Category Archives: Hungary

Zoe’s post office reviews, from Budapest to Istanbul

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On this trip, I’ve been writing postcards as I go. Initially I thought I’d hang onto them all until I get to Australia and post from there, but then in Budapest I decided I’d give the local post office a go. And since then I’ve done a post office trip in every city I’ve stayed in. Here are my reviews.

(“Did the card actually get to its recipient” — arguably the main function of the postal system — is not a criterion, because it’s far too early to judge that. I’m still in Istanbul for goodness sake.)

Budapest

This was my first post office, and I approached with trepidation. Would there be some obscure queueing system that I would get yelled at for misunderstanding? Would I be waiting all morning? Would I be able to explain that I would like a stamp for this postcard to the UK?

Lol. There was one person ahead of me in the queue. The lady behind the counter both smiled at me(!) and spoke perfect English. I regretted having only 2 cards to send, given how successful the exercise was.

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The night train from Budapest to Brasov

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The 19.10 overnight train from Budapest to Bucharest, calling at Brasov, consists mostly of seated carriages, with just a couple of Romanian couchette and sleeper cars attached at the front. I loiter on the platform as long as possible, awkwardly eating my dinner from McDonald’s (don’t judge) while leaning against a wall — with a scheduled time of nearly 12 hours to Brasov, I want to enjoy non-train-life as long as possible. Most of the passengers are getting onto the seated carriages, some with heavy bags and suitcases, one guy with 6 tins of beer in a plastic bag and seemingly nothing else.

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So you want to go from London to Budapest by train…

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…It’s totally doable, and feels adventurous in a gentle, fun way.

So the thing about a lot of “I got there by train” articles  in newspapers is that you find out in the small print that the author was comped the trip and they did not once have to deal with a train company website or railway station ticket machine, or they do railway stuff professionally, or they travelled in first class. So, for the rest of us, this is how it actually works. Don’t necessarily follow all steps, unless you want the full Zoe can’t-take-her-anywhere experience.

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