Symbol Budapest, Hungary

"Have you checked out the Budapest nightlife yet? That city parties until like 8am on Friday and Saturday; seriously, it is like nothing you have ever experienced before!" 

After three months in the Balkans, we were yet to experience the infamous Budapest nightlife. (Or any nightlife for that matter.) I know, I know, lame-o! I try to blame it on my age, but let's be honest, that excuse doesn't even work yet. When I think of "nightlife," I envision a dark, sticky establishment where scantily clad, under aged sorority sisters do everything and anything for a free (watered down) cocktail in a plastic cup. The guys all look the same and they stand around the bar making bets to see who will get the hot chick in the red tube top. No one dances until they've had a few too many shots, and once the dancing starts, you can expect to have at least three beers spilled on your new Express dress. It appears that the bathrooms have not been cleaned in years and they never have paper towels once you get desperate enough to use their toilet. Just wipe your hands on your Express dress and get on with your night. Gross. 

Ohhh the joys of the American pick-up bar. Other than the occasional bachelorette party or night out with the girls, I didn't even like going to those places when I was single. Now that I'm married, I have lost all desire to check out the local "nightlife." 

Since we live so close, Chris and I agreed that we had to see what everyone was talking about in Budapest. At least once. What made their "nightlife" any better than the sticky places we avoided in the States? We wanted to go, but we did not want to go alone.

When David excitedly announced that after the fashion show, we had VIP tickets to Symbol (Nightclub) Budapest, I knew that we were in for a treat. David was the perfect person to introduce us to the infamous Budapest scene. The man rarely does anything half-assed. For instance, if David drinks, he drinks only the most quality red wine and champagne. He loves ambiance and David would never be seen in a seedy, sticky pick-up-bar, so I knew my Express dress and my dignity were safe with him. 

Symbol Budapest is a nightclub you might expect to see in New York or on a Hollywood movie set. Imagine walking into a world where you can instantly transport yourself to any sort of bar/club/restaurant. Below is a picture of the room you walk into, and from that room, you can choose to hang out in a sports pub, cafe and lounge, Italian fusion restaurant, art gallery, live music club, 200 year old wine cellar and restaurant, or outside garden. We stayed in the live music club where only fashion show attendees grooved to hip club music and sipped Torley champagne. The models from the fashion show ditched their designer duds and slipped into jeans and tank tops ready to dance the night away with a room full of short people. Everyone danced, and while the models were constantly being hit on, it didn't seem that people were there JUST to hook-up. Sure, some of that probably happened, but overall, it seemed that most were there to simply have a good time. 

It was about 2 a.m. when we left Symbol, and there was a line of 300-ish people waiting to get into the club. It is quite a happening place, and I would recommend it as a "must-see" if you are the clubbing type. Even if you are not into the club scene, it is a great place to do a little people watching. I did a lot of that!

I didn't take many pictures, but I posted the few pictures that I did take below. There are some great pictures of the Symbol Budapest website if you're at all interested. 

Photo taken off the Symbol website.

The main room you walk into. They were hosting a beauty pageant when we arrived. 

The live music bar we stayed in all night. The cover band was pretty funny. 

This is what the main room looked like when we left at 2 a.m.

Don't pay a fortune for Cirque du Soleil tickets. . . just visit Symbol Budapest. 

Balkan Fashion in Budapest.

Thanks to our dear friend, David (and his fabulous company), Chris accompanied me to the 2011 Herbafast Fashion Selection in Budapest, Hungary. Budapest has quickly become one of our favorite (close to home) cities, so it was no task to get us to pack fancy clothes and brave the Horgos boarder. Plus, my mom was flying into Budapest on Monday, so we had yet another excuse to enjoy the city all weekend. Like we needed an excuse. 

We arrived in Budapest Saturday afternoon, checked into our hotel, and immediately made a bee-line for Iguana Bar and Grill. Inhaling spicy Mexican food before squeezing into a cocktail dress seemed like a wonderful plan. Let's just say that it may not have been my most brilliant moment to date, but those scrumptious enchiladas were totally worth it!

Iguana = spicy = tummy ache for Lana = but geeze they were tasty!

Chris and I dressed up and walked through a trendy part of town until we found the Vam Design Center, Budapest.  From the outside, it looked like any other cafe or boutique, but walking inside, we were not prepared for the large, contemporary art gallery that welcomed us. Where were we again? Living in Serbia and attending a Fashion show in Budapest? I had to remind myself, "Stop thinking about how you got here, and just have fun! You wanted an adventure!"

