Budapest / May 24-June 1, 2023

What a delight it was to be in Budapest! After unexpectedly living in our trailer for 400+ straight days without a single night away -- we were burnt the fuck out.

We never romanticized living in a trailer in Maine - we knew it would be less than ideal, but it was just the best option we could come up with at the time. We moved into our trailer in March of 2022 and our intention was to live in it seasonally - spending summers and winters away. But that first year, it was not to be. Our financial situation unexpectedly and dramatically changed a couple of months after our arrival in Maine, and 2022 ended up being a year of survival and recalibration.

2023 started with a bang though. It felt like we had made it out the other side, or at least - we could see the light. Things were moving and shaking, but we were still facing another summer without a plan. We had not recovered financially so we had to get clever because the thought of spending another summer rotting in that trailer was just….not an option.

Thankfully we discovered a house sitting website that totally changed the game and we found ourselves with almost 3 solid months of free accommodations booked overseas. I’ll get into that more in the next post from our first house sit in Scotland. But first: Budapest. We started our summer with a week in an Airbnb in Budapest so that we could get some dental work done.

Holy fuck the travel over to Budapest though - I don’t think we’ll ever do it how we did it ever again. First of all, we couldn’t fly business class. Hahahahahaha, no but seriously -- we flew business class when covid forced us back to the U.S. in 2021 and that ruined us forever. So yeah anyway - no business class + 30+ hours of travel was just not a great idea, but it’s just how it worked out.

It started with the fact that we live in rural Maine. So we had to pick up a rental car and then drive three hours to the airport. We ended up very early for our flight since we hadn’t needed any of our built in buffer time. As we were killing time in the waiting area, I said something snarky and Kris responded, “Okay, choadette” and that became our joke of the day.

At one point he went up the desk at the gate to get our passports checked, and while he was standing in line I saw him talking to someone. He got back and I asked, “What were you and that guy talking about?”

He said, “We weren't. He was talking to me and I didn't want him to be.”

A little while later this older woman sat down across from us and then we heard her speaking French. She was so chic too - like she just looked so fucking fashionable, especially for an airport. Meanwhile I’m sitting there in leggings and crocs.

Kris: You can't wear those Crocs when we go to Bordeaux.
Me: Just tell everyone I'm your choadette girlfriend from small town Maine.
Him: I'll just say you don't respect yourself.

Finally we got on an “overnight” flight from Boston to London, but it’s only a 6 hour flight so it’s not really overnight -- it leaves at 7pm and arrives at 1am to your body clock, but 7am London time. So it’s like -- even if you could sleep on the flight, you wouldn’t be able to sleep much. I’m not sure we slept at all. I maybe dozed off for an hour or so towards the end?

Overall though, the flight was fine. The food was good and I ended up binging a few episodes of First Lady, which was really fucking great. We landed on Wednesday morning and then stumbled out to get on our hour long tube ride into central London. We were both nodding off the whole ride, the fatigue was intense. We got out at King’s Cross and walked across the street with all of our baggage to a Wetherspoon’s - a chain of U.K. pubs. It’s nice because you can order from an app and it’s very autonomous and there’s always tons of room and no one bothers you and it’s just great. We got full english breakfasts and coffee and just tried to come alive a bit.

The hard part was we had to stay awake the entire day as we had a 4pm flight from London to Budapest (out of another airport, which is why we chose to go into central London).

After breakfast we walked around the corner to the Wellcome Collection and put our luggage in the free locker storage and used their really nice bathrooms. Then we walked over to Regent’s Park and it was just so gorgeous. It was such a treat to be able to see something beautiful outside and be able to actually go and experience it - we could sit in the park and put our feet on the grass and lay down even. The total and complete polar opposite of Maine where we would step outside with our coffee in morning and be swarmed by mosquitoes and/or find our chairs covered in ticks and/or be stepping in dog shit and/or chicken shit and just fuck my life.

