Hungary

Although initially no delays with the sleet and snow, JFK ended up with a log jam of flights and we started getting delay alerts shortly before boarding. I should have thought to rebook us on earlier Amsterdam flights because I didn’t realize they were so delayed and therefore departing when we were supposed to leave. I did rebook our Amsterdam to Budapest flight as we were going to miss the connection.

But then we boarded the plane 6 hours later and due to the lack of ground personnel, the accommodating Delta agents for those who needed rebookings, and then loading the luggage, the crew timed out due to their rules. The wait they endured plus the estimated flight was going to put them over by 30 or 45 minutes, so they had to pull the plug on the flight. We were going to miss our rebooked transfer anyway at this point, but this was pure chaos. No hotel vouchers and they pushed the flight to the next day. We left our luggage as we were promised it would follow us on any rebooking and the only way to retrieve them would be to cancel the itinerary. I normally don’t check bags, but due to the winter bulky clothes it was necessary.

My mom and I headed home arriving around 4 am surprising Justin. I kept tracking and saw the flight time moved two times - once earlier and then pushed back to 9:30 pm which would result in us missing our connection in Amsterdam.

So for the 4th or 5th time, I called the Medallion help desk and they rebooked our flight through Paris estimated to leave at 4:30 pm which ultimately got pushed to 6:30 pm. We had breakfast and napped at home and Justin drove us again to the airport in the afternoon.

We enjoyed the Sky Club again and we boarded our flight to Paris with hope. I was tracking our luggage and Delta messaging agents told me the bags were being routed through Paris, but my luggage hadn’t moved per my AirTag. Also, apparently this was the repositioned Paris flight from the night before - like our original Amsterdam flight, the Paris crew had timed out and passengers had to deplane just like us. Folks were recognizing each other today and apparently this was the same crew - the pilot pleaded for us all to be on our best behavior.

We landed in Paris and our flight to Budapest was leaving in 30 minutes. With Charles de Gaulle being massive and having to do immigration, Delta rebooked us automatically on a 3 pm instead of the 9:30. But at this point it looked like our luggage was on an Air France flight arriving soon and would sync up on our Budapest flight per the messaging “Track My Bag” feature.

After traversing terminals, we were able to enter the spiffy two story Air France lounge where they had day beds, showers, and a spa. I managed to enjoy all 3 in our roughly 4 hour stay and filled up on French cheese and bread. The view:



But here is my bag when my AirTag reconnected - it was sitting in Amsterdam:



I reconfirmed with the messaging agent that the bags would be on a flight arriving in Budapest at 4 pm while we arrive at 5 pm. I guess we sync up after all and my mom and I could stop playing, “good news or bad news first?”

We boarded our flight to Budapest and as we sat on the runway, we were advised we were returning to the gate to boot off a passenger who wasn’t complying with instructions. I’m not sure why this is so hard and as Mama Kim said, getting to Budapest is such a challenge! We’re both resilient travelers, but this was definitely testing my limits. I took a photo once we were finally en route to Budapest and the police had removed the wasted passenger refusing to wear a seatbelt:



Our luggage was waiting for us at arrivals, so we were reunited and hopped into an Uber. I love the way they do airport Ubers in Europe where they honor an actual queue and you just provide a PIN number from the app so the driver knows your destination - it eliminates the matching and waiting that we endure in competing for cars in America.

Despite the many flights, boarding passes, and stress of it all, the crew and agents were absolutely fantastic on all legs. As someone who travels a bit, I seriously would never want their job as they experience the same delays on top of having to be customer friendly.

After a 30 minute ride chatting with the Hungarian driver who lived in Louisiana and east Texas for 20 years, we checked into Millennium Court, which are Marriott apartments. I had hedged whether Justin would join and there was also a chance Rachel would come from Copenhagen. But alas it’s just the two of us in a two bedroom / two bath - it’s probably too spacious for us, but overcompensates the fact that we’ll be sharing a cruise cabin starting tomorrow for five nights.

I was able to push back our 6 pm reservation at Babel which is a one star Michelin restaurant recommended by a friend of a colleague and conveniently across the street from our hotel! The service was excellent and I had booked the shorter Exploration 8 course menu which we paired with rosé champagne and I enjoyed an additional Hungarian Merlot. The food collage:



As my mom said, the meal and knowing we were finally in Budapest brought us back to life. She also said the napping room in the Air France lounge was a lifesaver. She definitely got her pep back as she explained everything she knew about Hungary and Hungarians over dinner. Apparently, they are similar to Koreans as they use their last name first and descended from the Huns. Our waitress confirmed they too have Mongolian spots at birth while another practiced the Korean she learned from her university friends.

What an adventure to start off this trip - I’ve never experienced this kind of disruption at the start, but my mom repeated that she was thankful she could still keep up!