Lisbon December 04 to January 05

Lisbon Notes – December 18, 2004 to January 8, 2005 Getting from the airport…there is an airport bus that goes from the airport to the downtown hotels. However, when we finally approached someone at the tourist info desk in the airport, they neglected to tell us of this option. They did not recommend the Tourist Taxi, to their credit, they said it was overpriced at 16.00 Euros and a regular taxi would be cheaper. They were right, the taxi ride cost us 8 Euros. We never did find out the cost of the airport bus since our return flight was at 6:00 am and they do not start running it until then. We took a taxi back to the airport. Our luggage was lost on arrival. There is a central zone for lost luggage for all airlines. Take a number and wait your turn. We were number 85 and they were serving 54. It took us three hours to get served. They found that our luggage was lost in Amsterdam and would arrive at 10:30 that night, but not be delivered until the next day. They could not tell us what time and we were held to our flat until it arrived. We had made multiple calls to the luggage place, but they did not have a phone or radio contact with the driver that delivers. They finally delivered it to the fruit stand across the way, but we did not know until we called the landlady’s friend. We finally found it at 1:00. This seems to be a common occurrence since this office was the busiest place at the airport. People smoke EVERYWHERE. Although I am a smoker, it felt strange to see them smoking in the airport, stores, in the mall, and in the subway. You are not supposed to smoke in the subway, but they do, though not on the subway itself. Non-smoking areas are small and not ventilated, usually right next to the smoker’s section. If you are a staunch non-smoker, I would think twice about a vacation here. Most apartments do not have central heating. They get cold in the winter, sometimes colder than outside. The advantage of having an apartment for us was that it was cheaper than three weeks in a hotel. We were able to cook when we wanted to and we had ready access to making coffee or tea at our leisure. This alone cut down our expenses since the apt. was $40.00 a night. It was about 50 square meters with a bedroom, small living room, and a tiny kitchen. It did give us a place to separate from each other when we wanted some privacy. We found food in the grocery stores to be cheaper than in Budapest, where we live. We were also able to cook some foods that we cannot get in Budapest, like Italian sausage and sweet potatoes; things that you miss from living abroad for years. This was a plus in itself. It was also located two blocks from Figeroa Square, where many of the bus lines and trams stop. Across from our front door was a produce stand and there were two others within 5 feet. We enjoyed many of the fruits and vegetables that are not available in Budapest. I would highly recommend this flat for one or two people. For more than two, it is unsuitable. The landlady is a charming young woman who is working on her doctoral dissertation in sociology. The streets were beautifully decorated for Christmas. The streets had loud speakers playing Christmas carols in English. Each street had different songs and decorations with the major squares having huge central displays of ornamentation. Most of the stores were closed on the Monday after Christmas and New Years. I believe from the signs on the doors that this is usual to be closed on Mondays. The transportation card is cheaper 8.30 Euros for five days, rather than 1 or 3 days. The card itself is .50 cents for the first time only. As you enter the tram or bus, there is a scanner. You just need to scan your card. Always get on at the front unless you see a sign on the larger buses to do otherwise. The metro is faster than the above ground transport if you have a choice and don’t care. Trams and buses are scheduled for every 6-15 minutes, but we waited over 30 on several occasions for a bus or a tram. This card is good on all elevadors too. They are fun to ride and the views are wonderful. St. Justa elevadore is a work of art in itself and the view is great, but it can get quite windy (and cold in the winter). Bus 37 goes to the castle entrance if you don’t want to walk the hill after tram 28. It is recommended that you ride up and walk down. As you walk down, you will go through the Alfama section of the city. This district survived the earthquake of 1755 on All Saints Day when 40,000 people were killed and most of the city was destroyed. In this area is a store called Tradicoes at Rua de Saint Pedro 41 www.portugal2u.com We found some modern pottery here that we did not see anywhere else. Although many of their items are priced high, they are reasonable with the pottery prices. The cork products are available many places, so if this interests you, shop around. Tram 15 goes to Belem. This is where the Monument of Discovery, the monastery and the famous pasteleria is. Pasteleria do Belem. The Lisboa Tourist office at Commercio Square is very expensive for souvenirs. The tourist office can be useless depending on the clerk of the hour, regardless of the location. We received different information regarding the same questions on three different trips in. The directions printed for some museums are outdated or misprints. They did admit that their maps are not very good either, especially the transportation one. It is always best to double check the maps at the bus or trams stops. Our landlady later told us they have a reputation for being rude to the tourists. Many places you have to pay for your coffee and pastry at the cashier and then take your ticket to the counter to order it. Other places have table service with a bit added for the service. Watch what others do and follow their example. The best café latte I had was at the post office at Restarandures Metro stop. It was only 95 Euro cents. The Casa do Alentejo is on the street behind this post office. This has a magnificent tile collection. It was once a private club, but anyone can wander in and have dinner if you choose. We wandered all over the second floor to look at the tiles. Rua dos Portes de Santo Antao (no number given in our book). There is a flea market behind St. Vincent’s Church on Tuesdays. On the hill going down on the left, there are two stands worth visiting. One sells ceramic tiles and the other pottery. Both sell new and they are cheaper than the tourist shops, but the quality is the same. They refused to bargain with the people next to me, so I did not try it. El Corte Ingeles is worth going to for the food store in the basement. There are many foods there you do not usually see elsewhere. It is like Harrods food court only less expensive. If you live in Europe and can use PAL system DVDs, you will find some good buys here. There are ATM bank machines everywhere, they all seem to be tied into MultiBanco. This means that regardless of the machine we used, we could only get a maximum of 200 Euros a day. Since our bank charges $5.00 per withdrawal, it hurt to have to take money out more than twice in a week. In Budapest, trying to cash a traveler’s check is a major hassle. I have not used them for years. The only exchange offices I noticed were the Western Union offices (2 in the city). The rates are not good, so I will eat the $5.00 charge that my bank charges me. Although I found over 2 dozen Wi-Fi Internet cafes listed on the Internet before I left, the tourist office said there were none. Hard Rock Café has one that is supposedly free. However, when I went to use it, I found I needed to buy an access card from PTT, the phone company. They charge 5 Euro for an hour or 20 Euro for an all day card. This was the same wherever there were “free” wireless connection cards. I never did find any hotspots for really free access. Western Union has Internet access, but it is about 2 Euros for a full hour, but costs more if you get it in 15 or 30 minute increments. This is about the cheapest I could find. I only went to clean out mailboxes so nothing would bounce while I was gone. If I could have found a Wi-Fi café, I could have written my notes on my laptop and then just uploaded them. I also wanted to upload my photos, but needed the Wi-Fi place to do it from my laptop. Discounts in Lisbon: Some museums like the Puppet Museum are closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, so double check before you head there. The Azulajoz Tile Museum is closed on Mondays, but only opens again at 2:00 pm on Tuesday. My partner received a senior discount of 50% of admission (cost was 1.50 Euro rather than 3.00). I just by chance asked about a teacher discount and received the same 50% for teachers. On Christmas night when nothing was open including the restaurants, we found lots of activity at the malls. The stores were closed, but the movies and some restaurants were open. My partner was given a 50% discount on his movie ticket for being a senior. If you are over 65 y.o. ask for a senior discount. Most places will give it to you and only ask to see a driver’s license or passport. Free Admission: Gulbenkian Museum and the Modern Art Museum on the same grounds are free admission on Sundays. They will give you a ticket, collect the stub, but the admission is still free and the backs of the tickets are quite pretty. The Cemetery of Pleasure at the end of the 28 tram line is a cultural experience. If you have ever been to Buenos Aires to find Eva Peron, you will appreciate this one as well. It would be worth taking the 28 tram from one end to the other. With your transportation card, you can hop off at any point if something catches your eye. There are many lovely places to stop and look at views or interesting sites along the way. The 12 