So it was fucking lovely to lay down in the grass and rest. A bit later we retrieved our bags from Wellcome and we went back to the station for our train to the airport. I grabbed a quick sandwich and chips for us to split on the train and then we were off.

The next flight was an Easy Jet flight out of Gatwick and goddamn we were dragging. That flight was loooooooooong. It was 2.5 hours, but felt longer than the flight over. Also 2.5 hours is just a long time to be on a shitty Easy Jet flight. There’s no beverage service, no seat recline, no creature comforts, it’s just fuckin bare bones. We were so uncomfortable on the plane and so tired and just so antsy. It was awful.

Thankfully we landed in Budapest and got lucky in the line for passport control -- someone casually opened up the ropes to the electronic passport machines and we just happened to be standing right there so we essentially got to cut the line and go through, thank fucking fuck.

Once we were through, there was a driver from the dental clinic waiting to pick us up. They cater to “medical tourists” as even dental care in the U.K. is less than ideal, so they have a high concentration of foreigners of all sorts coming over for dental care.

The driver dropped us at our Airbnb and our host, Peter, was there to greet us. He was really fucking cute and so nice. He took us upstairs and showed us around. The building itself was really nice and had an elevator which was a fucking life saver. And then the studio we rented ended up looking even better than it had in the photos. He gave us a grocery bag and pointed us towards the 24 hour mini mart so we could get some food. I think we just stumbled over there and got milk and cereal? We were just fucking delirious at the point.

Thursday, May 25th was our first morning in Budapest.

We woke up at a pretty normal hour and made nasty ass butt water coffee -- a.k.a. coffee made from an open, stale bag of grounds -- and sat on the adorable terrace.

Then we got dressed and walked down the street a couple of blocks to a cafe Kris had found called Chez Hannah. It had really good reviews, but ended up being really shit. It was cute as hell though and the coffee was good…

….but both our sandwiches were just dog shit and way overpriced. We still had a nice time though and it just felt so blissful to be there. Sitting in that camper for all that time with such an uncertain future I just felt like we’d never travel again and I was going to die there in that tin can covered in ticks and mosquito bites. I mean I know that’s not true - but you know the feeling.

We had dentist appointments later that afternoon and started walking that way. What a fantastic city. We had visited here about 9 nine years ago and stayed for a whole month so it was cool to have it feel familiar. The clinic was nice and we had digital x-rays and chats with the dentists. American dentistry is just such a fucking racket and is insanely overpriced with most dentists using outdated technology. Whereas in Budapest it’s not only cheap, but the quality is so much better, the equipment they use is very modern and high-tech, and there is total transparency 100% of the way with the costs. It’s almost like, uh - they don’t actually want to put you in debt and ass fuck you for dental care. The x-ray + consult + cleaning was $70 per person, and we each had cavities filled, which were $90 each. We had also chosen this place in case Kris needed a crown, because they make crowns onsite and same day as they use CAD/CAM technology….and it’s only about $350 per crown.

Thankfully he didn’t need that, but that’s the other thing — the dentists err on the side of repair and less is more. An American dentist 1000000% would’ve wanted to do a root canal, a crown, etc.

ANYWAY. Fuck American dental care, go to Budapest, you can fucking fly over here and spend a week on vacation AND get your dental work done for probably less than the cost of getting it done in the states.

That day, after the consults, we each had back to back cleanings. Kris went first and I was hungry, so I walked over to the grocery store and got snacks while he was getting his cleaning.

After he was done we decided to walk over to a nearby mexican food place we had visited on our last trip and get burritos for dinner. He was farting a lot on the walk home, but just casually farting like mid-sentence, so I said -- “I can’t talk to you when you’re frothing at the butthole.”

We also continued to laugh at a meme our friend Fiona sent us that said, “If you can do anal, you can do anything.”

At one point we were walking through this beautiful pedestrian area, but there’s this one part where cars can technically drive, so every now and then there’d be a cab driving down the walking path. Kris was a bit over dramatic in getting out of the way and I said, “Wow - you REALLY did not wanna get hit by that cab…” and that became a running joke too…..he’s so fuckin weird not wanting to get hit by that cab….

