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Congratulations to the Liszt Ferenc Airport for winning the Best Airport in Eastern Europe award at the World Airport Awards. Sorry, there are no pictures from the awards red carpet runway and no gossip about those there or what designer gowns were being shown off. I am wondering who won for the best airport in Central Europe!

Vueling Airline is returning to Budapest with direct flights to Rome reestablishing their Barcelona flights; both routes will be four times a week. Ryanair is adding Athens to its Budapest route system making this the 15th route it flies from Budapest.

WizzAir is not going to be outdone. This budget service started new services to Lisbon in March and will follow with Maastricht on May 15; Hurghada, Egypt May16, and Alghero, Sardinia, Italy June 16. 

More good news for Spain lovers is that Iberia Express, the budget branch of Iberia will have seven flights a week to Madrid. 

The airport transferred 9.15 million passengers, increasing last year’s numbers by 7.5% from last year. New or returning airlines are Vueling (Spanish), Air Serbia, Pegasus Airlines (Turkish), Emirates and Transavia (French).

Finally, North America is back in the picture, but it is not with one of the major US airlines. Air Transat will fly to Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport and then continuing to Toronto’s Pearson International Airport. For now, this is only a weekly service. Get ready for the June 16th kick-off. Air Transat is a Montréal based airline. 

Happy Travels!

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For Your 411

The lives of ex-pats are far from peaches and cream. Two days ago, we received postcards from United Parcel Service stating they attempted to deliver to us, but could not find our name on the doorbell. Easy remedy, call and give them the name of our business which is on the doorbell. Problem solved. 


What they had for us was our new Diners Club - MasterCard cards with...are you ready for this, a microchip. Now I am impressed since European and Asian credit cards have been using the chip for almost a decade now. We ran into a problem using our card in Malaysia once, because they only use the chipped cards, so they did not know how (or did not want) to use it the old-fashioned way, but swiping it or even more old-fashioned, call it in for approval. 


The difference with this chip card is that you need to know your pin number each time the card is used in a chip terminal. Well, that is a hassle, remembering yet another code. Still, I am applauding one US company for getting on the band wagon of modernity. Now, I need to call in to confirm receipt of the card to activate it. On the letter and the card itself, it states for calls from outside of the US, call us collect at 1-514-877-1577. 


I have mastered collect calling from Hungary. First I call AT&T at 06-8000-1112. A friendly automated female sing-songy voice states "AT&T", then a second sing-songy voice from an obvious second woman commands "Please enter the number you are calling...NOW!" Emphasis on now. I have often wondered why one woman didn't get both gigs to record the messages. Maybe one was the winner and the other a first runner up or understudy when woman 1 gets as sore throat. I entered 1-514-877-1577 after which the AT&T lady starts to get greedy with the prompt "Enter your calling card number and pin or your credit card number and 4 digit expiration date NOW!" You just have this sense she is ready to start working the cash register as you rack up a bill making this call. The trick here is not to touch the keypad of the phone. This moves you into the next prompt. "Please say calling card, credit card, operator, collect, NOW!" By this time, I am never sure whether I should salute at the NOW command or just do Heil Hitler. 


Experience has taught me that if you say collect, you are setting yourself up for another go around of calls. Almost 100% of the credit card companies have robots answering their phones to is that sicking sweet voice sharing "Welcome to Diners Club! If this is an overseas operator, YESSSSSS, we will accept the call." Their yes makes them sound like you have been kidnapped and they have been waiting for the ransom call. The AT&& robot doesn't play nice with others, so instead of trying to communicate, it turns to you and says "It seems as if we have reached a machine. Please hang up and try your call again later." What a hypocrite coming from a machine. 


I made my call using 1-514-877-1577, saying operator instead of collect. This is where the bait and switch is really evident. Until now, all the voices were like your Italian grandmother's welcoming you to the Sunday dinner. Once you get a real person, you can go one of two ways: the Wicked Witch of the West or your Fairy Godmother. My first attempt with this call was the witch. 


Me- "Yes, operator this is a collect call, but it will be answered by a machine. I need you to stay on the line." 
Witch - "I don't' handle collect calls to Canada." Click, she hangs up on me.
Me - Scratching my head, thinking Canada? What is she talking about? This is Diners Club US I am calling. Maybe I dialed it in wrong, so I call again.
Fairy Godmother - "I am sorry, but I cannot handle collect calls to Canada."
Me - "You mean that the 514 area code is Canadian? But it says right here on my card to call this number collect if you are outside of the US. I am outside and far away. They said on the literature with the card that I could call this number toll free from anywhere outside of the US. What do I do now?"
Fairy Godmother - "That may be, but I cannot do collect calls to Canada, only US numbers. You will have to have a Hungarian operator place the call for you."
Me - "Apparently AT&T has not heard about NAFTA. Thanks anyway. One last thing, do you know the number for a Hungarian operator?"


411 is the number for calling telephone information anywhere in the US. Now I have to hunt one down for Hungary. I asked 7 Hungarians how to reach an operator to make a collect call and not one could tell me.

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Merry Christmas – Go, Go, Go

It seems Christmas day is no big deal here in Antigua; the exception is the firecrackers are still going off, making every one jumpy when taken by surprise. Our shuttle was due at 12:30 to 12:45, so we had time to walk downtown for breakfast. Everything was packed up and ready to go. We walked down to Café Bourbon which we had picked out yesterday as a place to try and asked ahead of time if they would be open Christmas day.

