Day 10 - Journey's End

Shortly before eight, we piled into the dining area. The woman from the kitchenette smiled pleasantly and said "yada-yada-yada-yada-yada" and more "yada-yada-yada-yada..." ... but I'm not about to tell you what that meant.

We filled our plates and cups and returned to the dining table. Mr Georgia and his wife were checking out immediately after breakfast. A young lad of about twenty-two sat at the receptionist desk. He was probably assigned to handle our check-outs.

The taxis arrived at about 10 am. The drive to the airport was as pleasant as it gets. It took about half an hour and cost us 6980 forints. Our flight was at 3:25 pm (Tuesday). ETA at Dubai, 11 pm on the same night.

We checked in our luggage and there being nothing else to do, sat at a cafe for tea and a slice each of carrot cake and fruit cake. The cakes were hard and unpleasantly sweet. We watched a young man check in his black Rottweiler puppy. The animal was exceptionally curious and sniffed at everything that moved, reminding me of Xena, my warrior princess. I wondered where Ginger was buried.

Two large men looking like a father and his son from Eastern Europe were stranded at the airport. Their tickets were suspended because of issues with their travel agent. We went for lunch at the crowded KFC. The chicken pieces were overtly marinaded with herbs, salt and spices and fried in a thick layer of flour. I took one bite and left the rest in the box. It looked better there.

It had been an interesting trip. We learnt that streets and public squares were strasse and splatz in Austria and utca and Ter in Budapest. Bidets were not used in this part of the world and complimentary beverages not provided by hotels. In escalators and public walkways, people kept to the right and frowned at you if you don't.

We boarded the Emirates. Oh, Mother of Joys! We were one step closer to home.

My coughing spasms had not eased. Seated directly behind me were two ladies. They were producing rapid successions of sneezing, wheezing and coughing. Nose-blowing was high in their agenda. The Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) was the current concern so the large Chinese seated directly in front moved 2 rows to the front to the furthest right seat of the middle aisle. (Mine was the window seat on the left.) When the plane was in midair, the woman next to him started sneezing. The man in the front seat blew his nose and the girl behind started coughing. The poor man looked fretfully around the plane. He was surrounded by a symphony of cacophony orchestrated by a flu-infested entourage. We constitute more than half the plane load.

We arrived at Dubai (transit)  at 10.35pm (36 deg Celsius). The terminal was packed with hordes of travelers. At 1-55 am, we boarded the Emirates for home. One day later (thanks to the rotating globe) we reached home,

After collecting our baggage, we waved goodbye to Mr Nice-Guy. Miss Walk-Faster and her brood were busy looking elsewhere so we left them where they were.

It was good to be back.