My Austrian experience 🇦🇹

It is a tad difficult to jot down my thoughts. Not only because my wee mind tends to flood my head with a giant swirl of a cacophonic mixture of thoughts, memories, and experiences, but also for the fact, that it is always challenging to write a comparison of two countries unbiasedly. I love Hungary. Its history, however grim it might sometimes be, covers 1100 years with battles, intricacies, and terrible deeds. Although I'm not a linguist, I love the Hungarian language, its unique rules, weird grammatical structures, and vocabulary. Not to mention the Hungarian writers who wield the words masterfully. The culinary delights one can revel in can genuinely make anyone drooling. And despite the poverty and the fact that people tend to accept their fate, even if the conditions are subpar, without feeling motivated or inclined to change their plight because they had given up hope or had never had any opportunity to break out from poverty, I love Hungary. I'm not arguing with those who claim the hardships took all their energy from feeling an inner motivation to improve their environment and to make their surroundings clean and organised after finishing their shifts - which often consist of brutal working hours and psycho- or sociopath bosses for a minimum wage. At the same time, it is evident that certain individuals, who, for various reasons, don't feel the need to improve their lives and surroundings, will not add much to anyone's life, not to mention the country.

Furthermore, I certainly won't dissect how communism tore apart the country, forcing many great men and women to leave their homes in the hope of finding a new one. And I won't discuss how the Western brain drain has cajoled people from poorer countries and its side effects on these areas. But these facts are worth mentioning if we want to come closer to the truth, which is subjective and minted through the filters of my eyes and wee mind. (I've just realised how long the intro got, sorry.)

What becomes evident for anyone visiting Austria is: this country is clean, well-organised, and unbelievably liveable. I'm not saying there is no dirt or litter on the streets, or one wouldn't find any derelict buildings, because once we left the downtown area, it became evident that not every part of the capital is as gleaning as the inner city. Some areas need renovation, and the capital's outskirts resemble some of Budapest's districts. However, even these derelict parts of Vienna were much cleaner, the roads and pavements were in much better condition, and the overall sensation was better than the Hungarian reality. My overall impression of the country was that everything was well-organised and not neglected.

The traffic was okay, hardly any congestion thwarted our plans, and the public transport system seemed comfortable. Travelling by car is super easy. The highways and motorways offer ample lanes to spend the journey comfortably without being crammed in jam-packed roads. Navigating through and between cities is also relatively painless once one gets familiar with the local peculiarities - such as disappearing and weird turning lanes. However, the city's bike lanes provide ample opportunity to ride through the busy streets without using fossil fuel, which is commendable. Not to mention the e-scooter boom; seeing the young and the elderly rolling about with those fast little buggers is a sight to behold.

The cultural side of the city is baffling. Museums, theatres, and other complexes are ready to entertain weary tourists and local punters - consisting of a colourful mix of different nations - alike. There are hardly any streets in the downtown area without anything interesting, either historically or following the capitalist way of life, financially - shops, luxury brands, banks, etc. Enormous billboards advertise various events, concerts, and exhibitions. The offer in shop windows is perplexing, and the number of restaurants and confectioneries is uncountable.

Small shops provided goods everywhere in the city, so there was no need to travel for hours if one wanted to buy any staple food or goods that one might need in the household. The quality of food - and drink - was excellent. (Apart from one bad experience at Akakiko, where the quality and taste of the meal were questionable.) When we did some shopping, we were perplexed by the prices. We had to pay the same or, sometimes, less for products we usually buy in Hungary. However, if one wants to eat out, the purse must be full of money. I'm not saying that restaurants are cheap in Hungary. Some places here in Hungary charge almost the same price for a meal as in Austria. However, the quality of these products, be it food or drink or anything else, is far better than those available for us in Hungary, which is outrageous. After drinking a can of Coke in Hungary, my mouth was full of acid and sugar. (I haven't drunk Coke for years, and it only happened twice this year, so I surely won't stuff Coca-Cola's pocket.)

In contrast, from my taste of view, Coke in Austria contained less acid and sugar; therefore, the aftertaste was less bad. This theory was confirmed by some of the Hungarian workers we met in shops. They recommended we take as much product home as possible because of the quality difference. 

But it's not only Coke we can discuss while bringing up the topic of differences. And the quality of all other products, such as clothes, detergents, etc., seemed much better than those in Hungary, which is a shame. Nothing justifies this injustice as we are neighbouring countries; our history ties us strongly - the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy - and the fact that only a virtual border divides us makes it even more outrageous. We can blame the politician, lousy weather, or anything else as long as it doesn't pertain to us.

Overall, people are much better dressed than Hungarians. Shops are brimming with customers who not only loiter empty-handed but leave the stores with huge bags. The quality of life is better, and the standard of living is noticeably higher than in Hungary. Real estate is more expensive, and the running costs of a house or flat are higher than in Hungary, as well as the rents and medical services that are excruciatingly high. However, the quality one gets for their money is incomparably better. The level of service is generally superb - apart from the few occasions when we had to deal with arrogant and conceited servers.

In summary, we enjoyed our stay in Austria. The hotel was much better from the inside than we had anticipated from the outside. The room was comfortable. The staff was world-class. And the few servers in the restaurant we had a chance to converse with were exceptionally great guys. Even the Moldavian guy, who seemed overly taciturn, engaged in a conversation with us. And the Hungarian boss of the restaurant staff was excellent, a real professional. Too bad we couldn't say goodbye to him and to his colleague. Would I want to go back and spend another week or two? Abso-bloody-lutely. Would I want to move, settle in Austria, and spend the rest of my life there? Well, it depends, but I wouldn't mind at all...