So I might be slightly crazy: I decided to go to budapest (I've always wanted to go!) but I've runI'll be very short of $, plus I'll be going alone, not speaking the language or knowing anyone who lives there.


It will be a great gypsy adventure but I'd be a lot happier if I knew someone who lived there or had good advice from someone who's been there before (recently?) I'll be bringing my red fixie (the ruby slipper likes to travel) and can bring things to trade if I know in advance what somebody would want. I've got lots of skillz (like finding my way to beer) and I'm a nice girl to have around.

thanks!!

LoFarkas?

haha. thats awesome! respect.

Get a Bagaboo while you're there!

My computer buddy lives there. She is a computer freak. I still need to take a look at those tubies if you still got some. I will email her to get some info for you.

S/F,
CEYA!

You'll do fine. It's friendly, lots of people speak English, and it's beautiful. Approximately as cold as a standard metric bastard if you're going in the next few months though. Oh, and it's relatively cheap.

Hey there, I sorta live in Budapest, being Hungarian and all. Hit me up when you arrive and we'll go ride. PM or email me if you have questions I may be able to answer (don't think I can help you w/ a place to stay etc.) Mail: lofarkas at freemail dot hu

I'll look into the trade/bring cool fg **** thing. They sell practically no fg/track goodies here so peeps might want hubs and stuff. I think I have everything I need, but I'm sure I'll find something to lust for...


Respect for taking it on alone. Pls give some details. When you'll come etc.

If you come in december, it'll be cold as ****. 0 to -10C. You can ride if you're tough though (always wanted to type those two words back to back). There's usually not much snow and ice on the roads. Biggish city and all that.

thanks ceya! let me know if you want to check out tubies this week...

Thanks for the email, I'll hit you up now.

details: landing soon-ish leave next sunday maybe stumble in monday morning or something, I'll have to go run and look at the ticket. putting my bike together in foreign countries is my favorite way to land

awesome.

LóFarkas, I'll probably be e-mailing you about this very topic in a few months as I'll be there in the spring...

OK, what's the story with Budapest? I know Bagaboo is there, and there is a decent messenger/fixed gear population, which comes as no surprise since I know it's a largish European city.

I'm just wondering why everyone is going there all a sudden? (OK I know 2 people doesn't really constitute everyone, but that is two more than I've ever heard of traveling there before which equates to an ∞% increase in tourism) Now that everyone else is going there I'm thinking maybe I want to add Hungary to my short list of places to visit some day.

Dude, I am here. Isn't that enoguh?

Plus a CM with 30000 (that's thirty thousand) participants is scheduled for 22nd of April. I guess you should come then if you like riding real slow, GA

Damn, we'll be there in March, so we'll miss it, but a 30,000 person CM sounds rad.

Don't ask me why we chose Budapest. My girl got a green card, and we were really excited that we can finally leave the country (and get back in), so we booked the first cheap(ish) trip we saw.

Ella, when are you returning? I might PM you at some point as well to ask about your experiences there.

what's the current situation with all the riots? i admit the story has somewhat dropped from our newspapers after all the big clashes recently.

There's peace on the streets. Don't be concerned at all to visit the city. There's political turmoil (gov't still in office despite a fair amount of protesting, some of it violent). It's back to business as normal for the time being. There's going to be some more fun on Nov 4th... Hopefully more-or-less peaceful demonstrations. Come to think of it, there'll be an alleycat that day. Hope the messies won't bump into protesters...


BTW, there was only one really bad day, Oct 23rd. The anniversary of the 1956 revolution came round at the worst possible time. A good couple of people got tear gas and rubber bullets then. Mostly the aggressive "demonstrators", though. Police didn't handle the situation all that well, so if you were at the wrong place you were SOL. Even then, if you avoided the immediate trouble areas, it was ok. It's not like the city became a war zone.


It's all a big laugh compared to what was going on in Paris a year or so ago.

Try Paris last week. A friend of mine was on one of the busses that was hijacked and then burned to the ground after they told the passengers to get out. Craziness.

i was in budapest in june. It was a great time. I was severely intoxicated the entire time. I visited a friend so can't recommend places to stay/ etc. but it was an easy enough city to navigate.

this is starting to look ridiculously awesome. fixed century to mysterious monster lake (balton/heviz), possible shady boarder crossings and fun people to ride with. LoFarkas thank you so much for the advice!

Hahaha, mysterious for you. Balaton is the biggest lake in central Europe. ("Hungarian sea", b!tches!!!) It's been the standard summer holiday destination for 50 years for us (And East Germans, oddly).

Your government CAN'T be worse than ours. I wonder how long before the riots start here...