My company may be opening an office in Hungary, about 2 hours east of Budapest. I have always lived in the USA, but am looking at this as maybe a great way to see/explore that part of the world for a couple of years.

Any information you could give would be great. I do not want to say anything at work till I do some homework, and see if it would work for us. I'm married with no kids.

What exactly do you want to know?

General stuff about Hungary,

English language:
people generally do not speak English on the streets, this is more apparent the further you get from the capital. The best luck in trying to find an English speaker is looking out for younger people between 16 and 35. Of course people who work in the tourism sector (hotels, restaurants) usually do speak English.
So be prepared for language difficulties, in the shops, at the gas station, everywhere.

Traffic:
Taxi drivers in the capital will try to rip you off. Try to get a cab that has markings of a major taxi corporation like Fõtaxi, City Taxi, Rádió Taxi. Cabs with just "taxi" on them are a bad omen.

Driving:
Cops will pull you over for no reason whatsoever but just to check your papers. This is rare in the states but it's every day thing in Hungary. Don't forget your ID, your driver's license, your insurance papers etc at home, if you lack something you can get into trouble and waste a few hours on the next police HQ till they let you go (even if you didn't cause any accident, just run into a random control)

Turning right on red traffic light is forbidden here, thats the only difference I can tell between driving in California and Hungary.
Also, people here are NOT polite drivers. If they horn that means get-the-hell-out-of-my-way. If they flash on you that means someone is in a rare generous mood and let you turn, change lane etc.

Crime:
Pickpockets are everywhere in the capital, they are specifically looking for tourists. Always keep your cash and papers secure, keep an eye on your bags. Keep an eye on the people around you, if they know you are watching they won't try it.
Keep the doors of your car locked; turn on the alarm when you leave your car behind. Don't leave bags, shopping bags etc visible in the passenger compartment.
Might want to avoid night time entertainment without a friend accompanying you who knows the place.
Violent crime is rare.

Prices:
Stuff is generally cheaper than in the states. Housing is probably a lot cheaper if you take your time to look around.
Gas prices are higher tho.

Misc:
Read this: travel.state.gov/hungary.html (http://travel.state.gov/hungary.html)


Anyway, feel free to email me with any questions you might have at sumamael@freemail.hu
Also if you need a good lawyer, an accountant or a real estate agent in Hungary I can help as well.

EDIT, hehe, I don't want to scare you off, it's a cool place to hang out for a change, I have a few friends from the states who loved staying here for a few summers.

hehe, I don't want to scare you off, it's a cool place to hang out for a change
Well you made sure I will never hang out there lol.

What can I say? I always tell the bad news first :p

For what it's worth, Hungary just joined the EU.

For what it's worth, Hungary just joined the EU.


Yep, Hungary is now member of the European Union.

Which means that it has fulfilled the requirements of political and economical stability, low inflation and low unemployment, displays a steady growth of GDP, respects human rights, harmonized it's legal system with the EU regulations etc.

Also member of the NATO.

So it's a far more pleasant place in europe than lets say the countries on the Balkan peninsula.

Nice information, was a good read.

lol after hearing that little discription of police pulling you over for no reason and people jacking your shit I will be sure never to go to there lol.....

Oh come on, you guys pretend if crime was non-existent anywhere else in the world.

At least in central europe you don't get shot on the streets, no gang wars either. No acts of terrorism (so far).
As I said, violent crime is rare.

As for the police pulling people over for no reason, I have included that because a friend of mine was outraged when she first experienced that, because it's so strange for american folks.
It's standard procedure here, people got used to it.
For a few years I got pulled over every night when I was heading home from work. Usually worked late and was using a road leaving the capital to a nearby city between midnight and 1am. The cops usually asked for my papers, checked if I had a valid ID, valid licence, valid insurance, saluted and let me go. Thats all.

PS: I will find some statistical data but if I recall correctly the overall crime rate is lower in Hungary than in the US.

Exactly what I was looking for, thank you.

Few more questions:

We will be wanting to see as much of Europe while we are there. How far do you think we can get with three or four day weekends? Alps for skiing, Paris, Minsk? Or should we be planing to just take two or three week trips a year?

For travel out of Hungary to the rest of Europe is it mostly planes, trains, or automobiles?

My wife has a degree in both chemistry and biology, would you happen to know what the prospects are for her getting a job? Or I know some places just want someone that speaks english to attempt to teach it.

