Judy and Dan - 2026 Central Europe

Central Europe

For the main 2026 vacation I chose to visit Central Europe, flying over on Virgin Atlantic's Billie Holiday to London and then an open jaw flight out to Prague and back from Budapest. The outgoing flight was very late, not leaving the ground until nearly midnight. Why they try to serve a meal on these at 1am (or 6am UK time) I'll never know? I really miss the old 747 with the "sleepzone" downstairs in the front. Upper Class passengers who wanted to party could take a seat upstairs, while those who just wanted a good night's sleep could get the lights out by the time the Jumbo got to the Hamptons. It was perfect, the ticket also included a free limo at both ends of the trip. Virgin cosseted you from the front door of your house to the front door of your hotel. Sadly, now you don't even get a proper tablecloth.

We got to London at lunchtime, which has the advantage that the hotel is at least ready to receive you. I stayed at the Premier Inn, Heathrow, which hangs off of Terminal 4. It was actually pretty good, especially considering its bargain price, compared to the other brands. On Wednesday evening, I ventured out for something to eat. It was going to be either Earls Court or Richmond, since the weather wasn't great I plumped for Richmond and got the tube, changing at Acton Town, onto the District Line, then again at Turnham Green. In Richmond I found a nice pub serving great Fish & Chips and on Richmond Green a delicious Ice Cream shop, appropriately named Danielli's, for dessert. Best yet, I found the 490 bus, which took me from Richmond, straight back to the Premier Inn, for a good night's sleep.

Thursday morning saw a very early start with an 8am check-in for Amsterdam and Prague, via KLM. You may be wondering why I didn't fly direct, well it's all down to getting practically free flights in Europe, significantly subsidized Upper Class flights over the Atlantic and best of all free accommodation with Hilton, for almost the whole trip. Of course free is an overstatement, but they were all covered by credit card points and offers - sweet!

I got to the Prague Hilton on Thursday evening and went for a walk looking for something to eat. I was lucky enough to stumble upon the Imperial Hotel, a real art-deco beauty, where I had some absolutely delicious veal milanese, I think the best I've ever tasted, along with a nice glass of wine, the whole thing cost $41. Probably about half what it might cost in a nice New York City restaurant. Of the three places I visited, Prague was by far the best value. The downside is that it's absolutely rammed with tourists, as bad as Venice, if not worse.

The following day was Prague sightseeing day in the early morning I did a lap of the old town including the famous clock, world's oldest working example. For the rest of the day I was so lucky that cousin Danielle had agreed to join me, lining up her own Blitzkrieg across Europe including Berlin, Dresden, Prague and Wroclaw. We had the most amazing stroke of luck, having seen the huge queues around Prague castle we had been resigned to really long waits, but when we went for tickets, we found an English speaking tour starting in 10 minutes, we quickly signed up and it got better from there as we were the only guests on the tour. We were whisked past all the other waiting tourists straight in and out of the various castle buildings and the cathedral where Good King Wenceslas is interred, finally we were led straight down the middle of the castle banqueting hall, while everyone else was stuck in lines at the side. It felt like we were William & Kate!

Later that evening we had another delicious meal at Deer Prague, one of the nicest restaurants. Delicious mains and tasty desserts, one having the famous clock printed on it. We bade each other "Au Revoir" and continued on our respective ways.

Saturday was a travel day. I got the train to Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. This time I stayed at the Doubletree. It's a bit out of town, but fortunately Bolt-provided cabs were plentiful and cheap. It's right by the Slovakian equivalent of Wembley Stadium and unfortunately they were having an end-of-season party which ran a bit late. On Sunday I got to do the sightseeing bit. They have a nice old town, a "castle" but it's kind of modern and of course the UFO bridge. I would have done more, but since the weather was pretty awful I settled for the City Museum, which had some lovely exhibits and of course a dungeon/prison in the basement. Had the weather been better a cruise on the Danube would have got me to Vienna in only 90 minutes, which might have been fun.

Monday was the other much quicker rail trip from Bratislava to Budapest. Of the three cities, I liked Budapest better, this might be because the Hilton there is in a superb location, up in the castle area overlooking the city. But also, there was something more "together" about Budapest than Prague. Being a bit bigger, might also have helped as the tourists seemed to be swallowed up like in Paris or London. The first afternoon I toured the Buda castle grounds and St Matthias Church. Also known as the Coronation Church, many Hungarian kings were crowned here. I got a lovely dinner and the most amazing Somlói (chocolate dessert) at Restaurant 21

On Tuesday I checked out the Pest side of the river, where most of the city is situated. First the stunning Hungarian Parliament building, then St Stephen's Basilica resting place of the saint's hand. In the afternoon, I got the city bus tour visiting the Hero's Plaza and both train stations, among other attractions. Hungary shares a border with Ukraine and it's perfectly feasible to take a train to Kiev, should you have a mind to, since this was a trip to Central Europe, it is a reminder of how big Ukraine and European Russia really are, there's a lot of Eastern Europe that I'll probably never get to explore. I ended my sightseeing with a quick trip under Buda Castle to see the Labyrinth "caves" not really a proper cave system in that they were extensively altered by man, but they stretch for thousands of metres and have provided everything from hospitals to bomb shelters for the residents over the years.

Wednesday was another travel day, back via Amsterdam to Heathrow, in the evening I was able to fit in dinner with my friend Mark, as always it was lovely to see him, we really need to budget more time on a future trip. As it was I didn't get back to Heathrow until after 10pm, but fortunately all I had to do was fall out of the hotel on Thursday into the lounge for a trip home via Virgin on Eliza Doolittle. This was Atlantic Crossing No. 75 and No. 76, still hoping to make it to at least 80 before I'm done!

Richmond