tram is a circular route that will return to where you started. It is worth a ride around at least once. One book we have found very helpful is Lisbon: A Cultural and Literary Companion by Paul Buck and published by Interlink Books NY/North Hampton © 2002. Part of the Cities of Imagination Series. Sintra- You can easily get to Sintra as a day trip, but two would be recommended. From Lisbon at the Jardim Zoologica Metro stop there is a connection for Comboios. These small commuter trains run about every 15 minutes to Sintra. Tickets are 65 Euro cents for seniors with a passport or drivers license each way. Regular adults are 1.30 Euros each way. Get off at the last stop. There are two Sintra stops. When you come out of the train station, turn left, follow the signs for the historical center of town. This is what we did our first day. We walked a lot!!! On the second day, we turned right outside the train station and next to Pizza Hut (ugh!) there is a bus that does the whole circuit of castles. It is number 434. A day ticket is 3.60. This provides unlimited hop on hop off possibilities. It goes to all of the castles, so you can take your time and then hop on the bus again for the next castle. Beware that the crowds get large. There was a lot of pushing and shoving to get on. The bus driver finally admitted people to a limit and then stopped letting others on. They do not come as frequently as you would expect considering the crowds. We had to wait for two buses to pass us by before we could get on. Due to the crowds, the driver refused to stop at some of the stops in between castles, though they are listed on the schedule and there were bus stops with people hailing him down. At the end of the day, if you are tired, you just take it back to the train station. There is less of a crowd at the end of the day. The Regaleria Palace is 500 meters uphill, while the Palacio Palace is 1400 feet up very steep hills. I overheard someone say it took them 1 ½ hours to climb up the winding roads. The roads are also very narrow and you have to be on the look out for traffic at all times. We went to the Palacio Palace and would highly recommend it. It is still quite a hike after the bus lets you off. Do not be turned off by the long line waiting to buy tickets. It went really fast. Seniors combined admission for the Palace and the gardens was 4.00 Euro and the regular adult was 6.00 Euro. There is a little shuttle which will take you closer to the top, but it is 1.50 Euro per person. There is a lot of stair climbing. We also went to the National Palace. It is interesting, but not furnished as well as the other. It is more old world castle feeling since it was used in the 16th century. Portugal’s last King left the throne in 1910. The Toy Museum was fun, but they claim over 20,000 toys. I believe this, but they should have stopped at 10,000. The exhibits are stuffed and it is difficult to appreciate many of the things since they are crowded in a small space. There are three floors and they really need more to do these gems justice. There are toys from all over the world. 3 Euros regular, 1.50 Seniors, no teacher discounts. Restaurants are a bit pricier in Sintra, but many have fixed meals starting at 8 Euros. There are dozens of tourist shops. Our third week, we rented an apt. in Bélem. This was only due to our first rental lady having to move back into where we were staying since the roof was being fixed at her other flat. We rented the Bélem flat from a friend of hers. She charges 50 Euro a night, 10 Euro per person a week for utilities and 40 Euro total for cleaning when you leave. Bélem is only 4 miles from downtown Lisbon, but can take over 20 minutes to get there due to traffic. The flat could accommodate about five people comfortably. Although it was a first floor flat, it did have a downstairs. On the first floor was a kitchen and living room combination. The room was very large with a sofa bed and a single futon. The kitchen had a stove with oven/broiler combination. The stovetop was gas, but the oven was electric. We used the broiler a few times for steaks since we do not have one in Budapest. The downstairs has a long hallway, with a huge bathroom. There are two sinks as well as the tub with shower. Two people could easily get ready at one time in this bathroom. There was also a very spacious bedroom with a very comfortable double bed. Off of the bedroom is a closed in sun room with a hammock. It was too chilly during our stay to try it out. The flat is located near the Hospital Militar, by two blocks. A bus that stops there going down the hill to the center and then trams and buses there into Lisbon downtown. We walked the hills back to the flat for the first three days, but then succumbed to the bus. It is quite a hike up at the end of a long day. The public library in Bélem is worth visiting if you are a lover of children’s books. The whole first floor is a children’s library. The second floor is the adult section. You will not find anything in English, not even newspapers, but they do have one computer with Internet that you can sign up to use for a half hour at a time. The children’s librarian speaks adequate English to assist. From Bélem, we took the commuter train to Cascais, a beautiful little beach town. The ticket was from a machine: 1.30 Euro regular one way and 65 Euro cents Senior ½ price ticket. It took about 40 minutes to get there and it is at the end of the line. Trains run about every 10 minutes all day long. The town is wonderful with many little shops and restaurants, but my favorite part was strolling the small beach area and collecting an amazing variety of seashells. If I had known, I would have brought a baggie with me, but I utilized my jacket pockets instead. The cultural center is small, but they did have an interesting art exhibit which was free. They also have restrooms. To the right and around the corner is the entrance to a park. The park is huge and magnificent. There is a large pond with swans, ducks, and dozens of turtles. As you wander through the trails, there are peacocks and peahens roaming freely and being very used to people, do not move from your path when you walk by them. There is a children’s playground in one section, an open field in an another, and many little walking trails through what feels like little sections of a jungle. There are spectacular statues in various areas and water fountains with surprising statues as well. There is a children’s zoo of various kinds of birds, which needs some attention. There is also a children’s library at the other end, but we did not venture there. In little openings on the trails are picnic benches and tables for warmer weather. There are a few restaurants to have a meal or coffee overlooking the beach and the boats moored in the water. You can watch the men baiting their hundreds of crab traps getting them ready for the days work. On our return trip to Bélem, we did not pay close attention to the schedule and our train by-passed our station and did not stop until the next one. We had to take a bus back to Bélem from there. From Bélem, we decided to go to the Oceanarium at the Expo 98 site. We had to take a bus to one metro, take this metro to the end, then switch to a second metro to the de Gama Center. The ride took us an hour total to get there. I was not enthused about the Oceanarium having been to the one in Monterey, CA a number of times and to the New Jersey State Aquarium shortly after its opening. My partner received a 4.50 Euro discount on his 10 Euro ticket and I received a 1.50 Euro teacher discount. As soon as we entered, I was enthralled. The set up is wonderfully designed. In the center and from all areas, you see the huge aquarium of the global ocean. The aquarium is done is such a way that you can see the different varieties that like to swim higher and lower in the water’s depths by having viewing areas on two levels. In each of the four corners, there is the Atlantic Ocean, the Antarctic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, and the Indian Ocean. Each has its own species of fish, plus birds, and in one case a pair of sea otters. There are many break-out areas with scientific information that is quite interesting and written in English and Portuguese. One such area has an on-going movie about the care and feeding of the animals. It is well worth the time to watch. This scientific center works in cooperation with Monterey Aquarium in CA as well as some others. From here, we returned to the de Gama mall to see a movie in English with Portuguese sub-titles before wandering home again. We retraced our route taking one metro to the end, then switching lines to the second metro. We waited for our tram back to Bélem for over 20 minutes before we realized that it stops running at 7:30 pm. We had to take a different tram and was on this for 3 stops before it stopped dead and we waited 15 minutes for it to move again. It turns out there was an accident on the tracks. There were seven other trams log jammed ahead of us waiting to get through. It was difficult to find alternative routes to get back, but finally made it back to Bélem. We then looked for the bus that would take us back up our hill. It was now close to 10:00 pm and we were too tired to hike it. No bus came and we finally opted for a taxi to the hospital and then walked from there. One thing to be wary of is the time that different lines stop running. Some stop as early as 5:30 pm while others stop at 7:30 or even as late as 11:00. They all stop fairly early for a large city, but this is the same in many cities. The Monastery in Belem is well worth visiting. The art museum is not unless you are really into Portuguese art. Discounts at both for seniors. Ryan James, Ed.D. drjames@aces-hungary.org