(Image off the Vam Website)

The picture above shows the Vam Design Center as a blank canvas. I asked David what the space was typically used for, and he told me that it's used for a variety of art shows and one of a kind exhibitions. I guess a fashion show fits the bill! And what fashion show would be complete without a glass runway?! I guess I wouldn't know since I am no expert on fashion!

David's company was again sponsoring the event, but this time, we were handed a glass of Torley champagne as we found our seats. Great way to start a show!

There were three designers showing; one was from Hungary and the other two were from Serbia. Zvonko Markovic, a well known Serbian designer, opened the show, and I have to say that his designs were my favorite. He designs sexy, slinky evening dresses for leggy, little models. I didn't care that I could never get my hands on (or my hips in) one of his designs, I still loved watching each elaborate design make its way down the runway. I don't know very much about Mr. Markovic, but I do know that he designs for several well known (and well endowed) Serbian stars. Some of his designs look a little "early-2000's-Britney-Spears-wearing-next-to-nothing," and perhaps even a little "sexy-Latin-Shakira-ish."

The last two pictures are of the second Serbian designer.

I snuck a quick picture of Zvonko Markovic.

Cocktail event after the show. 

The show was absolutely fabulous!

After the show, we boarded a bus and headed out to a VIP party at Symbol Club Budapest. More to come on that!

Get Back in your Car!

Well hello there Horgos border crossing!

Last week, we were expecting our first guest in Serbia! I thoroughly cleaned the apartment, planned out every day, and just couldn't wait to welcome my mom to our new world. A warm hug from home and momma's cooking were within reach, but I knew that we could not get to Budapest Airport without first paying a visit to Mr. Horgos. There are horror stories of 6 hour back-ups during the summer months at this border crossing, but I've been lucky to never idle for more than 30 minutes. 

That all changed on Saturday. 

On Saturday morning, Chris and I rolled up to Horgos and joined what seemed like a jumbled mess of vehicles. "Where should we go? Is this a line - or is it only for EU passport holders? Do you think that line is moving faster?" From what we could see, two narrow lanes eventually funneled into three or four rows (depending on how many border officials were working), but it was a fight to secure a spot in "line." Lines are a funny thing in Serbia, and I have not quite figured them out yet. When you are standing in any Serbian line, you must forget personal space and get as close to the person in front of you so as to avoid sneaky line-cutters. Any space in line will absolutely be filled, and if you protest a line-cutting-violation, you'll be met with a shocked look that seems to say, "Oh, where did you come from? I didn't even see you standing there." On Saturday, I realized that lines at the boarder crossing work the same way. 

The twist is that half of the drivers don't stay in their cars. We could not figure out what was going on! Every time the line inched forward, the walkers would run back to their cars, move up an inch or two, and then get out and walk around again! Did we miss the memo that it was social hour at Horgos? Did everyone know their border line neighbors? Were they hoping that if the border patrol saw them, perhaps another line would open up? Were they looking for the nearest bathroom? Maybe they were scouting out the best place to cut-line? Some drivers even turned off their engines, and physically pushed their cars forward to conserve gas and stay outside.  

The problem was that often people could not get back in their cars right when the line started moving, and you guessed it, sneaky line-cutters filled the void! They just slid right on in, and no one seemed to care! I almost went crazy! "Chris, did you see that guy?! No one is honking; no one is yelling!" Good thing my calm husband does a lot of the driving. I would have laid on the horn and made a scene. Of course that would not have helped anything, and I would just be the insensitive, impatient American. 

Maybe I have something to learn from these line shenanigans in Serbia. Patience, and tolerance for my fellow man is a place to start, and I am sure that there are other lessons there too. 

All I know is that it took us an hour to pass through Mr. Horgos. I determined that no passport stamp is worth holding your place in that line for 6 hours, so we'll have to figure out how to beat the system once summer rolls back around. 

Birthday Blessings and Budapest.

I am 28!

I remember being 18. I was touring Europe with mom right after my birthday, thinking that I was old and so mature, that I already knew everything I needed to be successful in life, and that by 28 I would have accomplished all of my goals and dreams in life. How wrong my 18-year-old self was. Ten years later, I am just realizing how little I know. I think the only thing that lines up with my 18-year-old-way-of-seeing-into-the-future is that I married a really great guy and together we started out on a grand adventure. 

So, 28 - my first birthday in Serbia, but not my first birthday away from home. Not very many people knew that the day was anything special, but the people who knew, definitely made it a birthday that I will never forget.

