How to Hungary

The lists varied in choice and length, yet all of them had two books in common: Tibor Fischer’s Under the Frog and Julian Rubinstein’s Ballad of the Whiskey Robber. I enjoyed both. Immensely.

But they did very little to help me navigate the actuality of living in the city.

Further enquiries led me to Anna Jankovich’s The Blue Plate and the North American Women’s Association’s Surviving & Thriving in Budapest. And while both have much to offer, neither was written with me in mind.

I needed something more utilitarian. I needed to know about tax laws, amendments to legislation that would affect my KFT (and how to set one up). I needed to know about utility price bands, parking zones, and driving regulations. I needed to know about the minutiae of surviving, alone, in a city where I didn’t speak the language and didn’t have access to a network of like-minded people.

I managed, thanks to good friends, blessed with patience and a willingness to help.

I now know enough to know who to ask. But for those newly arrived in the city or indeed the country, the ever-changing minefield of Hungarian bureaucracy is daunting at best. I still break out in a cold sweat when facing a conversation with the utility companies.

Last April, I heard about a new offer on the market, Anikó Woods’s How to Hungary: Budapest and Beyond. I’ve been following this growing community since, impressed by how current it is. No sooner has a law changed or a headline trended than Woods is on it.

In a few short months, she has grown her following to over 6,000. Readers of her eBook, followers on Facebook, Instagram, and Reddit, video fans on YouTube and TikTok – they keep coming back for more. Woods describes her book as “a clear honest guide to visas, finances, healthcare, making friends, and learning how things actually work here”.

A native of Toronto, Woods has been coming to Hungary since she was 4 years old. Her mum had emigrated to Canada at the age of 6; her dad, after attending a standing monthly meeting in Vienna in the late sixties, had kept on going. They met at a New Year’s Eve party in the city, married, and soon added two more to the 40,000 other Hungarians who called Toronto home.

With a background in marketing, Woods is well-versed in starting anew. Before moving to Hungary in 2017, she’d worked in London, Amsterdam, and Barcelona in the online gaming industry. She knows her way around the online world. When an architect involved in renovating holiday homes for non-nationals asked her to pull together a 20-page PDF for their clients about living in Hungary, she sat down and started writing.

She wasn’t expecting what happened.

Woods became a dual citizen in 2013. She helped her brother-in-law, a third-country national, get his residency here when he and her sister moved over from Canada. She also navigated her British husband’s post-Brexit change in status. And interestingly, because her mum had been born in a refugee camp on the Austrian border, when her parents moved back to Hungary, her mam’s citizenship came from being married to her dad.

Woods and her husband bought a flat in Budapest and a holiday home in the countryside, jumping through the many hoops that come with property purchase and renovations.

Navigating the vagaries of menopause and the health-related hurdles that come with ageing parents, she soon had to find her way around the medical system, healthcare, and insurance.

Setting up their various businesses required unwavering determination, as it’s difficult to get any two lawyers or accountants to interpret the same law in the same way.

Dealing with the legal aftermath of her dad’s death in 2023 gave her a bittersweet appreciation for the difficulties in both preparing for the end of life and navigating the legal ramifications of death.

She also needed to know the basics – driving, shopping, education.

It soon became clear that she had way more pages to fill and much more to say on a far broader array of topics. And that she could step beyond research and bring lived experience to the game.

The whole thing grew legs, morphing into an eBook with 75 chapters, 358 pages, and more than 500 clickable links that she updates monthly. The book itself has spawned the How to Hungary brand that sees Woods partner with immigration lawyers, medical professionals, tax consultants, investment advisers, and property managers, exchanging solid, verifiable information that she knows her community needs for mentions.

Not money. Mentions.

Perhaps better known in Budapest for her talks, lectures, and training on how to leverage artificial intelligence (AI), in a few short months, the How to Hungary community has become the go-to place to find the answer to whatever question you have as a new arrival or a long-time resident charting new waters. Her recommendations are personal – not everyone will click with the same doctor, or lawyer, or accountant. Experiences differ. But starting with a recommendation beats a blind search any day.

Woods answers all email enquiries and comments personally (you can email her directly at hello@howtohungary.com). There may well come a time when she’ll enlist the help of an AI agent, but right now, it’s all her. She willingly shares her experience and connections, acting as a connector. Partnering with KLUSTER, she runs live monthly events on hot topics at their space on Károly krt. 6, 1052. Her blog offers what she calls “snips of life outside Budapest”. All this and she still finds time to help her husband with his business.

Whether you’re new to Hungary or have been living here for a while, this is one book that you’ll be glad you bought.

Use Thankyou25 to get 25% off the RRP of €29 and add Budapest and Beyond to your library. As an eBook, it’ll never date itself. It’s your portal into all things Hungary.

Mary Murphy helps people find both their written and their spoken voice. Read more at www.irjjol.com | www.unpackingmybottomdrawer.com | www.anyexcusetotravel.com | www.dyingtogetin.com