselves the question – does it matter?

But ‘travel geek’ is a different matter. I put my hands up and admit it. I love to travel the world, I love to talk about it, I love the planning, I love the memories, I love setting myself challenges…

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