With cool jazz playing in the background, the graphics decorating the wall was a mosaic of jazz artists, which led me to rethink that this place was named for the liquor. My next best guess is that it is named for Bourbon Street in New Orleans. Typical of our meals here, it is so very inexpensive. We each had a variety of a full breakfast with all the trimmings and both of us had specialty coffees, Ron added on orange juice. I chose a second café latte. When we asked for the bill, we thought we were undercharged. It was 100 Q. There was no sign of my second coffee or Ron’s juice. When I tried explaining to the waiter they short-changed themselves, they looked confused. We owe you more than this I insisted, “We had 3 coffees total and an orange juice.” After some contemplation, the waiter called a colleague to look over the bill and bring it back to us with an explanation. Two of our coffees were included in the meal as was Ron’s orange juice. Our two very substantial breakfasts were only 10 Euros total.

As we leisurely walked back to our hotel, we searched out fresh fruit for our trip, but it was not to be had.  We sat around reading and waiting. There was a young couple from Canada who was also leaving for Pana as we were, but they were not on the same shuttle. When ours came, we said good-bye and climbed into a van like a soccer mom would use to cart around kids. Being next to the last, the shuttle was full with every seat taken. Right next to me was a young father with his very young baby boy. It was gratifying to see how well he cared for the baby, including mixing formula while holding the baby in a nurturing manner. By the time, I poked my nose out of my novel, he was beyond needing my help. Our road trip was about 2 hours on some paved roads and highways, but others cobble stone.  

A first impression of Pana was that this was a gigantic strip mall of outdoor booths. Our hotel, Mario’s Rooms is very centrally located. On either side are booths, stores, restaurants, and more of each. From what we saw of the town, this is a major street, one-way traffic, and hundreds of businesses with hundreds of workers begging you to come to their place to spend money. We walked down to the lake, Lake Atitlán and walked the shore line where there are another fifty or so vendors trying their luck interspersed with establishments such as restaurants in secured buildings.

As we walked, we ran into the Canadian couple from our hotel in Antigua and chatted for a bit. They are on an 8 month holiday throughout Central and South America and then Tibet. We found a place for our dinner, where two chicken dinners complete with potatoes, vegetables, and bread cost 3 Euros each. The next most expensive dish was 4.50 Euros. Ron keeps telling me how spoiled we are getting.

Before dinner and on the way back to the hotel, we stopped at three different travel agencies to check on boat ride tickets to the Mayan villages. Around Lake Atitlán, there are ten Mayan village settlements where they supposedly practice the ancient Mayan customs. Each of the agencies had similar offers, but one had 4 villages for the same price as the others had for 3 villages. Choosing the 4 village ‘tour’ set us back 90 Q or 9 Euros for both of us.

 Back at the room, it was chilly, so we did pull out the blankets. Their electric outlets are very convenient. In both hotels thus far, we have found that the outlets will accommodate both US and European plugs without needing a convertor. Ingenious! We will have to see if that is available in Europe also.

One Christmasy side note: My one private student, Janos, generously gives me Christmas presents each year. This year, he overwhelmed me with a pile of them. I had wanted to take them with us and open them on Christmas morning. Ron and I don’t exchange presents; our travels are our presents to each other. With airline limits being what they are, I opened my presents right before we left, but held the memory for Christmas morning. Janos himself is my best present.

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Oh Canada, Oh Canadians

I was still at school, but when I finally arrived home, Ron told me I missed my fan base. Huh? I respond. Well it seems that a trio of Canadians found their way to our door and came in with the guests who were due to arrive. They appeared at the door asking for me. They had a copy of my book in hand and wanted it autographed. 

Good soul Ron had them come in, gave them tea, and chatted for an hour hoping I may return in the meantime. Needless to say I didn't. The elder of the group was an 81 year old who left Hungary as a youngster, but had never been back. He was here with his son and grandson. In my absence, they had Ron sign my name in the book. That alone made me weepy. Our handwriting is as different as our nature. Oh Canada! Call next time. You may find me at home.

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Arpad Writes in About Malev

Farkas Árpád has left a new comment on your post "Image via Wikipedia Almost a year ago, on January ...":

"I visited the link and saw that the Northern-American flights are “terminated”, but I don’t think that they stopped their flights to the US. Although this “Altiusdirectoy.com” website is really comprehensive in terms of information listed, it does not seem to be completely reliable. According to Malév’s official website (www.malev.hu), they do have flights to New York City and Chicago. I failed to find Canada, so that appears to be terminated."

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A Year Past

Image via Wikipedia

Almost a year ago, on January 30, 2009, I posted an article regarding Malev Airlines having been taken over by Aeroflot.

Now, today, I received a comment on that posting. Better late than never? Does the speed of the comment say something about their attention to detail? When I went to the website and looked at the destinations that Malev is flying to, what is really telling is that they stopped their flights to both the US and Canada. The rest of the list is of interest also.

Malev Airlines has left a new comment on your post "Russian Bank, Aeroflot to take over Malév followin...":

Hi everybody, For more details on Malev Airlines like

1. Airlines Information

2. History

3. Malev Airlines Destinations

4. Fleets

5. Malev Airlines Phone Numbers

6. Baggage Allowance

7. Images

Visit "Altius Directory". This URL may be useful.

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