This post on facebook reminded me of a time when I felt totally spoiled by luxury, while able to read to my heart's content.
That was the day that Katelyn and I were in Budapest and decided to spend the day at the Szechenyi Bath Spa. I admit, spending the day at a spa, where I'd be in my bathing suit in front of hundreds of people while it was 95 degrees outside, was not something I normally would have chosen to do. But Katelyn and I were alternating picking activities during our Central Europe Girls' trip in 2017, and this was her pick. While I may not write about all the aspects of that trip, this one day stood out as the one where I felt like we were treating ourselves to the height of luxury, so when this quote got me thinking of a time when I felt like I was reading in a luxurious setting, I decided to tell you this story.
Before I get to the part about the spa, to really put this in context it would help if I tell you about a few events leading up to it.
First of all, this was the summer that Katelyn spent 8 weeks in Johannesburg, South Africa, living and working in Soweto, doing research on co-morbidity between HIV/Aids and breast cancer or diabetes for one of her professors. I knew next to nothing about Johannesburg, but when I learned Katelyn was going to spend time there I reached out to friends and co-workers who lived and worked there, and what I heard terrified me. From the fraud team who said most fraud in that area is "first person fraud", which means the person owning the credit card is present while fraud is perpetrated (because they were hijacked in their cars, taken to ATMs and forced to withdraw cash) to others who had heard of homeowners who had home invasions even though they had barbed wire-topped fences surrounding their home and had three layers of security that was breached before they were trapped in their "safe room", I couldn't picture my 20 year old daughter living in those conditions. Needless to say, when she invited me on a girls' trip after she finished her stint in South Africa, I was more than happy to accept.
Katelyn had spent that spring on her semester abroad in Morocco, so had the opportunity to meet a lot of students who traveled internationally. From their experience, she crafted our trip to Central Europe. We met in Munich, then over 11 days we traveled via car to Salzberg and Vienna, Austria, then we took a train to Budapest, Hungary, then a flight to Berlin. Not only did she pick cities that were highly recommended, but she wanted us to experience all modes of travel (except hitch-hiking, thank goodness!).
The idea of buying the "luxury" spa experience started because on our train trip to Budapest, we opted for the "coach" version of train tickets. This was the only reservation we made while traveling, the hotel and other travel arrangements had been made beforehand. While in our hotel the night before, we bought the train tickets, thinking it wouldn't really matter if we were in coach because the trip was only 2.5 hours. We saved a few euros, but ended up regretting that choice.
We also read that you needed to GET TICKETS for the train in the station before boarding, because the voucher provided by the third party with which we made reservations wouldn't be good enough. But after fitting a few activities into our morning in Vienna, we rushed to the train station and had just enough time to board our train, so we skipped this step. Both those things ended up being critical mistakes.
Our first clue should have been while boarding the train. We were waiting in the station and the train pulled up. People queued up at the entrance to each car, and we picked the car closest to us and got in line. The line inched forward, and as the time of departure approached, we nervously watched the clock, because there were still a lot of people that had to board before us. We were seriously thinking we wouldn't make this train. Normally it wouldn't have mattered, but Katelyn had made a reservation for wine-tasting beneath the Buda castle, and in order to make it on time we HAD to catch this train.
Finally, we were able to get inside and as we climbed the steps of the car and the doors shut, the train took off. While I'm not terribly experienced at train travel, my impression was that if you bought a ticket, you had a seat. Rookie mistake! We were stuck in the aisle, with our luggage, along with all the other late-comers. When I realized all the seats were taken, and standing in the aisle was going to be our mode of travel, I checked the travel time. All of a sudden 2.5 hours seemed like a LONG TIME!
While I lost many of my photos from this trip due to a computer change, I was lucky to find the one above, because words cannot describe this experience adequately. Lots of young people travel to Budapest, so most of the other travelers standing with us were twenty-somethings. I clearly remember the Asian guy standing next to me, slurping noodles out of his cardboard container right in my ear. There was also a group of 4 young-people traveling together, and it turns out they had made the same mistake we had, and didn't have tickets for the train but just the third-party voucher.
This was one of the many times during this trip that I thanked goodness for Katelyn's travel savvy. Soon after we got settled in the aisle, she asked for my phone (I had used it to make the reservations, thus the response was in my email). I didn't know what she wanted it for, but dutifully handed it over. You notice in the photo above, she is busily doing something on the phone.
Turns out she was downloading the tickets for our trip, which was the other way to get them if you didn't pick them up in the station. I didn't know that, and was innocently planning to "play dumb" when the conductor came around for tickets. He came through the car soon after that, and when he asked for tickets, Katelyn was able to show him the downloads on my phone. Whew! The other group of young people weren't so lucky, and I was treated to a front-row seat to what our experience would have been like if Katelyn hadn't had the foresight to download tickets. I thought he would easily give in once the young people explained the situation, but noooo. The conductor insisted they get off at the next stop. They were able to negotatiate with him, but it took a good 20-30 minutes for them to get his agreement (basically they pretended to be downloading it, but we were out of cell range and it wasn't working (as Katelyn found out when she tried to help them)). They delayed long enough that he finally realized we were almost to our destination, and he gave up. I don't think I would have had the strength to persuade him to let us stay on, and we likely would have had to get off. Whew!
In doing research for this article, I came across this blog. It has a few tips we didn't know about, so this incents me to research ALL legs of travel next time we make such a trip.
Anyway, with that background, you can understand that as we planned our activities in Budapest, when we saw the small additional charge for the deluxe spa experience vs. the basic one, we elected to buy it. This is how we came to be in one of the most luxurious experiences of my life, reading.
One of the things I didn't know about Budapest is the number of spas in the area. According to our walking tour guide the day before, this was one of the legacies of their time being occupied by the Turks, since they love spas. And the thermal waters bubbling up through the limestone foundations under the city are considered therapeutic, so spas abound. Katelyn picked the Szechenyi one, but this article provides information on many more. Or if you're interested in the history of this one, here is a great in-depth article.
I didn't take many photos that day, since I locked my phone up with my other belongings for safekeeping, but the photo above is one of mine. The top rounded floor is called the Szechenyi Palm House, and you only get access with the deluxe ticket we bought.
The photo below is another traveler's, taken from the web, but it gives you an idea of the outdoor pool set-up. Most of the pools were heated, but who wants to go in a heated pool when it's 95 degrees outside? While it was interesting and all, the heat and the "bathing suit exposure experience" made me elect to go upstairs after a short time.
This was one of the best parts of the whole trip! Again, a photo taken from the web to illustrate the environment, since I'm sure my description won't do it justice.
You are basically surrounded by soft light and greenery, with comfortable lounging furniture surrounding you. Katelyn elected to spend some time on the outside deck sunning, but I enjoyed the cooler indoor setting. In addition to the beautiful setting, we were treated to delicious mineral water, tea, and fresh fruit. This article describes more about the content of the water, all I know is it was the best tasting thing I ever had in my whole life.
One of the other great tasting things was the fruit bowls, continuously cut fresh by attendants. While this photo is not the best, it gives you an idea of the treat we could have whenever we wanted. With Katelyn's love of fruit, this was a HUGE bonus. We basically ate, napped, drank, and since I had my Kindle with me, I read the afternoon away.
So while crackling fires weren't part of this experience, it was definitely the height of luxury in my book, and a lesson learned. Sometimes you just need to TREAT YOURSELF!!!
Comentarios