Kortn's Crib: Video tour of Airbnb flat in Budapest, Hungary

$1,200 per month.

It’s one of the highest rents we’ve ever paid!

I know it sounds odd for American readers (and others) who are accustomed to rents and house payments in the thousands of dollars.

But our vagabond travel life – in mostly developing countries – still usually allows us to pay well under $1,000 for monthly rentals. Plus being AirBnb transactions; utilities, internet, TV, furnishings — everything is included in the ‘rent’.

Anyway, this month we are in Europe: Budapest, Hungary. And $1,000 Airbnbs are extremely rare. (I did see a few, but they didn’t work for our dates.) Not a surprise. We know Eastern Europe is a big step up in prices from Asia.

And actually, we’re pretty happy with the accommodation value we have in Budapest. Check it out. Below is a quick tour of our current place; another edition of “Kortn’s Crib.”

Budapest Airbnb tour — including an odd toilet.

To be completely accurate, our rent will likely turn out to be $1270. NOT included in the AirBnb price is a 400 Hungarian forint tax per night/per person ($1.16 each).

Maybe the landlord will let us pay just one tax, but we are prepared to pay the official amount upon checkout. The extra fee was noted in the AirBnb listing.

So the real cost of the unit could be $42.33 per night. As I said to start, it’s one of the highest we’ve ever paid for a month’s stay (we have paid a higher “pro-rated” price for shorter stays; in Japan, London, Venice, Cappadocia, etc.). But that’s what the going rate is in Budapest — and similarly Poland, our next long-stay — especially to be in the city center, close to tourist attractions, walking distance from most everything.

All in all, we can’t complain. We know rents everywhere around the world continue to creep (or leap) up. And you could easily spend a lot more for a month-long apartment in Budapest and beyond. We will pay, adjust, budget as best we can as we continue around Europe this summer.

In the fall, we expect to get back to cheaper rents and prices in the less developed world. Of course, we’ll continue to show more of our accommodations and what they cost in more Kortn’s Crib episodes.

As always, be thankful and generous, happy trails & more beer. Life is NOW!