Day 02 - Wednesday 10th April

The flight from Sydney to Doha took about 15 hours. It made a big difference being in business class (rather than economy) because we had more space, better service, better food and wine etc. Most importantly it was possible to have a good night's sleep.

I probably got about six hours sleep although I woke frequently. Suzy has no problems sleeping anywhere and so she had a longer sleep. They served us breakfast after we woke.

The terminal at Doha Airport is huge but very modern. Last time we had a lot of trouble finding the lounge and so this time we checked with the information desk. It was located in another wing which would take 10 to 15 minutes walking or 2 minutes by train.

We decided to walk and used the moving walkways for most of the journey. They had told us to look for the giant yellow panda - we had remembered this from last time. Everything about this terminal is big and impressive - including the business class lounge. The architecture is amazing.

On the way back, we decided to take the train because I was starting to get chest pains from rushing. The train travels on a track above the walkway and just goes back and forwards between the C and D wings of the terminal. It took a minute or two. We then had to walk a further ten minutes to our gate in the E wing.

There was no air bridge this time to board the plane. Instead they loaded us on buses and drove us to the plane which was parked a long way away on the tarmac. It was surprising how many buses there were carting passengers to and from the aircraft.

It was a smaller aircraft than for the previous leg. Although we were in business class again, we didn't have as much space as in the A380. Once again the service was very good and we enjoyed the food and wine. The flight was about five hours.

In Budapest, there was a bus again take us from the plane to the terminal. The scene inside the terminal was chaotic. Rather than orderly queues at customs, it was just one mass of people - a crowd of people in a room that was far too small to create any order.

Eventually we edged our way to the customers counters for non-EU passengers. The whole process took more than half an hour. This delay meant that our bags had plenty of time to reach the terminal. We were very relieved that our bags had arrived after being transferred from one plane to another in Doha.

Outside the customs area, we found a man carrying an APT sign. As it turned out we were not the only people on APT tours. Two women were going on a different date to us but we met one couple (John and Margaret) and one single man (James) who would be on our cruise.

James was in a wheelchair but was carrying a walking stick. He said he can walk but not very far and so had organised with the travel agent to get a wheelchair at the airport.

The trip to our hotel took about half an hour. There was heavy traffic despite the fact it was mid-afternoon. Our driver worried me because was texting on his mobile phone as he drove. In the end, we arrived safely.

The Kempinski Corvinus Hotel is an excellent five-star hotel. It's the one APT uses and they'd booked an extra night for us because we'd decided to come one day earlier than necessary to join the cruise.

We had excellent room with a large bed and a desk for my laptop. The only negative was that they are doing renovations on several floors of the hotel and there is drilling noise during working hours. The drilling sounded very close.

Chris and Janet had arrived in Budapest the previous day after a brief trip to Prague. They were staying at a cheaper hotel across the road. They suggested that we meet for dinner at our hotel's restaurant.

After settling into our room, Suzy and I went exploring. Initially we couldn't find the restaurant that Chris and Janet were referring to but eventually we found it at another entrance of the hotel opposite the main entrance that we came in.

This entrance fronts onto Fashion Street which is a long pedestrian plaza with high quality shops. Across the road from the main entrance is a large park called Elisabeth Park and it contains a large ferris wheel.

We met Chris and Janet at 6:30pm for an early dinner so we could get to bed early. After dinner we went for a short stroll around some of the nearby streets.