Budapest Day 1

My boyfriend discovered this amazing conference: Craft Conference. The conference is about software craftsmanship in general: a topic that both him and me have a huge interest in. He already had a green flag from his manager to go there, but I also would love to go. It would be a hard sell to my manager, since this conference isn’t only about testing but I gave it a try. I think agile testing isn’t about ‘testing’ at all anymore; it’s about making the right product the right way. Testing is apparently a role we still need.
A long story short: I managed to convince my manager going to Craft Conference would be an awesome idea (it is!) and there we were: at the airport.

Schiphol is always a nice experience. All the different kind of people. I always wonder were they’re all headed. We had quite some time at the airport, so we could gaze at whiskies at 8:30 in the morning. I was tempted to buy some cigars, but resisted the urge. After some more strolling around we walked to the gate. I was hoping the plane wouldn’t be crowded, but it was. We were seated somewhere in the back, a long with three babies in the same area. They weren’t much of a bother most of the flight, except for the end. For some reason, descending to the ground is a horrible experience and I totally get why the babies started to cry. I wasn’t feeling very dandy myself. Gulping some fresh air was more than welcome. Flying is not my most favourite type of travel.

The aftermath of the flight was as smooth as it could get though. We just took one of the flat-fee busses that take you right to where you want in the city. The suitcase already arrived when we were done booking the bus. We barely had to wait for the bus and before we knew it we were in the hotel. The hotel is decent and pretty close to where the conference will take place.

We took a little rest because I still wasn’t feeling that great and then went outside. It was a bit sunny and pretty warm. A great feeling to suddenly be in another country. We walked along the river to the next bridge. There we had the first disappointment. Apparently, it’s still Easter here and many places were closed. The Market Hall was closed. However, all the tourist traps were open in the next street: the lousy souvenir shops and expensive crappy eateries. All the clothing stores were closed too, which was better for my wallet, I assume.

We let ourselves be ripped of at Gerbeaud, most famous for its cakes and ice creams. For such an expensive place I don’t get why the staff is so unfriendly, but it seems to be a normal thing in Budapest. Maybe they’re not being unfriendly, but just curt. That said: the cake was incredible!

After walking around for some hours we tried to find a restaurant. Note the word ‘tried’. Oliver is always so kind to search for vegetarian-friendly restaurants for me and we walked around a great deal to the places he found on foursquare. And they were all closed. We didn’t know if it was a normal thing on monday or if it had to do with Easter. Later that evening we found out it was the latter. People who know me know I get really grumpy when I’m hungry so we finally just crashed at a gyros tent for a falafel menu. I didn’t think one could fuck up falafel, but it’s possible! Microwaved falafel people, it exists. Along with microwaved french fries and microwaved pita bread. Fucking horrible. And afterwards, of course, we walked by some nice looking places that were open. Murphy’s law at its finest!

We finally crashed at some place for a cocktail. We were both pretty tired by now and it was starting to get a bit colder. All in all, it was a nice day but with some bad luck. I am still really happy to be in Budapest and the venue for the conference is looking promising. I have to wait until thursday before it starts….