The weekend started with an impromptu trip to Dibonis Winery on the evening before my birthday. Dibonis has quickly become one of my favorite Serbian spots, so when David asked if I wanted to meet him at the vineyard to pick up a few bottles for the weekend, I didn't hesitate to say yes. Silly me. I thought that I was just going to purchase a few bottles, pay, then get back in my car and drive home. 

Nope. Laszlo (the wine maker and owner) knows that I am super interested in the wine making process, so he let me mix the pinot noir grapes, and of course, let me drink some of the finished product. In fact, we spent about two full hours tasting and discussing wine before moving onto dinner at his restaurant, Shiraz.  

Dinner was amazing and for the first time in Serbia, I had fresh fish. We scraped our plates and sipped our chardonnay. I thought dinner was about over, but to my surprise and delight, the server appeared with an ice cream birthday cake for me! No one even knew that ice cream cake was my favorite. The traditional birthday song (sung in a mixture of Serbian, English and Hungarian) filled the air and a smile took over my face. The only missing piece was Chris. He was traveling for business and unfortunately had to miss the evening. I appreciate how hard he is working, but I missed having him there with me. 

I got home to an empty house, and was startled by the shrill chime of my door bell. Marko met me with this bouquet of flowers and a present wrapped in pink paper. As I struggled to hold all of my gifts, Marko read the note on the flowers to me. 

"To Lana, happy birthday. We love you - Mom and Dad."

I was so surprised that before I could ask how, my eyes started to water. Marko stood there with a huge grin and explained that mom had found Lela on Facebook and had arranged the whole thing. Ever since I was 13, mom and dad have found a way to send me flowers on my birthday. Serbia really tested their creativity because ProFlowers doesn't deliver, and they don't know our friends. Well, they still found a way to make it happen. I immediately skyped mom and dad!!

The next day I knew that I would see Chris and spend my actual birthday in Budapest with my best friend and travel partner. It was shaping up to be a fabulous first birthday in Serbia. 

It was the first time I had driven alone in Serbia, and also my first time driving on the freeway. I was a little nervous, but after about 2 hours, I got to the Budapest airport in one piece.

 I picked up my sexy 

business man and we headed into the city in search of our hotel. 

I would suggest the Opera Garden Apartments and Hotel to anyone! The hotel is located on the Pest side of the city and it is central to everything. They have an amazing roof top patio, fully functional kitchens in every room, free breakfast (with mimosas) and complementary sangria in the evenings. My kind of place!

My birthday started with a fabulous Mexican lunch at Iguana. The food was so spicy and so fabulous all at the same time. Chris knows that Mexican is one of my favorite foods, so he insisted that we go to this place before doing anything else. This is a great place to visit when you visit Budapest! We will be back again!

We were lucky to have amazing weather and since it was nearing the end of tourist season, the city was not over-crowded. We looked across the Danube River towards Buda Castle . . . 

 found our way across Chain Bridge, climbed a little mountain . . 

 and discovered Buda Castle and the picturesque Fisherman Bastion. 

And the jumping begins!

We will NEVER get sick of these pics! 

 As the sun set, we listed to a marching band in the city center, and wandered through cafe lined streets. 

 St. Stephen's Basilica in undeniably one of the most impressive sights in Budapest. 

Back to my Ukrainian roots??

After hours and hours of walking and exploring, we wrapped up my birthday with dinner at Liszt Ferenc Square. Chris researched where to eat (we learned our lesson after Prague), and he led us to the perfect spot. The Square had about 15 outdoor cafes and restaurants fully equipped with blankets and heaters just in case it got a little chilly. The twinkly lights cast a warm, romantic glow over the entire scene, and I thought that the evening could not be more perfect. Chris let me order a lovely bottle or red Hungarian wine, and we shared an asian-fusion-type meal. Over the course of the evening, we met the couple siting next to us. Mario was from Brazil, and his friend was from France. Mario spent much of his time in France as an artist, he spoke about 5 languages, and was returning to Brazil to open a boutique hotel in Sao Paolo. He invited us to visit Brazil, and we exchanged email addresses. 

Chris and I paid for dinner, but before we left, I was again surprised with a celebratory dessert and a wonderful arrangement of "happy birthday to you. . . ." This time, the song was delivered in English and French. I was all smiles, and so happy to share the moment with Chris and our new international friends. 

I hope that we meet again some day. Now that I am looking at this picture again, Mario looks a lot like George Clooney. It sounds pretty awesome to say that George Clooney bought me a birthday cake in Budapest! I will let you believe what you want. :)

Chris and I had an amazing weekend in Budapest. We are only 2 hours south of the city, so I am sure that Budapest will quickly become like a second home for us. 

