Budapest Weekend Trip + Packing Efficiently

Hey everyone and Happy December! I can't believe its already December which means its almost Christmas-18 days to be exact ;) This weekend my family and I went on a little getaway to Budapest, Hungary since its so close to Switzerland and has been a place we've been wanting to visit since we moved to Europe. It was such a beautiful city and I enjoyed it so much! During this post I will be talking to you about how to pack quickly and efficiently for trips and also sharing some pictures from the journey. Since we had exams last week and we have it next week so I figured this would be a nice short yet sweet post to still share with you!

Packing Quickly & Efficiently:

1. Start by finding out how many days you will be gone and get a good idea of the weather/what you will be doing
2. First, I get out all the appropriate shoes for the trip and lay them out
3. I like to then take out shirts or sweaters that I like and random bottoms and then match them up with each other depending on the activities for each day. Then, I also collect some outfits for dinners/night time if they are fancy or more casual. 
4. Accessories: Next, I get out any hats, scarves, belts, or jewelry specific towards the current weather of my destination. In this case, Budapest was chilly so I made sure to pack tons of hats and scarves!
5. Swimsuits and workout clothes. I usually always make sure to pack a swimsuit and some workout clothes because you never know if you might need them and I think they're super essential for any trip
6. Lastly, is jackets! I also bring one heavier jacket as a carry-on to save room in my suitcase.

My trip was very short so I have just a small, duffel suitcase which is a perfect size for weekend trips!

1. Fold your clothes in sections of days and nights so when you are unpacking everything stays together
2. Put shoes on the bottom of your suitcase because they are the heaviest and most bulky
3. Pile in your stacks of clothes keeping order to where you are placing them rather than just throwing things in unfolded/unsorted-this will save a lot of space in your suitcase!
4. Jackets and scarves/hats I like to lay on top as a cushion for your stuff and also because since they are quite big you can squish them down last minute!

Budapest Night 1:

We arrived in Budapest at around 7:30 PM-the flight was only an hour and 20 minutes which was super short! After getting our bags and going through all the airport things we found a driver from our hotel to take us to our hotel in the center city! There was a bit of traffic so we arrived at the beautifully decorated hotel at around 8:30? We were staying at the Four Seasons which was decorated so festively for the holiday season! There was a huge tree in the center of the lobby and even a Christmas market inside. After checking we decided to walk into the city with all the markets and have a late dinner since we were starving! We found a really nice Italian restaurant with some very yummy pizza. After that, we walked back to the hotel and finally got some SLEEP-which has been very difficult to get a lot of with all of these exams. 

Budapest Day 1 / Night 2:

Today was our very busy tourist day! After an amazing egg breakfast we met our local tour guide for the day at 10:30. It was a personal, walking tour which is nice because you can choose what you want to see, etc. We toured the gorgeous and unique city until almost 4 o'clock which proved to be quite long but worth it because we were able to see so many sights! We arrived back at the hotel and I studied for a bit until we went out for dinner in the evening. Tonight we had a reservation at a local Hungarian place which was super tasty but very filling!! After some more strolling through the markets we headed back to our hotel again for a relaxing night.

OOTD

Sweater: Pull and Bear

Jeans: Pacsun

Scarf: Target? (not really sure)

Shoes: Converse

Budapest Day 2:

We started the day with a late breakfast of Belgian waffles which were amazing. For the late morning/afternoon my sister and I studied in our hotel room in preparation for our exams because we had seen most of the city yesterday! Then, we got some spa treatments to fill our afternoon. I was only really in need of a pedicure so I got one of those. Our flight back was not until 8 so we chilled in the hotel for a bit before packing up and heading home! 

OOTD

Long-Sleeve knitted shirt: Abercrombie

Dark washed high waisted jeans: American Apparel

Shoes: Converse

Scarf: Brandy 

It was such a great trip and I would definitely recommend Budapest as a 'go-to' place. Everyone was super friendly and it was so nicely decorated for the Christmas season! I hope you enjoyed this post and thank you so much for viewing my blog <3 Till next week for the start of my X-mas posts!