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Looking to move abroad…


CaptOblivious

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CaptOblivious

Update on plans:

 

Acquiring a student visa for studying Hungarian is proving too much effort. Currently, we are now thinking: 2 months in Budapest, followed by 2 months in Osaka or Kyoto. There'd be plenty of time for weekend visits to nearby areas, money permitting. There are some inexpensive 外人アパート (apartments for foreigners) there, and the return flight costs only slightly more in frequent flyer miles than a return flight from Hungary. Of course, the return flight departs from Narita, (horrors!), so we'll get to ride the Rap:it, a shinkansen, and the Skyliner or N'EX all in the same trip :D We'll naturally plan on spending at least a few days in Tokyo for sightseeing rail-fanning.

 

Anyone have advice about staying in the Osaka/Kyoto area?

 

And I'd love to meet up with anyone living in the area!

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Well when talking about Japan living there can have its downsizes.

foremost renting an appartment is nearly imposible as a privatier (without a japanese employer as a host)

Therefore most foreign employers have thier own appartments for thier expats (I was one last year)

 

Internet is relatively compicated, One example the ISP did shut down my internet access because of "Name problems" , what exactly happend ,I could not figure out. It seither,that they became doubious about my name

(My first name has a quite exotic spelling) or that my Company changed names(and therefor the name of the companyowned appartment building changed...

(But that happend a year before my stay there)

 

But nontheless Japan was terrific and wonderfull, would go there tomorrow...

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Just a short comment, because at this moment I'm in New-Zealand and not at home in Budapest. The political climate is not so good, but it does not take any significant effect in the average daily life. People are working as usual, some guys in the Parliament with bigger face than the normal think that they have the rights to do anything. But I think this is not country specific. :-)

I have to mention that winter is colder here (I mean: Budapest) than usual, we generally have snow and -10 Celsius (sometimes -15 Celsius). When we left the country at the end of December, it was snow and around -8 Celsius. I read that some days ago it was around +10 Celsius. Renting of flats are cheap but some of the owners would offer significantly higher price for tourists, so you have to pay attention. Budapest is a very nice city with some bad area, and if you love slow, loud, generally loco hauled trains, this is your place. :-) As I mentioned in my e-mails, I help you as much as I can, I love traveling by trains at the weekends. In the countryside it is possible to ride in the cab of the loco if you have good communication skill in Hungarian.

And a small correction: if I remember well, the M1 line was the 2nd underground in the World, but the first electrified line.

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Tell you what guys...

Since.. CaptainOblivious budget is USD$1000 per month.

We might as well let him stay in Budapest instead.

@CaptainOblivious...

Here 's the ideal page for you.Budapest has well-furnished apartments as seen here.. And its really convienient with metro stops ideally located. :grin

http://www.only-apartments.com/en/budapest/all/21/(Please take note, most of the apartments are not equipped with Air-Conditioning! )

If you want to visit Austria or Germany, just take RailJet by OBB(A high speed Loco-hauled train with modern interior)

http://railjet.oebb.at/

 

Considering the rate they are ripping down older housing zones for new ones, unless you want to live around Geyleng, it's going to be a long wait.

 

Hehehe. I will say, Amy and I are heartbroken that Singapore is going to be beyond our means. We're going to get out there some day!!

 

Well you will have to wait for Singapore 's house rental price to drop which may take some years to do so..

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CaptOblivious,

If you are thinking about bringing reading materials/school stuff for your child, I have a lot of books and other stuff. You are welcome to take what you need and donate them to friends in Osaka rather than sending them back.

It's stored at my wife's sister's place. It's near the Setagaya Line in Tokyo.

Actually, if you live in Japan and are in need for stuff your child, the offer is extended to all of you. I have a generous Aunt who has helped me very very much, so I am willing to pass on her kindness to any of you.

 

Best wishes,

Grant

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CaptOblivious

IST: Watch your inbox for a detailed reply.

