Reasons to leave Hungary

@cdw057

How do you like Zalaszentgrot? i know you lived in that area. Is it a nice town?

@angelarobbins I do not know it, but coming back to moving to Hungary, what is your monthly budget and can you actually enjoy your life?

By the way I lived close to Heviz/

what about Kehida ? is it nice ?

My monthly budget is between 3000 to 5000 dollars. it dep if we rent out our place in Florida

Maybe 2300 without rent if we decide nt to rent it out.

@angelarobbins

i just want to swim in the lake, go to the thermal bad and eat Langos.

As mentioned before I do not like your stance, why did you not choose Heviz from the start (it seems perfect).

Swimming is good and if you are a resident from a village around you can get a year around pass for around EUR 200. Langos I do not like, but if you do please go ahead.

In my view a bit boring life (Just Langos and Swimming (but possible of course)

You are a bit older (even if a bit arrogant).

You did not your research or visit, Again with such a budget do you want to go to a country you do not know.

Even in the US or Canada USD 5 K should be sufficient.

Bottom line question why Hungary and why did you not investigate?

I am very, very sceptical on your success in Hungary.

@cdw057

I have not figured where to go in hungary yet,  that’s why I am asking you about Kehida.  I am Hungarian and speak  the language.

@cdw057

again, why this  hostility towards me ?!

@cdw057

you obviously dont want to answer thats fine. But please dont throw nasty comments at me. Maybe you choose Turkey where women are treated that way.  Don’t disrespect me anymore.

@cdw057

I am very glad that you are not around Heviz anymore. I am fed up with. Enough is enough.

@angelarobbins Please do your research!! I am quite upset. We did and we bought a nice house (too big and garden was also to big (after a number of years)_ Good profit. If you have a budget if USD 5 K, you can have a lavish life (Langos, I do not like it, just eat Goulash, drink wine, ... But more importantly go to a theather with great performances (in Keszthely I had very good experiences), meet neighbours, have a garden.

Just swimming and Langos sounds incredibly boring (your choice).

How long can you swim for (2 hours), what do you rest of the day?

Netflix and/or Audible can also be interesting if you do not want to have any contacts or hobbies.

I repeat myself, I do not understand, such a big budget and such a life.

    @angelarobbinsi just want to swim in the lake, go to the thermal bad and eat Langos.        -@angelarobbins

Sounds like a plan but don't forget about the long windy ,chilly winters.

Hevis water is still hot but having gone there in winter myself, it's not so fun getting in or out of the lake when it's freezing outside.

FL. should have year round swimming and you can always make your own langos.

I'm pretty much a fish but in the cold months forget it.

If your income can be as high as $5,000 per month without working then why not a place like the Phillipines or Hawaii?

They have really nice gated communities in the Ph

illipines where you can swim your legs off without any worry about getting a chill.

My cousin lives there as an American married to a local, immigration isn't too hard for him.

You can still find a cute ,comfy condo in Honolulu for $2,500 per month, no need for a car if you live blocks from the sea.

We lived in a cute one bedroom in the heart of Honolulu and were able to walk to the ocean in 10 mins. They also had a mostly unused swimming pool on the roof of the high rise.

Restuarants in wlaking distance and Ala Moana mall right there.

I was happy to stay there forever but they didn't take large dogs...

@angelarobbins I am so sadm you did not investigate at all, you did not vistit as I see (we did frequently). With a budget of USD  5 K why you want to swim and eat Langos, I really do not understand and I do not like you (budget of USD 5 K???) .

In my view your questions are simple.

What to challenge and go to Hungary with USD 5 K pm. for swimming and Langos, you are crazy.

@Marilyn Tassy

How did you like lake heviz? It looks beautiful on pictures. What was your personal experience ?

We try not to rent out our place in Florida and stay there for the winters.

We also want to travel Europe by train and use Hungary as a base.