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More FAQs Moving to Hungary

Hi guys, Could you recommend districts of Pest we might look to rent a furnished flat our first year and buy in the next year? At this point in time, I would recommend Dists. 5, 6, 7 (parts of), or 13. There are good and fair points about each district, but I would live in any of these on the Pest side. I do not know any of the districts on the Buda side, since we would not consider living there. One thing to keep in mind is that the trams stop at midnight, the subways at 11:00 pm and if you go to a late movie, you want to be able to catch a night bus to get home again. Some taxis are cheap, but if you are living on a budget, why waste the money? We are trying to work with HungarInvest at the moment. I sent them a snippy e-mail about their needing to learn how to work with foreigners if they want our investment dollars. I will report back on our satisfaction level. We are planning on buying our flat, but need to do some comparative shopping. We personally think that the older buildings have much more character than the new ones do. It adds to the cultural experience of it all. We love our flat. Like the States, they start high and you work them down. Our rent here is $500. a month, so it is to our advantage to buy it. Would it be safe to assume that we will not be able to rent for only 6 months? However, if we are not yet residents will we be able to rent for a year either? You most certainly should be able to rent for six months. It may not be the apt. of your dreams, but for six months, who cares? For a six month rental, you should probably think in terms of a much smaller apt. for two reasons. 1. The rent will be cheaper. 2. It will accustom you to living in smaller quarters. Large apts. do not rent well here. Ours was vacant for 6 months before we took it and the prior tenant was the owner's daughter. Apts. over 70 square meters are not rented by Hungarians. They cannot afford to rent/run a larger apt. If you buy a larger one, you will be dependent on ex-pats to rent to and this could be a financial risk. Unless a large apt. can be renovated into two apts. where one can be rented out, they do not sell fast either. Our apt. cannot be broken down to two since both bathrooms are next to each other. We don't intend to rent it out or to sell it for the near future, so it is not a concern for us. We have 3 bedrooms, 1 1/2 baths, a walk in pantry, huge living room and quite a large eat in kitchen, with a good size entry hallway. We rent out our large spare bedroom to Fulbrighters that need a night to a weeks lodging for 20 euros a night and we provide breakfast. Some day, Jean will include us on his web site for accommodations, but the summer is his busiest time. I have been editing the English of his site, but he does not have the time to make changes until the Fall. The lease laws have nothing to do with the Visa laws. They will give you a lease for 5 years if you want, but whether or not you can actually stay in the country is your problem. They will have all of your passport details to make sure that they collect from you eventually. Be careful of the agents that you use. All utilities go in the apt. owners name, not the tenant. When we first came, we rented off the Internet for fast service. The agent screwed us royally on the utilities and way overcharged us. When we asked to see bills, we were told that they were combined with other apts. that they managed and separating them and translating them was more than they were willing to do. When we moved, we found our utilities dropped considerably. Within your apt., you are responsible for repairs. The building itself is handled by the “homeowners assoc.” You can always have an apt. inspected like you would in the States to see if there are problems before buying. Having lived here in this apt. for over a year, we have a sense of what is what. Of course, one never knows either. One other thing to think about with buying. We just found out that most flats/apts. are sold unfurnished. What we did not realize was that also meant they also rip out the ceiling fixtures, the refrigerator, the stove, and anything else they like including the kitchen cupboards. It is not like the States, were you have to leave whatever is attached as a fixture. So, you need to consider furnishing a place too from top to bottom. Do you think that $1,000 is enough for basic monthly expenses if we own a flat. If you own your flat, it should be fine, but you have to consider the fluctuating exchange rates. When we first came it was 280 HUF to the dollar and everything seemed like we were paying with play money. Now it is 230 and we are more cautious about it. The opera depends on where need/want to sit. You can get seats for $3.00 if you are not prone to nosebleeds or you can spring for $20.00 seats. It does depend on the performance and the company too. Some are a little higher, but not all that much. Theater – Last year, we bought season tickets to the Merlin, the English speaking theater. The season ticket was $36.00 and include 6 performances with one bonus for a total of seven. The theater is small and it is first come, first to grab a seat theater. We have been pleased with most of the plays. “Stones In My Pocket” and “Two Blind Mice” were especially good. Movies – The highest priced one so far has been 1,000 HUF (about $4.00) depending on the exchange rate. There are cheaper ones, but they usually run the same English movie again and again or you have to wait weeks for it to arrive there. There is an English video store, you need to buy a VCR here since it is the PAL system. The VCRs here will play American videos as well as PAL, but not vice versa. There are usually tons of musical things that are free or under $5.00. You may not be able to see all that you want due to the cost, but there is plenty of free stuff to take advantage of. All other plays “CATS”, “Phantom”, “My Fair Lady”, etc are only in Hungarian. By the way, the opera house and the Merlin are closed during the summer due to no air conditioning. Being from 'the sunny South', we always have to ask about air conditioning. We monitor the temperatures in Budapest and it seems like it would be tolerable in the summers...warm days but cooler nights. July and August are by far the hottest months. It is not unheard of for the temp to be in the 90’s. Last year, we thought we were going to die and we came from Central CA where 105 is usual from June to September. It is the humidity, here which makes it unbearable. We have had a relatively lovely summer this year, but we still have had days that have approached close to 100 and the nights have not been cool. Yesterday was a scorcher. Now, I have to take a pause to stop laughing about the air conditioning. Okay, I am being snide, but WHAT AIR CONDITIONING???? The malls are not air conditioned, most of the movie theaters are not a/c’ed. Though interesting, the movies in the mall are. They were not last year. Have you been here in the summer? If you stayed at a place with a/c, unless it was a 5 star hotel, I would be shocked. The only places with a/c that we have been to are the embassy, 5 star hotels, and the theater in the mall. There are some casinos that advertise it, but we have never been. Window units are few and far between due to the very large windows. It would be hard to place a window unit in most of them. The a/c units that one of our friends have is a small unit, but they had to cut a hole over his kitchen door to install it to the outside. His electric bill skyrocketed. For the number of days that you really, really need it, we get by with a couple of fans. Pest has more traffic than Buda, but we have not had any problems with the air quality. It is far better many U.S. cities that I have been to, but since I have only been in the Atlanta airport, I cannot compare. If you have been to Athens, it is pure air here in comparison. As hot as it gets, I still drag my ass to the thermals on Tuesdays. What part of the year is considered the coldest? I would venture that January and February are the coldest. It was still cold in March, but all of the Hungarians said that this was strange since March it usually starting to be Spring-like. I was still wearing my winter coat into the middle of March and changed to a lighter coat around second part of March. I still needed a jacket until May, but it was not glove weather. The thermal makes you warm inside on the coldest day. Could we ask for the name of your Israeli friend's insurance company in the UK? I will have to call her for this, but that means at least an hour on the phone, so I will get back to you with this. Sounds like being Directors of a Corporation is an imperative. Does this corporation have to be profitable? Does it require taxation, reporting, other oversight by government? We have an idea for what our 'corporation' might be but it would not be a full time concern. Would that be a problem? Just like the States, you are given a few years to make a profit. The bad part is that by Hungarian law, you must have an accountant. This can turn into a hefty fee. Most that we talked to wanted the equivalent of $75.00 to $150.00 a month for services. They know that they have you over a barrel, so they can charge a high fee. Although, you may not have any business activity, your accountant still has to file monthly forms on your behalf, quarterly reports, and do your income tax. All of this is legally required. Yes, you have to pay taxes, but you can have write-offs similar to the States. It does not need to be full-time. When we started our company, we were shocked and horrified to find out that just because we owned the company, not only did we have to get Work Permits to work for ourselves, but we also had to compete with Hungarians for our own jobs. As part of the Work Permit process, we had to send a job description to the local employment office where it had to be posted for I think it was two weeks, before we were cleared for the jobs. I had forgotten about this piece until now. The employment office could have sent us a potential employee for our company even if they did not have the same qualifications that we did. We sweated those two weeks. In line with this, you have to produce all ORIGINAL diplomas, certificates, etc. that you want to be used to qualify you for your “company” job. They will not accept photocopies or transcripts, which is what we had with us. I had to fax all of our universities and get duplicated done since all of our originals were in storage. It was a nightmare. They also wanted one for every degree I received, which made it worse and very expensive getting the duplicates. They then have to be translated into Hungarian by a government authorized agency and notarized. Only lawyers here can be notaries. Since I am only at three pages, here is some info you have not asked for. There are low cost airlines moving into Budapest. Right now, there is Germanwings (one word) and is an offshoot of Lufthansa and Snowflake, an offshoot of SAS the Scandinavian airlines. Germanwings only flies from Budapest to Cologne at this time, but from Cologne, you can go many other places. These are similar to Southwest. If we had booked when we talked about it, we could have gotten a r/t ticket to Cologne for 19 euros or to Copenhagen for 49 euros. We waited to discuss it more and the flights sold out. We are however, leaving for Cologne tomorrow for 5 days on Germanwings. The cost was $145.00 r/t each. Still not bad, but could have been better. Ryanair and Easyjet are looking at Budapest, but I heard that Ryanair is going to start service out of Debrecen, Hungary in a few months. Debrecen is a three hour train ride from Budapest. Okay, I ran into page four and need to get some things done for a very early flight tomorrow. We will be back on the 29th, so mull over your answers, think of more questions and I will answer them when we return. Regards, Ryan

