Essentials to live in Hungary

Depends where you are coming from. No-one will starve because they did not bring 8 jars of their favourite peanut butter.   For me, quintessentially British items that are a necessity are:

Curry powder (esp. Madras)
Ginger Beer (Diet)
Salt and Vinegar Crisps
Marmite
Bovril
Oxo Cubes (Low Salt)
Mulligatawny Soup (Heinz)

YMMV!

The Internet works in Hungary. You can buy most anything on line.

The only thing I would suggest is not to bring is 110 volt electronic devices (i.e. mostly from the USA) as the standard here is 220 volt.

Otherwise, simply get "in grove" with how the locals do it (food, living, social, etc). That is kind of the entire point of being an expat (i.e. do not expect to bring all the comforts of "home" with you, but experience what the local culture has to offer).

This funny, I knew an American women in Budapest who's husband would actually pack 8 to 10 jars of mayo every time he visited the US.
Peanut butter can be found in HU but to me it isn't all that good, ok but not Skippy.
I am in the US right now and thinking of my upcoming last min packing for our return to HU.
I usually stock up on makeup and face creams, only about 12 to 18 months worth since I don't want it to get stale.
Allot cheaper then the "Viva" shops in HU.
I love to load up on little dumb items from the 99 cent stores. Aspirin jars by the 100 pills. In HU aspirins cost allot for just 10 in a packet.
Just a few little comforts from home.
I buy ear plugs in the US by the dozen, some things like that I use allot and the quality in HU is not as good and the prices are too high.
I also pack a few boxes of my fave jasmine tea and maybe a few spices.
Hershey bars we buy by the pound, give those away and keep a few for ourselves.
Underwear, socks, I can buy all those things in HU but I just like the brands I know from home.
Have to pay for an extra suitcase.
I am a bit jealous of my fellow ex pats from the UK, only a short flight home every once in awhile to load up on goodies.

One thing I do miss sometimes in Hungary is quality  Mexican food.
Even some Taco Bell would hit the  spot once in awhile.
I have seen a few Mexican eating places around the city but am just not into trying them out.Already learned my lesson years ago with ethnic foods in Hungary, just not the same as home.
A decent burrito would be nice, never could or would expect a nice Tex Mex meal or green chilli like from New Mexico.
In Hungary if they toss some canned corn on anything they think it's Mexican.
Bought corn chips in HU that were always off, stale,bland or just not right , disappointing for sure.
Almost ready to overpay for some Masa flour at one of then international shops and try my hand at making my own tortillas. 
Remember in 1986 on Vaci Utca trying a place that was called, American Burger, worst piece of dog food ever, no catsup they had tomato sauce straight out of a can, topped with chopped sour cabbage, really about the furthest thing from a hamburger one could imagine.
I probably should and will bring in a few ready mixes of taco seasonings from the US. I have seen these sold in HU but am not up to try them, too many disappointments with packaged import foods in HU.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

....
I love to load up on little dumb items from the 99 cent stores. Aspirin jars by the 100 pills. In HU aspirins cost allot for just 10 in a packet.
...

Absolutely. 

If you go in a pharmacy and ask for say Claratine (for allergies - it's an anti-histamine) or Tylenol (European generic name: paracetamol), they will almost always offer you the branded product and it'll cost you about 5 x the price of the generic version per tablet (or whatever).   Anything OTC (Over The Counter) that is out of patent will have a generic version available.  Ask for the generic version. It's exactly the same active stuff made to the same standards but without the fancy packaging/marketing. 

Also watch out for standard medicines packaged by drug companies as being specific for one condition  at a higher price than another packaged version of exactly the same medicine yet described as treating different illnesses.  Most medicines have multiple uses.

Yes, bought some aspirin in HU in the past that had vitamin C included, like who really needs that. All the store had in stock, cost a ton for 10 little pills, insane prices on some med's in HU.
I noticed post knee surgery that they are rather skimpy on handing out pain meds that actually work in HU, in the US one just has to walk in and say you can't sleep or your nerves are shot and they ask how strong a pill you want.
Husband had a stress thing years ago, spent 2 days in hospital in Vegas getting tests, they handed him a bottle of 90 xanax   on his discharge day like it was candy.Not so in HU.

fluffy2560 wrote:

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

....
I love to load up on little dumb items from the 99 cent stores. Aspirin jars by the 100 pills. In HU aspirins cost allot for just 10 in a packet.
...

