London to Budapest - Traveling Day

Awake at 3 am but managed to get back to sleep and stayed that way until 5 am, which was great. I had breakfast and did some reading to pass the time this morning. We don’t need to depart until midday. We did one last walk around the block into Pitshanger to take a few photos of the nicer houses in the area.

Not sure if I mentioned this earlier, but this has been an ideal, safe, and quiet area for our stay. Before I forget, the biggest pain about the flat was the three levels of stairs. You don’t get very far before going up or down again because you realise you left something on another floor. This wasn’t helped by the fact it took us days to discover that the hallway cupboard was actually another toilet—so we didn’t need to go all the way up to level three every time! 😂

We set off on foot to Ealing Broadway station one last time. Our preferred Elizabeth line train was cancelled! Plan B was the Central line, which is hotter and not as pleasant, but at least it was running reliably. We hopped off at Liverpool Street Station and had no trouble locating the Stansted Express platform thanks to our earlier dry run. Just a 10-minute wait and the train left. The train carriage is really modern and nice with air-conditioning. The view out the window is pleasant at times with river boats and fields of cows amongst the towns and train sidings. The train only stops half a dozen times. The pre-purchased  cost us $29 per person. The trains to the airport run every 15 minutes—it must be a busy airport.

Well, that last sentence turned out to be a major understatement. Stansted Airport is a super busy place. But the check-in with Ryan Air is all done online, including passport verification, so once at the airport, the security screening and getting to the boarding gate waiting area was really efficient. Less than 10 minutes and we were through to the other side—now waiting two hours for our flight. The lounge area is absolutely packed, with not enough seats for everyone, but we managed to find one quite quickly. Total travel time from the flat to Stansted and through to the gates was about 2.5 hours.

We were advised of the gate number about an hour before the flight was due to leave. We grabbed a chicken wrap and a cookie from Pret a Manger to eat for dinner on the plane. To get to the gates, you take a shuttle train, which takes you to another boarding terminal. Once there, we had a very short wait and suddenly noticed our flight was boarding. There was no announcement—or at least not one we understood.

You board the plane using stairs from the tarmac. It feels similar to a Nelson-to-Auckland flight. The seats are plastic and quite upright, but it's only a two-hour flight. We read our books and had dinner on the plane. We arrived in Budapest on time, and getting through customs was very quick. It would have been even quicker if Sarah could remember where she put her passport and hadn’t spent ages rummaging through all the pockets of her front pack to find it. 😉 😘 I’ll get a whack for that. 😂

As for Ryan Air we had no issues and they provided a good service. You get what you pay for. Not that our flights were crazy cheap. $124 each for London to Budapest including the 10kg carry-on bag option. Certainty an affordable and efficient option. 

We took the 100E bus that runs from the airport into the middle of the city on the Pest side. That was perfect since our apartment is also on that side. For those that may not be aware, I wasn't until recently, Budapest is named after two cities on opposite sides of the Danube river. Buda sits on one side and Pest on the other. Oh and I have it on good authority that Pest is pronounced Pesht. 

Off the bus we had a short 1km walk along busy streets—busy with people, restaurants, and a few cars. We found the apartment easily enough, and the access instructions were good—complete with photographs. There was an outer security door and then a key lockbox to negotiate.

The apartment is small but clean and comfortable. We had a shower to wash off the feeling of travel grottiness. We might need to get it fixed though, as the pipe flew off as soon as I turned it on. 😮

Total travel time from door to door was 7.5 hours, but we lost an hour, so it’s now after 9:30 p.m. and time for bed. Zzzzzzz. 🥱