Holla
So here is the update of our adventures since Prague. Vienna is a beautiful city but unfortunately we did not get to explore a lot of it. As mentioned, we decided to stay an extra night because of Sam's migraines but it was pointless because we ended up having a room-mate from hell. He had undiagnosed sleep apnea - and for those who don't know what that is ... the person literally stop breathing in his/her sleep and suffocates. SO the individual ends up snoring and gasping for air REALLY loud and at random points. He was underneath Sam and shook the whole bed. We had 0 hours of sleep. Sam tried putting music on full blast (which was awful when combined with a migraine) and covered her ears to amplify the music sound but could still hear him loud and clear above it all. At around 5 am we left the room and sat outside on the stairwell. The rest of the day we decided to just sleep. BUT to put the cherry on top there was construction going on outside so it was still not peaceful. THAT aside, Vienna was beautiful - we explored the city for a day and even went to the Sigmund Freud museum. This was a huge treat since we are both psychology buffs. It was where he worked and practised until just before his death. We caught an evening train from Vienna to Budapest to continue our journey.
We arrived in Budapest around 9pm and knew we had to take the bus 2 stops and then the tram 2 stops before ending up at our hostel. We managed to go the wrong way both times - lucky us! The hostel was amazing - on the smaller side but much more intimate. It was like having a bunch of flat mates. Here is where we discovered our next downer - Sam was covered in bites - they fit the description and nature of bed bug bites - and we freaked out. Those things are incredibly itchy! Thank goodness for planning ahead and having benadryl. Everything has since been cleaned in heat and our bags have been vacummed to death. But it was / is stressful. No new bites - so the signs are looking good.
Budapest was AWESOME! If we hadn't had a limited time schedule we could have easily stayed a week. In the 3 nights we stayed we went to the opening of a new club; were escorted home by a nice local; attended a booze cruise with stunning views of Parliament and important buildings; partied on a club- boat; went caving or "splunking" (we got to wear a helmet, body suit and headlight); and indulged in the most amazing thermae spa. Sam tried the massage but it wasn't up to the standards to the ones she was used to. The girl drove her thumbs and fingers into the muscles.The caving was probably the highlight of Budapest because we went into the depths of the caves with literally a headlight and had to weasel through holes barely big enough for a person! Definitely a thrill! We had to RUN with our backpacks to catch our train to Zagreb - we made it with a minute to spare. Dripping with sweat and panting like dogs we high-fived the successful but stressful train boarding.
The train was due to arrived in Zagreb, Croatia at 11:23 pm - but thanks to delays we did not arrived until 1:30 AM and we had to find the hostel tired and grumpy. But we did succeed. We were lucky it had 24 hour reception. After a `good` nights sleep we explored some of Zagreb before making the journey to Plitivice National Park, where we spent 2 days. We stayed at a camping site 6 kilometres from the National Park which was a plus because it was cheaper BUT we ended up having to backtrack and still walk 3 km with our backpacks on the side of a busy and unsafe roadway. The bungalow we rented was nice and the bathrooms were the cleanest we had ever seen at a campground. The people are so friendly!! We took the 9am shuttle to the park the following day and did the full hike (with time to spare) before the 5pm shuttle back to the campground. The waterfalls were plentiful and beautiful; the water was turquoise blue and clear enough to see down into the depths. The only negative was that Sam was feeling really light-headed and sick with a terrible headache that worsened through-out the day. By the evening she had a bad fever and discovered white spots in her throat. We decided to spend just the one day in the lake so we could head to Split.
Split - Today we caught the bus to split at 9:30 am and arrived at 4 in the afternoon. Upon arrival at our guesthouse (YES finally some private accommodation without annoying room mates - and for only 15 euros a night total) - we told the owner and manager of Sam`s illness and he escorted us to his family clinic, had Sam in within 20 minutes and made sure she could communicate with the doctor and THEN took us to the pharmacy to get the antibiotics. Godsend! In the supermarket the butcher was really nice as well with helping us find things. So far, an amazing stay and we have not even done anything.
Our adventures have now been mixed with some of the nuances of travel - the worst being illness and a potential encounter with the night-time critters. Hopefully things will improve and we can continue making amazing memories!
Ciao for now!
