We soon realised that the usual every ten minute service was probably not running at all. It took the taxi 15 minutes to arrive and another 15 minutes to drive us to the airport where members of our little group vanished into the empty terminal.
The aircraft was half empty, the crew relaxed and friendly. The Hungarian guy (thg) and I got chatting very quickly and ended up spending all the time together all the way to Budapest. I normally sit around and look at the aeroplanes whilst waiting for the connecting flight but this time I went exploring with thg. We sat and talked for a bit in McDonalds (me, having food on the day of flying is virtually unheard of) then went to the train station, then looked at the massive departures board at the entrance of terminal 1 spotting spelling mistakes as the little panels were whirring around endlessly.
Finally we boarded the tiny Boeing and we were airborne and it was dark and bumpy and scary. I had read about the summer storms that had hit various parts of Hungary during the day. After about half an hour I calmed down though -- thanks to the beer, and moved to a window seat in front of the engine on the left to catch the sight of Budapest as we were approaching.
I've seen many landing videos and had made my own in the past, but this time I couldn't bring myself to get the camera out to capture the familiar shape from a distance, then the bridges (I waved at our building, as it is along the inbound flight path) then the silly Christmas decorated houses in the suburbs.
Then I was home, exhausted and landed in my bed with the knowledge that I'm not the only one who travels on Christmas Day.
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