the viewing deck: Hungary 3-Days Trip 1st part; Overnight Train from Bucharest to Budapest

3-Days tour to quickly sight-see the best marvels of Hungary

June 20-22, 2015

Romania 3-Days Trip last part; inside Count Dracula's Bran Castle

timezone - +0200H UTC (summer time); capital - Budapest; language - Hungarian
currency - Forint; 1 EUR = 300 HUF
visa - included in Schengen Agreement, Filipino's are required to apply 1st before travel

Hungary is a country in Central Europe, member of the European Union and the Schengen Border-less Europe Agreement. Top this off with Hungary's great accessibility in the middle of Europe, a vivid culture and economy, and you get a destination absolutely not worth missing if you're in the region. Hungary is one of the 15 most popular tourist destinations in the world, with a capital regarded as one of the most beautiful in the world.
http://wikitravel.org/en/Hungary

INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT HUNGARY (",)
1. Hungary is one of the oldest countries in Europe. It was founded in 896, before France and Germany became separate entities, and before the unification of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms.
2. Hungarian inventions include the noiseless match (János Irinyi), Rubik's cube (Erno Rubik), the ballpoint pen (László Bíró) and the krypton electric bulb (Imre Bródy).
3. As of 2013, hungary ranks 8th among the olympic medals received at all time
4. Hungarian is officially among the most difficult language to be learnt and spoken. This has been certified by the British Foreign Office survey.

Hungary 3-Days Trip; Overnight Train from Bucharest to Budapest

How to Go to Budapest, Hungary from Bucharest, Romania;
There is daily overnight train from Bucharest (1735H) to Budapest (0850H) offered by Hungarian Railways for a minimum fare of 8,900 HUF (29 EUR), train #EN472. Online service is accessible but needs to exchange in any ticket machine located inside Hungary only, which gave me a real crossborder fear explained as follows.

CROSSBORDER OVERNIGHT TRAIN RIDE FROM BUCHAREST, ROMANIA (NON-SCHENGEN) TO BUDAPEST, HUNGARY (SCHENGEN STATE)

1735H

ETD Bucuresti Nord

16h15m; #EN 472

0540H	20-Jun	Hungary Border			held due to fingerprint scan error
0950H		ETA Budapest-Keleti

- Seats are not comfortable as seats are facing to each other and there is NOT ENOUGH space for legroom. Power outlet available and no wifi onboard. Toilet available.
- fined 45 (200lei) Euro, equivalent of 186lei due to Hungarian railway ticket is not accepted by Romanian railway. Hungarian Railway already warned me via email query I made but still I gamble the 29Euro booked against the present 45Euro seat.
- around 0600H, held for almost an hour (alone) in Hungary railway border (from Romania) due to fingerprints not tallying in applied visa, which resulted to visiting the nearby police station and undergone a thorough 2nd line check. Hungarian border guards are nice enough to make me feel relax and showed me the procedures transparently.