 

Grant: That is too generous, really. Amy says "thank you" too. You, too, should watch for a detailed reply, but the short version is that we will probably be flying into Kansai International (hellooooo Rap:it!), and out of Narita (BTW, you be available for me to buy you lunch sometime mid-Dec?), so we'd have to arrange shipping of anything…

 

A question to those living in Japan: How hard is it, really, to acquire a bicycle for a super-tall gaijin at a reasonable price? I assume the answer is "nearly impossible", but I don't want to make unnecessary assumptions…

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CaptOblivious

OK, here is the updated plan:

 

9 Aug, fly to Budapest. Staying near the Oktogon in Pest. Bum around, railfan, take weekend trips to other parts of Europe. Prague and Berlin are definitely on the list (hoping to meet Disturbman while we're there?), but we'd like to hear other recommendations from folks here. We'd love to meet other forum members!

 

10 Oct, fly to Osaka, take train to Kyoto. Staying near the Golden Pavilion. Bum around, railfan, take short trips to nearby places. Don't know that we'll be able to take multi-day trips, but who knows. Again, we'd love to meet other forum members.

 

On or about 10 Dec, Nozomi to Tokyo. Take about a week to revisit, and do some railfanning, etc. Hope to meet up with Grant, but we'd love to meet anyone else in the Tokyo area too.

 

18 Dec fly home.

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9 Aug, fly to Budapest. Staying near the Oktogon in Pest. Bum around, railfan, take weekend trips to other parts of Europe. Prague and Berlin are definitely on the list (hoping to meet Disturbman while we're there?), but we'd like to hear other recommendations from folks here.

 

Na klaar. if I'm around, I'll meet you with great pleasure.

 

Other recommendations? Try the Balkans (Croatia and Slovenia) and the Adriatic coast. I always have hear good things about the place. Not much in terms of railfaning but nice places and people.

 

10 Oct, fly to Osaka, take train to Kyoto. Staying near the Golden Pavilion. Bum around, railfan, take short trips to nearby places. Don't know that we'll be able to take multi-day trips, but who knows. Again, we'd love to meet other forum members.

 

A month in Kansai! Jealous much! :)

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CaptOblivious
9 Aug, fly to Budapest. Staying near the Oktogon in Pest. Bum around, railfan, take weekend trips to other parts of Europe. Prague and Berlin are definitely on the list (hoping to meet Disturbman while we're there?), but we'd like to hear other recommendations from folks here.

 

Na klaar. if I'm around, I'll meet you with great pleasure.

 

Excellent.

 

Other recommendations? Try the Balkans (Croatia and Slovenia) and the Adriatic coast. I always have hear good things about the place. Not much in terms of railfaning but nice places and people.

We have a lot of Bosnian ex-pats in St Louis, believe it or not, so there are a lot of restaurants and groceries here with no vowels in the name (One popular choice: Grbic. Not joking.). Good stuff. Will definitely have to consider this option!

 

10 Oct, fly to Osaka, take train to Kyoto. Staying near the Golden Pavilion. Bum around, railfan, take short trips to nearby places. Don't know that we'll be able to take multi-day trips, but who knows. Again, we'd love to meet other forum members.

 

A month in Kansai! Jealous much! :)

 

Wrong: it's two months! :D

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Don, not sure what there is in Kansai, though that's where I'd live, but in Tokyo, there is an outfit called Sakura house that specialized in gaijin rentals here is no key money required. They have everything from dorms, to full fledged apartments and their prices I have found to be reasonable. They have even lowered their rents over the past year to compensate for the strong yen as not to strangle foreigners looking to use them. I found that I can get a private room with a private bathroom in Ikibukuro for a month what I paid for a room at at the Chisen Hotel in Ueno for six days.

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CaptOblivious

Don, not sure what there is in Kansai, though that's where I'd live, but in Tokyo, there is an outfit called Sakura house that specialized in gaijin rentals here is no key money required. They have everything from dorms, to full fledged apartments and their prices I have found to be reasonable. They have even lowered their rents over the past year to compensate for the strong yen as not to strangle foreigners looking to use them. I found that I can get a private room with a private bathroom in Ikibukuro for a month what I paid for a room at at the Chisen Hotel in Ueno for six days.

