No mat­ter how long you are liv­ing or will be liv­ing in Bud­apest, this ancient city always has some­thing new to reveal or share. For strangers in a strange land, it is not easy begin­ning a life in a new coun­try; this is more so, in a coun­try where the biggest chal­lenge of all is the language.

Where do you begin? Get a map and start walk­ing. Dis­cover the ‘ins and outs’ of this strik­ing city, bey­ond its mag­ni­fi­cient archi­tec­ture and do not be afraid to ask the way, even if you can only use your hands to do it. Con­sult con­tacts, col­leagues, friends, Hun­gari­ans you meet on the street, read, research. Inform­a­tion in Bud­apest does not ‘flow’ so eas­ily. You must make the effort and take the ini­ti­at­ive to find out most things your­self. A smile and a look of help­less­ness can go a long way.

But this book will help you. The Blue Plate is a com­pil­a­tion of Dip­lo­mats’ exper­i­ences in Bud­apest — their chal­lenges, require­ments, and recom­mend­a­tions. In addi­tion, there are many of my per­sonal sug­ges­tions that we, as a fam­ily, have dis­covered. These seasoned expats have offered up the short­cuts to accli­mat­iz­ing to life here.

This is a little inter­cul­tural book cre­ated to help all those set­tling into Bud­apest, regard­less of nation­al­it­ies or reli­gions. It helps you find what is miss­ing from your home coun­tries and per­haps give you a little extra con­fid­ence to ven­ture out in your early days, which are the most daunting.

Just as dip­lo­mats and for­eign­ers come and go, so do shops, res­taur­ants, med­ical and ser­vice facil­it­ies. ‘Tips from Dips’ offers no guar­an­tee of pre­vail­ing con­di­tions.
In the mean­time, I hope you find some new sur­prises in this intriguing and beau­ti­ful city and remember:

‘It is all rel­at­ive to where you come from!’