
And here I am, back in Budapest. My first ever solo Euro jaunt back in the summer of 2012 was Budapest so it will always hold a special place in my mind. I remember the first time telling my blue pill mates that I’m going on holiday by myself ‘to check out the city’ and them looking at me like I’m crazy. Back then I was living in a small UK city trying the daygame as a complete noobie and saw the other daygame OGs at the time travelling around Europe, which inspired me to try the same. I also remember how odd it felt going to the airport by myself wondering what the hell am I doing and thinking what my mates back home are saying about me. I also remember getting a taxi from Budapest airport into the city and how foreign it felt, with the taxi driver trying to make conversation and I was too embarrassed to say I was alone so I thought I needed to make an excuse saying I’m meeting friends. I still remember stepping outside the hotel (who got Airbnbs back then?) and being so nervous walking up and down this foreign street which felt so different to the UK. However, I soon got into the groove and spent the week having the time of my life approaching the hot birds in the scorching sun, being inspired by the step up in quality compared to where I was currently living in the UK; this first trip really opened my eyes to what is actually out there. I remember once the trip had ended, getting the train from Gatwick airport back home and a wave of euphoria suddenly swept over me, as I had the realisation the world really is my oyster, with this skillset I can just jump on a plane to anywhere and make things happen. This felt like the actual beginning to my daygame journey.
Fast-forward to now, 10 years later, and I have landed my new remote job and had planned on just hitting Ukraine/Russia but for obvious reasons that plan has been ruined so I needed to think of a plan B which you can read about in my Going Remote post. I had my heart set on Ukraine/Russia and just didn’t feel that inspired about going anywhere else these days, until the Cheshire Gent (CG) convinced me to go to Budapest with him as it’s his favourite city. I also thought it would be quite fitting now that I’m fully remote, to go back to the first city I went to on a Euro Jaunt all those years ago. Full Circle.
I’ve always liked Budapest as a city but now I have spent some time here I’m not a big fan of the daygame, I’m assuming it’s the same with other gamers/instructors as Budapest is one of those places that seems to get skipped on most Euro jaunts. The issue I’ve found here is that 95% of the girls I’m meeting are the local Hungarians and they just seem a bit indifferent to the approach and are quite flakey. Compare this to Prague or Warsaw for example where you’ll be meeting a healthy amount of Russians and Ukrainians. I’m also really not that inspired by the quality here, it’s rare to see a really hot Hungarian- or maybe it’s just that spending a lot of time in Russia over the years has ruined me. Either way, I like Budapest as a city and it will always be good party town.
Towards the end of my first week here, I was heading home and popped into a shop for a batch of protein bars. I see two girls in front of me in the queue buying bread and I make a comment on why they are only buying bread and should be buying chocolate while pointing at the chocolate bars. I could tell their English wasn’t very good and as they were leaving the hot one looked back at me and said goodbye with a big smile.
As I step outside, I see the same two girls stood to one side so I reopen them with my hands still full of protein bars. I don’t remember much of the conversation apart from them being Spanish, their English wasn’t good (like most Spanish), they are just in Budapest for a few days as tourists and I accuse them of being the two bad girls from the Spanish TV series Money Heist. I end up number closing the hot one that smiled at me in the shop and leave them to it. The hot one, Isabella, seemed pretty interested as she would text me everyday with lots of investment but I just ran out of time to ger her out. On her last night I ended up inviting her straight to mine and it looked liked it was game on but her friend stopped her. They then went back to Spain and I thought nothing of it.
On her return to Spain, Isabella would still message me everyday and said she would be happy to show me around her area in the south of Spain one day. Not so long ago I would have just seen that as a throwaway comment but now I’m fully remote and can travel/work from anywhere, I actually considered the option and thought it would be a good adventure, enabling me to make the most of my new situation. To test the waters and to make sure a few things were ticked off the list before I’d even consider it, I did a few things:
- The key was to frame it as an adventure for both of us. I also made sure she knew I worked from my laptop so it doesn’t make a difference to me
- I noticed she stopped replying in Spanish and switched to English which meant she was investing and doing the work by doing the translating instead of me
- I got her to qualify by sending me photos of herself as well as her area as though she is trying to ‘sell’ it to me
- I asked when is she going to be my tour guide, what is she going to show me and what she has planned. More investment from her.
- I’d also be quite direct over messaging so there is no doubt in what this is about e.g. telling her she will have to rub sun cream on me etc.
If I had a normal office job I wouldn’t have bothered going but as I’m now remote there is no risk of going whatsoever. I was also getting a bit sick of Budapest and wanted a change of scenery. Even if it didn’t work out with her for some reason I would have 1 week of working remotely from the beach in the south of Spain, it’s a hard life.
I book the flights and she seems really excited. A couple of weeks after meeting her, I’ve checked into my Spanish apartment and waiting for her to turn up. Isabella turns up in her car and greets me like long lost lovers. Her English isn’t good and at that point we are mostly using Google Translate as she says she wants to take me to her favourite place. We get in the car and Isabella drives me across the sunny seafront of the Costa Del Sol, Spanish music playing on the radio and I look out the window, ocean on one side, mountains on the other. Another Daygame memory. Isabella drives me to a nice cafe overlooking the sea where we are building comfort, still mostly using Google Translate. Afterwards, she then shows me around the port where we kiss for the first time hiding from the rain. After tasty Tapas later that evening, Isabella comes back to my apartment where I finally get the Spanish flag. 10 years in Daygame and I finally bang a Spanish girl. It’s strange as I’ve always done badly with Spanish and Italians, I never got much interest from them in London as they were always so flakey and since leaving London, I thought my chance to get that flag was over and done with. This was the beginning of a great week with her.
Isabella was such a sweet, feminine and caring girl as she put a lot of thought into where she could show me and had something planned for every day I was there. We spent the rest of the week driving up and down the Costa Del Sol seeing the sites, banging, drinking Sangria, eating Tapas and lying on the beach together. We both saw it as an adventure and even if we never see each other again, it will just be a great story for both of us. It was an awesome week and reminded me of the benefits of going remote, I can just jump on a plane whenever I want and make the most of the opportunities that present themselves.