Absolutely.

Oh, yes. How true.

When I have a headache in Hungary I have to try to rip out individual aspirins from little tin foil packages, which just makes my headache worse. Not to mention what a pain (literally) that would be for people with arthritis.

Just an example of the pharmaceutical "mafia" in Hungary where one can not buy over the counter basic items like aspirins as loose pills in Jars, in bulk and thus at cheaper prices.

Yes about 1/4th my suitcase is loaded with 99 cent "junk".
Comforts of home, I must remember to bring some Pepto in tablet form, great for those after too much goulash tummy aches. They don't sell it in HU. Husband tired to find something that worked as well but nothing could be found like the "pink stuff".

All the above without the American desirables. I also buy
branston pickle
English mustard
Primark clothes underwear.
Clothing from TK Maxx
Oxo cubes
Curry powder
Aspirin
Toothpaste and hair tonic that I like
Other painkillers medicines that we can get over the counter for pence in the UK.
I also pick out a few bits and pieces in the pound stores.
If I am super organised I will order books and cards from Amazon and e bay and get them delivered to my care of addresses.
You can get mostly anything you want in Hungary now especially internet but postage is high so it's not worth it.
Sometime this year I am going shopping  in Slovakia because the diy and furniture stores are much cheaper

I bring any luxury items. Cosmetic products. Fragrance. I do use my US audio amplifier through transformer and it has been working fine for the past 3 years. I would not bring a toaster , but some rare/expensive electrical appliance might still be worth to bring. I tried a few Mex places and found one on Oct 6 street to be quite good. Tried Thai (non-chain) place near me in BP and it was quite delicious. Tried Georgian on Andrassy few years back and it was delicious (Georgian cooks in the kitchen). I have noticed that if people know how to cook ethnic food it comes out excellent due to quality of local ingredients. I bring chocolate (Fazer) & rye bread (Fazer) from Finland, candies from Italy (Amazon, Baci) and the rest I purchase online or during my travels. Oh, yea I bring pickles from Eastern Europe (Poland, have not tried any Kosher stores in HU yet ), as HU pickles made with too much vinegar and sugar.
Condiments like ketchup and mayo are of better quality in Europe in general, so I don't miss Heintz. Actually my friend told me that Heintz sold in EU tastes better (no fillers, real tomatoes). Someone mentioned Hershey chocolate in this thread...that stuff should've been confiscated by customs as a chemical weapon.

If you wear contact lenses, bring your own saline solution. Otherwise, it is only available in eyeglass stores or pharmacies and is very expensive.

If you intend to celebrate Thanksgiving, bring canned pumpkin. You won't find it here. Also good vanilla extract is very difficult to find, though vanilla 'aroma' is common.

American style peanut butter is either difficult to find or when you do, about 1 1/2 times the amount you would pay in the US.

Any tech things needed in English or your own mother tongue needs to come with you: Laptops especially or desktop keyboards.

Getting items through Customs can be difficult at best and the VAT is 27%, so bring what you may need and don't plan on buying high end items here if you can help it.

MOHCTEP wrote:

.....Someone mentioned Hershey chocolate in this thread...that stuff should've been confiscated by customs as a chemical weapon.

And Oreos.  Dreadful.  So many better alternatives like Chocolate Digestives.

Hershey's "Chocolate" is an oxymoron. There's no way that passes for chocolate and regionally (i.e. Europe), we've got superb chocolate like Guylian (BE), Milka (DE), Galaxy and Dairy Milk (UK).  There's no way Hershey bars can ever beat those in a choccie showdown.

anns wrote:

..... I also buy
branston pickle
English mustard
Primark clothes underwear.
Clothing from TK Maxx
.....

Branston pickle. I'll second that. What about piccalilli? Don't hear about that so much these days.

I thought everyone wore M&S underwear.   TK Maxx is OK sometimes but Primark is giving M&S quite a run for its money. Everytime I've been in there it's mobbed.

What they are missing here is the equivalent of Poundland or 99p shops.

