On the road again!

So, after several failed attempts at travel in the past few months, I'm about to the hit the road again this coming weekend! The destination is Budapest, Hungary...a.k.a. "Paris of the East."

I must say I'm VERY excited about this trip and have been meaning to do it since I arrived. The main reason for the delay: it's one of the more popular weekend trips if you're already in Prague, so most everyone (and their brother) had already been.

The next item of debate: to Copenhagen...or not to Copenhagen? I'll have a good friend who'll be taking a graduate course in furniture design in the Denmark capital over the summertime. Certainly this could be a rare opportunity to visit a world-class friend in a world-class city...yet the first response I get from everyone is, "Watch out for Scandanavia, it's freakin' EXPENSIVE." As is the case in Switzerland and the UK, it turns out most Scandanavian countries are not even on the Euro, as their currency is so strong. (Of course in the U.K. it's said that it's more a matter of national pride - although the pound IS stronger than the Euro). So that means those hard-earned Czech crowns will go for even less...

Given my family history, I think I'm left with an intense money complex that's rare among my peers. That's not to pride myself, either. I worry about money all the time. Sometimes I wish I could spend money less conservatively!

Of course, being so far landlocked, I do long for a few ocean breezes once in a while, and Copenhagen could certainly provide that. Can Curtis really turn down the possibility of visiting the home of Tivoli Gardens, cited as the "world's first theme park," and said to have inspired Walt Disney? And the city where Hans Christian Anderson's "little mermaid" is a national symbol? Only time will tell...