Some Final Thoughts

As the sun sets on our final night in Budapest, some final thoughts for the blog. Are we pleased with this trip? Absolutely! Even though it did not go as planned, we ended up seeing places we would not have seen had we sailed as planned. Our three day road trip to Transylvania was a highlight. There was an all day optional trip to Bran Castle and Brasov as part of the pre-cruise itinerary; but it probably would have been in a big bus and that big bus would have needed to navigate its way along windy narrow mountain rides and the amount to be seen would have been minimal since the roundtrip on the bus would have been about 7 hours. Another huge plus was our tour guide in Romania, Sorin, who was a delight, as was his charming wife Florentina, who arranged all of of our tours and accommodations in Transylvania and who batted 1.000 with all of her arrangements. We enjoyed Sorin' s humor, knowledge of Romanian history, punctuality, and always making sure that we were all well taken care of. He was a real gem. We have added Budapest to our list of favorite cities in Europe along with Florence, Paris, and Prague. Everyone we know who has traveled to Budapest had told us it is beautiful and that we would love it. They were right on both counts. The city oozes with charm and captivated us from the moment we were driven into it. We would return in a heartbeat. We also are grateful that we made new friends with the Frosts, the Bianchis, and the Leightons. Chances are we would have met them on the cruise as the capacity of the MS Treasure is 118 passengers; but there is no guarantee we would have bonded as we did. We were forced together by circumstances beyond our control and we got along so well. It was a pleasure to travel with them and we wish all of them safety as they finish their journey and make their respective ways home. As for us we are looking forward to returning home since we will soon begin a new chapter in our lives by becoming first time grandparents. Our grandson, Dylan Jacob Stephenson, has been most cooperative and has decided not to make his appearance early before we get home. Thank you , Dylan. We have two alarms set and have a wake up call, all scheduled at 3 am so we can get to the airport for our 6:10 am departure for Frankfurt where we are scheduled to be on the ground for 1hour and 45 minutes minutes and then it's off to SFO and home. Travel is very broadening, and thanks to the amount of delicious bread I have consumed here and in Romania, the majority of the broadening appears to be be at my waistline. I hope you have enjoyed sharing our travels with us.