1. HUGE DOSE OF PATIENCE!

2. UNDERSTANDING THAT YOU LIVE (MOVED) TO A FORMER COMMUNIST COUNTRY!

3. THAT IT IS A COUNTRY WHERE "GOVERNMENT KNOWS BEST" AND WILL TELL YOU!

4. WHERE PROGRESS, PERSONAL FREEDOM, FREE THINKING ARE STILL NEW CONCEPTS!

5. WHERE THERE IS RELATIVELY LITTLE "CONSUMER PROTECTION"!

6. POLICE HAVE A LOT OF LEAVE WAY AND WILL TAKE ADVANTAGE!

7. THERE IS "0" ALCOHOL TOLERANCE WHEN COMES TO DRIVING!

8. FINES ARE A MEANS OF GENERATING FUNDS AND OFTEN WITH NO RECOURSE!

9. VAT/SALES TAX IS AT 27%. with some exception GOVERNMENT GETS 27% OF EVERYTHING!

10. WHY DID YOU WANTED TO MOVE HERE AGAIN?

I am guilty of the Hershey bar fix, husband is a chocoholic!
Mostly I bring new face creams as they cost more then double of what I pay at the dept. store counters in the US, pricey stuff as it is, can't see spending over $120 for an eye cream in HU, might as well save up for surgery at those prices!
I have visited HU when it was still communist, even back in the year 2000 it was allot harder to find as many products as HU now offers.
I used to ship in all my beauty supplies through the mail, don't have to do that now since they can be found in HU for the most part. If I wasn't so vain, life would be easy in HU it seems.
I used to ship in all my copper hair colors, my thing, red hair or go bald, refuse to be grey.
Now my brand of color is available in HU even if I must adjust the shade to suit what is available, saves on ordering and shipping, sort of found a professional beauty supply house in the city where I just show my US hairdressing papers and they let buy professional items, things not usually sold to the general public. That part is cool.
You know after living in HU for so many years my taste buds must of changed some. In the US ATM for a visit and all the treats I had in mind to pig out on here just don't do it for me like I thought they would.
Not enjoying all the things I was dying to have in my mind.
Only miss the shops like Ann stated, TJ Maxx, Marshalls and the discount shops are all within a few blocks of me now, If they had those in HU I would be in heaven.

Oh, so true. Hershey's is such a fake "chocolate". It tastes like it was not even made of cocoa butter. It has that fake nougat taste.

Oh, those hamburgers with the cabbage are the best. And the canned tomato sauce is much better quality and has way less sugar - if any - than ketchup. The whole thing is like a luxury gourmet burger. Yumm.

Let's see what do I miss from "home" vs. Hungary;
1. Zesty Italian and Chunky Blue Cheese salad dressing in a bottle.
2. Probable cause or for that matter ANY cause for the police to stop me!
3. .08 alcohol breath limit so I can go out with my friends and have two drinks with        dinner and still be very legal to drive a mile home!
4. Miss my Lady Smith .38 Special and range practice.
5. Be able to drive 500 miles/kilometers without having to show my passport!
6. Miss e-pass and not having to stop for tools or buying "matrica, vinnete"!
7. Miss the OCEAN!
8. Miss sailing my sailboat and not having to get a boating license for it!
9. I miss not having to take a number at city hall and having to wait an hour!
10. I miss TRUE FREEDOM and not having to carry an ID if I don't want to!
I guess I miss HOME!

Medicines are dear .....

Native foodstuffs are sometimes awkwardly very good value .....

We bring Tea Bags, Marmalade, peanut butter & maple syrup from the UK, as we can't really find them out here in the sticks !!
Oh, and mince pies at Christmas time 😝

Best of both worlds !!
Toby

peddington wrote:

1. Zesty Italian and Chunky Blue Cheese salad dressing in a bottle.

Aldi or Auchan?

peddington wrote:

2. Probable cause or for that matter ANY cause for the police to stop me!

In the old commie system you were probably guilty of something...whatever it was...old habits die hard...

peddington wrote:

3. .08 alcohol breath limit so I can go out with my friends and have two drinks with        dinner and still be very legal to drive a mile home!