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FAQ - Moving to Hungary

We are asked questions about our move all of the time. We are happy to assist others. I am glad that Jean had the forethought to refer you to us. We will be more than willing to give you our take on things here in this grand city. Just for some info, we moved here in Dec. 2001. We had been here once before for less than a week at that time, while also traveling to the Czech Republic, Poland, Vienna, and Berlin. We left CA in August of 2001 with the intention of traveling for a year or so, then settling down on the Northeast coast in the Boston area. That was the hope at the time. Now let me preface all of the rest of this with the fact that Hungary will be joining the EU in May of 2004. All rules and laws will be different by then, but until then and most likely after that they will continue to change daily. When we arrived and still after the EU, U.S. citizens can stay for up to 90 days without a Visa. E.U. regulations are such now that U.S. citizens can only stay in the E.U. as an entity for 90 days every six months. That means after 90 days in any E.U. country/countries, we must leave for 6 months before re-entering. They are beefing up their inter-country passport control computers systems to make this much more of a hassle than it has in the past, Hungary included. When we came, we just crossed a border to have our passport stamped. This was not a problem at the time as we had U.S. friends living in Slovakia and Croatia, so we could take mini-vacations. Investigating things with other Americans and a lawyer, we were told that if we started a corporation here, we could be managing directors and not need Visas to stay. We found an attorney and did do this. The cost was $300.00 (at the exchange rate then, which was 280 Huf to the $). The day we had our last Notary stamp put on the papers, the attorney received a call from his office. His researcher told him that a law had just passed stating that we as corporation owners would still need Visas for staying in Hungary. Going from inflated to deflated in minutes, we then checked out that process, something the attorney said he did not do. We found an agency called Business Umbrella (since has gone out of business). They for a hefty fee, arranged Work Permits, which was necessary first and then our temporary Visas. At the time, they were the best deal cost wise around. We were constantly running around getting paperwork for them to submit our papers. The clincher was that the new law made it impossible to get your Visa without returning to the States. This was a cost that we did not want to deal with, but there was no choice. Up to January 1, 2002, you could go to any other country, go to the Hungarian Embassy and have your Visa issued. This right was taken away from Hungarian Ambassadors with a change in government. The law is now that you must apply in your country of citizenship for part of the process. Ron was newly retired in the States, giving us the time to travel, so he had to get a work permit to get a Visa. To get a work permit, you have to be accepted for employment from a Hungarian company. He found a language school to hire him as did I, but we both shortly thereafter, found university teaching positions. We flew back to NYC to the Hungarian consulate and submitted our applications. They were less than helpful and did not know the rules and laws that we were assured of from the agencies here. As public employees of universities, we did not have to pay the $50.00 fee for applying. We left with such bad feelings, that I was sure we would be denied and I was sick about it for weeks. Finally, they sent a letter to our NJ address that our Visa was ready. We had to UPS our passports to our friends in NJ who had to send them with a certified check to the consulate as if it were us doing it. The check was to cover certified mail to send our passports back to NJ. We were then in Hungary illegally during this time and without passports. Our friend then had to Fed Ex our passports back to us here. Unfortunately, the Visa was for less than a year due to some crazy system of how they calculate. Business Umbrella had since gone under during this time, but we followed our worker to the Ex-Pat Relocation Center (www.erc.hu) to finish the job. These darlings charged us $75.00 each just to register us with the local police, which is a legal requirement. If we had realized this ahead of time, we could have paid a Hungarian $20.00 to do it for both of us, but we were dumb in the ways of the land. We got along fine until this year when we had to renew it. ERC is just about the only game in town and the small others charged just about the same fees, so we bit the bullet and continued with them since they had all of our files anyway. We just got our bill and it was $1,700.00 for both of us. That was about 700. more than anticipated, but too late now. During the first year, we needed a physical for the Work Permit. Very simple, in and out. For the Visa renewal, we had to have a chest X-Ray for TB, HIV test, stool sample, Salmonella test, full physical exams. This was not covered by my Hungarian health insurance or Ron's stateside insurance. The jury is still out on how things will go next year when they join the EU. Although our Visa was renewed in June, ours expires the beginning of May due to the EU. No one seems to know yet if this will be more complicated or less. We do not know of any ex-pats who are living here without working for that almighty Work Permit, which is needed for the Visa. That is not true, there are some, but they are of Hungarian origin- children of Hungarian emigrants and the rules are different since they qualify for a Hungarian passport. Yesterday, I read in the Budapest Sun (www.budapestsun.com) that the law currently is that if you leave the country for 90 days, your Visa becomes invalid and then you must start the whole process again. The exception is if you have to travel for business and can prove that you needed to be out of the country for legitimate business reasons. This still has to be approved by the Ministry of Immigration. Now on to your specific questions: Are there any social groups for retirees? Although we have not looked, we do monitor the social events in the Budapest Sun weekly. There have not been any listed. I doubt that there would be a sufficient number of ex-pat retirees to make up a group. Being a gay couple, unless you speak Hungarian fluently, your gay options will be limited also. We do not have a gay network other than three friends who speak English. We are isolated from much/most of their social functions since we cannot communicate with the crowd and it is a burden on them to continually translate when they want to socialize. The gay scene is almost exclusively Hungarian speaking. There is one bar owned by an American (U.S.), but he speaks Hungarian. It is a drag bar, not exclusively gay, and definitely not our cup of tea. We rarely go to the bars. We did have an older friend who had been here for 4 years, he worked for the U.S. Embassy. He went to the bars all of the time and never had a good thing to say about them. He continued out of loneliness, but claimed that he never met one person there. We have built a community of friends, but mostly non-gays, non-Hungarian, or U.S. people here on Fulbright Scholarships, but they are all short-termers. Hungarians are very family oriented. It is difficult to get to know them well since they spend all of their free time with family. Even the gays are similar. Many gay men do not leave home until their late 20’s to early 30’s since they cannot afford to live on their own. Sharing an apt. or flat is not as common as in the States. We are interested in information about medical plans available in Budapest. The American Clinic offers a medical plan that costs currently 60,000 HUF a year (current exchange is 230 HUF to the $). This covers doctor visits, labs, and I think x-rays, but not for routine physicals. It does not include hospitalization. I know that you could buy Hungarian health insurance through the State, but I do not know the cost currently. It was around $150.00 a month. Doctors and nurse here are highly underpaid and you do not want to be hospitalized here unless you have someone to give “tips” to the doctors, nurses, aides, P/T, etc. If you don’t, you will sit in the bed and rot. I have heard this from a number of my students as well as Hungarian friends who have had experience. We have not, but we don’t discount the information. I have an Israeli friend who has insurance from London and pays 172 euros a month for the whole package. I am not sure what her coverage is, but do know that it covers hospitals. I think she has to pay out of pocket and get reimbursed with all services. Suggestions on good areas in which to rent with various services available, i.e., shopping, food, restaurants, etc. which one could walk to and from? If you like the Buda side, you are asking the wrong people. We are down to earth people and our experience is that the Buda side attracts mainly for corporate employees, embassy folks, and others with money to burn. The rents and cost of buying on that side are highly inflated and they get is since most ex-pats are being cared for by their companies and not paying out of pocket. If you are interested in the Pest side, we can discuss this further. As far as services go, we have 4 grocery stores within 2-3 blocks, a dozen restaurants, a post office, a department store, camera shops, bakeries, and an Indian clothing/food store. Within our one block, there are 3 convenience grocery stores, an Internet place, a dog groomer, a Spanish, Hungarian, and a Chinese restaurant., plus other assorted little shops. Businesses here come one day and are gone the next. The economy is not that stable for the Hungarians with the average salary about $400. U.S. a month. Within our block they are building a new apt. complex. www.center-homes.hu They are supposed to be finished in 2005. It is in Hungarian, but on the left, click on Akacfa and you will see the proposed project. We have a flat that is 114 square meters and was unoccupied for six months. Hungarians do not rent more than 70 sq. m. due to cost. If you are thinking of renting part of the year, you will need to think in terms of can you afford to have it vacant when you are not here. For foreigners to buy, at the moment, you have to have a corporation and the corporation has to do the purchase. This still has to have approval from some ministry or the other. We are buying our flat, but do not intend to rent it out for some time. There are no mortgages for foreigners, so if you buy, you have to do so outright. When they find out you are from the U.S., the price inflates, so it is best to have a Hungarian do the negotiating for you for renting or for buying. What would the average or range be for monthly living expenses in Budapest assuming we owned our own flat/condo? ADSL, satellite TV, cellphones service, gas, water, electricity, and other basic expenses. ADSL, IDSN, or Cable Internet connections are not available in all areas at this time. I have ADSL, but the only provider for this area was the phone company. I would have preferred Cable through the cable company since it would be cheaper. I pay about $50.00 a month depending on exchange rates, but the “business” pays it so it is a write off on Hungarian taxes. Mobile phone (cell phones is so American ; ) ) run us about $25.00 a month with a regular contract. To get a regular contract, you need a Visa or a corporation. The other alternative is a pay-as-you-go mobile. You buy the phone (you need a Hungarian to actually purchase it) and then you buy cards that give you talk time. It is now possible to do this through ATM machines. Gas has gone up twice in the last six months. It now runs us about $25.00 a month in the summer and more in the winter. We have radiators that are gas heated. Electric is about $30.00 a month. In our building, water is not metered, so we do not have a separate water bill. Every flat, whether you rent or own pays a “homeowners” fee to the building. In our building this covers water and building maintenance for the elevator, cleaning the halls, etc. We pay 10,000 HUF a month, but we understand that currently, it is 25,000 since they needed to do some work on the roof. In order to have a satellite dish, you have to have permission from your fellow building dwellers. No one in our building has one and we survive with BBC and CNN International and a few hours of Animal Planet in English. TCM is on at 9:00 pm every night in English. This is different depending on neighborhoods and cable companies. The company is pre-determined by the neighborhood. Our cable bill for our basic services runs about $9.00 a month. Phone bill is about $20.00 a month. You are charged the minute that you place a call and they answer, even for wrong numbers. There are no packages like the States. Most people hardly ever use their home phone and use mobiles instead. It is cheaper. Also, most people use SMS messaging on their phones since it is cheaper than a call on the mobile. Oh, I forgot the HYPERMARKETS. These are Au Chan, Tesco, and Cora. All of them need a car to get to, so we don’t get there often without a car. They are similar to Costco, Sam’s Club, etc. with the exception that they make the largest of these look like small potatoes. I have never seen such large stores in my life. The prices are supposedly cheaper, but you still need to comparatively shop around. Food prices have escalated in the time we have been here. It was normal to spend $10.00 for about 3 days worth of groceries. Now, $10.00 will cover maybe two days. After the E.U. I have my fears that prices will soar. Projections are that property values will too! This should give you some food for thought, but I am more than happy to continue a dialogue with you. One more thing…Ron’s monthly retirement income is more than most Hungarians earn in six months, but that was not considered when he applied for the Visa. I know in some countries if you can show self-sufficient income, it is easier. Here is was not. What happens next year is anyone’s guess. Regards, Ryan

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More Questions About Our Move

