Summer Adventure 2025: The Last Leg

After three-and-a-half weeks, we were reunited with this gorgeous boy yesterday and all seems right in the world again!

We left Budapest on Friday morning and took a two-and-a-half hour train ride to Vienna. When C was planning all of the flights for this trip, we had more options to fly home to Toronto from Vienna than we did Budapest, and we love trains, so it was a win-win! We really didn't have much time in Vienna because we arrived in the afternoon and had to be up pretty early yesterday morning to get to the airport, so we ate lunch, went to visit a cemetery that houses the graves (or honorary graves) of some famous composers, ate dinner, and we went to bed. Not particularly exciting! By that point, we were feeling very ready to come home because we were really missing Avalanche, so to be honest, we didn't mind not having much time in Vienna (and the weather turned out to not be great anyway)! We spent one night at the Novotel by the train station before heading to the airport for our flight home!

the hotel was kind of a strange building

cute inside, though!

probably would have spent some time
reading in the lobby if we'd been there longer

our room was nothing exciting,
but perfectly adequate for one night

it was super quiet, which was nice
given its proximity to the train station

we were literally right beside the train station
(and it's a pretty busy place)

Beethoven

Schubert

Brahms

Strauss

Mozart

Mozart

We had time to spend a couple of hours in the airport lounge before our flight, which was on Air Canada. I haven't always been the biggest fan of Air Canada, but I have nothing but compliments for them in terms of this nine-hour flight!

we almost always do a selfie on every flight, and
C thought he was being pretty hilarious
(I almost didn't post this, but it shows how much
fun we have together in even the most mundane
situations and I love that he still makes me laugh
after more than 36 years together!)

we love to travel, but as the saying goes,
there's no place like home!

finally, a Diet Coke!
(after almost a month of only
Coke Zero or Coke Light,
neither of which compare
to Diet Coke!)

getting out of the Toronto airport
was an absolute breeze

Avalanche had a great time at summer camp with his amazing grandparents, who spoiled him with multiple daily walks, daily afternoon rides, many trips for burgers and roast beef sandwiches, and lots of park adventures. We are so incredibly lucky to have them because we know we don't need to worry about him and that he's having a great time while we are away! He did sleep by their front door the first night, waiting for us to come back (my heart can't take it), but then he settled in very well. This was his third year of summer camp with them (he also had "winter camp" there this past December) and we don't know what we'd do without C's parents!!!

family is everything!

We left Canada this morning and drove all day to get home because tomorrow is my first day back to work for the 2025-2026 school year! It's hard to believe my summer break is over! It's been a wild and wonderful four weeks, but it's definitely nice to be relaxing in my own family room listening to Avalanche sigh contentedly while curled up in his favorite chair.

Happy Tails to you!

Budapest July 2025

We left Dubai on Monday morning to head to Budapest for four nights. As I've shared before, we generally try to fly premium economy whenever possible because it usually means a pair of seats alone, but if the aircraft we're on has pairs of seats available (typically toward the back of the plane), we are pretty content to fly economy, even on longer flights. Our thinking is that we'd rather spend our travel money on nicer places to stay and better experiences than on expensive seats on our flights. We are never above Spirit or Frontier if the price is too good to pass up and for our countless trips to WDW, we usually fly Southwest and just sit Aisle/Window, often with a stranger sitting between us. All of this is to say we are not snooty when it comes to flights - we just want to get to our destination! We've only ever flown first class one time - to Hawaii for our tenth wedding anniversary - but we'd rather be able to take multiple trips if it means sitting in economy instead of one trip if it means sitting in business class. Absolutely no judgment toward anyone who chooses to spend their travel money on business or first class seats - you do you! - and I'm very aware that there's a myriad of reasons why someone would choose expensive seats.

Well, two days before our flight to Budapest, we got an email that it was time to check in, and when we did, there were upgrades available for business class seats. We went back and forth as to whether we wanted to spend the points/miles, and finally decided to go for it, so for the first time, we "turned left" during boarding. I can't lie - the seats were amazing, the service was amazing, and the overall experience was amazing! Totally worth the points/miles we spent!

