Most take short trips: According to recent data, the average vacation trip away from home is around   5.5 days   based on global leisure travel statistics, with most people staying for 4.5 nights in the United States specifically.   Key points about average vacation length: Global average:   5.5 days   US average:   4.5 nights   Statistica has a more complete summary, showing that people in South Africa go for 10.6 days and Brazil for 7.8 days.   Reddit  indicates the sweet spot for a perfect vacation is between 18-21 days. Thus, our 60-day journey is about ten times longer than most trips, and three-times that of a perfect vacation. You can read 60 postings, beginning on October 9, to December 8.  Or this summary today of what will become the whole thing. We live in Honolulu, so flew to Seattle. Caught the Norwegian Encore (a ship that holds up to 4000 passengers) in Seattle, transited the Panama Canals and ended up 35 days later a...

Our last supper on the Viking Tir.  Salad and soup, followed by Black Angus Prime Rib Steak with a Caesar Salad. Night scenes of Budapest from the Viking Tir. The Budapest Parliament at night is the iconic photo of the city.  It is the third largest assembly hall in the world, and with 365 spires. Our final breakfast on board was also our first breakfast on this ship. The Viking staff was well organized.  The taxi driver, a female, met us on the ship and talked all the way to the airport.  Turned out that she was married in Honolulu.  Gave her a 5 euro tip, plus the 40 euro cost. Taxi to check-in at Swiss Air was easy and quick.  Arrived airport around 9:45AM.  We were sent to thje Platinum Club to await our 2:45PM flight, We arrived to see the breakfast buffet, but awaited the lunch version.   Short posting today.  See you next from Zurich. -

Budapest  is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. The metropolitan area holds 3.3 million, with 1.75 million in the city.  Hungary has 9.9 million people, while the European Union population is 508 million. The usual beginning for this region:  Celtic settlement, transformed into a Roman town. The three cities of Buda, Obuda and Pest were unified in 1893 and called Budapest. The Buda side is hilly, while the Pest side has the city. From left to right:  Saint Anne Parish, Matthias Church, Fisherman's Bastion and Stigmatisation of St Francis Church. There are thermal springs, and Budapest is known for spas. 11 casinos in Hungary and 5 in Budapest. Has over 35 higher education institutions. Sister cities include, New York City, Shanghai, Beijing Tehran, Berlin, Frankfurt, Vienna, Lisbon, Tel Aviv and Florence. Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. 9.5 million people. University tuition is free. It is a unitary, parliamentary republic. Like many co...