My Last Hundred Bucks: Budapest Edition

by Maya Mirsky

Hungary is a place where fois gras is cheap, but flip-flops are expensive. According to the OECD, average household after-tax income there is $13,858. But I’m a rich foreigner who only spends summers in Hungary, and that on a U.S. salary. My brothers-in-law make about $600 per month (each), which makes my last hundred bucks even more embarrassingly profligate. Prices for things like clothes and shoes in Hungary are about the same as in the U.S., but food or services (like tailoring!) are still fairly cheap.

• $4.50 (HUF 1,000) One Belgian waffle with raspberries, plus scrambled eggs with ham and onions.

• $7.50 (HUF 1,700) Three lemonades and an espresso in a bar. (It’s over 100 degrees!)

• $9.50 (HUF 2,140) Three pieces of “English” used clothing — this means cast-offs from the U.K., so H&M and George. There are a million of these stores, because new clothing is expensive here.

• $20 (HUF 4,500) Dinner at an upscale restaurant, for three. Including: “Traditional fried bread dough of Hungary! With boiled eggs, ewe-cheese, garlic, smoked pork roast, smoked cheese.” It was good.

• $4.50 (HUF 1,000) New battery put into watch.

• $13 Two Kindle books.

• $22 (HUF 5,000) Family’s worth of tickets to an aquarium.

• $25 (HUF 5,600) A bra. Because the aquarium was in a mall.

Total: $106

Maya Mirsky is a reporter covering local news in Oakland, Calif. She spends summers in Budapest. Photo: Cord Rodefeld

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