Now, zero tolerance I think is a good idea. It should be the same everywhere. 

peddington wrote:

4. Miss my Lady Smith .38 Special and range practice.

Loads of gun clubs around here (Budakeszi).

peddington wrote:

5. Be able to drive 500 miles/kilometers without having to show my passport!

Easy! You can drive to Portugal which is easily 2000km away.

peddington wrote:

6. Miss e-pass and not having to stop for tools or buying "matrica, vinnete"!

You can buy a yearly vignette or cheaper, individual county vignettes if travelling between one place and another regularly.  No way you want to pay per trip each time.

peddington wrote:

7. Miss the OCEAN!

It's only about 4h down to the Croatian coast.  And very pretty it is too.

peddington wrote:

8. Miss sailing my sailboat and not having to get a boating license for it!

Balaton? Croatia?

peddington wrote:

9. I miss not having to take a number at city hall and having to wait an hour!

I've never waited an hour. Most I've ever waited is 59m 59s.

peddington wrote:

10. I miss TRUE FREEDOM and not having to carry an ID if I don't want to!

I regularly drive about without documents, mainly because I've forgotten them.  So far so good.

peddington wrote:

I guess I miss HOME!

Interesting. I've been here on and off for 21 years with bouts of permanence and I still don't know if it's home or not. I am not even sure the UK is home any more either. It's becoming unfamiliar in many ways.

I used to drive all over lake Velenca area without papers but since I no longer have anything to prove to myself about driving and since Budapest is insane even for Hungarians to drive in, I let my husband do all the driving. He was a taxi driver, a personal driver in HU and did 7 years of driving in Las Vegas for several cab co. Between times when he wanted a quick good paying job for only 6 months, not a big thing to quit a cab co. and come back later for a rehire.
No one in their right mind want to have him as a passenger, he always has something to say about ones driving skills, no need to overstress by driving with him in the car.
He taught at least a dozen HUngarians how to drive in New York and in S. Cal. Most have not had any major accidents that I know of.
Guns, well it has been a long time since I shot any, over 24 years actually, did like the fact that we just took my bro's Jeep in the New Mexico desert and I was able to unload with his 2 machine guns and array of other handguns, the police drove by and just waved to us, that would not happen in HU.
Nothing like a good day of target shooting while drinking some beer.
Red neck days are over now, or at least on hold.
I do like that fact that in Hu they have zero tolerance for drinking and driving, no wonder on the weekends the streets are not too busy in the city, everyone is home drinking.

Thanks but some of it may I say it is "flawed"! Auchan is far away and I didn't see it in Aldi although I shop there often. Italian and Blue cheese is just not a European thing! In England years ago I ordered a salad with blue cheese dressing and I got a block of blue cheese from the Polish waitress. The manager explained "...yes sir I know what you are talking about but in England we don't have it!" Maybe he meant his "restaurant" but anyway......As to driving to Portugal without being stopped at any border not so sure. Austrians, French and other countries have suspended Schengen at least periodically and partially. So I guess it is a crap shoot if you get stopped or not! Croatia......true enough and yet to go there unless we will be faced with a sea of migrants coming north. On almost ALL waterways in Hungary if you operate a boat you need some type of license (unless it is an inflatable "toy"). This is not necessarily unique for a Central/Eastern European country it is just a matter of NOT TRUSTING the citizen and also it is a money making thing! In this respect Europe is a lot different than America for example. Shooting? Yes there are shooting ranges where you can shoot 25 or 50 rounds for 10,000 or more forints. They hand you a gun and stand by you after a 1/2 lecture on operation. Plink, plink, then they take the gun and you done. BUT forget getting a "possession" permit and most certainly forget the "carry" permit. For that you have to be someone important, lot's of money, politician or the CEO of Telekom etc. What did I miss? .... The thing is that while there are many positive things about Hungary it is still not a DEMOCRACY after more than a quarter century after the Russian's withdrawal and change in the Constitution. THAT'S REALITY!

peddington wrote:

5. WHERE THERE IS RELATIVELY LITTLE "CONSUMER PROTECTION"!

After actually bringing a formal complaint based on EU and Hungarian national law on a consumer protection issue in Hungary, and having at the court hearing hearing the judge completely ignore every single one of the EU and Hungarian national laws in oral arguments on consumer protection and not including any of this topic in the court's written decision against us, I can agree that the legal system has little understanding of the obligation they are suppose to have for EU consumer protection.

