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I arrived in Budapest yesterday afternoon and crashed at my hostel. Although I usually try to get out and do something to fight the jet lag, I just wasn’t up for it. The hostel, Budapest Bubble, I’m staying at is really small and personable. After grabbing some coffee at the hostel, I headed up to the Deak Square for a city bike tour. I had a little extra time so I grabbed a yogurt, banana, and water at the supermarket. Budapest is slightly cheaper than I thought it would be. :)  The bike tour ended up being a lot of fun. Highly recommended. We peddled all the way down Pest’s “Champs-Elysees” to Hero’s Square and City Park, stopping along the way to look at notable buildings like the House of Terror, Opera House etc. Then we rode back up past the Opera House to St Peter’s Basilica and the Parliament House, crossed the Chain Bridge over to Buda, before starting the quad workout of climbing Castle Hill. It was such a steep climb, almost like taking 4 spin classes back to back! After circling around the hill we zoomed down the west side of the hill and back over the bridge. I was starving after biking for 4 hours, so I tried find a felafel’s place from the Lonely Planet book, poor choice when I was hungry, as it’s closed for the month of August! So I ended up walking back to Deak Square and going to a vegetarian cafeteria style restaurant. The food wasn’t fantastic, but it was a fun opportunity to point and choose traditional Hungarian food without worrying about there being meat in the dishes. After lunch/dinner, I walked back to the hostel and chilled for the rest of the evening. Olga, the Hungarian girl who runs the hostel knew a jazz band that was playing so the entire hostel (only 2 rooms) went on a group outing to check out Budapest nightlife. It was really fun getting to find some local places and see Hungarians instead of just other backpackers. Budapest is such a neat city! And amazingly walkable.

Since I got home in June, I re-activated my 24 Hour Fitness membership. Hey, unemployed people have to have something to do during the day! I’d tried their yoga classes before, but as an employed individual, it wasn’t convenient to drive into Portland for yoga, since I already went to spin class twice a week. So I’ve been joining my sister during her lunch break, for Monday yoga. It doesn’t seem to be getting any easier, but I’m starting to remember some of it and can now differentiate “downward dog” and “sun salutation.” However, I’m still having trouble with giggling. I have a really hard time keeping quiet when they start the yoga talk, “reach down and harness that power at the base of your spine, pushing it up through your lungs and mouth and now breath like a dragon.” Hmmm… I’ll have to work on that one.

With a month to kill back here in Portland, I switched into planner-mode and decided finish some items on my 101 Things in 1001 Days list. I called a few golf courses in the area, but most classes were around $50 per lesson. This seemed pretty outrageous to me, but I finally heard through a friend, of classes that they’re starting out at Rose City Golf in NE Portland. So I signed up for their ladies only 4 session group class. After a month of weekly classes, I feel confident enough to golf at a real course. I had only gone to pitch and putts so it was nice to learn how to hit with the other clubs, how to “read a green” etc. OK, driving the golf cart was fun too. ;)

This one was probably the easiest to accomplish while traveling. You can’t travel solo and not make friends. You’re forced to make friends! ;) Anyway, my first friend of the trip is probably the most memorable as we’ve kept in contact through the rest of my journey. We had so many laughs through China and Japan. So many in fact, that I got an email several weeks later, including a list of “funny things that happened in Japan.” Yes, I’m now that person you saw in the corner of the Internet cafe, laughing hysterically.

After traveling for four months, it’s hard not to approach your home town with more curiosity. After hitting all my favorite restaurants that I’d been missing (Chipotle and Ya Hala), I’ve checked out a few restaurants that remind me of my travels, Malay Satay Hut (Malaysian food) and this little vegetarian Vietnamese restaurant on Powell.

Another interesting experience was taking the bus and Amtrak to Albany to get out to the Oregon Coast. I always use public transport in other countries. It’s quite a different experience here in America though. What must foreign travelers to America think as they’re surrounded by meth heads on the public bus? They’re probably wondering where all the normal people are. :)  OK, the train was just fine, it was just riding the #9 TriMet bus down Powell, that I started reconsidering my public transport idea.

My only complaint with online money management software, Mint.com, was fixed today. Finally, the ability to add loan accounts! Asset (investment) accounts were added a few months ago, although my 401k provider is not listed. I was able to check it out with my IRA account though, and it’s pretty sweet, with all of the expected colorful graphs and change values.

The only drawback? My Net Worth and Cash Flow stats looked sooo much nicer without my student loan added in. Now if only they could add an Intangible Asset feature, so I could add my MBA too.

After taking a half day rock climbing class in Krabi, Thailand, I was hooked! So I signed up for a class at the Portland Rock Gym here in town when I got back. Since it was a fairly informal “class” in Krabi, it was nice to learn all the basics, like belaying.

Rock climbing is really fun. When I’m done with my travels, I think I’ll get a rock gym membership.

I kicked the coffee habit while I was in SE Asia. Or maybe I just replaced it with tea? Or Tiger beer? Anyway, my morning headaches finally disappeared and then I found myself ordering coffee drinks at dinner as a treat instead of a necessity. Good on ya’ mate! ;)

I forgot about this one!  I left Portland February 25, so March 25 I was… sailing the Whitsundays in Australia! At this point in my travels, it felt like I’d been out of the US for ages. So long in fact, that I’d started calling it “America” instead of “the US”

I spent the night in Beijing, in a neighborhood close to the airport. It was funny being back in China. I wandered around the neighborhood and went to the grocery store to get snacks (and cucumber chips). After a day of exploring, I was back at the airport and on my flight home.

It was so great walking into the Portland airport and seeing familiar faces. I’m so excited to be back! I love Portland and I love America.