We are asked questions about our move all of the time. We are happy to assist others. I am glad that Jean had the forethought to refer you to us. We will be more than willing to give you our take on things here in this grand city. Just for some info, we moved here in Dec. 2001. We had been here once before for less than a week at that time, while also traveling to the Czech Republic, Poland, Vienna, and Berlin. We left CA in August of 2001 with the intention of traveling for a year or so, then settling down on the Northeast coast in the Boston area. That was the hope at the time. Now let me preface all of the rest of this with the fact that Hungary will be joining the EU in May of 2004. All rules and laws will be different by then, but until then and most likely after that they will continue to change daily. When we arrived and still after the EU, U.S. citizens can stay for up to 90 days without a Visa. E.U. regulations are such now that U.S. citizens can only stay in the E.U. as an entity for 90 days every six months. That means after 90 days in any E.U. country/countries, we must leave for 6 months before re-entering. They are beefing up their inter-country passport control computers systems to make this much more of a hassle than it has in the past, Hungary included. When we came, we just crossed a border to have our passport stamped. This was not a problem at the time as we had U.S. friends living in Slovakia and Croatia, so we could take mini-vacations. Investigating things with other Americans and a lawyer, we were told that if we started a corporation here, we could be managing directors and not need Visas to stay. We found an attorney and did do this. The cost was $300.00 (at the exchange rate then, which was 280 Huf to the $). The day we had our last Notary stamp put on the papers, the attorney received a call from his office. His researcher told him that a law had just passed stating that we as corporation owners would still need Visas for staying in Hungary. Going from inflated to deflated in minutes, we then checked out that process, something the attorney said he did not do. We found an agency called Business Umbrella (since has gone out of business). They for a hefty fee, arranged Work Permits, which was necessary first and then our temporary Visas. At the time, they were the best deal cost wise around. We were constantly running around getting paperwork for them to submit our papers. The clincher was that the new law made it impossible to get your Visa without returning to the States. This was a cost that we did not want to deal with, but there was no choice. Up to January 1, 2002, you could go to any other country, go to the Hungarian Embassy and have your Visa issued. This right was taken away from Hungarian Ambassadors with a change in government. The law is now that you must apply in your country of citizenship for part of the process. Ron was newly retired in the States, giving us the time to travel, so he had to get a work permit to get a Visa. To get a work permit, you have to be accepted for employment from a Hungarian company. He found a language school to hire him as did I, but we both shortly thereafter, found university teaching positions. We flew back to NYC to the Hungarian consulate and submitted our applications. They were less than helpful and did not know the rules and laws that we were assured of from the agencies here. As public employees of universities, we did not have to pay the $50.00 fee for applying. We left with such bad feelings, that I was sure we would be denied and I was sick about it for weeks. Finally, they sent a letter to our NJ address that our Visa was ready. We had to UPS our passports to our friends in NJ who had to send them with a certified check to the consulate as if it were us doing it. The check was to cover certified mail to send our passports back to NJ. We were then in Hungary illegally during this time and without passports. Our friend then had to Fed Ex our passports back to us here. Unfortunately, the Visa was for less than a year due to some crazy system of how they calculate. Business Umbrella had since gone under during this time, but we followed our worker to the Ex-Pat Relocation Center (www.erc.hu) to finish the job. These darlings charged us $75.00 each just to register us with the local police, which is a legal requirement. If we had realized this ahead of time, we could have paid a Hungarian $20.00 to do it for both of us, but we were dumb in the ways of the land. We got along fine until this year when we had to renew it. ERC is just about the only game in town and the small others charged just about the same fees, so we bit the bullet and continued with them since they had all of our files anyway. We just got our bill and it was $1,700.00 for both of us. That was about 700. more than anticipated, but too late now. During the first year, we needed a physical for the Work Permit. Very simple, in and out. For the Visa renewal, we had to have a chest X-Ray for TB, HIV test, stool sample, Salmonella test, full physical exams. This was not covered by my Hungarian health insurance or Ron's stateside insurance. The jury is still out on how things will go next year when they join the EU. Although our Visa was renewed in June, ours expires the beginning of May due to the EU. No one seems to know yet if this will be more complicated or less. We do not know of any ex-pats who are living here without working for that almighty Work Permit, which is needed for the Visa. That is not true, there are some, but they are of Hungarian origin- children of Hungarian emigrants and the rules are different since they qualify for a Hungarian passport. Yesterday, I read in the Budapest Sun (www.budapestsun.com) that the law currently is that if you leave the country for 90 days, your Visa becomes invalid and then you must start the whole process again. The exception is if you have to travel for business and can prove that you needed to be out of the country for legitimate business reasons. This still has to be approved by the Ministry of Immigration. Now on to your specific questions: Are there any social groups for retirees? Although we have not looked, we do monitor the social events in the Budapest Sun weekly. There have not been any listed. I doubt that there would be a sufficient number of ex-pat retirees to make up a group. Being a gay couple, unless you speak Hungarian fluently, your gay options will be limited also. We do not have a gay network other than three friends who speak English. We are isolated from much/most of their social functions since we cannot communicate with the crowd and it is a burden on them to continually translate when they want to socialize. The gay scene is almost exclusively Hungarian speaking. There is one bar owned by an American (U.S.), but he speaks Hungarian. It is a drag bar, not exclusively gay, and definitely not our cup of tea. We rarely go to the bars. We did have an older friend who had been here for 4 years, he worked for the U.S. Embassy. He went to the bars all of the time and never had a good thing to say about them. He continued out of loneliness, but claimed that he never met one person there. We have built a community of friends, but mostly non-gays, non-Hungarian, or U.S. people here on Fulbright Scholarships, but they are all short-termers. Hungarians are very family oriented. It is difficult to get to know them well since they spend all of their free time with family. Even the gays are similar. Many gay men do not leave home until their late 20’s to early 30’s since they cannot afford to live on their own. Sharing an apt. or flat is not as common as in the States. We are interested in information about medical plans available in Budapest. The American Clinic offers a medical plan that costs currently 60,000 HUF a year (current exchange is 230 HUF to the $). This covers doctor visits, labs, and I think x-rays, but not for routine physicals. It does not include hospitalization. I know that you could buy Hungarian health insurance through the State, but I do not know the cost currently. It was around $150.00 a month. Doctors and nurse here are highly underpaid and you do not want to be hospitalized here unless you have someone to give “tips” to the doctors, nurses, aides, P/T, etc. If you don’t, you will sit in the bed and rot. I have heard this from a number of my students as well as Hungarian friends who have had experience. We have not, but we don’t discount the information. I have an Israeli friend who has insurance from London and pays 172 euros a month for the whole package. I am not sure what her coverage is, but do know that it covers hospitals. I think she has to pay out of pocket and get reimbursed with all services. Suggestions on good areas in which to rent with various services available, i.e., shopping, food, restaurants, etc. which one could walk to and from? If you like the Buda side, you are asking the wrong people. We are down to earth people and our experience is that the Buda side attracts mainly for corporate employees, embassy folks, and others with money to burn. The rents and cost of buying on that side are highly inflated and they get is since most ex-pats are being cared for by their companies and not paying out of pocket. If you are interested in the Pest side, we can discuss this further. As far as services go, we have 4 grocery stores within 2-3 blocks, a dozen restaurants, a post office, a department store, camera shops, bakeries, and an Indian clothing/food store. Within our one block, there are 3 convenience grocery stores, an Internet place, a dog groomer, a Spanish, Hungarian, and a Chinese restaurant., plus other assorted little shops. Businesses here come one day and are gone the next. The economy is not that stable for the Hungarians with the average salary about $400. U.S. a month. Within our block they are building a new apt. complex. www.center-homes.hu They are supposed to be finished in 2005. It is in Hungarian, but on the left, click on Akacfa and you will see the proposed project. We have a flat that is 114 square meters and was unoccupied for six months. Hungarians do not rent more than 70 sq. m. due to cost. If you are thinking of renting part of the year, you will need to think in terms of can you afford to have it vacant when you are not here. For foreigners to buy, at the moment, you have to have a corporation and the corporation has to do the purchase. This still has to have approval from some ministry or the other. We are buying our flat, but do not intend to rent it out for some time. There are no mortgages for foreigners, so if you buy, you have to do so outright. When they find out you are from the U.S., the price inflates, so it is best to have a Hungarian do the negotiating for you for renting or for buying. What would the average or range be for monthly living expenses in Budapest assuming we owned our own flat/condo? ADSL, satellite TV, cellphones service, gas, water, electricity, and other basic expenses. ADSL, IDSN, or Cable Internet connections are not available in all areas at this time. I have ADSL, but the only provider for this area was the phone company. I would have preferred Cable through the cable company since it would be cheaper. I pay about $50.00 a month depending on exchange rates, but the “business” pays it so it is a write off on Hungarian taxes. Mobile phone (cell phones is so American ; ) ) run us about $25.00 a month with a regular contract. To get a regular contract, you need a Visa or a corporation. The other alternative is a pay-as-you-go mobile. You buy the phone (you need a Hungarian to actually purchase it) and then you buy cards that give you talk time. It is now possible to do this through ATM machines. Gas has gone up twice in the last six months. It now runs us about $25.00 a month in the summer and more in the winter. We have radiators that are gas heated. Electric is about $30.00 a month. In our building, water is not metered, so we do not have a separate water bill. Every flat, whether you rent or own pays a “homeowners” fee to the building. In our building this covers water and building maintenance for the elevator, cleaning the halls, etc. We pay 10,000 HUF a month, but we understand that currently, it is 25,000 since they needed to do some work on the roof. In order to have a satellite dish, you have to have permission from your fellow building dwellers. No one in our building has one and we survive with BBC and CNN International and a few hours of Animal Planet in English. TCM is on at 9:00 pm every night in English. This is different depending on neighborhoods and cable companies. The company is pre-determined by the neighborhood. Our cable bill for our basic services runs about $9.00 a month. Phone bill is about $20.00 a month. You are charged the minute that you place a call and they answer, even for wrong numbers. There are no packages like the States. Most people hardly ever use their home phone and use mobiles instead. It is cheaper. Also, most people use SMS messaging on their phones since it is cheaper than a call on the mobile. Oh, I forgot the HYPERMARKETS. These are Au Chan, Tesco, and Cora. All of them need a car to get to, so we don’t get there often without a car. They are similar to Costco, Sam’s Club, etc. with the exception that they make the largest of these look like small potatoes. I have never seen such large stores in my life. The prices are supposedly cheaper, but you still need to comparatively shop around. Food prices have escalated in the time we have been here. It was normal to spend $10.00 for about 3 days worth of groceries. Now, $10.00 will cover maybe two days. After the E.U. I have my fears that prices will soar. Projections are that property values will too! This should give you some food for thought, but I am more than happy to continue a dialogue with you. One more thing…Ron’s monthly retirement income is more than most Hungarians earn in six months, but that was not considered when he applied for the Visa. I know in some countries if you can show self-sufficient income, it is easier. Here is was not. What happens next year is anyone’s guess. Regards, Ryan