We know some people here that speak fluent German, would it be any help to attempt to learn it? Or just wait to get there and dive into Hungarian?

Again, don't know if we are going to be going. But this is some great info before we make our decision. Is there any question you can think of I didn't ask?

We will be wanting to see as much of Europe while we are there. How far do you think we can get with three or four day weekends? Alps for skiing, Paris, Minsk? Or should we be planing to just take two or three week trips a year?

For travel out of Hungary to the rest of Europe is it mostly planes, trains, or automobiles?


Well the country itself is relatively small (35,910 sq. miles), a few hours drive to the borders, so I guess you can explore the neighboring countries' resorts in 4 day weekends.

The road and train infrastructure is well developed in Europe so you can get basically anywhere by car or train.
Taking a plane is more expensive but there are some "low cost low fare airlines" as well so you can take a plane to Paris if you don't want to drive for a day to get there.


My wife has a degree in both chemistry and biology, would you happen to know what the prospects are for her getting a job? Or I know some places just want someone that speaks english to attempt to teach it.


There are a few large multinational pharmaceutical corporations operating in Hungary. In her place I would try to look into that first. The best bet of trying to find a job in Hungary if you aren't speaking Hungarian, is the large multinational corporations where the official language is english anyway.


We know some people here the speak fluent German, would it be any help to attempt to learn it? Or just wait to get there and dive into Hungarian?


German is probably more commonly spoken than English, especially in the western parts of the country closer to the Austrian border. Due to the German tourists you can be sure that people will speak German around the major tourist destinations like the Lake Balaton. Also there are ethnic German towns (Budakeszi, Budaörs) around Budapest where a larger part of the population speaks German.

I guess it all depends on your ability to learn foreign languages, German is a lot more closer to English in logic and structure than Hungarian but in my opinion learning Hungarian is a better invested time if you gonna stay here for a few years. Damn lazy Hungarians can't be bothered to learn at least one foreign language....


Again, don't know if we are going to be going. But this is some great info before we make our decision. Is there any question you can think of I didn't ask?


Well if you can get me the name of the town where you gonna live I can probably check if you can get DSL there :)

There are tonns of info I could give, for example cell phone coverage is close to 100% so you won't have problems with telecommunication. High speed Internet is a different kinda beast, it all depends if the phone company introduced DSL service in the area yet or not.

You will meet a lot of friendly people, especially in the more rural areas.

Szolnok is the town, any info on the area would be great, the towns home website is in Hungarian not much help for me right now.

I see the Tisza flows right next to Szolnok, my wife and I are just getting into kayaking. Is there many other rivers/lakes in the area?

Also how far is it by car to get to Budapest from there? And I have a friend that works in the embassy in Minsk, any idea of the best travel method and time to get there?

Hungary, as with most of Europe, has some fabulous, fabulous sites.
History, religion, culture.. all there, around you.

I plan to head to Budapest sometime myself, but for neighbouring places, you could likely visit Austria which is quite like Hungary in its peoples and culture, and also has a strong German element there (language wise).
If you have a while before you go out there, I recommend picking up basic German (let's face it, it's not hard). Would help you out. I had a friend who went to East Germany for a while. While there he visited both Austria and Hungary, and his best mate's girlfriend spoke fluent German, and they said she made everything a thousand times easier. There is of course Italy to the South West, which is a little further. As you said, great skiing.

Either way, have a great time. And remember, England isn't too far away if you need a good pint :P

www.szolnok.hu/0200_eng/ (http://www.szolnok.hu/0200_eng/)
is in english.

ADSL is accessable in Szolnok.

I have no real info about the kayaking opportunites but I know that a lot of people are doing it on the Tisza.

The Hungarian Government's english language portal is here:

www.magyarorszag.hu/angol...alapadatok (http://www.magyarorszag.hu/angol/orszaginfo/alapadatok)

Lots of interesting info there, for example I had no idea that Szolnok is 90min from Budapest by train.


EDIT, heh didn't know they had stuff like this, web cam looking on the capital:

www.irisz.hu/large.html (http://www.irisz.hu/large.html)

So it's a far more pleasant place in europe than lets say the countries on the Balkan peninsula.

Oh c'mon Kosovo is great this time of year... I mean except for the occasional country wide riot that threatens to break out into war.. :rolleyes

It's really not *that* bad ...