During my Eastern Europe trip last month, I spent about a week in Budapest. I felt like a local in Budapest! I think it's rare sometimes to feel that way when you are visiting other countries because, let's be real, as much as you want to get a real feel for how the locals live, you've picked that place most likely to visit the places the country is well known for--the tourist spots.
One of the ways I try to tie into experiencing life as a local is staying in airbnbs. And this airbnb in Budapest was the best one I have ever stayed In, highly exceeding my expectations. The host, Gabor, was amazing! Not only helping us carry all of our suitcases up 4 flights of steps (no elevators in European apartments is rather common), but he went over the entire map of Budapest, recommending his favorite things to do and pointing out the best way to get there. Also? So I embarassingly locked myself in my room My room was the only room that didn't have a key, and the keys all looked alike. I like locking my room when I sleep, so I thought I'd borrow one of the keys to lock my door. The key worked great in the beginning! I successfully managed to lock my door! But then I couldn't get it open. I was locked In! After unsuccessfully trying to get myself out, we decided to call Gabor who acted like it was nbd to call a locksmith late at night and come on over in the pouring rain to let someone out who locked themselves in their room. Oh and sorry I didn't have a key for that room, how is your stay going, no this is no inconvenience at all, and oh no you should absolutely not feel like an idiot.
Gabor still left me a 5 star rating on Airbnb and didn't want to charge us for the locksmith but we insisted. Now, I consider needing a locksmith a pretty authentic/untouristy experience. Did I mention the airbnb was gorgeous? Take a look.
Before the trip I had researched to see what kind of events would be happening while we were there. The first day we got there, we went to this Budapest Gourmet Festival! The Gourmet Food Festival features well-known bars in restaurants from all over Eastern Europe that sell specialty food they made specifically for the event. Definitely no tourists there. I found in Budapest that although people did speak English, you didn't hear it as common as you do in other countries. So we paid for admission to the Gourmet Food Festival ($12 USD) and with admission, they give you six vouchers, which are exchanged for a wine glass, full glass of wine, whiskey, a sandwich, beer, a juice drink, and dessert. The only thing is, the vouchers don't say what they are for--they have an obscure name of whatever tent you are looking for and then you can redeem your voucher. It was kind of like a fun scavenger hunt to search through the festival for the tents that matched our voucher. Now the vouchers did describe what they were but it was in Hungarian. I enjoy a good scavenger hunt, though. We also purchased several dishes, which were smaller, like tapas and only around $4 USD a piece. To purchase items, however, you had to load money on a card ("because it's faster this way") and at the end, you get back the money you didn't spend.
Okay now we are up to mildly embarrassing story #2 from Budapest. Keeping with the locals theme, I had found a free "Festival of Museums" event in Budapest, located a couple of blocks from our airbnb. More than 100 museums gather and feature interesting exhibits. It was also held at the Hungarian Natural History Museum so you can tour the museum for free. So we get there and decide to try the local food. I see this delicious wok filled with meat and veggies and point to it, telling the cook that I'll have the chicken. My mom sees another dish, asks if it's pork, and the cook concurs. My dish was great! As we are throwing away our plates, my mom looks at the tent we just purchased food from and remarks, "they sell rooster testicle stew over there. I wonder what that looks like." So we go over there and a different cook is there. She asks which one is the rooster testicle stew. And y'all. The rooster testicle stew was my "chicken." So I ate rooster testicle stew thinking it was regular old chicken! When in Budapest I guess.
