The title can be a bit misleading. I did not travel throughout Romania, Hungary and Slovakia. I would need more than a month to do that, and besides, with a fulltime job it would be nearly impossible.
What I did last May was to fly to Debrecen, Hungary and I made side trips to nearby towns such as Eger, Lillafured and Miskolc. I also travelled outside the country to Oradea, Romania and Kosice, Slovakia. All these towns and cities are relatively small and are also not far from each other which makes them very easy to combine. We are not talking the size of Budapest here where you need at least 3 days to get to know the city.
Below is the map of the area and you can see that they are not very far from each other. This is not my route per se though as I did each city on different days.
Because I have been to many big, familiar and popular cities, my travel cravings have upped. Not for the extraordinaire and luxurious kind. I am more yearning for the off-the-beaten-track kind of places, and lately, Eastern Europe. Places where less tourists flock to. Like Debrecen, Oradea and Kosice. I want to experience cities and towns where tourism hasn’t had the opportunity to mask it’s raw beauty yet with marketing campaigns.
Debrecen Airport and Rental Car
Now Debrecen Airport used to be a postal and military airport. It was only 10 years ago when the city bought the airport from the government and started developing it, firstly for seasonal commercial charter flights, usually during summer. Nowadays, a few commercial flights within Europe fly in and out regularly every week. WizzAir, a Hungarian airline has recently opened flights from Eindhoven (Netherlands) to Debrecen twice a week.
Not a familiar city for a city trip I reckon, so I started googling about the area and its nearby surroundings. Next thing I know I booked the flight =)
Normally I would reserve a rental car online in advance but with this trip, I thought that I will just wing it. Like be spontaneous a bit than following every item on my travel agenda. Not knowingly, I have my lucky stars lined up for me. Debrecen Airport is small, really small that they only have a few commercial flights per week, and in fact after half an hour from the touch down of our plane, the airport closed its doors. I did not even check if there was a rental car office? I just assumed since its an airport. Dumb I know but I was trying to be spontaneous *smirk*.
‘We are closing the airport in a few minutes as this is the last flight for the day.’ Said the woman behind one of the counters. Earlier I asked her if there is an ATM somewhere in the airport so I can withdraw some Hungarian Forint, to which she first replied there was none.
But most importantly I got favourably lucky because there is rental car counter at the airport—Hertz, and the only rental car representation at Debrecen Airport. Hallelujah! After this trip I promised myself not to leave critical matters such as this to serendipity. Better safe than sorry.
The very helpful Hertz man didn’t have a car ready for me at the airport so I hitched a ride with him to their city office where this golden beauty was loaned to me:
Hungarian Highways and Lunatic Drivers
Highways in Hungary are relatively new, thanks to the infrastructure standards imposed by the EU.
What do I love with driving in this part of Hungary? Answer: No traffic! I really wondered where the cars were as there were very few cars on the road? Only in the city centre it gets a bit crowded but nothing near triggering the increase of my blood pressure.
The drivers here though are simply lunatics! With no sense of safety whatsoever. I heard myself cursing several times when I had to give way THREE TIMES to incoming suicidal drivers, which included a woman by the way, overtaking vehicles nonchalantly on a 2-way road and driving straight at me. WTF? I still want to live and enjoy this trip!
Ugh, need to lower down my blood pressure…
Hungary enforces a motorway road tax, however, the rental car covered the vignette so I didn’t have to buy one separately. Thank you.
Entry to Slovakia: On to Kosice
Slovakian drivers however are less cracked than their Hungarian counterparts. The roads are also somewhat relaxed and peaceful. There were very few cars wasting gasoline.
Slovakia enforces as well the motorway road tax, but since the road from Hungary to Kosice, Slovakia is not a motorway, I didn’t purchase one. There is no need. Speed limits are 50 (city/built-up roads) – 90 (national roads) – 130 (motorways).
Hungary and Slovakia are both part of the Schengen Travel Treaty so there were no border controls between both countries.
Romania Border Immigration: Going to Oradea
Romania is not part of the Schengen Treaty so I had to go through immigration control at the border. This is where all the fun is, at least or so I thought. I passed by the border control twice (to and fro) and every time I did, I get strange looks from the border police. They ask me questions, whilst flipping my passport to see where else I have been to, and the more I provide them with answers, the more perplexed they become, haha.
I can quite understand why. Here is moi, a middle aged exotic woman born in the Philippines, driving alone in a rental Hungarian car, with no luggage (I was only on a day trip to Oradea) and has a Dutch passport. What would a Romanian and Hungarian immigration police think?
A border police officer will always think the worst case scenario, and this includes profiling visitors as well. With that said, a foreign woman travelling alone is not perhaps something they encounter on a daily basis. What more, I wasn’t someone from the area, and well, I am not white. The officers wondered why I do not have a luggage with me? I am sure prostitution must have crossed their minds, but I am also quite sure that they have ruled me out quickly, after all I am too old for the job, haha. They might even have considered it from the angle of my passport: Netherlands – cannabis and drugs. As you can see, there’s a lot of room for perverse hypothetical scenarios.
One thing that I got lucky though. They did not ask for my driver’s license which I accidentally left at my hotel in Debrecen. I know, I got so careless. I was changing purses. Never again.
The road between the Hungarian border to Oradea is a motorway so one has to have the vignette which can be conveniently purchased at the mini marts before the border control.
I have also thought that Romanian drivers are wilder on the road (based from what I have heard) but during this trip, the Hungarians took the trophy home.
The roads and highways in Romania though are less developed and narrow, so beware of badly maintained ones, potholes and no shoulders when driving here. A 30-minute travel time in Hungary could easily become 1 hour in Romania. That alone speaks volumes.
Travel Period: May 2014
Destination: Hungary, Slovakia and Romania
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Happy Travels! Enjoy Life =)