Oh, yeah: the official EU web site for Hungarian consumer law also had many broken links the last time I checked -- so it is an EU level problem as well.

Welcome to the wild west. You are, in some ways, on your own. So as for what to bring to Hungary is an understanding of that condition.

fluffy2560 wrote:

peddington wrote:

4. Miss my Lady Smith .38 Special and range practice.

Loads of gun clubs around here (Budakeszi).

Owning one's own gun, versus just renting one at a club. For those from North America where gun ownership is a different culture, this may matter. (Not saying right or wrong, just different, and someone may "miss" that feature of their life back home).

FWIIW: To own a handgun (i.e. .38 Special) in Hungary is practically impossible, as very few average civilian persons have the required criteria to get a handgun permit (which is pretty much limited to police, military and... wait for it... politicians).

fluffy2560 wrote:

peddington wrote:

8. Miss sailing my sailboat and not having to get a boating license for it!

Balaton? Croatia?

You need a license to "legally" operate a typical "sailing boat" (i.e. more than a surf board with a sail or briefly raising a sail on a pram) on the Balaton. I do not know about Croatia, but that is of course a different country.

fluffy2560 wrote:

I regularly drive about without documents, mainly because I've forgotten them.  So far so good.

Driving with Hungarian plates? And stopped by the police? Wow, you must lead a charmed life. Or maybe once they see the UK versus US passport things are different. 

klsallee wrote:

peddington wrote:

5. WHERE THERE IS RELATIVELY LITTLE "CONSUMER PROTECTION"!

After actually bringing a formal complaint based on EU and Hungarian national law on a consumer protection issue in Hungary, and having at the court hearing hearing the judge completely ignore every single one of the EU and Hungarian national laws in oral arguments on consumer protection and not including any of this topic in the court's written decision against us, I can agree that the legal system has little understanding of the obligation they are suppose to have for EU consumer protection............

Totally agree with that.  I tend to buy my consumer goods in the UK because the law there is very heavily biased in favour of the consumer and most retailers want to keep their customer bases sweet. Generally they give in on complaints immediately.   Obviously it's not practical to  buy some things from there.  Alternative is Amazon as they tend to give in fairly quickly as well but can be chaotic on returns.

INDEED! I'm so not surprised! I came to find out that I contracted with a piss poor (AEGON) car insurance company! When I wanted to cancel the contract I came to find out that it is BINDING and really I can't cancel it until the year passed and it has expired! Now what would you call that? Certainly not something that is "customer friendly" but something else! Right? Incidentally when you contract with an insurance company in Hungary for 15 days it is NOT BINDING for the insurance company. So if you have an accident I guess they don't have to pay a cent or rather a forint! This is very PRO BUSINESS and AGAINST the HUNGARIAN CUSTOMER. Of course the Hungarians are CLUELESS because they are used to this kind of treatment! I guess if I was ever to be charged with a crime in Hungary I would; A. Hire the best most aggressive lawyer I could find, 2. Flee the country!
I WOULD ADVISE THE SAME FOR ALL EXPATS!

BudaBaB wrote:

Any tech things needed in English or your own mother tongue needs to come with you: Laptops especially or desktop keyboards.

This is very good advise. Especially for those planning a limited stay here (students, TEFL employees, etc.).

For long haulers, especially those who are more sedentary fixed in Hungary, buying something like a laptop computer from a local store (versus online) will typically mean buying one that comes only pre-installed with a Hungarian language OS. But there are simple ways to upgrade to an English OS (cost and effort may vary depending on your OS). All phones and tablets that I have bought in Hungary came pre-loaded with English as a language option (just have to switch over to that language).

The Hungarian Keyboard is QWERTZ rather than QWERTY, and has a slightly different layout to accommodate the additional letters in the Hungarian alphabet. But that takes only a few days until a touch typist will stop writing "waz" when they wanted to type "way".

And being able to easy spell Hungarian words (such as city names like "Székesfehérvár") properly using the full Hungarian alphabet using a Hungarian keyboard can, in some tiny way, give one the feeling they are starting to "fit in here" a bit. 