    @Marilyn Tassy
How did you like lake heviz? It looks beautiful on pictures. What was your personal experience ?

We try not to rent out our place in Florida and stay there for the winters.

We also want to travel Europe by train and use Hungary as a base.
   

    -@angelarobbins

Why not just rent somewhere in Hungary for a while and see how you like it.  You can easily afford it.

@fluffy2560

I have two dogs, one large one.

@cdw057

I am telling you again, dont be disrespectful. You become a clown.

@angelarobbins Fine to be a clown, my comments are not as a clown but as somebody who lived in Hungary for many years, I will continue to follow your posts though (even if I am classified as being a clown). Some of the members give a VERY good feedback and posts.

Ask about towns, villages, restaurants, doctors, hospitals, real cost of living, .... The forum is here for honest opions and me being a clown I can give it.

By the way who said clowns are stupid.

    @fluffy2560
I have two dogs, one large one.
   

    -@angelarobbins

Well, obviously rent somewhere that allows dogs.

if you decide to buy and later want to sell up, it can take years to dispose of property.

And realtors aren't particularly reliable in that respect.

    @Marilyn Tassy How did you like lake heviz? It looks beautiful on pictures. What was your personal experience ?We try not to rent out our place in Florida and stay there for the winters. We also want to travel Europe by train and use Hungary as a base.         -@angelarobbins

To be honest it's been many years since we went to Hevis.

My husband hates the hot water and the long drive over there from Budapest.

We go to spas closer to where we live and have a lake that we go to that isn't too far from our place, like less then 30 mins vs Heviz which is hours away.

Traffic is a nightmare getting there and it's always slow going.

It's pretty but doing any real laps in hot water gets hard. It mostly for floating around in.

Most people are floaters not swimmers.

The first time we went was in 1978 when we spent 6 weeks in commie times visiting my husbands family and showing off our baby boy to his grandparents.

It was communist then so although things were open they weren't as ,"shinny" as now and less expensive too.

We were just about the only people in Hevis the day we went.

Drove with my in-laws from Erd and my MIL watched our baby while we enjoyed the water.

It was either late Sept. or early Oct. and chilly outside. Steam coming up from Hevis but running from the dressing room to the water was something.

I liked the quiet and the water lillies floating around. I was in the middle of the lake having a great time to myslef when out of the fog a row boat appeared.

Something like  in a horror movie.

A very old man was rowing the wooden boat that had a painted, faded red cross on the side. He was the lifeguard!! He was wearting a suit and tie too!

He chatted with us while we swam and he mentioned the water was either 90 feet deep or it could of been 90 meters deep.

I started swimming to shore!

Another time we went there I had recently had laser skin peel and was not suppose to be in the sun. Went in Hevis but had to wear a hat and stay under the tress out of the rays.

Drove past in many times over the years but I liked just going into Balaton instead because of the water temp.

My son and his first wife spent their honeymoon at Hevis in the hotel.

They had the place mostly to themselves as well.That was in Jan.

It's to me a great place to see but not for everyday swimming, if you are a swimmer and not a floater. Can't swim hard and long in the heated water without feeling weak later.

That's just me however, I also can't stand the thermal hot waters. Just sitting in hot water isn't a joy for me.

I like doing laps and then sunning. I'm usually in enough hot water in my daily life without searching it out!

    @fluffy2560I have two dogs, one large one.        -@angelarobbins

That's going to be a hassle with large dogs coming in from the US.

We flew our Doberman from Ca. and back again from Hawaii.

At the time they had a 4 month forced quaranteen on dogs and cats.

It was only about a 6 hour flight but he wasn't very happy when he landed in Honolulu.

Our Ca. HU friends flew their Doberman, a female to Hungary when they moved back here. She seemed to do better on that long flight then our boy did.

I had tranks from the vet for him but he still tore up his cage rug.

We put a furry sheep skin with him to help comfort him on the flight, it was in shreads when he landed.