Later that night we went back to the mini mart and got some more provisions, and I got a chocolate milk box to drink on the way home. He was walking too fast and I said: I can't walk that fast, I'm drinking a chocolate milk.

Him: I don't understand why that has to take system resources.

We got home and I took a delightful bath and took one every night as I have not had a bath in over a goddamn year because in case you forgot, I’ve been living in a goddamn trailer. So yeah, that was luxurious.

Friday, May 26th, 2023

Our second morning in Budapest was a bit more chill. We drank more butt water and had some cereal and then headed out to walk around. It’s just the most beautiful city. The architecture is stunning and the streets are lined with trees and sidewalk cafes and it really is the Paris of the east. It was really hot though so I ducked into Budapest Bagel and got a coconut milk tapioca pudding topped with mango curd and that was basically my lunch. Kris was on the hunt for something more though, so we headed over to Tosti -- a dutch cafe that Kris found. They serve delicious toasted sandwiches with gouda, stroopwafels, etc. I got a smoothie - forgetting that they don’t have fucking ice or freezers in Europe. So I got a room temperature smoothie. That was pretty rank. I mean I drank it. But like. Fuck. There was no ice, but also -- the fruit wasn’t frozen. So it was just warm room temperature fruit blended with juice.

After that it was time to head over to the dentist to complete our work there. Since our mouths were numb afterwards we just headed home, made a late dinner, and chillaxed.

Saturday, May 27th

This morning we walked over to our favorite breakfast spot - Muvész Coffee House - it was built in 1898 and looks like a cafe right out of Paris in the 1920s - the interior is stunning and looks like where you would sit and write poetry or a novel. They have great sidewalk seating under a giant awning too so it’s the best spot to sit and people watch. And their breakfast food is off the fucking chain. The “american pancakes” were better than any pancakes I’ve ever had in the U.S. They were light and fluffy and the flavor was incredible and they came served with berries and whipped ricotta. Kris got the full english breakfast, which was better than any full english he’s ever had in England. Budapest just has the best food.

After breakfast we hopped on a bus down towards the river to check out an indoor marketplace because we were on the hunt for new suitcases -- both of ours had taken a shit on the way over. Then we walked across the beautiful bridge and then hopped on a tram to go to this Sicilian granita place I had read about - Bruno Dolce.

The granita did not disappoint and was totally worth it. Since it was across the river on the “Buda” side - it was nice to have an excuse to go over there - it was just as beautiful, but more residential and very quiet and lovely.

We started walking back towards the river afterwards and we stopped at a little cafe so that I could pee and I ordered a cup of tea to be polite and we sat outside and just took a break from walking and enjoyed the neighborhood scenery.

Then we went home and cooked another yummy dinner and ate on our little terrace.

Sunday, May 28th

This morning we walked around the corner to a place called Matinee Cafe. They had a bunch of sidewalk seating as well that was on a shaded, tree lined street so we enjoyed our coffee and pretzels outside. That was one of the best coffee experiences we’d had and they also had really incredible pastries. We meandered through the neighborhood side streets afterwards and it was just so pretty.

Then we made our way up and into City Park. There was a big festival going on so it was actually really crowded and we didn’t stay long, but it was a nice walk and the park has such beautiful buildings.

We popped out of the park onto the main drag, Andrassy Road, and ended up having lunch at yet another sidewalk cafe - this time one called VinVin City where we had the most delicious spring rolls and Pho.

Monday, May 29th

This afternoon we went to the most incredible taco shop of all time ever. I mean it was probably the best tacos I’ve ever had in my life. And I’m from Phoenix. So I’ve had a lot of fuckin tacos. It was this little place called Papitos - just a little hole in the wall where you order at the counter and then sit outside. Holy fuck though.

