How's Hungary treating you in general?

This is an excellent topic. Hope some "newbies" give feedback.

P.S. I ain't old! Just well worn in, like a pair of favorite jeans.

I'm more like "worn-out"!
No, still given them he** and upsetting or rocking the boat...Only way to live.
We actually never intended to be here in Hungary as long as we have.
It just got comfy and we got lazy.
Guess that's what being retired is all about.

There are some really good facebook groups now for new and old residents in Hungary and Budapest. Some of them are quite socially active.
I'm actually very settled in Hungary but I am glad that I have the best of both worlds the country cottage and the flat in town.
i really like the countryside and I really like the festival atmostphere over the weekends in town.

Sometimes I  visit sunnier and more cheerful climes but I dont think I would like to be there all of the time because I like to be able to see my family and friends more often. It can be too hot and the bugs are bigger.
However it is good to dodge the Hungarian winter if you can.
The three hour flight Uk to Budapest is perfect for me. Cheap and easy.
Of course if the lifestyle didn't suit me I would move but it is early days here for me.

3 hour flights are sweet... Getting to the western part of the US requires all the nerve I can muster up.
Way too long to breath in stuffy stale air and watch endless B movies or drink one more glass of wine or suffer through a in -flight meal.
It would be great to only have a short flight between adventures in Hungary and family back home.
It's not even the cost of airfare that puts me off of traveling much, it the actual flying that I dislike.
To think I tried 30 years back to be a flight attendant!
Glad they passed me up on that one after all.
Of course moving about the cabin and keeping busy would make the flight pass by fast.
Pretty soon we may need to fly east rather then west to visit family, sort of looking forward to it as I would rather fly on ANA airlines then BA airlines...
Change is always a good thing.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

I noticed that there really is only few of us regular contributors on this site.
Mostly us "old timers" to Hungary.

You old timers just have too much time on your hands The Newbies are busy with their heads down Good post though Marilyn

SimCityAT wrote:

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

I noticed that there really is only few of us regular contributors on this site.
Mostly us "old timers" to Hungary.

You old timers just have too much time on your hands The Newbies are busy with their heads down Good post though Marilyn

That's funny and probably very true.
I met an American women a few years back who had been living in Budapest for 9 years.
She was rather young, around 36 years old.
Had grandparents from Hungary but she had not learned Hungarian except a bit after moving here.
She and her husband had a very, very nice flat over in the 5th.
No children , just a ton of pets.
The flat was huge, over 150 sq. meters and fixed up really nice.In a good house too.
I asked her if she was going to stay long term in Hungary and she had a glazed look on her face and said, "I think so, there is no place for me any longer in the US, I've been gone too long".
Sounds a bit defeated or sad to me.
After hearing her say that it made me reflect on getting too attached to Hungary.
We try hard not to get attached to any place, one reason I never bothered to fix up our flat or buy new furniture, always think I will be leaving very soon.
Who knows though I may wind up being buried here in the long run.

Word of advice to anyone moving over.
Come first, then worry about shipping over your entire life if you find you can not live without your old junk.
Hard lesson learned for us.
We moved in 95 to Hilo from mainland US.
Brought over a entire house full of furniture, washer, clothing dryer, 2 Saabs and a van, 122 large packed boxes( i packed them all myself and knew the count exactly) packages of oil paintings in handmade frames to keep them safe on route, a large heavy tool box, a Doberman dog, a teenage boy and a kayak. Actually forgot to bring the kitchen sink!
Less then 2 years later it was all repacked and shipped back to the mainland.
What a total waste of money and time.
After those long trips on a boat nothing looked as new and fresh as before either.
Just bring over 2 suitcases to start out and see how it goes before packing up your life and carrying it all over the world with you.

SimCityAT wrote:

You old timers just have too much time on your hands

In the winter --- goodness yes. I loaf around far, far too much even when I have a lot to do.

But now? In the Spring? Nope, nope, nope, nope. Up at 6 A.M. most days. Have 1.5 hectares of vineyard to deal with.

I just came in for a break after all morning and early afternoon mowing. Will go back out later for some tilling. Busy, busy, busy.

P.S. I ain't old. Now, get off my lawn, you young whippersnappers!!! 

Yes, by writing ,"old timers" I meant long time on this site, not on earth.
Summer is right around the corner, time to enjoy the short months of summer.
I always find a good 30 or so mins a day to check mail and mess around, now that we are officially retired, I have nothing but time to waste.
Sad thing is once you finally retire you don't always want to do the things you thought you would do with your free time.
I have only become "retired" within the last year officially, meaning now I get paid to sit on my duff.  Took the early out at 62, not going to wait 4 long years , allot can happen in 4 years time, they may even do away with SS by then.
My motto is, take the money and run.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

Yes, by writing ,"old timers" I meant long time on this site, not on earth.

I know.