Our friends who brough over their dog didn't have a place right away to keep her so someone they knew watched her on their land.

She was attacked by a group of dogs and was with puppies.

They had to give her an abrotion.

I have to say in the countryside at least they have allot of dogs just running wild in groups. Barking dogs at just about every house that are ready to bite your head off as you pass by.

City dogs seem more controlled. It's the owners who arent' controlled in the city. They just let their pets do their things all over and not everyone picks up afterwards.

People I saw in Erd which isn't too far out from Budapest, would chain their dogs up on short chains and they poor things would bark at everything in sight.

This was a good decade ago, not sure if people have changed much and are protecting dogs not abusing them.

In 1986 we visited HU for another 6 weeks.

We put our Doberman in a kennel which was recommened by his trainer in Ca.

They walked him daily and played with him but he still was crumpy the first few days he came back home.He was physically taken care of and looked great but he was still upset about being left behind.

I had to visit him 6 days a week when they were over in Hawaii as they kept all pets in runs and they couldn't leave without special permission from a vet until their 4 months were up.

I personally wouldn't get another pet because when they suffer, I suffer.

My MIL in Erd had several pets poisoned by a neighbor over the years. A dog and several cats.

It's brutal here in some areas.

We also used to stay in HU for 6 months and then go back to the states and work so we could keep it all going.

It's very hard physically and emtionally to do that all the time.

We sometimes put our cars in storage and other times sold them before we moved. Several times we stored cars in HU with differnt situations. From private garages to public underground parking spaces. It's difficult and hard to have them sitting for so long. Also in the US at least you must keep payments up on car insurnace or turn in the plates. When you return you have to re register the cars and start insurnace up again right away.

Also having to search out another car, buy it get insurnace etc. every 6 months or so gets very old.

We usually just rented apt. in the states while there but living with half your household itmes in storage is insane after awhile.

We had a house in the past and even the 6 weeks of leaving it empty was stressful and we had the best neighbors who were watching the place.

It's just hard,to go here and there and still hang onto material objects.

When we moved to Hungary we also had 2 big dogs, no problem being EU residents already, just a European passport (obviously they (Bouview and GSD) were already chipped and also our cats. Easy does it.

The dogs setlled in very fine (as I understand dogs like their owners) cats like their home and places (but also fine).

For cars, I created my company and working from time to time, with taxes it worked out great. (Bottom line the car was virtually for free (deducting from profits)

Also having a company (with me and my wife) health insurance was very, very cheap. (I paid minimum salaray for me and even less (part time) for my wife.

@Marilyn Tassy

I am a floater and not s mch a swimmer. I cant get my bath tub hot enough.My husband says i like to cook myself😉

    When we moved to Hungary we also had 2 big dogs, no problem being EU residents already, just a European passport (obviously they (Bouview and GSD) were already chipped and also our cats. Easy does it.
The dogs setlled in very fine (as I understand dogs like their owners) cats like their home and places (but also fine).
For cars, I created my company and working from time to time, with taxes it worked out great. (Bottom line the car was virtually for free (deducting from profits)
Also having a company (with me and my wife) health insurance was very, very cheap. (I paid minimum salary for me and even less (part time) for my wife.
 
    -@cdw057

As far as I know, this is one way around the health insurance problem and the lag of 1 year. 

Create a business and be an employee. Employees have to have  health insurance and so on, so this seems a way of immediately getting around it. 

The other way  is for an EU (or UK Brexit) citizen to be fully paid up on social security contributions, in receipt of a retirement pension and entitled to an "S1" form which is immediately acceptable for enrollment in the HU healthcare system.

Yet another annoying thing about all this is that one can only be in one social security/healthcare scheme at one time and the final year's location where contributions were made is where you get your pension.

No way would anyone want a pension paid in HUF.    It spends most of its time circulating the event horizon of the black hole of the HU economy.  Never quite collapses into oblivion but is being ripped apart by economic forces.