Actually I think recently Hungary has adopted the no punctuation associated with the Hungarian language so....you can write with a western style keyboard and it is acceptable!

peddington wrote:

Actually I think recently Hungary has adopted the no punctuation associated with the Hungarian language so....you can write with a western style keyboard and it is acceptable!

I do not know how "acceptable" that may be to those Hungarians who are very proud of their language as it is....  So I guess it will depend on which group in Hungary one is trying to "fit in" with. 

And every bill and government correspondence I received to date does not use a simplified western spelling style, so I don't know about Hungary adopting this method officially. Just because Google Translate and web sites do not differentiate, does not mean "Hungary" does the same. 

And, aáoőóöuüűú each have fixed and different pronunciations in Hungarian, so they can aid in learning to correctly pronounce Hungarian.

klsallee wrote:

FWIIW: To own a handgun (i.e. .38 Special) in Hungary is practically impossible, as very few average civilian persons have the required criteria to get a handgun permit (which is pretty much limited to police, military and... wait for it... politicians).

There's no real need to own a gun in Hungary.  There's hardly enough serious crime to warrant arming anyone.

klsallee wrote:

You need a license to "legally" operate a typical "sailing boat" (i.e. more than a surf board with a sail or briefly raising a sail on a pram) on the Balaton. I do not know about Croatia, but that is of course a different country.

I think it's the same in Croatia.  It makes sense to license people on - for example - the rivers.  There's a lot of commercial traffic.  On the sea, there is of course, nothing to stop people sailing off into international waters.

klsallee wrote:

Driving with Hungarian plates? And stopped by the police? Wow, you must lead a charmed life. Or maybe once they see the UK versus US passport things are different. 

I act utterly dumb most of the time (not difficult). And they usually get muddled up if you ask them to speak English. I never give 'em a clue I can speak German reasonably OK.  Never met one yet who spoke English.   Ok, maybe I was overegging that cake. I don't really drive around in our HU car as Mrs Fluffy drives that one most of the time or we go together and she's usually got the docs in her handbag. I drive my UK cars on my own.  But I have been stopped only once in the past 5 years and asked to produce my passport and that was it.   Mrs Fluffy has been stopped multiple times in our UK cars in the past 5 years but almost never in the HU car.

fluffy2560 wrote:

There's no real need to own a gun in Hungary.  There's hardly enough serious crime to warrant arming anyone.

I agree (regarding handguns ... there are still (non-bow) hunters in Hungary that "need" a gun for their sport).

That is why it is rather.... odd.... that politicians were listed, when I looked up this topic, as part of a rather small, select group that have special rights to have handguns.

Makes one wonder who the politicians here might be afraid of? 

Not sure what neighborhood everyone lives in but my neighbors in Hungary have handguns. Not legal of course, gangstas will always find a way.
Husband told me guns are floating all over HU from the war in Serbia years ago, just like criminals anywhere, they always find a way.
Sort of scary though in the US to know people have carry permits. MY friend is sweet but I admit a bit of an off beat person, she's 72 and has a permit to carry. She came over to my son's house for a visit one day, I glanced at her handbag and my blood ran cold.
She's a bit of a nutter,old issues that just might set her off at any time, wonder how she ever got that permit to carry.
Yes, different culture in the US about guns, I grew up knowing we had a mini arsonal in the locker near my mom's bed,mom carried a tiny 22 inside her bra when she worked the night shift as a single mom in the 1960's.
12 years old and shooting rifles all the while just being a normal  Cali valley girl who played with dolls and guns.
Came in handy once when my 3 year old bro was up against a rattlesnake, my dad just calmly told me to have my mom bring him his old Army 45, shot the rattlesnake just 5 feet away from my baby bro before it bit him. In the west they can be handy to have for such times.
My husband grew up post WW11 in Budapest. Often he and his friends would find parts of broken guns, bullets etc. washed ashore from the war. Of course they never took any of those things home, serious trouble if one even had a shell casing back then.
In the US however no one I know has ever needed to use or show their weapon. Moved to New Mexico years ago, sort of freaked me out at first seeing every single person who had a truck also had a full gun rack inside the cabin. Road rage anyone?
My bro is a huge gun collector, remember once over 25 years ago he bought his wife a $2,000 handgun for her birthday, she was happy as a clam too.
Even my peace freak, animals rights protesting friend in a wheelchair has a gun in NV,I think I am the only person in the US that I know that isn't carrying!
I suppose this should be a new topic, guns in Hungary?
Without saying too much about it as I sort of signed a waver, I worked the Shot Show here at the Las Vegas Sands Expo last month just a few days at a temp job my friend told me about.
It was for weapon manufactures from around the world.
I was a greeter in the registration desk area.
I met people from Italy, Germany, Franc e and even the middle east. Seems the whole world in gun crazy,at least the wealthy in every country are making sure they are covered with the latest models in destruction.
I will say everyone I met from country red neck to well dressed European businessmen  were polite and nice people. Who knows what happens when they get home though.
There were over 60,000 people for this event, a huge convention all dedicated to firearms as we had to call them, guns in not the current PC wording.