 

We stayed with them last time we traveled to Tokyo. This time we are staying at a small, privately owned guest house. It was very hard to find! Amy spent a lot of time digging to find it. Not a lot of outfits like Sakura House outside of Tokyo! We'll probably be staying at the Sakura House's hostel in Asakusa when we head back through Tokyo on the way home.

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OK, here is the updated plan:

 

9 Aug, fly to Budapest. Staying near the Oktogon in Pest. Bum around, railfan, take weekend trips to other parts of Europe. Prague and Berlin are definitely on the list (hoping to meet Disturbman while we're there?), but we'd like to hear other recommendations from folks here. We'd love to meet other forum members!

 

 

Have you thought about Lisbon and Sintra in Portugal?  Sintra is 40 minutes from Lisbon with train service every 10 minutes into the heart of Lisbon.

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-nKi8dd118&feature=related

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I'll second Bill's suggestion regarding Sintra in particular - it's a beautiful little tramway in a very scenic part of Portugal.

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.

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CaptOblivious

Ah, that would be fantastic, but I think Portugal may be too far...long train rides with 2 year old are not quite exciting us just now, unfortunately. But I love those videos! Will have to come back and visit some day.

 

Amy and I just put up a blog consolidating our past travel blogs and documenting our preparations for this upcoming trip:

http://travels.goodman-wilson.com

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Martijn Meerts

So, any plans of visiting the Netherlands? ;)

 

There's not that much to see here really, especially not for a 2 year old. There's a really nice amusement park here with quite a few things for young'uns, but I guess 2 is a bit too young. There's also a zoo that's specializes in apes and monkeys, several of which run around in the park semi-free, as in, there are sections where they can along the general public. (They tend to jump on you to check for food. You're also asked to secure pockets and you need to put bags inside securely closed outer bags etc. Those monkeys are really handy in opening bags and grabbing anything that fits in their hands ;))

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CaptOblivious

So, any plans of visiting the Netherlands? ;)

 

 

No plans on visiting the Netherlands, but perhaps we could meet up half way?

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Ah, that would be fantastic, but I think Portugal may be too far...long train rides with 2 year old are not quite exciting us just now, unfortunately.

 

Ant it will also cost you a fortune to go there by train. For that type of travel in Europe it's way better to buy an airplane ticket. It's not like it was complicated to book a ticket from a low cost.

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Martijn Meerts

So, any plans of visiting the Netherlands? ;)

 

 

No plans on visiting the Netherlands, but perhaps we could meet up half way?

 

That'd work :) Once it gets closer to the actual date, we should see if we can come up with something or the other.

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Nozomi4ever

Now.. The earthquake have gone 10+ days ago.. That Japanese have upset your plains , Captain.. Senseki Line is completely destroyed.. (A scenic line in Japan..(All their rolling stocks can be considered write-off)

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CaptOblivious

Now.. The earthquake have gone 10+ days ago.. That Japanese have upset your plains , Captain.. Senseki Line is completely destroyed.. (A scenic line in Japan..(All their rolling stocks can be considered write-off)

 

So far, no, it hasn't upset our plans at all…

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Now.. The earthquake have gone 10+ days ago.. That Japanese have upset your plains , Captain.. Senseki Line is completely destroyed.. (A scenic line in Japan..(All their rolling stocks can be considered write-off)

 

According to the news last week, JR East plans to reopen part of the Senseki line (the seven-station stretch from Aoba-dori to Kozuru-shinden) by the end of the month. Unfortunately, they're not certain about reopening the coastal section.

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Nozomi4ever

Now.. The earthquake have gone 10+ days ago.. That Japanese have upset your plains , Captain.. Senseki Line is completely destroyed.. (A scenic line in Japan..(All their rolling stocks can be considered write-off)

 

According to the news last week, JR East plans to reopen part of the Senseki line (the seven-station stretch from Aoba-dori to Kozuru-shinden) by the end of the month. Unfortunately, they're not certain about reopening the coastal section.

 

Well.. It 's best to build that former coastal section underground instead of coastal..

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I just would like to report, that CaptOblivious and his family arrived to Budapest few hours ago. They have internet in the appartment, so I think after some sleeping he will be here. :-)

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