Kecskemet,
Hungary - 10/08/2007
The
start of our Hungarian trip
did not go at all well. We
arrived at check-in at Luton
only to be told that there
was a four hour delay on our
Wizz Air flight to Budapest.
But hey, we got given a £3
food voucher, so that made
everything OK!
The
knock-on effect of this was
that we arrived into Budapest
at 0450 local time, a full
three hours and ten minutes
before the hire car desk opened!
Not
a great start, and this was
compounded further by our
struggle to locate our hotel,
twice getting caught up in
almighty traffic congestion
due to a carriageway of one
of the major roads being closed.
As a consequence we didn't
arrive there until 1220 local....
We
felt it important to at least
undertake the journey to Kecskemet,
if nothing else to ensure
we knew where we were going
the following morning. The
trip proved to be worthwhile,
even if Budapest's traffic
on a Friday afternoon is nightmarish!!
We
got to Kecskemet around 1600,
just in time to see the Patrouille
de France practising - ironically
this would be the only time
during the three days away
that we would photograph them!
The
next arrivals were quite amusing.
Given that this was a Cottesmore
Aviation Group trip and
we'd travelled to see lots
of nice eastern European exotica,
you can imagine our reaction
when a four-ship appeared
on the horizon. Yes, that's
right, they were Harriers
from Cottesmore!!
Next
up was a pair of Belgian Air
Force F-16AMs for the flying
display. These comprised the
usual display bird, plus the
1 Sqn 90th Anniversary special
- an infinitely more attractive
scheme, IMHO.
Arguably
the highlight movement happened
right after, with the arrival
of the Swedish Air Force Argus.
The
Patrouille de France then
recovered and the Red Bull
AH-1 and T-28, as well as
a Czech registered Yak-11
were put through their paces,
sadly not really coming anywhere
near us.
Having
not slept for 34 hours by
this stage, we decided it
was time to head back to Budapest.
My
thanks go to Martin and Kirstin
Keen of Cottesmore
Aviation Group for doing
all the groundwork on the
trip.
|
