A trip to Budapest!

On 31st of October, our Human Resource team had sent a mail telling they will be arranging for a ‘Trip to Budapest’ and the trip was scheduled on 8th of December this year.

I became very excited to read this piece of news. This is because only very recently I have started my new job and my instant thought was ‘I will get to know more of them!!’.

I started to get lots of thoughts and questions as to who will be joining the trip from my team and from those extended teams with which we are working with. I had asked this question to few of my immediate colleagues and some of them had other plans and few others were unsure.
Also, I wanted to know if this trip was a guided tour meant only for the employees and their families/friends or if the company is only arranging for the transport which will drop us at a point and then fetch us in the evening for the return trip to Brno.
Since I had loads to do in my new job, these questions were put into that part of my brain which stores ‘not-so-important; can-be-asked-later’ kinds.

Time flew very fast indeed and I realised that D-day was fast approaching (I realised this on last working day of last week of November!!). 
I had taken vacation from 03rd till 6th of December but had to go to work on 7th (Friday, silly thing to do isn't it?) since I had to finish some reports. So I decided that on 7th of December I can get more information about this trip.

I finished this vacation I had applied, during which me and Kiran had visited a small town outside Brno where we had booked for a wellness program in a 4 star restaurant (ahem!) which offered SPA, 2-3 kinds of massage, pedicure. Me and Kiran had the time of our lives; we particularly enjoyed the ‘lomi lomi Hawaii massage’ and 'Indian head massage'. It was heavenly.
I came to office on 7th December with a fresh mind, body and ‘soul’ (sole as well :-p since I got pedicure done! ha ha) and tried to log into my laptop but that crap thing wasn't logging in for some reason. I then realised, I had changed my password for windows just before going on vacation and in all the ‘wellness’ excitement, I had happily forgotten what password I had set.

Little sheepishly, I had to ask one my colleague to raise a ticket to reset my password. I was really upset with the situation and for some reason with myself since I could not do anything during that time. However a thought occurred to me and I went to the office administrator to ask if we had received any more mails about the trip to Budapest.

She said: the lady who had arranged for this trip had already sent a mail in October giving all instructions, no?
I (surprised): Had she?, everything?
She: Yes! Please check the mail the lady had sent in October.
I: So that’s it? No new updates on that?
She: No, nothing more actually..

So, I impatiently waited nearly for half an hour and received my new temporary password (I had reset my new permanent password) and I logged in and saw that mail. There it said:

Hello everyone! 

Let me invite you to a trip to Budapest on 08/12/2012. The bus is leaving from (undisclosed venue) at 6:30 am; the journey takes 4 hours approximately. We will be leaving from Budapest around 5 pm and be back in Brno around 9 pm.
The price is the same for both Edwards employees and your guests – XXX CZK. 

If you have any questions please ask me directly.

I was staring at this mail several times trying to comprehend and was lost for words. I felt the mail was really very shallow and had said nothing specific about any guided tour or anything of that sort.
Then, I had to concentrate on my work and I forgot all about this trip. That evening, just half an hour before leaving for the day, I thought to myself ‘Darn, I have already paid the money for me and Kiran, I cannot claim it back. So we have to go there and then we will decide what we can do.’

I reached home and waited for Kiran (he came one or two hours after I did) and once he arrived, he immediately asked if I had received any new details about the trip.

I said: We ‘had’ received a mail in October and it seems there is nothing new to it.
He: OK! When do we start and what’s the program?
I: Well, the mail says – we will start at 6-30 am and leave from Budapest at 17-00 pm.
He: But, what is the program?
I: I don’t know!
He (staring at me in amazement): But what if there is no guided tour at all and that they have only arranged to drop us there and pick us up in the evening? You should have called me and told about this no? At least I could have bought a map to Budapest. Now it is too late and all the shops will be closed..
Me (embarrassed): Oh! I am so sorry!!
OK then, how about this? Tomorrow morning, I will ask the lady who has arranged this trip if there are any 'guided tour' or anything of that sort. If there is no guided tour, then lets buy a map at ‘information center' and we will 'discover' the city ourselves.
He: OK, where will they drop us?
I: Budapest
He (looking slightly irritated with my reply): I know that silly! But where in Budapest?
I (looking more sheepish than ever): Oh! I don’t know..
He (giggling): Chinna (that's my nick name), you do not have any experience in arranging for a trip isn't it?
I (trying to conceal my irritated tone): Well, you take care of everything all the time here in Czech Republic and in India, we weren't travelling that much to tell you the truth.
He: It’s OK, hey wait a minute, isn't Prem living in Budapest? (Prem was my ex-colleague and a friend)
I; Yes indeed, wait! I will call him and ask if he is available tomorrow.
(Fortunately for us Prem was available that day. He and his wife met us, guided us across Budapest, Christmas market, parliamentary house and also took us to a very authentic Hungarian restaurant. We had very good time. We also did some shopping for some sweets and candles, lavender oil (natural).)

Next morning when we boarded the bus, I asked the lady who had arranged this trip about the plan for the day. She said there isn't one, but said that the driver will just drop us all at a point and then in the evening at around 17.00 pm we will be picked up at the same point for the trip back to Brno. I then asked her where the driver would drop us all. She said she does not know (ha ha! talk about being inexperienced in arranging a trip. I felt better that I was not the the only one with this deficiency!). I told this to Kiran and we had a good laugh in Kannada.

Even though there was so much confusions before we started the journey, once we reached Budapest, I enjoyed every bit of my time in there. It is a very beautiful city. Even though the temperature that day in Budapest was under 0 degrees and the air extremely chilly, we took a stroll on the bridge (we almost froze, but still!) and rather loved the scene of the magnificent Danube river.

Find some pictures from the trip :-)

No 1: I thought Kiran was taking photos of river Danube, but apparently he was taking my photos.

No 2: I was still under the impression, he was taking the photos of the river.

No 3: Still in my own world.

No 4: I looked at him and realised he was capturing my photos. I was shocked and remember shouting 'STOP'.

I, me, myself :-)

The below picture consists of a modern building among-st all the old architectural wonders.

Hungarian cuisine is considered spiciest among European cuisines.

Closed market

People in Christmas mood were singing 'god saved the world'

Hungarian Parliament

Hungarian parliament (front view)

Us :-)

Me with Prem and his wife, a very nice lady.

After this trip, we decided to >wake up from the slumber called laziness that we both are suffering from< and to make more trips where ever we can instead of wasting time sitting at home.