We were walking around afterwards and decided today would be as good a day as any to get thai massages. I called the massage place to let them know we were coming and then we hopped on a bus back over to our neighborhood. Last time we were in Budapest we got side-by-side happy ending massages and that was awesome - highly recommend. This time though, we decided to just get “regular” massages -- Budapest has shit tons of thai massage places and they’re very cheap - the average is about $30 an hour. It’s very no frills though, it was actually fucking hilarious. We walked in and this woman barked at us to pay, then another woman led us into a very dark room and barked, “take off your underwear!” and then left. Kris and I both were like -- did she just say take off your underwear? Hmmm….I think that’s what she said. What’s more awkward - if we take off our underwear when we weren’t necessarily supposed to, or we leave our underwear on and then awkwardly have to take it off after she comes in the room while we’re already on the table?

We opted to just get fully naked, which is fine, but it’s funny how there’s just no modesty. Like in the U.S. they’re all precious about it and tell you to undress to your comfort level and then they leave the room and there’s a table for you to lay on with a very clearly laid out sheet to crawl underneath and it’s all very polite. These ladies just fuckin got down to business. There was nothing extra on the table and they didn’t even tell us to like lay face up or down, so we just guessed. So we’re both butt ass naked, laying face down and these ladies just barged in the room and started working us over. It was actually a really good massage, but just sort of a funny overall experience.

Afterwards we walked back home to rest for a bit before quickly heading back out to pick up take-out burgers and fries for dinner. And damn that was good! We went to a place called Vaslap Burger. We shared a spicy chicken burger, a salmon burger, and both regular and sweet potato fries and it was all fuckin BOMB.

Tuesday, May 30th

Kris filmed another episode of the Real Vision Crypto Distillery today, so we didn’t end up going out until later in the afternoon and we ended up taking a really fantastic walk along the river at sunset:

Wednesday May 31st

Today we decided to explore Margaret Island - it’s a small island in between the Buda and the Pest sides of the city and it has been turned into a gigantic public park. We took a bus down towards the river and as we were walking towards the bridge, we found ourselves in a residential neighborhood walking along a really beautiful street filled with cafes. It was hot and it was still early, so we popped into a random cafe called Waycup and we ended up having the best coffee experience we’ve had on the trip so far. Kris had a macchiato that was just perfect, and I had an espresso tonic that was just so luscious. We concluded that next time we come to Budapest - we will stay in this neighborhood. It seemed way less touristy and had a great cafe scene happening and it was right on the river and across from the oasis of Margaret Island.

Anyway - Margaret Island, it’s so amazing. It is filled with walking paths, green space to lounge, little cafes, loads of trees and benches and shade and it’s just awesome.

After a few hours there, we decided to go back to the taco place because it was just that good. And then on our way home, just completely randomly, we walked by the church that was just nestled in our little neighborhood and we went inside and it was just bonkers. It was cool too because the church yard had tons of grass and benches and there were loads of locals just hanging out like it was a nice community space.

Thursday, June 1st

This was the start of a loooooong travel day up to Glasgow in Scotland, but at least it didn’t start with an overnight international flight. Ha. We went back to Muvész and we each had pancakes. Then we headed back to the airport for the first of two flights. It’s so funny with Easy Jet and the other budget airlines -- there’s no announcements at the gate and no formal boarding calls. You just sort of have to know what’s going on. And basically what happens is - you go up to the gate initially and there’s no one there. So you just sort of chill near your gate. And one of two things happens -- either another passenger comes up and just starts the line, at which point you get in the line. Or you see an employee come up to the desk and then everyone starts forming a line. But the gate agents don’t ever say anything. And there’s even two lines -- there’s a priority line and a regular line. And those two lines get formed on their own. It’s fuckin bizarre and like - if you’re not on it, you’ll end up at the back of the line. It’s such a funny system.

Anyway. We had a fantastic time in Budapest and concluded that it is one of the best European cities we’ve ever been to. It’s also a great entry level city for new travelers. Because it feels very foreign and European, but it’s a relatively small city center, very walkable, everyone speaks English and it’d just be a really good place to start if you’d never been to Europe before, or you’d only been to big tourist hubs like London or Paris.