klsallee wrote:

fluffy2560 wrote:

There's no real need to own a gun in Hungary. ......

I agree (regarding handguns ... there are still (non-bow) hunters in Hungary that "need" a gun for their sport).

Well, this I really do not understand. Killing animals to eat is one thing, killing them for fun smacks of some kind of controlled pyschopathic illness.  As far as I know guns are meant to kill. In my military time we pointed our guns at the enemy (and sometimes we even had rounds to put in them otherwise we shouted bang!).   

The gun lovin' folks might argue it's fun but as for food production, there's plenty of food in the supermarkets and even locally.  It's common that Dezső the pig dies at this time of the year all over Hungary.  Locally connected folks will know the expression "Dezsőnek meg kell halni" or "Desző must die".   Hardly any need to go out chasing the wildlife.

klsallee wrote:

That is why it is rather.... odd.... that politicians were listed, when I looked up this topic, as part of a rather small, select group that have special rights to have handguns.

Makes one wonder who the politicians here might be afraid of? 

It wasn't uncommon for most politicians to be armed in Northern Ireland during the troubles there and even some in the UK and presumably the Irish Republic were armed because they were obvious targets to be bumped off. 

Obviously some people will always take oppressive legislation dreamt up by loons in parliament personally

I personally see no reason for anyone to have a gun, they scare the cr** out of me even though I grew up around them.
I had a well dresses businessman driving a brand new Mercedes pull a gun out at me while I was walking home from dropping my 5 year old off at school.
This was in Encino , Cal, a very nice place in a good neighborhood.
I only had my Cosmo magazine to use to defend myself, held it up to my face and waited for the shot to come. The freak just laughed and drove off, scary when idiots with too much money can buy weapons to terrorize little housewives out for a stoll.
I quit walking for 20 years in Cal after that, husband bought me a car that very weekend.
Only started walking again after my 108 lb. Doberman came into my life.

I will add most of my gun loving family members were ex US military, excluding my mother who probably was more wild then the rest put together.
Scary thing one of my first cousins in NM is an ex vet, with PTSD getting gov. aid for mental issues, they pay his rent, food medical, he is barely 50 years old, was a military wash out, think he just about finished up basic training in his youth ( smart guy knows how to play the system) he has several machine guns,takes photos of himself all the time with them, even treated his sister and BIL when they were kind enough to take him in when his bible thumping missionary wife tossed him out, She had 911 on speed dial and she and her husband slept in shifts until she finally called 911 where he spent several months in a padded cell. He even has guns in the US, now that is some scary info.
My ex SIL with the pricey gun birthday gift was a MP in the US Army, sometimes ladies are more violent then some rapper gangsta could ever imagine.

We can not expect Europe or HUngary to be like the USA.
We are not in "Kansas" anymore.
Have to take the good with the bad.
I am in the US ATm and confused as to which country I really like better, both have up sides and down sides.

Maybe so and I'm sure on official Government correspondence you get just that "Hungarian"
but try to do a Goggle search doing it! As many companies like Telekom, Telenor, Tesco and others you can't do computer work using the Hungarian dots and commas above the letters! That is what I
was eluding to! THE INTERNET WORLD!

I am so lucky to be "protected" in Hungary by my husband I forget sometimes that many of my fellow ex pats need allot of strength and courage with everyday issues.
I do not even answer the phone in HU that's how much I am not into being hassled.