Some time ago, Laureen and I were supposed to visit Hungary for research on a novel that I have been working on for years. Sometimes they actually take a very long time to write when the content has to be as accurate as possible. This novel was something different than my previous books - it would be a historical fiction about Vlad the Impaler.
It is still being written. As stated, it sometimes takes a long time for this sort of book to be written, especially by someone like me, who, while watching a movie on television, fact-checks everything.
“You know,” Laureen will say while I ask The Google this or that. “It’s just a film, not a documentary.”
“I know,” I will respond, “but they would never do that in real life.”
“It’s a science fiction movie set a thousand years into the future.”
“Facts are facts, even in the future,” I would answer.
I needed to visit Hungary because that is where the story of Vlad III rolls through. Not only was he in Romania, Wallachia to be more exact, but he ended up, through trials and tribulations, traveling to Hungary and then to what would become present-day Slovakia.
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| Vlad III, the hero of Romania |
But when I informed Laureen that the flight plan called for a stopover in Vienna before proceeding to Budapest, that was that.
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| Laureen Beyer in the heart of Vienna |
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| The Danube River flowing through Vienna |
One line in the song really stood out to Laureen; When will you realize Vienna waits for you.
Well, Hungary was off that scheduled research trip, and instead we spent a wonderful two weeks touring around Austria, and of course, spending ample time in the beautiful city of Vienna along the Danube River.
This current trip from LAX would land us in Munich, Germany, for the connector flight to Budapest, another city on the Danube.
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| Buda Castle across the Danube River |
An interesting side note: Budapest was once two separate cities, Buda and Pest, facing each other across the wide, long Danube. If we want to get extremely technical, there was also the independent city of Obuda (or Old Buda) just north of Buda with ancient roots dating back to Roman times. But let’s not digress. Buda and Pest for our purposes.
Buda is the hilly western side of the Danube where the castles and medieval streets are located. Pest in the flat eastern side of the river that the commercial, political and cultural aspects of the city are located.
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| Another view of the Danube and the Buda Castle |
In 1873, the two towns decided that perhaps one is better than two, and Budapest was declared the capital of Hungary. It sounded better than Pest-Buda, after all.
Our original plan was to stay in Hungary and research the tales and myths concerning Vlad III. We would spend a few days in Budapest, then travel to Visegrad, about 26 miles north of the capital.
Then we started researching other things other than Vlad. Slovakia is close and home to gorgeous landscapes and wonderful restaurants, especially in Bratislava. And the little town of Cachtice was within driving distance, which was once the home of the most notorious female serial killer known, Elizabeth Báthory. Who wouldn't visit the castle where she may have murdered up to 600 young women?
As with any trip, more and more places started to fill the agenda. And Poland showed up on this trip since we both had wanted to visit and honor the victims of the Holocaust in Krakow.
“You know, we only have twenty-one days,” I told Laureen.
She smiled. “And when have we ever gone on vacation? It’s moving and shaking the entire time. This trip will be no different.”
And it wasn’t, until we flew into Franz Josef Strauss Airport in Munich, Germany, where we had to catch our connecting Lufthansa flight to Budapest.
In November of 2025, the rollout of the EES, Entry/Exit System, began in Munich and was fully operational (more on that later) for all non-EU/non-Schengen travelers.
Schengen is a border-free travel zone for 29 European countries. It allows 450 million people to move freely across internal borders without a passport check. It was fully implemented with all those countries in April of 2026.
We were not part of those 29 European countries comprising the Schengen zone. And our experience with not being one of those 29 European countries was rather trying.
Nope, not trying, more like traumatizing.
As with most travelers who need connecting flights, time is of the essence. Munich Airport did not understand the sort of urgency when a passenger can not make it to the gate on time.
Watching your connecting flight wing into the air like a bird while you are still standing on solid earth with your carry-on clutched in white knuckles, and your checked baggage is suddenly 30,000 feet above you, can be chilling.
We took off on time from LAX and landed in Munich at the exact moment we were supposed to. Then all hell broke loose as men and women sporting neon vests moved hundreds of passengers from this line to that line to do a pre-registration before getting into longer lines for the border control passage to the gates for connecting flights.
One man motioned for us to get into a line that stretched nearly to Berlin before another motioned us to another nearer Stuttgart. There were no markers, signs, or Bratwurst showing travelers where to actually go to scan your passport, get a facial recognition photo taken, and have your fingerprints scanned.
“You, you are in the wrong line, Dummkopf!”
“I think he’s speaking to me,” I told Laureen, as I hustled from one line to another.
The clock was ticking. Now only forty-five more minutes to catch our connector.
“Who said this line, Dummkopf?” another vested person yelled at me.
“See,” I said, as I hustled to another longer line.
The crowd had easily grown to about five thousand passengers wondering which line they were supposed to be in.
“This is German efficiency?” A man questioned next to us.
He was led away by a woman with really shiny pointed black shoes and pigtails.
Finally, we were scanned, fingerprinted, and photographed and told to get into another longer line for the border control officer.
We wouldn't make our connection unless a kindly older couple let us cut the two-mile-long line and go behind them, giving us a three-minute window to run down the gangway and make it to our plane on time.
Laureen and I understand Pope Leo is thinking of canonizing them for their sacrifice.
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| Pope Leo XIV getting ready to canonize our helpers |
We made it to the plane, to Budapest as scheduled, and our driver was waiting for us to take us to our hotel.
Things were looking up. We explained what we had gone through in Munich, and Matyas, who went by the name of Matthew, laughed and said, “You should see how bad it is in Frankfurt.”
For some reason, all I could imagine was wild-eyed chimpanzees chasing passengers around the terminal, throwing excrement at them.
That would have been worse than Munich, I think.
John can be contacted at: beyersbyways@gmail.com
