We leave Bratislava in the sunshine. 9am tram followed by a second tram to the train station. We are booked on the express train to Budapest and this time actually have reserved seats at €2 each. We pass the Danube at different points on our journey and arrive just after 12:30pm. The station here is much more ornate than the one we left.

This is the last interail train journey and marks the end of our interail adventure.

It’s also the only trip we’ve started in England on the train rather than flying out to our start point.

3,434 miles of travel on 41 trains and 2 boats split over four separate trips and 35 days of travelling, all in a three month period.

We’ve visited Switzerland, France, Spain, Portugal, The Netherlands, Italy, Switzerland… again, England, France, Belgium , Germany, Austria, Slovakia and Hungary!

Six go travelling has been a proper adventure and we’ve got three final days in Budapest to enjoy.

In Budapest we take a tram to the apartment followed by a short walk. The building is in need of care and attention but the flat is ok apart from one of the bedrooms doesn’t have any windows. Bev and Fenny are the unlucky ones this time. We also only have four mugs which Bev messages the owner about and extras are quickly delivered.

Mid afternoon we decide to walk to the Danube leaving Sessie in the flat. The route we take isn’t the best as it’s obviously one of the main roads through Budapest with heavy traffic. Eventually we get to the river and wander along looking for a bar as we’re all very hot and sweaty now.

We find a lovely spot outside by the river and enjoy cold beer in the shade. Sessie joins us after a bit of a hike as his path to the river was longer but a lot more picturesque. More beer is ordered and we share some chips. We get a visit from a moth too that doesn’t seem to mind humans.

T and Fenny walk back via a brew pub of course and the rest of us take the tram back up the M1 and are not surprised it’s four stops. A little r&r in the apartment before heading out around 8:30pm to a local Vietnamese restaurant where we enjoy spring rolls, prawn tempura, green beans and various tasty rice and noodle dishes. The restaurant is decorated with images of Hoi An and it’s beautiful lamp shades which bring back fab memories of a great SE Asia trip back in 2017.

Back in the flat literally a 100yds down the road, we play a couple of trivia quizzes on Spotify before heading to bed after a tiring but enjoyable day.