Hired driver in Hungary

In need of a driver on our September ’04 trip that included Hungary, we were turned on to Gabor Stern (e-mail sabor.s@vivamail.hu, phone 0036-202238630) by the Hungarian National Tourist Office (e-mail info@gotohungary.com).

A very pleasant man with acceptable English skills, Gabor picked us up at the train station in an air-conditioned car and delivered us to our hotel. Several days later he met us on our return by train from an outlying town and took us to Statue Park, waited 90 minutes, then dropped us off in downtown Budapest.

He picked us up the next morning at our hotel and drove us to Visegrád, waited two hours while we toured the castle, then drove us to Szentendre where he dropped us off to explore the town and take a Danube cruise back to Budapest. Finally, he picked us up at our hotel and drove us to the train station for our ride to Prague.

All this in four days cost $150.

Knowing we had our own driver to meet us at various stages of our Hungarian stay made the trip that much more enjoyable. There’s a lot to be said for getting off a train in a strange country with a strange language all around you and finding someone standing there holding a sign with your name on it. My wife was impressed. I was just happy.

THOMAS BEAM
Great Falls, MT