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Frequently Asked Questions about our Move

We are asked questions about our move all of the time. We are happy to assist others. I am glad that Jean had the forethought to refer you to us. We will be more than willing to give you our take on things here in this grand city. Just for some info, we moved here in Dec. 2001. We had been here once before for less than a week at that time, while also traveling to the Czech Republic, Poland, Vienna, and Berlin. We left CA in August of 2001 with the intention of traveling for a year or so, then settling down on the Northeast coast in the Boston area. That was the hope at the time. Now let me preface all of the rest of this with the fact that Hungary will be joining the EU in May of 2004. All rules and laws will be different by then, but until then and most likely after that they will continue to change daily. When we arrived and still after the EU, U.S. citizens can stay for up to 90 days without a Visa. E.U. regulations are such now that U.S. citizens can only stay in the E.U. as an entity for 90 days every six months. That means after 90 days in any E.U. country/countries, we must leave for 6 months before re-entering. They are beefing up their inter-country passport control computers systems to make this much more of a hassle than it has in the past, Hungary included. When we came, we just crossed a border to have our passport stamped. This was not a problem at the time as we had U.S. friends living in Slovakia and Croatia, so we could take mini-vacations. Investigating things with other Americans and a lawyer, we were told that if we started a corporation here, we could be managing directors and not need Visas to stay. We found an attorney and did do this. The cost was $300.00 (at the exchange rate then, which was 280 Huf to the $). The day we had our last Notary stamp put on the papers, the attorney received a call from his office. His researcher told him that a law had just passed stating that we as corporation owners would still need Visas for staying in Hungary. Going from inflated to deflated in minutes, we then checked out that process, something the attorney said he did not do. We found an agency called Business Umbrella (since has gone out of business). They for a hefty fee, arranged Work Permits, which was necessary first and then our temporary Visas. At the time, they were the best deal cost wise around. We were constantly running around getting paperwork for them to submit our papers. The clincher was that the new law made it impossible to get your Visa without returning to the States. This was a cost that we did not want to deal with, but there was no choice. Up to January 1, 2002, you could go to any other country, go to the Hungarian Embassy and have your Visa issued. This right was taken away from Hungarian Ambassadors with a change in government. The law is now that you must apply in your country of citizenship for part of the process. Ron was newly retired in the States, giving us the time to travel, so he had to get a work permit to get a Visa. To get a work permit, you have to be accepted for employment from a Hungarian company. He found a language school to hire him as did I, but we both shortly thereafter, found university teaching positions. We flew back to NYC to the Hungarian consulate and submitted our applications. They were less than helpful and did not know the rules and laws that we were assured of from the agencies here. As public employees of universities, we did not have to pay the $50.00 fee for applying. We left with such bad feelings, that I was sure we would be denied and I was sick about it for weeks. Finally, they sent a letter to our NJ address that our Visa was ready. We had to UPS our passports to our friends in NJ who had to send them with a certified check to the consulate as if it were us doing it. The check was to cover certified mail to send our passports back to NJ. We were then in Hungary illegally during this time and without passports. Our friend then had to Fed Ex our passports back to us here. Unfortunately, the Visa was for less than a year due to some crazy system of how they calculate. Business Umbrella had since gone under during this time, but we followed our worker to the Ex-Pat Relocation Center (www.erc.hu) to finish the job. These darlings charged us $75.00 each just to register us with the local police, which is a legal requirement. If we had realized this ahead of time, we could have paid a Hungarian $20.00 to do it for both of us, but we were dumb in the ways of the land. We got along fine until this year when we had to renew it. ERC is just about the only game in town and the small others charged just about the same fees, so we bit the bullet and continued with them since they had all of our files anyway. We just got our bill and it was $1,700.00 for both of us. That was about 700. more than anticipated, but too late now. During the first year, we needed a physical for the Work Permit. Very simple, in and out. For the Visa renewal, we had to have a chest X-Ray for TB, HIV test, stool sample, Salmonella test, full physical exams. This was not covered by my Hungarian health insurance or Ron's stateside insurance. The jury is still out on how things will go next year when they join the EU. Although our Visa was renewed in June, ours expires the beginning of May due to the EU. No one seems to know yet if this will be more complicated or less. We do not know of any ex-pats who are living here without working for that almighty Work Permit, which is needed for the Visa. That is not true, there are some, but they are of Hungarian origin- children of Hungarian emigrants and the rules are different since they qualify for a Hungarian passport. Yesterday, I read in the Budapest Sun (www.budapestsun.com) that the law currently is that if you leave the country for 90 days, your Visa becomes invalid and then you must start the whole process again. The exception is if you have to travel for business and can prove that you needed to be out of the country for legitimate business reasons. This still has to be approved by the Ministry of Immigration. Now on to your specific questions: Are there any social groups for retirees? Although we have not looked, we do monitor the social events in the Budapest Sun weekly. There have not been any listed. I doubt that there would be a sufficient number of ex-pat retirees to make up a group. Being a gay couple, unless you speak Hungarian fluently, your gay options will be limited also. We do not have a gay network other than three friends who speak English. We are isolated from much/most of their social functions since we cannot communicate with the crowd and it is a burden on them to continually translate when they want to socialize. The gay scene is almost exclusively Hungarian speaking. There is one bar owned by an American (U.S.), but he speaks Hungarian. It is a drag bar, not exclusively gay, and definitely not our cup of tea. We rarely go to the bars. We did have an older friend who had been here for 4 years, he worked for the U.S. Embassy. He went to the bars all of the time and never had a good thing to say about them. He continued out of loneliness, but claimed that he never met one person there. We have built a community of friends, but mostly non-gays, non-Hungarian, or U.S. people here on Fulbright Scholarships, but they are all short-termers. Hungarians are very family oriented. It is difficult to get to know them well since they spend all of their free time with family. Even the gays are similar. Many gay men do not leave home until their late 20’s to early 30’s since they cannot afford to live on their own. Sharing an apt. or flat is not as common as in the States. We are interested in information about medical plans available in Budapest. The American Clinic offers a medical plan that costs currently 60,000 HUF a year (current exchange is 230 HUF to the $). This covers doctor visits, labs, and I think x-rays, but not for routine physicals. It does not include hospitalization. I know that you could buy Hungarian health insurance through the State, but I do not know the cost currently. It was around $150.00 a month. Doctors and nurse here are highly underpaid and you do not want to be hospitalized here unless you have someone to give “tips” to the doctors, nurses, aides, P/T, etc. If you don’t, you will sit in the bed and rot. I have heard this from a number of my students as well as Hungarian friends who have had experience. We have not, but we don’t discount the information. I have an Israeli friend who has insurance from London and pays 172 euros a month for the whole package. I am not sure what her coverage is, but do know that it covers hospitals. I think she has to pay out of pocket and get reimbursed with all services. Suggestions on good areas in which to rent with various services available, i.e., shopping, food, restaurants, etc. which one could walk to and from? If you like the Buda side, you are asking the wrong people. We are down to earth people and our experience is that the Buda side attracts mainly for corporate employees, embassy folks, and others with money to burn. The rents and cost of buying on that side are highly inflated and they get is since most ex-pats are being cared for by their companies and not paying out of pocket. If you are interested in the Pest side, we can discuss this further. As far as services go, we have 4 grocery stores within 2-3 blocks, a dozen restaurants, a post office, a department store, camera shops, bakeries, and an Indian clothing/food store. Within our one block, there are 3 convenience grocery stores, an Internet place, a dog groomer, a Spanish, Hungarian, and a Chinese restaurant., plus other assorted little shops. Businesses here come one day and are gone the next. The economy is not that stable for the Hungarians with the average salary about $400. U.S. a month. Within our block they are building a new apt. complex. www.center-homes.hu They are supposed to be finished in 2005. It is in Hungarian, but on the left, click on Akacfa and you will see the proposed project. We have a flat that is 114 square meters and was unoccupied for six months. Hungarians do not rent more than 70 sq. m. due to cost. If you are thinking of renting part of the year, you will need to think in terms of can you afford to have it vacant when you are not here. For foreigners to buy, at the moment, you have to have a corporation and the corporation has to do the purchase. This still has to have approval from some ministry or the other. We are buying our flat, but do not intend to rent it out for some time. There are no mortgages for foreigners, so if you buy, you have to do so outright. When they find out you are from the U.S., the price inflates, so it is best to have a Hungarian do the negotiating for you for renting or for buying. What would the average or range be for monthly living expenses in Budapest assuming we owned our own flat/condo? ADSL, satellite TV, cellphones service, gas, water, electricity, and other basic expenses. ADSL, IDSN, or Cable Internet connections are not available in all areas at this time. I have ADSL, but the only provider for this area was the phone company. I would have preferred Cable through the cable company since it would be cheaper. I pay about $50.00 a month depending on exchange rates, but the “business” pays it so it is a write off on Hungarian taxes. Mobile phone (cell phones is so American ; ) ) run us about $25.00 a month with a regular contract. To get a regular contract, you need a Visa or a corporation. The other alternative is a pay-as-you-go mobile. You buy the phone (you need a Hungarian to actually purchase it) and then you buy cards that give you talk time. It is now possible to do this through ATM machines. Gas has gone up twice in the last six months. It now runs us about $25.00 a month in the summer and more in the winter. We have radiators that are gas heated. Electric is about $30.00 a month. In our building, water is not metered, so we do not have a separate water bill. Every flat, whether you rent or own pays a “homeowners” fee to the building. In our building this covers water and building maintenance for the elevator, cleaning the halls, etc. We pay 10,000 HUF a month, but we understand that currently, it is 25,000 since they needed to do some work on the roof. In order to have a satellite dish, you have to have permission from your fellow building dwellers. No one in our building has one and we survive with BBC and CNN International and a few hours of Animal Planet in English. TCM is on at 9:00 pm every night in English. This is different depending on neighborhoods and cable companies. The company is pre-determined by the neighborhood. Our cable bill for our basic services runs about $9.00 a month. Phone bill is about $20.00 a month. You are charged the minute that you place a call and they answer, even for wrong numbers. There are no packages like the States. Most people hardly ever use their home phone and use mobiles instead. It is cheaper. Also, most people use SMS messaging on their phones since it is cheaper than a call on the mobile. Oh, I forgot the HYPERMARKETS. These are Au Chan, Tesco, and Cora. All of them need a car to get to, so we don’t get there often without a car. They are similar to Costco, Sam’s Club, etc. with the exception that they make the largest of these look like small potatoes. I have never seen such large stores in my life. The prices are supposedly cheaper, but you still need to comparatively shop around. Food prices have escalated in the time we have been here. It was normal to spend $10.00 for about 3 days worth of groceries. Now, $10.00 will cover maybe two days. After the E.U. I have my fears that prices will soar. Projections are that property values will too! This should give you some food for thought, but I am more than happy to continue a dialogue with you. One more thing…Ron’s monthly retirement income is more than most Hungarians earn in six months, but that was not considered when he applied for the Visa. I know in some countries if you can show self-sufficient income, it is easier. Here is was not. What happens next year is anyone’s guess. Regards, Ryan

