PHOTO
INSERT CREDIT HERE
with her rosary. One has a sign advising against
drinking the water. There’s no need for the sign.
We hop back into Austria to tiny Parndorf, where the
only signs of life are wind farms turning peacefully in
the morning light. Even on a hard bench, it’s difficult not
to drift off. Our final swap is at Györ, on the Hungarian
border – a 10-minute dash to the Intercity Express. We’re
informed by the droopy-moustached guard we need to
pay a €10 stipend, but by this point even counting money
seems impossible. We’re like a study in sleep deprivation:
jangled nerves, watering eyes, aching bones.
Still, there are charming views to be enjoyed,
as the sun bakes down on the Hungarian countryside.
Local village stations are crowded with bright flowers.
Towns flash past: brick chimneys, red roofs and Soviet-
style buildings with revolutionary façades. As at dozens
of points on this trip, my feet itch to get off and explore.
it’s frustrating, but at least now the end is nigh.
21:27
BUDAPEST MAIN STATION
We made it! A newworld record is set! Six capital cities
in under 22 hours, subject to verification from Guinness.
We take our final photos and videos. Laugh, hug, high-
five, manage not to cry – and marvel that a record that
mostly required us to sit or lie on public transport could
leave us feeling like we’ve gone six rounds in the ring
with Mike Tyson.
Our names will go into the record books – alongside
Gary Eccles (258 baked beans eaten with a cocktail stick
in five minutes), Aaron Caissie (17 spoons balanced on
the face) and Ilker Yilmaz (milk squirted 3m from the
eye) – and it’s been a fantastic adventure. Would we do it
again? I’d love to make it seven or eight, it
must
be
possible. But for now, more transport would be madness.
We’ve lunched in Paris, had coffee in Brussels, dined
in Amsterdam, hit the pub in Prague, woken up in
Vienna, breakfasted in Bratislava – clearly, it must be
time for lunch in Budapest. With the enthusiasm of
people whose task is firmly behind them, we shoulder
our bags and head to our digs: Brody Residences
(
brodyhouse.com
), a brand-new boutique apartment
block in the Jewish Quarter, where we flop on the bed
and think about what to do next. A shower, certainly. A
nap, yes. And food. But then… Well, we’ve never been in
Budapest before. And there
is
that hop-on, hop-off bus….
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T H E C H A L L E N G E
S E T A W O R L D R E C O R D