Obviously one of the perks of flying business class is taking advantage of the airline-specific airport lounges and we were able to go to two of the Emirates business class lounges before our flight. Over the course of all of our travels, we've been to many airport lounges (including lounges in Toronto, Frankfurt, and Nairobi on this very trip), and these two were pretty spectacular! I also found the overall Emirates experience to be a complete 180 from the flight from Nairobi to Dubai. From the ticket counter/bag drop/gate area to the boarding process to the flight attendants on the plane, it was much more in the line with what I'd been expecting from Emirates, given their reputation. I still can't explain why they were so awful on the flight from Nairobi to Dubai (hopefully it was an anomaly), but I'm so glad we got to have such a positive experience with them. I witnessed them being kind and patient with every passenger at every stage between check in and take off, especially elderly folks and families, and I was very impressed.

It was about a five-and-a-half hour flight and we had no issues with our bags or getting through passport control. We took an uber from the airport to our hotel, the Anantara New York Place Budapest Hotel, and as you'll see from the photos, it is gorgeous. We got settled in our room and then went out to find some dinner and wander around a little, and when we returned, we discovered that the deadbolt on our door was malfunctioning. The hotel sent maintenance personnel to to fix it for us, but they were unable to do so, and the hotel kindly moved us to a suite for our entire four-night stay!

our first room!

our second room!

our first room had a great balcony,
but the suite had two balconies!

the entire hotel was stunning!

we toasted to my mom

On our last night in Budapest, we went back to the hotel bar, named The Poet Bar, to toast to our 2025 summer adventure. I ordered a drink called The Falling Poem because the menu description sounded delicious, but little did I know that it came with some lore. Our server shared a story about the history of the building and the authors and poets who gathered there, which was honestly pretty fascinating, but had another surprise when he delivered the drink. As you can see, it came with a small piece of folded paper attached to the rim of the glass with a tiny clip, and when he placed it in front of me, he explained that everyone who orders that drink is asked to write a poem or share a few words of wisdom on that folded paper that the bar then collects and keeps! What a cool idea! (If you're wondering, I opted for the words of wisdom because the pressure of writing a poem was too much for me! LOL)

Budapest is an absolutely beautiful city; the architecture, the history, and the ambiance are incredible. The pics really don't do it justice!

not what I expected to see in Budapest!

we took a tour at the House of Music
and were very, very impressed!

apparently Mozart was a big believer
in the power of travel

the Hungarian State Opera
was probably my favorite thing in
Budapest - I loved every minute of our tour!

we left a little bit of Avalanche
in Budapest

As much as I loved the city of Budapest, I did not love the people of Budapest. I don't like to make sweeping generalizations, so let me be clear and say my feelings are based solely on the people we actually encountered (in shops, restaurants, museums, on the street, on the metro, taxi drivers, etc.). But oh my word, were they unfriendly. Unfriendly to the point of being rude. Four days of us being pretty shocked by how people behaved. Add that to the rampant smoking and the repeated instances I witnessed of public urination, and it honestly didn't feel like we were in a place that had any societal rules! Even some of the staff at our hotel - and clearly this was a very upscale hotel - would benefit from basic etiquette lessons. There were a few exceptions, namely the server we had at the hotel bar both nights we went, who was completely charming, but overall, I was left feeling like I was on a hidden camera show or something, waiting for someone to jump out and say, "Just kidding!" The contrast between the beauty of the city and the harshness of its people was striking.

We checked out of our lovely room this morning and took an uber to the train station for our two-and-a-half hour train ride to Vienna. I was not the biggest fan of Vienna when we visited here last December, but I was still happy to have the chance to see it in a different light (summer vs. winter).

Only one more sleep until we see Avalanche, as we're flying back to Toronto tomorrow!

Happy Tails to you!