Wendel Travel Blog: Nobody Beats the Wizz!

The title was the slogan for an electronics store in the Notheast USA (NY,NJ, and CT) in the 1990's for my non-American readers. I am borrowing it for this blog to my share my experiences on Wizz Air, the airline that flies regionally in Eastern and Central Europe. We were just so happy to be able to fly out of Budapest and completely bypass any migrant Syrians who happen to be traveling In our paths. As we landed in Budapest, the Hungarian government had just closed the border in the south to Serbia, so we have no idea which route the migrant refugees may take. So we decided to fly from Budapest to Tirgus Mires, and then we have been hiring taxis to take us from town A to B, as a safety measure and also it is much more convenient. Cost is much more reasonable here for goods and services versus Europe and even the Northeast of US. So for a whole $45 we were able to fly as opposed to the $200 overnight train ride from Budapest to Sighisoara (in Translyvania.

I will admit the boarding process for Wizz air was a bit unconventional for me! I was not used to only having a gate posted less than 1 hour before take off, and then requiring all passengers to be at that gate within 20" of posting. Then they screened and corralled you into a giant warehouse (i think they borrowed it from Cosco!) when you are lined up like cattle with chain links separating the lines. No seating, just concrete blocks all around, which I found that hard on the older passengers. There are no announcements and you were expected to know what is going on. Beth was able to peek out one of the warehouse windows and see my bag being loaded on, so I was encouraged. We were there about 25 minutes. Rob decided to call me on Skype and I had the best, clear, phone connection and call, with no distractions. I knew there was a benefit to being locked up in a warehouse in Hungary for 30 minutes!

We finally arrived on the Plane and took off. Apparently there was an hour time difference between Hungary and Romania, but they didn't bother to announce that or correct their watches. Tirgus Mures was so small that there was a passport control (thank goodness someone finally checked our passports while in Eastern Europe!!), but no bathrooms, ATMs or any other serviceable counters to speak of. We were so happy to see our driver, Sergui, waiting for us on the other end.

The route to the terminal-looks very Easteem European!