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Monday September 9, 2024

hfalk3

Travel Day

Torino to Budapest

 

Today we start our first Cosmos Tour. It wasn’t a very ignominious start.  The temperature in the apartment woke me up about 02:30, it was simply too hot. I opened the doors and windows to get a little cross ventilation and that worked. I was able to go back to sleep until shortly after it had gone four. Mary got up at 08:00 and we cleaned up the apartment, took out the trash, and closed up the suitcases.

 

We were outside the front door about 08:50 waiting for our taxi when I put my hand into my pocket and realized I still had the keys to the apartment. Good thing I was double checking I had everything. I got in the elevator headed to the fourth floor, dropped off the keys and “ran” down the stairs. It was still before 09:00 when the taxi was supposed to be here.

 

There was a little apprehension concerning the taxi. I had used the WeTaxi app to schedule the taxi. It is new to me. However, just before 09:00 a taxi showed up, we got in and headed to the train station to meet our 10:00 train departure. Of course, we were at the train station by 09:10. It was sufficient time to walk around the train station a bit, stop and get a cappuccino and brioche, although a train station cappuccino and brioche are the highest standard they are still better than Starbucks.

 

The train loaded a couple minutes late, but we are in business class and have assigned seats, so it wasn’t a problem. We did get out steps in however since the car we were assigned to, #2, was at the far end of the platform (binario). The ride was comfortable and an hour later we were in Milano Centrale.

 

Switching trains is really easy in Milano, especially if you know that the Malpensa Express always leaves from track (binario) 1. We got off the train and walked directly to track 1. There was a line of people waiting for the Malpensa Express to arrive. When it did people rushed to get off, and those waiting to get one tried to push ahead. However you can’t really board the train until everyone is off. The width of the platform is just too narrow for two way traffic. They had a guy trying to control the flow but they don’t do a very good job of it.

 

We managed to work our way towards the head of the mob, and when he let people head to the train we were right there. We managed to get on board, find a place for the luggage, and seats. Again, an hour later we were at Malpensa T-1. Again, of course, it is 11:15 and our flight boards as 14:25.

 

A short potty break, the we headed to find the check-in counter. It wasn’t difficult and we were surprised it was open. So, we checked our bags and then decided to see what was on the other side of security. We got through security and walked through the duty free shopping maze all before noon. Lunch was called for at this point, and there really wasn’t anything else to do. So, we headed to the area where the restaurants were and began going over the menus. We eventually decided on the Roadhouse. A quick lunch and back to the kiosk to check for a gate. It was still 20 minutes before the gate would be announced, so we sat down and waited.

 

They were supposed to post the gate at 14:00. From 14:00 until 14:15 I stood there looking at the kiosk waiting. Finally, it said A09, and we took off for the gate. It was just a few minutes until the gate personnel showed up. We got in line for the priority tickets. We cleared the gate and headed to the gate and we’re immediately confronted by closed doors. We stood and waited.

 

It was 15:05 when the doors finally opened. They had cleared everybody at the gate check-in. We boarded the plane and somehow still managed to make at 15:25 take off. The plane landed at 17:05. No security to boarder control. Went directly to baggage claim. I received a text from Peter, the guy picking us up. He confirmed the pickup location and told me to text when we got there.

 

We went outside, texted Peter and waited for him about five minutes. We spotted his yellow Skoda Octavia, waved him down. We got in and we were on our was to the hotel. It is about 12 miles to the hotel, but it is now after 17:00 and the evening traffic is bad, it is worse in the direction towards the airport, but still bad.

 

We got to the hotel, checked-in and went to our room. This is a standard three-star hotel. Clean, convenient and efficiently decorated. We went downstairs for a quick light dinner. Mary had the Caesar salad and I had the galosh soup. Both very good. After that it was time to call it night.

 

Buonanotte e ciao, Enrico e Maria

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