GYŐR, HUNGARY : Dental tourism, Solo Traveling and Boss Ass Trains

When my mother mentioned going to Hungary to fix her teeth, at first, I was a little surprised. To be fair, surprised is a very soft way of saying worried. For some reason, having an Eastern European background, I don't entirely trust my own people. I am sure a lot of Eastern European comrades would agree, It's (it’s) a weird trend. That's prejudice in pure form, but it is what it is.

After an intense scrutiny of my mum's decision making process, I decided that it's time to self-educate, got myself a bunch of pistachios and a Belgian wit (cloudy unfiltered beer, my favourite) and whipped out about 5-6 Google search tabs.

Apparently, I was completely wrong (according to Google at least). Hungary turned out to be a pretty hot dental tourism spot, especially the town my mother was planning to go to - Mosonmagyaróvár. She still can't pronounce it right, but that’s Hungarian for you.

I am sure the term "Dental Tourism" is self-explanatory, however for those who don't know, dental tourism is a when you get your smile fixed at a lower cost, however it requires traveling to another country. Getting your Hollywood smile in the UK or US for example would cost THOUSANDS of pounds/dollars, hence someone smart discovered that they can save by travelling to less expensive countries, like Poland, Latvia and Hungary for example.

To put things into perspective, let's calculate roughly the cost of getting dental implants -

UK average - £2000 or $2,800 per implant
Hungary average - £800 per implant
https://www.dentaly.org/en/teeth-implants-cost/

Even if you account for additional expenses like:

Implant £800
Travel (£150 return)
Hotel / AirBnB £50 per night, 4 nights £200
Food / Other expenses : £60 a day £240
Total: £150 + £200 + £240 + £800 = £1,390

EVEN if you decide to treat yourself to a PRADA Bi-fold saffiano-leather wallet (I had one, it disappeared during our 8 day cross-country trip across Morocco, video cumming soon) which costs around £290, you are still in surplus of £320. Blissful.

We landed in Bratislava, Slovakia. I had to pay respect to the locals by doing a quick slav squat, simultaneously recharging my slav powers. Unfortunately, as adventurous as my mother is, she is not amazing at taking pictures, hence you can only some bits of the "Bratislava" airport sign.

You see, Mosonmagyaróvár is positioned VERY strategically between 3 countries - Austria, Slovakia and obviously, Hungary (it's a Hungarian town lol). That's why the main economic activity there comes from the Western European ladies and gentlemen, seeking affordable dental care. It literally took us around 20 minutes on a taxi to get to our Airbnb in Hungary, Mosonmagyaróvár. To be fair, after London, Mosonmagyaróvár looked pretty quiet. What I noticed on our way to the Airbnb - dozens of dentist offices with pretty sublime shop signs. My guess was that most of their clientele would be informed about them well in advance, via... Google, of course.

What wasn't sublime - the weather, definitely had a kick to it ! London was cold, but Hungary's cold felt like it was biting my skin. It was rather enjoyable though - I haven't felt that kind of cold for a long time, it somewhat reminded me of my childhood back in Uzbekistan.

Peter (I am not sure if I remember his name right), our Airbnb dude was pretty chill and kindly informed us that we can use his bicycles, my mother politely declined, however I couldn't say no to such a great host.

We had the next day fully planned: 9 am - breakfast, 12 pm she had to be at the dentistry, for a few hours, then around 2-3 pm she goes home and falls asleep. We had breakfast at the local cafe, that served some mighty-mean goulash, photos of which I unfortunately do not have anymore.

We went home to chill for a few hours and then she went back to the dentist's office and I, mounting the steel steed, decided to explore the nearest biggest city, Győr. Pedalling to the nearest train station, my eyes keep watering up, but I wasn't giving in. After 10~ min of combining intense pedalling, listening to grime and google-mapping at the same time, I got to the train station, bought the ticket and embarked on my solo adventure on the train.

Two things I didn't expect to happen:

1. If you carry a bicycle with you on the train in Hungary, be prepared to pay for it as if it was a passenger and
2. HUNGARIAN TRAINS ARE FUCKING AWESOME. The train was super modern, clean and sleek looking, quiet, fast, on time and get ready for it... had a functioning wi-fi. I love travelling on the trains, and rarely do it because fucking UK decided to privatise the train services and they cost half of your weekly rent. Well, not really that much, - but they cost a bloody fortune. I don't remember how much I paid, but it was pretty cheap, the ride was pleasant and I instantly fell in love with Hungarian trains. Awesome job, Hungary, keep it up! Rolls eyes at the UK

It took me around 40 minutes and I was in central Gyor. The town was a lot livelier, exactly what I was looking for. For some reason, I found a "British pub" and had my late lunch there, I think I went with it because their food was cheaper. Not sure. After a pint and a decent chicken escalope with chips and salad, I was full of energy to explore further.

Town Hall of Gyor

Walking around central Gyor, I took photos of the picturesque Hungarian architecture. One structure seemed to have caught my attention, it looked like a church, a yellow church with turquoise "tower head". I took several pictures of it, but wasn't satisfied with the quality, as it was getting dark. I managed to catch glimpses of the slowly disappearing sunset.

Church of the Carmelite Order

A strange feeling kept overwhelming me, I never traveled solo before as I get travel anxiety. But this time I was completely comfortable getting lost in this beautiful city, that was reflecting the last glimpses of the sunset on its architecture and monuments. Moments like this let you discover the universe and most importantly, yourself.

Kisfaludy Károly's bronze statue created by Lajos Mátrai standing on a mounting of black marble

That day I fell in love with two things - Hungary and their Hungarian trains. I also got a little more comfortable with traveling solo.Who would have thought that a dentist trip would gift me so many pleasant surprises.

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