The only way out of that conundrum is to go back to the mothership for 1 year.

@fluffy2560

so even if you have hungarian citizenship you would have to wait and live there for one year?

    @fluffy2560
so even if you have hungarian citizenship you would have to wait and live there for one year?
   

    -@angelarobbins

Not entirely sure but yes, I think thems the rules. 

    @Marilyn Tassy I am a floater and not s mch a swimmer. I cant get my bath tub hot enough.My husband says i like to cook myself😉        -@angelarobbins

That's funny, no offence, not everyone likes doing boring old laps.

In Vegas my husband and I during winter would go to the community pool run by the city.

Fantastic lap pool 17 lanes, maybe 3 people swimming in total after classes were over for the day. I was considering joining a swim team for seniors but was too busy .

We each had our own lane and swam non-stop for 45 mins.

Went 3 times per week. On top f not being bury, they had a min. of 4 to 6 lifeguards around the pool making sure no one did themselves in. All the swim fins , paddle boards you wanted were there to use for free too. Best of all, only $1.00 a day or $25.00 for 3 months!

They also had a gated community pool in the housing complex our son lived in. I had the pool to myslef because it wasn't heated and no one wanted to jump in.

Now, I'm more careful about getting a cold because over the past 2 years my silly health wasn't good.

Better now and getting better everyday .

I'm not overjoyed about pools in Budapest, the nice lap pools are usually used all the time by swim teams and they have limited access fr the public with just a few lanes open to share.

The spa pools are full of ,"floaters" sorry to use that term. Or super swimmers, I'm not the best swimmer but I give it my all. I like to swim to the point of exhaustion.

Never was a hot tub sort of person.

Hmm, got me thinking about my old hang out in Vegas... My husband would sit allot playing poker while I was swimming here and there around town.He couldn't stick with the laps for more then one season.

Crazy thing is when we had our own built in pool in Ca. I'd let days pass without dipping in.

Too busy keeping it clean with no time to enjoy it.

Hevis is great to relax in. They have rubber tubes to float around in all day long.

I'm not sure how strong the minerals in Hevis are. They say to limit your time in heavy mineral waters.

You'd enjoy the spas in Budapest.

The old one at the Rudas is interesting but for me, once was enough.

My husband used to be taken to the Rudas all the time when he was just a boy. His uncle was a bit of a health freak and knew all about the waters, how long to be in each temp. What herbal teas to drink for any illness and all sorts of then odd treatments.

When he went with his uncle it was on men only days when they only had a tiny wrap in the front of their bodies. After the alloted time in the waters they would lay down and rest for a certain amount of time. Workers would beat the backs of people lightly with some sort of branch.

IDK, sound a bit wild to me... All I can say is his unlce lived to be in his late 80's and never married... He was super good looking to when he was young, very tall and blonde. My MIL tried to set him up all the time with her girlfriends but he was never interested in any of them...

He died a single old man but loved his spa life.

@Marilyn Tassy

Have you ever been in Szekesfehervar in the Arpadfuerdo ?

    @Marilyn Tassy Have you ever been in Szekesfehervar in the Arpadfuerdo ?         -@angelarobbins

Never went to the swimming pool there but know the city .

We used to drive there a few times per week from Velence for about 4 months.

We rented a house in Velence and drove to Szekefehervar to the downtown area or mall center to eat, play at their gambing center and see movies in the evenings.

We also did most of our big grocery shopping there.

They often had open air concerts at night too.

Never knew they even had a pool until much later. We spent most days at either Velence or Balaton.

In the evenings our then 21 year old son would go clubbing in Velence at the tecno clubs to meet young Hungarians and try to make friends.

I actually like that city, has a small town feel to it.

@angelarobbins Hungary is a great country to live, but I am confused why Hungary? So many good countries (and also cheap), Hungary is getting (cost) to the level of Western Europe, if you have enough moneym no issue, if you have very, very limited requirements also food. Still I am surprised with the choice of Hungary (so many options)

@cdw057 Me and my wife loved Eastern Europe in general (people, low density of people, friendly people, social life, ....)

