You know how after a long overnight flight your ankles are swollen and your neck is stiff? You didn’t find the TV dinner-style meal much to your liking and your seat mate snored not to mention you’re dehydrated because you forgot to bring a huge bottle of water on board? Well erase that dreary picture from your mind pronto (as Cyd would say) and picture this instead.

Dan got a complimentary upgrade from business class to first class and I used points to upgrade my coach ticket to business. Once we were checked in at the airport yesterday Dan insisted I take his first class seat and he took my less-than-ideal seat in the last row of Business right by the bathroom. Let me just say it was a wonderful trade! Where Business had eight people in a row (in a 2…4…2 configuration), First had four (in a 1…2…1 configuration). I didn’t get close enough to coach to see how many were in each row, but I’m sure it wasn’t pretty.

My Saks Fifth Avenue bedding was displayed on my chair along with my Bose headphones. Once settled in I got my amenity kit, slippers, and memory foam pillow. I had my own dedicated overhead bin plus enough storage at my seat to stash the duvet, blanket, and three (counting the memory foam) pillows. The flight attendant brought me champagne and a chocolate to welcome me onboard. Once in the air I decided to watch La La Land and soon thereafter the food service started. Nuts and drinks kicked things off and were soon followed by four starters served one at a time … then my choice of entree … then dessert … then coffee and after dinner drinks. I did the best I could but started eating half portions and then refusing food half way in.

Funny story: one guy in First brought a burger on board and had it with a
beer before we took off and then ate the whole meal. Another guy drank
water by the gallon and only ate half of a $3.09 sub (I could see the bright
yellow price tag) he brought with him. Who does that?
The sub eater did not even take off his shoes, use his pillows, or
recline his chair. He needs professional help.

Anyway, I reclined my seat so it became a lie-flat bed, donned my sleep mask, and slept for maybe four hours. I decided against breakfast. We landed in Frankfurt on time and quickly found our connecting gate with only ten minutes to spare. Guess what? As I scanned my coach ticket and started moving toward the plane, the gate attendant called me back and said I had been upgraded to Business and seated next to Dan. No kidding! The plane was small so in this case Business meant an empty seat between us and a nice German style (cold meats and cheese) breakfast.

Flying into Budapest was very pretty in spite of the clouds. We saw the Danube, which separates Buda from Pest, as well as a patchwork of beautiful green and yellow (rapeseed) fields. Fifteen hours after leaving home we arrived at our hotel, Kempinski Hotel Corvinus. We settled in, had a delicious lunch, and then strolled around in an effort to stay awake. We were happy to have brought along our gloves, hats, scarves and jackets because it was in the mid-50s and overcast.

About a block from the hotel we ran into a fun street fair that reminded us a lot of a German Christkindlemarkt. There were lovely crafts for sale as well as loads of delicious food we would have loved to sample but we had just had lunch and were not hungry. Around 6:00 we headed back in anticipation of an early night.