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Berlin

We took off for a quick trip to Berlin due to the budget airlines cheap, cheap offers. We found a hotel through an Italian website. It was nicely located with restaurants and the metro just a couple of blocks away, but the beds were unreal with a hollow in the middle. They must have know something was wrong, they added another bed during the time we were out on the first day. The other issue was that everytime we turned on the water in the room, the pipes SCREAMED and not from the water running, but from the water draining. It did not matter if it were hot, cold, or coffee being poured down, there was a groan and howl like someone was being killed. The breakfast was good and the room large, but the rest of the guests kept to themselves. No one spoke to anyone outside of their own group. Our smiles did not get us anywhere. Just some highlights, we bought the Berlin card, which includes transportation and admission to some attractions. Right after we bought it we booked the four hour walking tour for the next day, then went to the zoo. There was no charge for the zoo that day since it was an anniversary. The admission on our card was useless. The walking tour was great and the guide was very knowledgeable, but four hours is four hours. He mentioned a great deli like in the States if anyone needed a deli fix. We knew that was where we were going to head when we broke for lunch. As we walked, he kept talking up this deli. I had corned beef on rye with mustard, a side of cole slaw, and a large dill pickle already ordered in my head. My mental images were drooling, it had been so long since I had this. When we did break from lunch, 3 and one half hours into the four hour tour, Ron and I practically ran in the direction of the restaurant. As we entered, something struck us as different. Perhaps it was the menu? There was nothing deli-ish on it. No corned beef, no roast beef, no pickles. We ordered some sandwiches, but nothing like we had dreamt about. When we sat down, I happened to look at the small print on the napkin. This was a chain franchise operation out of Austin, Texas. What does Austin know for Jewish delis? We never continued with the last half hour of the tour. The highlight was the Jewish Museum. It was/is magnificent. We did not get there until late, but we stayed until closing. This is a must do again when we return. We also want to see the Holocaust Memorial. It was just being put up. During the day and at night, there was a festival in the main area by Zoogarten station. People were performing on high wires. There were beer and food booths around. We sat with a bunch of young tough guys who wanted to know all about California. They were fun.

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Stockholm

Okay, this will most likely be short since September is creeping up and I need to start preparing for my courses. I have been very lazy this summer. Living in Budapest has quickly become a perk for budget travelers. We not have 7 budget airlines that fly out of here. Taking advantage of this, I booked my partner and I on Snowflake Airlines to Stockholm. Before you snicker, this is the low cost off-shoot of the better known SAS Airlines. We were able to get tickets for 45 Euros each way, per person. When taxes were added, it was a total of 305 Euros round trip for two. Still not a bad deal. Since we had heard and read how expensive Stockholm is, we decided to limit our stay to four nights. My thinking was that at this airfare, this was just enough time to sample and we could always return again. We arrived in Stockholm and found we had a few choices to get to the city center. We could take the Express train for 180 SEK one way and it would take 20 minutes. There was an airport bus that was 150 SEK and would take 40 minutes and of course there were taxis which would have been prohibitive for budget travelers. We chose the Express train and were pleasantly surprised that there was a "Summer Special" until August 30th. Two tickets were 200 SEK. The express train is a modern, sleek, clean and fast subway type train. The end point is the Central Train Station in Stockholm. From there, we took a subway (one one-way ticket was about $7.00) to our hotel, which was a boat. From the subway, we had to walk three blocks down a hill to the water and our boat hotel was easy to find. There are many boat hotels there. We stayed at the Rygerfjord www.rygerfjord.se. This is listed as a hostel/hotel and they actually have two boats next to each other. I strongly recommend a regular room if you are claustrophobic. The 'hostel' rooms were without windows and looked smaller than some submarines that I have been in. Our room had a porthole, but it was small. There was a double bed and a second bed that came down from the wall. The bathroom was inclusive. The shower was right across from the toilet, so everything was cleaned when we showered. We had to negotiate our moves in the room with each other due to such a small space. Fortunately, we each had only a carry-on suitcase or we would have needed another room. The room was about $50.00 a night and well worth it for the comfortable bed and the view of the city hall from our porthole. Breakfast in the mornings were an additional $8.00. We paid for the first morning and decided to see what it was like before paying for the remaining mornings. As it turned out, the breakfast was a major bargain. There was a large buffet with six different breads and toppings, four different cheeses, five meats, three kinds of fish, juices, coffee, tea, and other things that I am not remembering. It was all you could eat and the dining room was very pleasant. They also have many tables with umbrellas outside and you are invited to sit there and eat if you wish. Our first morning, walking away from the subway stop we arrived at, about three long blocks and a staircase away, there is another subway station. We went here to purchase our Stockholm Cards. http://www.stockholmtown.com/templates/TwoColumnSPListing___6456__EN.aspx Usually, I am not a fan of city cards since my experience is that they are not worth the value unless you rush through places. Due to the free transportation included on all buses, trams, subways, and commuter train, it was a no brainer. We chose the 72 hour card for SEK 540. Not only is the transportation free, but it includes free parking (we did not need this), free entrance to more museums than one would have time to see in a two week vacation, and TWO boat rides. On their website, they list the normal price of admissions so you can make an educated decision on the cost effectiveness. Just for the free transportation, it is well worth the price. You receive a very nice book with all of the attractions offered and it is in Swedish, German, and English. I did not realize that Stockholm was a city of 14 islands with 51 bridges connecting them. As they say, there are only three islands that are usually of interest to tourists. I must admit that I am not a seafaring person. I am not all that enthralled with ships and boats and their riggings, etc. I wanted to see the city and taste the culture, but I did not expect much thinking it would all be focused on boats and shipping history. This is where the Stockholm Card was an added bonus. Since I did not have to pay for admissions, I was willing to give museums a try that I would not have ordinarily gone to. One example of this is the Vasa Museum. This is a ship that set sail in 1628 and sunk before leaving the harbor. It was a masterpiece of workmanship for its time, but it stayed under water for 333 years before it was rescued and restored. After watching the movie in English, I was enthralled and we spent two hours in the museum. On the same 'campus' there is the National Museum, a real treasure, and a museum dedicated to Swedish Children's Literature. Being an educator, I had to see all three. It was wonderful. We took both boat rides. One was impressive, the other was just nice to be on the water and see the views. We went to all of the Royal buildings, many other museums, and sights. We estimated that on admissions alone, we saved over $150.00 each with the card. With the cost of transportation, it was a huge savings. We were told that 95% of the Swedish people speak English as well as another foreign language. They could not have been kinder. People would offer assistance when they saw us looking at our map. The museums are open long enough hours that you do not have to rush through to get to more than two in a day. We took our time and enjoyed what we saw. Food prices were comparable to San Francisco. Once we got over the sticker shock coming from Hungary, we felt more comfortable with the cost of things. It was shockingly hot there, some days reaching into the 90's F. Many told us this was their hottest summer in memory. Would I return? No doubt about it and with Snowflake Airlines here, even a short get-away is worthwhile. If you are traveling there from the US, you need at least a full week to get a good taste of the city. It is incredibly beautiful. I will send a link to my online photo album at Ofoto.com and those whose want to may see them there.

