Have you ever been to Budapest? Or did your Hungary travels take you outside of the capital?
The whole month of September, I will share 30 stories with you. One story each day. You will find out how I travelled, what countries I called home and how many times I repeated a travel in the same place. But most importantly, you will get to know my comfort zone stories. Would you share yours?
The first time I visited Hungary was in October 2014. It was over a beautiful autumn weekend and I had one main activity on my list. However, it wasn’t the only time. Remember the Norway article?
It’s insane when I think that I visited this country several times but only the capital, Budapest. And it was for the best reasons: twice to attend Anathema concerts and twice because I extended my layovers. To be fair, I had a friend who used to live there so it was easy. I also had some layover in which I didn’t leave the airport at all. However, the main reason I visited Budapest in October 2014 and then April 2015 was for going to the same band concert. In fact, the latter is better explained by this Facebook post I have from that time.
In the past 48 hours I’ve worked 36 hours and in the next 24 hours I will travel for 12 hours. All these for 3 hours of pure joy and greatness. Math is funny.
2015, April 8th
Exploring Budapest mostly by myself was actually nice. I was starting to get used to this possible solo travelling idea I was flirting with. But being always on a budget and rather introverted, I would mostly walk a lot and observe things. Rarely interacting with anyone or really getting involved in anything. I was the same at the concerts too. I went alone, didn’t talk with anyone, enjoyed the Liverpool band and then left. April of 2016 was the last time I stayed at my friend’s. I was just coming back from living in Iceland for nine months.
Most of the pictures are actually from the last time I’ve been there, October 2018. It was my first time getting back to Romania after the South American solo backpacking trip. And I needed a buffering day, so I decided to book a hostel and stay in Budapest for two days. It’s funny because I was in the room with two girls from Iceland. What were the chances?! I also had horrible back pain, because of my backpacking adventure. However, I did quite a bit of walking and I enjoyed some Hungarian cuisine.
I have to say as a Romanian visiting Budapest I’ve always been envious of how much better it looks than our capital. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t wanna get into the politics of Hungary, I am strictly speaking of how clean and much nicer the city looks. Plus how it has so many attractions for foreign tourists. And the communal garden I randomly found within the city made me want to go back for more.
Anyway, I digress. My point is next time I have to visit the rest of the country. I always feel so annoyed when people visiting my country only visit the capital. Both of my countries, if you know what I mean. And so I shall follow my own advice and travel outside of Budapest.
Do you usually travel to the capital of a country? Or are you trying your hardest to avoid it?
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