I am just having a little fun, and being a general PITA. 

I enjoy being a PITA.
One of my family nicknames was, "The Brat" of course only my 2 older sisters called me that and still had all of their teeth.
Lately I am sort of feeling a bit out of the loop as everyone I know is in the US, missing home I suppose.

Hello Marilyn'
I have had this apartment I'm now shopping for since 2006 as a retirement plan.
Finally decided to move over 2014 then broke mr Spine oops' (well that sure put a spanner in the works) so I've just been recovering as I was 53yrs when that happened and things just aren't improving if you get my drift! So I still shipped my life out here to Budapest as planned but coukd not follow for the obvious reasons.
I am much better now but still experiencing pains which I would like to put down as growing pain Lol! But it's my back still acting up!! nevertheless
I had a urgen email from the management company of the apartments to say there was a burst pipe and low & behold the apartment is flooded. Well you could imagine I didn't know wether to live or die at percise moment!! I arranged to get over to check the damage my boxes upon boxes were yes!! All wet & swimming.
That was last month' I have actually gotten over my shock and horror and decided to buy some wardrobes in the bedroom giving me so storage then I will unpack through out and plonk myself down with some assistance from this Expat Forum I'm so happy to have stumbled upon this morning xx

Oh my!!
That's really awful.
So it seems you were sort of forced to come to Hungary after all?
I hope things settle down for you soon.
I wish I could give a rec. for a good ortho doc here but so far, it may be a case for a private doctor or clinic.
I had shoulder and knee surgery here in the past 4 years and actually having PT on my knee in the US while on vacation there worked out better then my knee surgery did here.
My shoulder is not much better, they just opened up a bit and looked around and closed me back up.
Didn't take care of the one issue they told me they would do just mins. before I was knocked out for surgery.
You can imagine how mad I was going through all that for nada.
Thinking of seeing a private clinic next year maybe and having that surgery done on my own dime.
One thing for sure once you settle in is to make contact with your family doctor and be kind to them, they are the link to all other care with national health. It's up to them to send you up the chain.

OMGoodness that's just awful!! I always got some sting pain relief if in need! Although you'd have to check you can take especially if your taking other medication I only take when the need arises other than that it's a stiff glass of rum which usually at that point dies the trick and knocks me out😜the mind is willing but the body as you say nada🤦🏽‍♀️ So can I ask what side of town are you residing in I'm a Britt and nosy Lol 😂 Buda or Pest I am a city girl although I was bought up in the lovely County of Surrey in the Uk but I do like that's it's only 15-20mins to get here especially after any early airport run from the Uk 🇬🇧 and I do enjoy the shopping but know a days it's just the practical things in life and food stuffs 😂😂 I relied to another of your forums about the banks and I appear to be just paying out monies to everything with the OTP Bank I've had for years no they are saying I'm eligible for Tax in GB 🇬🇧 well nada!! I'm really not feeling that plus I don't even live or work here all I've done is changed up my £ into Forints and banked it so when I'm here I can pay the apartment charges water communal monthly payment and Oh yes the ganster Elmu ( who cut me off one time and proceeded to remove the electric meter all for 9 000Ft ) I have my own customer service person now when I go there it's funny they see me and natter but always polite and helpful in actual fact last time I was there he said should I make your bill yearly which was very considerate 😄I didn't take it they was fed up of seeing me Lol 😂

I personally wouldn't bother shipping my old things when I move. I bought everything new when I moved to Budapest. You can buy everything you could possibly want here; they have  large furniture stores like Kika, Ikea and if you have the money they have higher end stuff too. You can get nice things for probably cheaper than shipping your old junk to Hungary.

Leahia07 wrote:

OMGoodness that's just awful!! I always got some sting pain relief if in need! Although you'd have to check you can take especially if your taking other medication I only take when the need arises other than that it's a stiff glass of rum which usually at that point dies the trick and knocks me out😜the mind is willing but the body as you say nada🤦🏽‍♀️ So can I ask what side of town are you residing in I'm a Britt and nosy Lol 😂 Buda or Pest I am a city girl although I was bought up in the lovely County of Surrey in the Uk but I do like that's it's only 15-20mins to get here especially after any early airport run from the Uk 🇬🇧 and I do enjoy the shopping but know a days it's just the practical things in life and food stuffs 😂😂 I relied to another of your forums about the banks and I appear to be just paying out monies to everything with the OTP Bank I've had for years no they are saying I'm eligible for Tax in GB 🇬🇧 well nada!! I'm really not feeling that plus I don't even live or work here all I've done is changed up my £ into Forints and banked it so when I'm here I can pay the apartment charges water communal monthly payment and Oh yes the ganster Elmu ( who cut me off one time and proceeded to remove the electric meter all for 9 000Ft ) I have my own customer service person now when I go there it's funny they see me and natter but always polite and helpful in actual fact last time I was there he said should I make your bill yearly which was very considerate 😄I didn't take it they was fed up of seeing me Lol 😂

