My best travel buddy, Olga, waited me at the Budapest Airport and we hugged so hard when we finally saw each other. I was a bit afraid if she can still recognise me after our last meet in 2010. Fortunately, both of us didn't change much in the past 3 years.

I met Olga's friend, Jaja, from Thailand during my second day in Budapest. Jaja showed me around the city and all the cute little hidden gems. We've been eating all day long. I feel sorry for not spending more quality time on visiting museums.

 A beautiful McDonald Restaurant near Nyugati pályaudvar Train Station

Cafe in vintage decor

of course, place to hunt for cheap and tasty Goulash

 Just FYI, 350HUF is about €1.2EUR and you can get a pint of beer out of that

 cheap local cafe is easy to spot

Out of curiosity, I bought a Wasabi flavoured cheese from a local supermarket. Holland is now on my wish list.

 cute sign on tram

 Traditional Hungarian apartment

3 days pasted and my time in Budapest was great, mainly because Olga was with me. It is hard to tell when we will have chance to meet each other in the near future, since we both have engaged in full time work at different sides of the world.

I always believe the best part of travel is not about the number of tourist attractions you've visited, it is more about the level of enjoyment you've gained from the trip, no matter how did you gain that. You may enjoy eating cheap local foods from an open market stall more than in a character-less 5-star hotel, only you will know.

 
waiting for transit in Moscow airport

Just a month before my 25th birthday, I felt like I was in some sort of Quarter Life Crisis seriously. I am not a fresh-grad from university anymore; I am repaying my student loan; I start saving money; I have a so-called decent job in media. I shall have nothing to feel confused or depressed with.

"Turning 25 years old is really just nothing. People do get old everyday." I once told myself.

My family and friends back in Hong Kong always think I travelled too much. Maybe, they are right. I have backpacked to 20ish countries before I reached 24 years old and I am not even a rich kid. There was a moment I thought I should stop travelling for a while, just to urge myself to get a "real life" and settle down, instead of wandering around the world.

But my travel bugs really got me. I travelled on-and-off in the past 4 years and I enjoyed doing that. I want to do the same for my 25th birthday as well. I definitely won't want to do the quit-job-and-travel-around-the-world-within-just-a-year-can-heal-everything thing, because I am the type of person that needs time and space to learn and absorb new things.

So I started to plan a not-so-ordinary birthday trip in late-August. After some researches had done, I decided to re-visit Balkans and try Caucasus region for the first time with Chechnya to be my final destination. Sounds ambitious.

I then bought a last-minute open-jaw ticket from Aeroflot. The deal was €630EUR(tax inc.) for a flight from Hong Kong to Budapest via Moscow, then Moscow straight back to Hong Kong. Quite a deal indeed.

That's how I ended up spending 16hours flying across Eurasia continent on my 25th birthday.