So here is the update of our adventures since Prague. Vienna is a beautiful city but unfortunately we did not get to explore a lot of it. As mentioned, we decided to stay an extra night because of Sam's migraines but it was pointless because we ended up having a room-mate from hell. He had undiagnosed sleep apnea - and for those who don't know what that is ... the person literally stop breathing in his/her sleep and suffocates. SO the individual ends up snoring and gasping for air REALLY loud and at random points. He was underneath Sam and shook the whole bed. We had 0 hours of sleep. Sam tried putting music on full blast (which was awful when combined with a migraine) and covered her ears to amplify the music sound but could still hear him loud and clear above it all. At around 5 am we left the room and sat outside on the stairwell. The rest of the day we decided to just sleep. BUT to put the cherry on top there was construction going on outside so it was still not peaceful. THAT aside, Vienna was beautiful - we explored the city for a day and even went to the Sigmund Freud museum. This was a huge treat since we are both psychology buffs. It was where he worked and practised until just before his death. We caught an evening train from Vienna to Budapest to continue our journey.
We arrived in Budapest around 9pm and knew we had to take the bus 2 stops and then the tram 2 stops before ending up at our hostel. We managed to go the wrong way both times - lucky us! The hostel was amazing - on the smaller side but much more intimate. It was like having a bunch of flat mates. Here is where we discovered our next downer - Sam was covered in bites - they fit the description and nature of bed bug bites - and we freaked out. Those things are incredibly itchy! Thank goodness for planning ahead and having benadryl. Everything has since been cleaned in heat and our bags have been vacummed to death. But it was / is stressful. No new bites - so the signs are looking good.
Budapest was AWESOME! If we hadn't had a limited time schedule we could have easily stayed a week. In the 3 nights we stayed we went to the opening of a new club; were escorted home by a nice local; attended a booze cruise with stunning views of Parliament and important buildings; partied on a club- boat; went caving or "splunking" (we got to wear a helmet, body suit and headlight); and indulged in the most amazing thermae spa. Sam tried the massage but it wasn't up to the standards to the ones she was used to. The girl drove her thumbs and fingers into the muscles.The caving was probably the highlight of Budapest because we went into the depths of the caves with literally a headlight and had to weasel through holes barely big enough for a person! Definitely a thrill! We had to RUN with our backpacks to catch our train to Zagreb - we made it with a minute to spare. Dripping with sweat and panting like dogs we high-fived the successful but stressful train boarding.
The train was due to arrived in Zagreb, Croatia at 11:23 pm - but thanks to delays we did not arrived until 1:30 AM and we had to find the hostel tired and grumpy. But we did succeed. We were lucky it had 24 hour reception. After a `good` nights sleep we explored some of Zagreb before making the journey to Plitivice National Park, where we spent 2 days. We stayed at a camping site 6 kilometres from the National Park which was a plus because it was cheaper BUT we ended up having to backtrack and still walk 3 km with our backpacks on the side of a busy and unsafe roadway. The bungalow we rented was nice and the bathrooms were the cleanest we had ever seen at a campground. The people are so friendly!! We took the 9am shuttle to the park the following day and did the full hike (with time to spare) before the 5pm shuttle back to the campground. The waterfalls were plentiful and beautiful; the water was turquoise blue and clear enough to see down into the depths. The only negative was that Sam was feeling really light-headed and sick with a terrible headache that worsened through-out the day. By the evening she had a bad fever and discovered white spots in her throat. We decided to spend just the one day in the lake so we could head to Split.
Split - Today we caught the bus to split at 9:30 am and arrived at 4 in the afternoon. Upon arrival at our guesthouse (YES finally some private accommodation without annoying room mates - and for only 15 euros a night total) - we told the owner and manager of Sam`s illness and he escorted us to his family clinic, had Sam in within 20 minutes and made sure she could communicate with the doctor and THEN took us to the pharmacy to get the antibiotics. Godsend! In the supermarket the butcher was really nice as well with helping us find things. So far, an amazing stay and we have not even done anything.
Our adventures have now been mixed with some of the nuances of travel - the worst being illness and a potential encounter with the night-time critters. Hopefully things will improve and we can continue making amazing memories!
Ciao for now!
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