"You are not where you are from, you are where you're going"
The more I travel, the more I realize I do not belong to one place. I fall in love with every country and city I visit. Growing up I always told myself "LA is my home. I can never leave." But moving to London and then traveling to several countries has confused my mind about where I want to be in the next few years. And this thought of "Where will I be in 10 years?" scares the living hell out of me. But why stress about where my future "home" will be? Home does not necessarily have to be an actual place. Home can be anywhere. Home can be being in between your mothers arms, drinking a cup of coffee walking through the streets of a foreign country, hiking the tallest mountain, or laying down on the floor listening to your favorite tunes. It is where you feel the most comfortable and content.
Budapest is one of the places I feel at "home". Maybe I do not understand the language, their transportation system, or even their food choices but I did feel content being there. We arrived in Budapest around 3 pm and the sun was beginning to set as our taxi drove us to our airbnb. The airbnb was located in a large building that resembled an abandoned castle. After our little time of relaxation, we took the train to the center of Budapest. There we stopped at a Hungarian restaurant. Hungarian food is mainly meat so making it hard to choose what I wanted to eat. I try to avoid eating meat but there were little to no vegetarian options so I had chicken with vegetables. We continued to explore Budapest at night admiring their stores, unusual bars (Communist bar no biggie), and restaurants. We found an Ice Bar and checked it out. The worker warned us that it would be -1 degrees celsius inside the bar which was literally a freezer but we decided to go for it anyway. The entire bar was made of voice from their shot glasses to their chairs. It was absolutely freezing but it was extremely fun and something I had been dying to do for the longest time.
The following day we trained it to Fisherman's Bastion. We quickly stopped to grab a Hungarian breakfast/dessert known as Chimney cake along with a cup of coffee. After we walked uphill to Fisherman's Bastion. This place was gorgeous. The white towers were those you would picture to be in a fairytale. Along the towers, you could see a great view of all of Budapest. After we walked along the famous Chain Bridge towards the Great Market Hall. If there is one thing Hungarians absolutely love, it is paprika. You walk inside this market and there is a row dedicated to Paprika. The first floor of the market are all sorts of foods and drinks. The second level is more of a souvenir shop that sells traditional Hungarian clothing, headwear, tea sets, souvenirs, etc. After our mini shopping spree, we went back to the center of Budapest and ate at a fancy, traditional Hungarian restaurant. We then went actual shopping considering that Hungary is relatively a lot cheaper than any other country we had been to. Our day ended walking along the streets seeing people set up for upcoming Christmas markets.
The next day we explored more and ended up at the famous Heroes Square. We then walked towards a large park that was the epitome of what Autumn should look like. The park had several benches that were painted with cute sayings such as "We love Budapest!"
The girls I traveled with really wanted to go to the Thermal Baths considering they are extremely popular in Budapest. I at first was against the idea for personal reasons but I did not want to ruin the experience for my friends. I realized that "relaxing in a bath in Budapest" does not happen all the time so I should take the opportunity. Yes maybe that does mean I have to wear a bikini which is one of my biggest fears, but when will I ever be this young in Budapest and being able to do these things? I agreed to go to the thermal baths and we went to the famous Szecheyeni thermal bath. The thermal baths reminded me of when I use to swim a lot as a child because of the locker rooms, hot air, and long lines for the showers. We walked outside to the main two pools and I was so surprised of how hot it was. The weather since we arrived had been pretty chilly and yet it seemed like a hot summer day. We relaxed inside the heated pool and I got a bit of a tan. After we went to go see the inside baths (18 in total). Some baths had strong soothing smells in them, others people were able to swim around. There were a couple of saunas that people used and then there was a massage room as well. The thermal bath was absolutely incredible. Getting over my fear of people seeing my body for at least 2 hours was worth it.
We went home to shower and relax for a while before going out to a famous ruin bar.
r u i n b a r- ruins of abandoned buildings transformed into a bar. Filled with different personalities.
Ruin bars are where most night life happens in Budapest. Majority of ruin bars in Budapest are in the old Jewish quarter, which is one of the coolest quarters I have ever seen filled with graffiti works. We went to the ruin bar that started it all: Szimpla Kert. This bar was very funky and artsy. Each room had a different layout to it. One room was filled with small televisions plastered to the wall. Another room had an old chandelier with a bike tangled in lights hanging in the ceiling. There was nothing ordinary about this place making it the reason why I felt at "home". I loved absolutely everything about it. My friends and I sat at a table for at least two hours talking about everything and the vibes were great. We walked all through the bar discovering something new in each room such as a bath tub, a stop sign that had tape over the "op" with "art", a car, movie seats facing the window where a black and white film was playing outside, and a booze ball table. This place is probably the coolest place I have ever been to and I felt so relaxed while being there. We spent our final hours walking all of Budapest admiring everything before it was time to depart.
Budapest has become extremely famous in recent years known as one of the coolest cities and I am here to confirm that it is true. Being young and naive in Budapest is probably the best way to be.
xoxo,
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