My reason was my second wedding of the year, again of one of my ex-trainees who was marrying a Hungarian. A novel experience for me in many ways: first wedding at which I knew no-one apart from bride and groom, a first wedding overseas and my first bilingual wedding.
So first things first. I and a couple of the bride's dental colleagues (for she is a dental nurse) were flying out of Luton on Easyjet, then were to combine with another group taking a slightly later flight from Gatwick for transfer together from Budapest airport for the 3 hour road trip to a country house hotel outside Miskolc.
Now you might say what do you expect flying out of Luton on Easyjet, but wouldn't you just have a little bit of a sinking feeling if you found you were sharing the flight with a stag party? What about two stag parties? Make it three? Yep. Actually one of the parties in white t-shirts were fine. Which left the other two. The black-shirted group had slogans on the back of their shirts like "Mr I F**k Kids" which may give you some hint as to the quality of the clientele. Unfortunately, as a lone traveller who had bagged a window seat, I got surrounded by the pink t-shirted mob proudly bearing the slogan "Pussay" (sic). It wasn't going to be a peaceful flight.
But could have been worse. I only got a little beer sprayed over me.
Well, I met up with the dentists in Budapest and we sat down for a beer (to be consumed orally this time) to await the rest of the crew. But then one us got a call from a gruff Hungarian asking where we were. It seems we were being taken in advance of the Gatwick party. So we got ourselves and luggage into this spacious vehicle and off we went, paying for the trip upfront. For a very short journey. To a car park where we were transferred to a smaller vehicle with a non-English speaking driver and three other silent passengers, one of whom was a bloke with a neck at least as wide as his head. We packed into the three vacant seats at the back.
After about an hour, we stopped in another car park in the middle of nowhere. A skinny bloke approaches the vehicle, passes a small package to the driver and off we go again. At this point we are considering the possiblity that we are being taken to a shallow grave in the woods by drug smugglers.
An impression not dispersed by our next stop in Miskolc at a building which looked exactly as one would expect a safe house to look, including the bars on all the windows, in a run down district. The other three passengers got out, including the big bloke with the thick neck. Who also took out a not very large, but evidently very heavy bag. We wondered. Probably big enough for two severed heads. Or ammunition.
Off we went again, now just us and the driver, deep into the wooded hills. Shallow grave again. But suddenly we come out to a lovely spot with a lake in front of us and a large edifice to the left. We hoped this was our destination, but hopes dashed as on we went, our driver diligently (and silently) following his Sat Nav. Eventually we end up in a very run down campsite. Evidently we were lost, despite the Sat Nav. Our driver took bearings from the only person there, and back we came. Yippee, not a shallow grave in the woods, we were after all due to stay in the grand hotel by the lake which we had earlier passed.
A truly beautiful spot, and a very grand place. I think Victorian trying to look late Renaissance. And just in time for dinner.
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