Actor-Writer-Producer Gregor Collins

Last week I returned home from an adventure of epic proportions through Central and Eastern Europe. It was my most ambitious trip to date - Geneva to Salzburg to Vienna to Budapest to Prague to Berlin, in just 21 days. I’ve been through most of Europe on several occasions, but never these cities, and certainly never all by my lonesome, with nothing but a backpack, a fistful of Euros, and some dubious CouchSurfing.com prospects.

 

Yes, I was alone on this trip… but I had an angel watching over me. 

It was my final day in Vienna. I had spent the entire afternoon getting my fill of Austrian Expressionism at The Belvedere, with my brilliant guide, Gunter, whom I had randomly met on Couch Surfing weeks before my trip. He’s a Vienna native. He knew all about Maria and her landmark Supreme Court Case, even knew the district in which she grew up, and he took me there. It was clear, at least to me, that because Maria couldn't be with me on this trip, she sent Gunter to take her place. 

As I sat in a café in Stephansplatz Square fiddling on my laptop, I heard the word Budapest shoot out of the mouth of a Viennese man sitting next to me conversing with his friend. This prompted me to look up a map of Europe and realize how close it was to Vienna. I researched buses – a mere three hours! It was Sunday, August 21^st, the day before my birthday, and, thanks to this stranger sitting next to me, I booked a bus leaving the next morning to Budapest.

While I was at it I bought a ticket to Prague Tuesday morning. I figured one day in Hungary would do. I couldn’t be dilly-dallying. I still had two more countries to visit in seven days, then I was back in Geneva for a few hours before catching a flight back to Los Angeles. But a little pit was forming in my stomach – I had nowhere to sleep. In my fantastical brain I imagined finding a bar where “everybody knew my name,” and I’d hang with some drunk Hungarians who’d take me under their wings until I had to leave for my bus. Or, at the very worst – and according to my new Lithuanian friend Viktorija I’d met that weekend, it WAS the very worst – I’d sleep at the bus station. She warned me the bus station in Budapest was far from safe.

I tried not to think where I’d be early Tuesday morning. Would I be passed out in an alley somewhere, woken up by a man with a gun demanding all my Forints? Unfortunately I couldn’t rule it out.

I didn’t sleep a lick that night. I was too antsy. I left at 5am for a 7am bus. When I arrived at the stop I sat on my bag on the sidewalk. For some reason I wasn’t the least bit worried anymore about a place to sleep. I was neither living a minute ago, or a minute later – I was right there trusting the moment.

I looked around and noticed a young guy lying down on the grass smoking a cigarette. I walked over and we exchanged names. He spoke broken English, but he was charming, so I understood everything. I mentioned it was my birthday. Gyorgy’s eyes suddenly widened, he tossed away his cigarette, and leapt up to give me a great big bear hug. “Congratulations! That’s great, Gregor! Cool!” Within ten minutes we were best friends. The bus arrived 40 minutes late and we sat next to each other. He was fascinated I was an actor, and wanted to know everything about me. Then he asked where I was staying. I told him about my plan to hang out in a bar until the bus came. He insisted I stay with him.

When we arrived in Budapest we left the bus and walked down to the metro to take a train to Gyorgy’s flat. As we entered our car a girl wearing a colorful sundress followed us in and sat down, texting on her phone. I couldn’t take my eyes off her. I looked at Gyorgy, who, of course, was enjoying her simultaneously. 

I was in no shape to meet a girl, let alone a cute one. I hadn’t showered since yesterday morning, my beard was getting to the “homeless” point, and there I was sitting on a dirty train eating a giant, obnoxious sausage I’d bought from a guy near the bus station. Yet I felt her subtle stares. I smiled at her, and she smiled back. I told her I was in Budapest for the first time, and that I usually look more presentable. “Sure,” she said with a smirk. I introduced her to Gyorgy, and they spoke in Hungarian, which made me feel more a part of the “in crowd.” Our stop came. I told her we had to go and it was nice to meet her. It turned out to be hers too, so she walked out with us.

I handed her my card, which had my picture on it, under which said in bold: ACTOR. In Los Angeles this is at best tolerable, but in Budapest? Apparently utterly fascinating. Not only was I the first American she ever met in her life, she was staring at a card with a picture on it, that said actor. We parted ways. As Gyorgy and I walked out of the metro station I couldn’t stop ogling at all the Hungarian women. Yes, it was safe to say that the reproduction of women in Hungary had no business ever being halted, at least not on my watch.

When we arrived at Gyorgy’s flat, we crashed hard. He’d been on a week-long hiking trip through the Austrian Alps with a few of his Viennese friends, and I hadn’t gotten a good night’s sleep since Saturday. My cracked iPhone woke me up out of a deep slumber two hours later. It was her. We planned a dinner. She had a wing-woman for Gyorgy. After the best Middle-Eastern food I’ve ever had, we danced the night away to American Hip-Hop at a club right in the middle of Pest (Budapest is actually two cities, Buda, and Pest).

The whole day and night I’d been reminding everyone I had a bus leaving for Prague in the morning. It was stressing me out. Eating me up inside. I didn’t want to wake up from this dream. Plus, I already cancelled my original bus to Prague to come here, and I wasn't going to cancel another one. No way.

Before Sunrise and Before Sunset were popping into my head all night. Ethan Hawke met Julie Delpy on a train, and so did we. Ethan had a flight leaving the next morning, and I had a bus. The parallels were giving me chills. It was like Richard Linklater was filming us.

After we closed down the club, we cabbed it to Gyrogy’s building, and we climbed onto the roof. The four new unlikely friends looked out onto the city of Budapest, breathing in the fresh night air. We eventually split off into pairs. She and I were left alone sitting on a bench. I put my arm around her. The silence was powerful. The day spoke for itself.

I threatened her again with my bus. She looked away. I realized in that moment that our time together was worth more than a bus ticket. I told her I wanted to stay the night with her. My shackles suddenly disappeared. I felt an instant freedom. The night was now our oyster. As I looked into the horizon like Leo into the Pacific, I felt like the King of the World.

We had a great day on Tuesday, the four of us, walking around the city. We made sure to visit the luxurious baths – a Hungarian tradition as old as the city itself. Nearing dusk, Gyorgy insisted he drive me somewhere alone.

When we arrived we both stood staring down the stunning Danube River. We were the only ones there. It was angelic. We hugged and he wished me luck, and dropped me back off at her house. I’d do anything for Gyorgy.

The next morning came, and a sadness swept over both of us. It was all going to end soon. We got dressed and walked to the station.

As the bus idled in the street I looked into her big brown eyes. In that moment I knew I had the power to tell her I wanted to drop everything in Los Angeles to be with her in Hungary. Nothing was stopping me. Was she thinking the same thing? But I just shook my head and exhaled. We hugged for a long time. Thoughts flooded through my head. I thought about how I wasn’t planning on even going to Budapest, how I met Gyorgy, and how the bus was 40 minutes late, and if it was on time I never would have met her. I thought about Maria, and how I was positive she knew I was in Europe, and knew that I met a nice girl with a good heart – something that always concerned her.

And I thought about how the magical moments in life are always the ones that are unplanned.

I kissed the girl in the sundress goodbye, and walked onto the bus, as she waited outside. When we pulled away from the station, I didn’t look at her, instead I cried to the houses and the trees out the window.

Life is beautiful.

To find out more about my book, please visit the fan page, and view the video teaser.

Thank you.