    @angelarobbins Hungary is a great country to live, but I am confused why Hungary? So many good countries (and also cheap), Hungary is getting (cost) to the level of Western Europe, if you have enough moneym no issue, if you have very, very limited requirements also food. Still I am surprised with the choice of Hungary (so many options)        -@cdw057

The poster has Hungarian roots.

It's always nice to feel like you are home.

I know when we visited SE Poland where my father was born, I felt like the air was different once we crossed into Poland.

I loved it.

Logically the air was the same as anywhere else.

One exception or two perhpas...

The high mountin air of Poland has to smell different just as it does in New Mexico.

Nothing as sweet to the nose as the air desert air after it rains.

Hawaii has a smell all to it's own and from what my husband says, S.Africa smells like mother earth and feels like home.

A white Hungarian man saying S. Africa feels like his real birth place.

Interesting really.

A persons soul tends to ache for something deep inside of them it seems.

My son now lives in Japan. He always says he wishes we had taken him there as an infant and left him in Japan.

Can't explain what a sould needs to feel at peace.

        @angelarobbins Hungary is a great country to live, but I am confused why Hungary? So many good countries (and also cheap), Hungary is getting (cost) to the level of Western Europe, if you have enough moneym no issue, if you have very, very limited requirements also food. Still I am surprised with the choice of Hungary (so many options)        -@cdw057The poster has Hungarian roots.It's always nice to feel like you are home.I know when we visited SE Poland where my father was born, I felt like the air was different once we crossed into Poland.I loved it.Logically the air was the same as anywhere else.One exception or two perhpas...The high mountin air of Poland has to smell different just as it does in New Mexico. Nothing as sweet to the nose as the air desert air after it rains.Hawaii has a smell all to it's own and from what my husband says, S.Africa smells like mother earth and feels like home.A white Hungarian man saying S. Africa feels like his real birth place.Interesting really.A persons soul tends to ache for something deep inside of them it seems.My son now lives in Japan. He always says he wishes we had taken him there as an infant and left him in Japan.Can't explain what a sould needs to feel at peace.        -@Marilyn Tassy

Strange you say that, I always thought it fitted with me to be in Germany. I do have a German ancestor.  I don't think that makes any difference but I now wonder if it's actually a "thing".

On the other hand I also really like the countryside in the UK during the Spring.  Something about it - the air, the flowers, the light, plants growing after the cold and the birds tweeting.  It's just not the same as Hungary.  Other times, I can take the UK or leave  it.

I was probably just, "tippin"" because I can't stand being in Germany yet I'm at least 25% German.

My grandfather spoke German as his first language even though he was born to immigrants in the US from Frankfurt.

They scare me actually, hard and too dogmatic for my taste.

It's so odd that my husband said when he was in S. Africa he felt in his soul that was home.

The people were very friendly but something in the air felt like the craddle of humanity to him.

Peace and all the smiling faces of the locals.

He went to Sawziland and said he never saw more beautiful people in his life. Bare breasted ladies with huge smiles on their faces...Maybe it was the partial nudity he liked!!

No, it was the natural way they lived. Open and not trying to be something  or someone they weren't.

Hmm, 180 degrees different then the way we live in the west.

No wonder most people tend to get on my nerves, they aren't being themselves.

