“The pilot is sick,” the Hungarian in front of me said. I’ve always kind of assumed that major airlines had contingencies for what is presumably a common occurrence among jet-flying folk (at least as common as among the rest of us). It turns out they do have a contingency: they cancel the flight. So I got a bonus day in Budapest. Normally, I would consider this a particularly sweet deal, but I had absolutely ruined myself in a forced march around the city the day before. I had only one free day after a work conference and I figured that I’d better see every square foot – err… meter – of Budapest. So I did. No goulash peddler went unseen by my eye. But my carefully laid plans called for a just-short-of-death exhaustion to set in only seconds after finding my seat on the plane. Delta deviously foiled those plans.
After sleeping past my alarm and awaking in the airport hotel, I had two choices: take the long bus and metro ride back to Budapest to take advantage of my few remaining hours in Hungary or join the rest of my canceled plane compadres and enjoy the BBC and complimentary dinner until morning arrived. As you have likely deduced by the fact that I am writing about it, I chose the latter option and ended up at A38. I won.
The Hans Cottage Botel, mentioned by Andy and me in our recent LGA meeting as one of our strangest accommodation experiences, has a website. The copy on the site mentions the inhabitants of their lagoon – also a point of podcast discussion – and includes one which we forgot. How could we fail to mention that our hotel (pardon me – our botel) was built over a crocodile-infested body of water?
Also, and I’ll ask Andy to back me up on this, I believe that the gentleman pictured on the homepage may be the one who, in our story, was asked to remedy the coffee/tea mixup.
In any case, if you ever find yourself near Cape Coast, Ghana (not Kumasi, as we stated on the podcast), and are in the mood for a… unique hotel experience, we highly recommend the Hans Cottage Botel.
I’m just back from a short jaunt around the Republic of Ireland, and here are a few photos of the trip. The slideshow starts in Dublin, then heads to Dingle town. Then (the bulk of the photos) comes the Dingle Way – a walking trail that goes around the perimeter of the Dingle Penninsula. I hiked 41 miles of the Way, from Dingle town to the village of Cloghane. Finally, we finish off in the city of Cork.
It’s before dawn and I’m up making my final preparations. Checking that the necessary supplies are in order. And just now as I write this, I remember that I’ve forgotten something very important – my flask! How could I even consider setting out for the birthplace of Jameson and Bushmill’s without it?
This will be among my shortest trips ever; a mere ten days. But previous experience has taught me that a great adventure can be had in a short time, if only you remember to keep the scope of the trip limited to what is achievable in the alloted time. So my plan is to spend a few days enjoying Dublin, and then to bus out to Dingle, where I will walk the Dingle Way around that rugged penninsula, bus from Tralee back to Dublin, and fly home.
Experience has also taught me that most planning before a trip is next to worthless when the realities of the Road intervene, so my secondary plan is to ditch all this planning and wing it.