Got back to HU about a month ago after a 5 month visit to Las Vegas.
Food prices in HU are still cheaper over all then in the US unless you go BIO, then they are about the same cost.
Rent and buying property in HU is so much cheaper.
I in all honesty now do not miss that much about the US other then being able to understand most people( not everyone in the US speaks English either) and driving a car.
I used to drive here and there in HU but have no desire right now to do so.
Seems the only thing I ever really missed much about the US was seeing our child everyday.
Even that can be too much sometimes...
He moved to Japan last month so I suppose I should start learning a bit about Japanese culture, maybe my next long trip will be over there.
As far as shipping personal items to Hungary, not sure, sometimes it is hard to let things go.
Right now we have 2 storage units in the states. Just couldn't get rid of everything.
Just odd sized things that are not really worth shipping over but  still have some value to us.
Perhaps I may have to pop over someday and have a storage unit boot/sale?
Wonder if anyone is in need of a nuclear submarine valve? Perhaps even a huge collection of nuts and screws? The things we collect over time.

HU overall is not a bad place if you do not compare it with your old lifestyle.

Excellent advise. I did the same thing twice in our moves to France in the past. Each time we planned over many months to go and stay for several years, brought all the furniture, etc., then 6 months later for various reasons returned to the US and moved everything back. Won't do that again.

Leahia07 wrote:

OMGoodness that's just awful!! I always got some sting pain relief if in need! Although you'd have to check you can take especially if your taking other medication I only take when the need arises other than that it's a stiff glass of rum which usually at that point dies the trick and knocks me out😜the mind is willing but the body as you say nada🤦🏽‍♀️ So can I ask what side of town are you residing in I'm a Britt and nosy Lol 😂 Buda or Pest I am a city girl although I was bought up in the lovely County of Surrey in the Uk but I do like that's it's only 15-20mins to get here especially after any early airport run from the Uk 🇬🇧 and I do enjoy the shopping but know a days it's just the practical things in life and food stuffs 😂😂 I relied to another of your forums about the banks and I appear to be just paying out monies to everything with the OTP Bank I've had for years no they are saying I'm eligible for Tax in GB 🇬🇧 well nada!! I'm really not feeling that plus I don't even live or work here all I've done is changed up my £ into Forints and banked it so when I'm here I can pay the apartment charges water communal monthly payment and Oh yes the ganster Elmu ( who cut me off one time and proceeded to remove the electric meter all for 9 000Ft ) I have my own customer service person now when I go there it's funny they see me and natter but always polite and helpful in actual fact last time I was there he said should I make your bill yearly which was very considerate 😄I didn't take it they was fed up of seeing me Lol 😂

We bought a flat in the 7th district about 12 or 13 years ago. We paid cash at a time when the dollar exchange rate wasn't too good. Think it was 200 Forints to the USD.
We hadn't seriously planned on buying anything in HU but my MIL died and we sold her home in Erd. We had to wait it out for over 18 months to find a buyer for her home.
We had a small cut from her house after the rest of the fam got theirs. We added a few bucks from our own savings and paid cash. Moved back to the US less then a month after buying our flat and left it empty for nearly 2 years before we returned.
We knew it wasn't worth it to exchange the forints back into dollars so we just bought something so we wouldn't lose it all. It was expensive to live in Erd for 18 months and keep her old house going while we tried to sell it. It was a double sized lot so not everyone wanted such a large piece of land, took a bit to find the right buyer.
If we had found a buyer faster we could of bought a nicer flat with our money rather then keeping up the old homestead with our funds. We didn't work all that time and we didn't sit around either, we took trips etc. so money went in 18 months.
We couldn't really find many decent flats at the time for the money we wanted to spend, either all were ground floor, facing the yard or had a flight of stairs to climb up, back neighborhood etc.
We saw one in Buda in a nice house that faces the river but that flat was super pricey and didn't have any view and was about half the size of what we have now.
Saw another near the castle that was decent but only one big room, wanted at least 2 rooms.
We used an agent to see many flats but all f them kept showing up places we didn't like at all. We found this flat ourselves through a newspaper add.
3 big windows to the st. which makes the places nice a sunny 2 rooms and on the first floor so not too many stairs.
The market to resale was flat for years and years, seems just recently that prices have gone up where we could see a few dollars from our long time investment if we decide to sell out.
One day I want to move away and the next I don't.

I brought all of my stuff over in three road trips  . But i didn't have that far to come UK to Hungary  . Since my removals I was given a lot of furniture by the people who sold  me my Apartment.
I have a lot more space here in Hungary and have had to buy  good quality second hand furniture to fill the extra space . Its much better quality than new items.
I've moved a lot in my life and I always feel more at home wherever i am when my personal stuff arrives .