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Quick Excursion to Cologne

Quick Excursion to Cologne, Germany 7/30/2003 Budapest is joining the rest of the big cities with the low fare airlines coming to town. One of them, Germanwings, a subsidiary of Lufthansa started here just a few months ago. All of their flights go from 15 different cities into Cologne as their one and only hub. As I perused the web site, there were tickets from Budapest to Cologne for 39 Euros round trip. Unfortunately, these seats are for the spontaneous. By the time we discussed it, thought about, planned it, they were all sold out. We did however, have our heart set on another summer get-away, so we opted for $122.00 r/t tickets leaving from Vienna. Still a bargain! To make the most of a cheap holiday, we decided to try a program that we joined some months back. It is www.Stay4Free.com . There you sign up to host people, we have had a few already, and this makes you eligible to be hosted by others in return. I checked the Cologne listings and found 7 candidates. After e-mailing all of them, some were not planning on being home at the time we needed, but most of the others welcomed us. We chose the first to give us an affirmative answer. So now we had a cheap airfare and a place to stay for free. We left on Thursday, July 24th and since we had to bus to Vienna airport, we had to leave home at 5:00 am for a 3:35 pm flight. Fortunately, we are both Diners Club members and we knew that Diners Club has a magnificent lounge in Vienna’s airport. The grueling part was the bus ride. Since they seem to drive slower than a kiddie go-cart and stop at every street corner, the trip lasted over three claustrophobic hours. Knowing the complementary soups, breads, and drinks that were waiting for us at the Diners Club lounge was enough carrot in front of us to lure us on. The glitch was that when we arrived in Cologne, Germanwings does not open their windows until two hours before boarding. Without boarding passes, we could not get into the main part of the airport to the DC lounge. Ron did some fast-talking and finally found a security guard who was sympathetic enough to account our reservation number as proof of tickets and we did get in. Note: Advertising here…The Diners Club card membership is $80.00, but with every $2.00 you spend, you earn miles on ANY U.S. airline of your choice when you choose to transfer them. They sit in a DC miles bank until you do and never expire. In addition, you are given free access to airline club lounges around the world with complementary beverages that run the full gamut. Some have food too and Internet connections. The money we have saved on these alone has made up for the cost of membership. DC is not just for food any longer and the list of places that accept the card is huge and growing daily. If anyone would like a card, I can sponsor you, you will get 12,000 bonus miles for joining, and I get 6,000 after you are a member for 3 months. What we did not realize about Germanwings was that their ticketing is like Southwest. You get a plastic boarding card and no paper ticket or boarding pass. No big deal! However, their carry-on policy is nothing over 8 kg., which meant that we had to check both of our carry-on pieces. Not a big deal either. The flight was 1 hour and 10 minutes to Cologne. Randolf, our host was waiting for us at the airport. As soon as we met, it was like meeting an old friend after a long absence. We started the conversation as if we had left it hanging on the last meeting. We were all perfectly comfortable with each other immediately. The last time that has happened was when we first met our friend Fernando, but these are rare happenings usually. Randolf whisked us off in his car for downtown Cologne, where he guided us in short walking tour of city. As he said, the city is not beautiful due to the damage after WW II, but the ambiance is clearing one of welcoming the visitor and caressing the resident. After getting a quick bite of dinner and a café stop, we went to his flat in a suburb outside of Cologne. Randolf’s flat is an eclectic mix of styles that make it charming, welcoming, and comforting all at once and without reservation. His second floor has a large sitting room with a bed loft, which we had all to ourselves. We slept beautifully. Much of his furniture and décor is Dutch since he is from my favorite country in the world, The Netherlands. Perhaps this is why we felt so at ease with him so soon after meeting. The flat is only 2 km from the downtown of his suburb and from there; we were easily able to get a tram into downtown Cologne. The town itself was fun to walk around since there were many shops, bakeries, farmer’s market, and fountains to ogle over. The people everywhere were polite, friendly, and excused us for not knowing German. We felt completely welcomed wherever we went. http://www.aha-intl.org/cologne.html Cologne, one of the greatest cities on the Rhine, has a long history that dates back to about 50 BC when it was established as a Roman outpost. Approximately 100 years later it became the Roman city of Colonia. Recent excavations under the current city have revealed Roman ruins that are open to public view.Through the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, Cologne remained an important city. At the onset of the industrial revolution, Cologne quickly grew to become an economic center. Its strategic location on the Rhine River and proximity to the coal of the Ruhr region helped it develop a modern economy. During World War II, nearly 90% of the central part of the city was destroyed. Miraculously, the Dom, the magnificent Gothic Cathedral that forms the heart and center of Cologne, was spared serious damage. Cologne has again taken its place as one of the cultural and trade centers of Europe. Today, it is Germany's fourth largest city with approximately one million inhabitants. Known as the center for broadcast media in Germany, Cologne is also one of its country's most cosmopolitan cities, with large ethnic neighborhoods and international arts festivals. http://whc.unesco.org/sites/292.htm Begun in 1248, the construction of this Gothic masterpiece took place in several stages and was not completed until 1880. Over seven centuries, successive builders were inspired by the same faith and a spirit of absolute fidelity to the original plans. Apart from its exceptional intrinsic value and the artistic masterpieces it contains, Cologne Cathedral testifies to the enduring strength of European Christianity. The city is rich with Roman ruins and wonderful museums. We spent hours walking around and the shopping was reasonable. We had keys to Randolf’s flat, so we had a great mix of autonomy as well as sharing. We met for dinner on Friday night and had a splendid meal in a cozy, but busy restaurant with great food. The highlight of the trip for me was on Sunday. Randolf drove us to Tongeren, a small city in Belgium that is known for its flea market on Sunday mornings. The flea market is year round and it not only covers many of the streets, but it is also in two huge halls besides. We spent joyful hours there browsing around. Had we had a truck, there were many pieces of gorgeous furniture there to drag home, but alas, lack of mobility saved us. The prices were surprisingly reasonable. This is definitely a place to return to after we have purchased our Budapest flat and turn it into a rental property. From there, we drove to Maastricht, The Netherlands. Maastricht is in the southeast of the Netherlands, sandwiched in between Belgium and Germany. (Not my pictures, from the web) We did a short walking tour of the city and then relaxed in the square that was filled with cafés for a cup of java and people watching. Our next stop before home was an area where The Netherlands, Germany, and Belgium all converge. There is a large post in the center and the countries are designated on the ground. In less than a half a minute, you can walk through all three countries. Unfortunately, my batteries died in my camera and the souvenir shop did not sell them, so I missed out on a picture. When we arrived back to Randolf’s, he made a stupendous dinner while we relaxed. We felt exceptionally lucky to have someone like Randolf to take us around as much as he did. We saw much more than we ever would have on our own. All of this was unexpected, but certainly welcomed. As we discussed, it was a pleasant balance of having time on our own and time to share. Since we were invited back again, we may return for the Christmas fair. We were there for the Christmas fair in 2001, before coming to Budapest. It is magical being right next to the famous cathedral. Now that we know more of the city, it is even more exciting. We are hoping to host Randolf also, here in Budapest. We hope that he will find time before we return there. Ryan

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