I know I am not old at all, but the scary reality is that ten years passed so quickly, and I want to relish every moment of the next ten years. The main function of this blog is to document the moments so that they don't fade from my memory as time passes. 

Is Easy Jet Really that Easy??

. . . Or Worth it???
From the name of the airline, one might expect to arrive at his destination without any hang-ups, headaches or unreasonable amounts of turbulence. Let’s just say that I had a crash course (no pun intended) in Easy Jet procedure 101.

Knowing full well that Easy Jet is a budget airline, I honestly didn’t expect much in the way of comfy pillows and online cuisine with local wine pairings, but I guess I expected more than I got.

On one of our recent trips, Chris and I had to book a flight back to Budapest, and Easy Jet offered the most competitive rates; so we opted for their cheapest option and clicked “no thank you” when offered the Speedy Boarding upgrade. We’re fairly conscientious and light travelers; you know, the people who search for the cheapest rate, only fly economy, forget about travel insurance and try to pack the largest carryon possible so as to avoid baggage check-in fees. Yeah, that’s us – and I think we are becoming the norm when it comes to young travelers because it seemed that the plane was full of people of the same mindset. Maybe you have to be just a little bit crazy to fly airlines like Easy Jet.

So our adventure started in the airport “holding area.” I had never seen anything like it; basically, we didn’t have an assigned gate, so we were stuffed into a waiting area with the rest of the anxious Easy Jet flyers. Conveniently, the “holding area” was adjacent to the duty free shops, so Chris and I decided to poke around the stores while keeping an attentive eye on the monitors that would proclaim which direction we should run to catch our flight. I started feeling uneasy fifteen minutes before our departure time when we were still without a gate assignment. Just then the monitors changed, our gate was revealed, and the “holding area” erupted into a steady stream of people moving in the same direction.

No one had seat assignments, so it was a race – or rather a cattle charge - for a seat and overhead space for an oversized carryon. I think I mooed at Chris once while we were being shoved and stepped on in line. He gave me a knowing smile and all we could do was laugh at how unorganized and ridiculous the whole process seemed.

Once we showed the gate attendant that we had indeed paid for the flight, we were herded into yet another “holding area” to await the final race. Chris and I felt confident in the middle of the pack; we would be able to find seats next to each other and hopefully find nearby space for our luggage. The “holding area” steadily filled up but the gate attendant was not happy with our lines. She kept shouting at us to move forward, and had Easy Jet allowed her a cattle prod, she would have used it on us. People from the back of the line started filling in the spaces towards the front, and everyone tried to push forward as much as possible.

“Lana – they are bringing two staircases to the plane for boarding, one at the front, and one at the back. Let’s move towards the back one, then we can sit towards the back and try to avoid the rush of people.”

“Great idea honey – I like how you think. Always one step ahead of the pack.”

Suddenly the doors opened, but ONLY for the savvy passengers who had pre-purchased the Speedy Boarding upgrade. We all looked on in envy as they climbed the first set of stairs and quickly boarded the plane. Then to our dismay, the gate agent closed off the front entrance that they had just disappeared into, leaving us with the rear of the plane as our only option. The gate agent motioned to us, and everyone in the “holding area” made a mad dash to be the first to get on the plane. We walked quickly, confidently maintaining our middle-of-the-pack advantage. Boarding was slow and unorganized and just as we were getting to the bottom of the rear staircase, the gate agent opened the front staircase again. Half of the line behind us turned around and ran over each other to get to the empty gate at the front of the plane. Chris and I had gone from being in the middle, to being the very last people to board.

We were lucky enough to find two seats next to each other in the last row, but finding overhead space was the issue. People were so inconsiderate, placing purses and small shopping bags in the overhead bins when they could have easily been placed on the floor at their feet. The flight attendants kept urging people to help out, move your small items, make space, but their pleas did nothing to move people to action. Poor Chris walked to the front of the plane before he could find a space for my carryon. We shoved his oversized computer bag under my feet and hid it from the flight attendants as they did their final safety checks.

We got to Budapest without so much as an onboard drink and salty peanuts, but we were home safe and sound - oversized carryons and all. Maybe a safe trip is all that I should ever expect from Easy Jet from here on out! And maybe next time we will purchase those Speedy Boarding upgrades.

You really get what you pay for, and in the case of Easy Jet, you don’t get very much.

Have you ever flown Easy Jet? If so, I would love to hear your comments after reading this post. Do you recommend any other budget airlines above Easy Jet - or are the all sort of the same?