6.30. The alarm will not go off for another 30 minutes and still… There’s this plane to catch! I double-check if I have everything. It slowly dawns on me that I know next to nothing about the whole trip, or the area where we will be staying, or anything. All I know is I should get to the airport, on the plane, and make sure I have met up with the others before I get off. Works for me!
This turns out to be easier said than done, though. I do not see anyone waiting at what I think is the info-desk. Then, while standing in line for the security check, I suddenly see the *real* info-desk and realise my mistake… too late of course. Ah well, can’t be helped. By the time the gates open, I am getting a little anxious… but then I spot someone who just has to be Michiel’s (i.e. the groom’s) brother. Found ’em!
There are 9 Dutchy’s flying today: Michiel’s father, his brother, 2 aunt, a niece, and “the four musketeers”: Koos, Johan, Tas (not his real name, but to avoid confusion with the groom I will call him “Tas” here) and me. We will be sharing a room in the hostel, while the family will be staying in a hotel a couple of blocks further.
A quick flight, later, we land in Budapest. I am curious to see how we will find our bus driver(s) on a terminal, but before we’ve finished the coffee, Koos has found them already. Turns out Koos speaks a tiny bit of Hungarian — his brother, Michiel’s witness, is married to a Hungarian. We manage to get our things into the van and leave the airport on schedule. Given that the plane was delayed, this is an unexpected pleasure. The first stop, after an hour or three, is still in Hungary, at a local diner. The prices of food take some getting used to — it’s rather cheap compared to The Netherlands.
The border crossing goes swiftly — much easier than at the airport at any rate. A short ride from the border we gas up and have a 15 minute break, after which we continue into the Transsylvanian night. In the bus, Gert-jan, Koos, Tas and me play cards — rikken. For some of them it has been a very long while, which leads to some hilarious surprises. Eventually, we tire of the game and settle to glance at Transsylvania. While the night is slowly settling, the full moon eerily illuminates the desolate landscape… Welcome to Transsylvania!
After some more hours of driving, we finally enter (well, “fly”… the bus company’s name, ‘nemeth speed’, was deserved!) into Cluj Napoca, the place to be for the wedding. Quite a bit bigger than I had expected actually. We end up at the big church, where Michiel is waiting for us. After settling in to our respective ho(s)tels, we join up with the others for dinner. Afterwards, the night is of course still young, we explore and discover the Romanian nightlife.
After a short search, we hear some music pumping out of a cellar. Well, why not? So we enter the building, go down and find a hip bar (‘Avenue’) downstairs. Many tables, many people sitting and talking, but also loud music, and much dancing. The Romanian nightlife is cool, exciting, and hip. The crowd here seems to be 16 (on average). This gets corrected five minutes later when a couple of girls walk in with a birthday cake with candles “19”. By that time, the Romanian approach to picking up girls has completely dumbfounded us musketeers. One thing is clear, we are missing some of the subtleties involved.
But that’s not what we’re here for anyway. The music is pumping, the party is going, and we are having fun! Relatively early we call it a night. Well, we know what to do tomorrow!