These our the rough expenses so far. 

Amsterdam
Hotel: 30-50 Euro
Coffee Shop: 6-8 Euro per gram
Beer: 2-3 Euro

Budapest
Apartment: 250 Euro for 5 nights
Beer: 200-300 HUF (1 Euro) for a liter
Typical meal: 1000-2500 HUF (3-10 Euro)
Internet Cafe: 100 HUF / 10 minutes  (about $0.50 / 10 minutes)

So yesterday, we went to a really nice local park.  It was
basically an island in the Danube river and the park encompassed the
entire island.  There were a couple hotels toward the north
of the park, but we didn’t go there.  We rented some electric
cars and drove around most of the island.  we were even able
to explore some ruins of a very old church.  

I woke
up pretty early today (around 7:45 or so) and decided to go for a nice
run.  That sucked… my lungs must still have Amsterdam
goodness in them cause they seemed a little
irritated.  Anyway, Phil and I had some cappuccino, a light
breakfast pastry and then headed to the train station to pickup our
Prague tickets.  We’re scheduled to leave at 6:00am tomorrow,
so we’ll just stay up all night and sleep on the train.  It’s
about a 7 hour ride so we should get to Prague right in the afternoon.

As
far as today goes, I’m going to go to a spa for a swim and Thai
massage.  I’ve never had a Thai massage before, so hopefully
it helps more than it hurts.  btw, I”m currently at a “fast”
internet cafe.  A 256kbps leased line for 50 pcs…. it sucks to
upload pictures

Other than that, I’ve been thinking
about what it would take to live in Europe for a while.  I
guess it’ll depend on how much I like Prague, to see if I should
investigate it further.  I really like the culture here,
opposed to the American culture.  The people seem to take
much more joy in their life and aren’t so strict with work.  
For instance, it doesn’t seem like there is a time limit for
lunch.  Relax, eat comfortably and return to work when you
want to.  That’s just one of many examples…

Anyway, if you’re ever in Budapest and you’re interested in staying at an apartment, give this one a try.

Dora Draganel
Reservation Manager
Budapest 1052 Aranykez Str. 6. 6th floor/64.
www.budapesthotels.info.hu
00-36-1-209-9215

It is near the Casino Las Vegas and the Sofitel hotel

I’m currently in Budapest… We had to leave Amsterdam a day early due
to some conflicts with airline tickets.  I’m not too disappointed with
that, however.  We were able to go to the Banana Bar and the Heineken
tour, and that’s all I really wanted to do in Amsterdam. 

I got the shit scared out of me, though.  We were at the airport ready
to go to Budapest, when I found out that I had some leftovers from a
coffee shop.  I didn’t really want to make a huge scene, so I just left
it in my pocket.  Then the alarm went off when I went through
security.  Apparently my sandals make the European alarms go off. 
Anyway, they didn’t find the goods, but it did make my heart beat a
little faster.

Oh, and Amsterdam has two security checkpoints. They have a normal one
and then they have one at the gate.  It’s probably good, too, since
they stopped a guy carrying a hand gun.  The guy said he was coming
from a flight from Japan… This all happened right in front of me…
before I boarded the plane. 

I’m finding that I really like Budapest women.  90% of them are
absolutely beautiful.  So far, everyone that we have met on the trip is
very friendly.  Most people that we run into speak some English, so
getting around hasn’t really been a problem.  We did find out that
Budapest has two types of cabs.  They have private taxis and taxis that
are owned by a single corporation. If you take a taxi in Budapest, you
want to stay away from the private taxis.  They tend to charge about
3-5 times the amount that the corporate taxi would charge.  You can
spot a corporate taxi if it has the telephone number on the side.

Yesterday, we went to a spa.  Apparently Budapest is famous for their
spas.  I have to admit that the spa was amazing.  The size of the
outdoor pool was really impressive.  We sat around the pool and swam
for the majority of the time that we were there.  I plan to go to
another spa tomorrow for a massage.  They do different massage styles,
but I think I’ll go for the Thai massage. 

Last night, we went to a couple pubs.  One was called Fat Mo’s and they
had a nice cover band that was playing.  The other place was called Old
Man’s.  I’ll just say that the people were very friendly there… 
We’re planning on going to Buda Beach tomorrow.  It’s a huge outdoor
club with a house dj tomorrow.

Budapest is two cities, really.  On one side of the Danube, there is
Buda and the other side is Pest.  We’re currently staying in an
apartment in Pest.  The apartment worked out great.  It only costs
about 15,000 HUL (about $80) for the 4 days that we’re here.  Other
than that, we found out that Budapest is best to visit on the weekends,
if you want to go out.  The discotek are really only used Thursday
through Saturday.  With that bit of knowledge, we’re headed to Prague
for the weekend.  We’ll be there for 4 days, also…

I made it to Amsterdam yesterday… my luggage, took a little
longer.  I have to say that Heathrow blows.  That is the most
unorganized airport that I’ve been to. 

After walking around the city for a little while, I ran into all of the guys that I know.  We ended up going to the Banana Bar
and some coffee houses.  It’s early and my head feels dull, but so
far I have to admit that Amsterdam is a nice place to visit in the
fall.  Much better than winter. 

I had the distinct joy of coming home to a house problem
yesterday.  I got home and thought that the house was pretty
warm… so I checked the thermostat and it was reading 85, even though
the a/c (central air) should have been keeping it around 75.  So,
I went outside and examined the a/c unit.  Everything looked fine
outside.  Next, I went to the basement where the a/c line connects
to the furnace.  “damn…” I thought… there was a huge ice chunk
around the pipe and the connection was leaking (from the melting
ice). 

I called one of my really good friends, who just happens to know a
thing or two about houses, and he said that this is a pretty common
situation.  Apparently the a/c unit is low on freon. 
Everything iced up because there wasn’t a large enough difference
between the outside temp and the temp coming from the a/c unit.

Anyway, to remedy the situation, I turned off the a/c, but explicitly
turned on the fan (part of the furnace).   This allows the
ice to melt.  The next step will be to have a HVAC person to come
out and recharge the a/c units.

I can’t deny that I’ve been a bit short with people as of late.  I
have noticed it at work and a family member mentioned it when I last
spoke to them.  I’m not completely sure what is causing this short
temper, but I imagine that stress is the major factor.

When it comes down to it, I feel the need to change my life/lifestyle
and I don’t think it’s happening quick enough for my
subconscious.  I really hope that it’s not that I’m getting burnt
out doing a tech job because I do like the creativity and challenges it
provides.  That aside, I must admit that I’ve really begun to
enjoy being outside during the day.  Though, I’m sure that part of
that is from the beautiful summer days that have been occurring lately.

I continually wonder what I would want to do if money didn’t matter but
so far I, unfortunately, haven’t come up with anything practical.

Anyway, I guess acknowledging that I’m aware of the situation is the
first step to fixing it.  Perhaps I should start meditating
again… that seemed to generally make me calm, when I did it on a
regular basis before.