This weekend I had the opportunity to go to Budapest, Hungary. It was the best weekend I have had in a very long time. Me and 7 of my friends made the journey to Hungary for our off day this past weekend.
Our journey began at 5:30am Saturday morning we got in a cab and went to the train station. We got on a commuter train and after an hour arrived in Arad which has a bigger train station which was going to take us to Budapest. As we tried to buy our tickets to Budapest we found out that they had canceled the train that we were planning on taking. Our contact suggested that we try to find a bus to take us since the train was not a possibility. As we were searching without any luck a man overheard that we were looking for transportation to Hungary and offered to drive us in his van. Now my first thought and probably your first thought is that this sounds super sketchy. Well, I had our contact talk to him on the phone since he did not speak English that well and he said that it was up to us but he thought it would be ok. We all piled in and drove 5 minutes down the road and waited for 45 minutes for a chauffeur to come and take us. As we were waiting in tired silence this man put on a recording of a Billy Grahm sermon from the 1960’s, this made me feel a little more at ease that this guy might not murder us. The man we were waiting for ended up being his son who spoke great English.
As we got to the border of Hungary there was a van that was stopped with 4 men playing instruments with flashy clothes on. They were making the most out of their time waiting to cross the border so we decided to get out and dance to the music they were playing. Even the border control police were taking pictures of them and enjoying the entertainment.
When we got to Hungary we were dropped off safe and sound at the train station. We found our way to the hostel that we booked and when we got there they said that they did not have a reservation for us until Monday. Thankfully they found space for us in a nicer room and at the same price. Once we got settled in I had lunch with Marianne and got a traditional Hungarian dish called goulash and it was pretty awesome. As we were eating lunch we heard loud Christian music coming from nearby. We went and checked it out and there was a group of people from YWAM doing ministry in the park. It was so cool to run into other people doing ministry in the same part of the world that I am in.
We went to a Turkish bath in the evening until midnight and had fun experiencing the different temperature waters ranging from 65 to 114 degrees. I sat in the hottest tub and then ran into the coldest tub and it took my breath away. The water smelled like sulfur and is said to have “healing” abilities. The bath we went to was 400 years old and it was really fun to experience such a traditional thing in the Hungarian culture.
The next day was a full day of doing touristy things, I toured the Basilica which is the largest church in Hungary, went on a bus tour and boat tour and saw tons of historic and beautiful buildings. I was overwhelmed with the beauty of the city. I had such an amazing weekend with some wonderful people.
After a FULL day of fun I was ready for our 11:30pm train ride back to Romania. When we got to the train station we found out that our train was delayed 90 minutes which pushed us back to leave at 1am and 2am Romanian time.Traveling was very eventful during our trip to and from Hungary but it was so very worth it for all the fun I had.
I felt so blessed this weekend being able to go to Budapest and see all the amazing sights there. It was a refreshing time that was much needed after the hard work that we have been doing here around the property. Any difficulty that came up God turned it into something even better than what we had planned for ourselves. I am thankful for the awesome time I had and am ready to finish this month in Romania strong.