    I was probably just, "tippin"" because I can't stand being in Germany yet I'm at least 25% German.My grandfather spoke German as his first language even though he was born to immigrants in the US from Frankfurt.They scare me actually, hard and too dogmatic for my taste.It's so odd that my husband said when he was in S. Africa he felt in his soul that was home.The people were very friendly but something in the air felt like the craddle of humanity to him.Peace and all the smiling faces of the locals.He went to Sawziland and said he never saw more beautiful people in his life. Bare breasted ladies with huge smiles on their faces...Maybe it was the partial nudity he liked!!No, it was the natural way they lived. Open and not trying to be something  or someone they weren't.Hmm, 180 degrees different then the way we live in the west.No wonder most people tend to get on my nerves, they aren't being themselves.    -@Marilyn Tassy

It's easy to forget about one's experiences in Germany. I was hassled by the border guards in the wake of Brexit but it put me off their attitude.  But when I worked there in the early 90s, I found it quite good, extremely prosperous and very organised.  I was there earlier this year with the Fluffy family and we had a reasonable time.  So long as you don't cross a German Schengen border and get their BS McJob attitude, it's fine.  I try to avoid that scenario in total but work takes me through borders very often.  The only place recently where they were reasonably OK on the Schengen border was Poland. 

But I reserve my ire for crossing the US border. I'm not US bashing, just think it ludicrous when all paperwork has already been done online.  US airports need to reorganise themselves to have the concept of transit passengers who have already been through security elsewhere. It all leaves a bad taste. As a foreigner it is quite bad and quite disrespectful - everyone's a criminal to them.   And the TSA are time wasters.   I was in transit at a US airport last week.  My time between planes was 1h 20m and of that, 45m was wasted with immigration and the TSA.  I acquired yet another useless giant stamp taking up space in my passport - I was only in US territory for 1h 20m in total.  UK passports are not cheap either and a hassle to get!  A typical 10 year passport lasts me half that time due to BS stamping! 

Sorry, that was a rant.  If if you hadn't guessed, I really don't like McJob border guards and their nonsense. I want to get going and not hang about in queues.

Oh, I've had several run in's with Mcjob boarder guards.

Most happened in Germany but , yes actually thinking it over,  almost all were in Germany!

From lost luggage agents swearing under their breath when you report your bag is missing after 2 days to just being total robots. ( Our flight was about to take off and he was messing around)

Here and there a few tried to be helpful.

I remember one time in Germany at the airport they lined everyone on the flight up and we had to wait for well over 2 hours for some reason, just standing in line.

There were many people ( Jewsih people mostly who had been on a tour of the camps") they were there and going home to the US.

Many were rather on the older side and I could see they were taking a beating by being kept in line so long.

I gave one older lady a protien bar I had in my bag, she looked like she was about to faint.

When we got to the counter  I told the agent that they should be giving out bottles of water to everyone before some passed out.

I was just in my old, "customer service" mode.

They actually went and gave me a bottle of water, I felt weird that I was the only one at first. Then a guy came out with a trolly full of water and handed it out to everyone.

I may of saved the rep of that airline by complaining.

What would they do if a few oldests started passing out in line?

I'm really not a ,"Karen" type but sometimes you must speak up when people are being treated wrongly.

As a US citizen born and raised, I still get the old double take at US airport boarders. They pick on everyone.

Once they had my d that facial recognition right as we entered passport control.

Since my husband was with me, they made him d it too.

One trip we both refused to go through that radiation machine. They took us in the back and did a physical search on us.

Funny , I didn't want to have any radation done... Had 33 rounds here in Hungary after that.

Can't avoid dangers sometimes.

My brother and SIL both worked for the airlines.

My brother had a very high security clearance.

He often was alone in planes and moving them here and there on the tarmack.

Full access pass...

The thing that made him so angry was some of his co-workers without any security clearance were allowed into secure areas without having to show the guard their passes.

My brother, a person of a darker complextion was always searched and had to show all his ID's before starting his job, every day.

Now that must of really burned him, it would me.

We now avoid all flights and lay overs in Germany.

Why make life hard on yourself?

Too bad, we loved events at the old Alpine Village in Ca.

A Disneyland version is always better then the reality.

BTY, after another long 5 days of waiting and numberous e-mails and calls, my lost luggage arrived.

It seems even my bag did everything possible to avoid Germany!

It took the long way home.