The journey

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Wrexham, Wales, United Kingdom
For the past 5 years, me and my best friend Nathan have talked about the possibility of travelling around the world by land and sea, and so finally we have a route, savings and time to set off around the world. What we are doing is living out a dream, a dream we share with many people worldwide, a dream of travelling this vast, diverse, beautiful and interesting planet, but unlike the many others who keep it as a dream, we have the tenacity to make this dream a reality.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Days 5 & 6: Austria & Hungary

Day 5
496miles/798km

We awoke at 10:30, and with hindsight I have to admit I was probably still drunk from the previous nights partying. We managed to get on the road by 12:30, the sun was in the sky again, and we both felt good. Then the clouds descended and the hangovers and tiredness began to take hold. The music choice in the Landrover went from The Courteeners to Nick Drake as we chased the descending sun eastwards.

The night was closing in, and after only one stop for a brew just outside Vienna, we continued driving through Hungary determined to get to the hostel we had booked before it was too late. We eventually arrived and checked in just before 23:00. We had dinner and went to bed too tired to do anything else.

The long days of driving have paid off as we are now in Eastern Europe and the food, the diesel and the beer is cheaper. The places are more different and exciting, and the further east we head, the warmer it will become, but the snow was still falling in Budapest.



Day 6
0miles/0km

We awoke to find the Landrover and the rest of Budapest for that matter completely covered in 3cm of snow. We spent the day wandering around Budapest seeing the sights and buying food for the next few days. With the help of an extremely friendly hostel owner (who insisted he wasn’t racist but made it quite clear he didn’t like the Turks) we found a brilliant market hall in Pest and were able to buy some really cheap and tasty food.

Budapest seems to be the frontier to eastern Europe, with what appears to be one foot either side of what was once the Iron Curtain. In places it appears as developed as the rest of western Europe, but it still holds a visual connection with its history as part of the Eastern Bloc.

We planned our onward route in the evening and decided to get to bed early for an early start planned to travel further east into Romania, knowing that the progress from now on would be slower as the roads become worse.

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