Can you bring plants into Hungary and are there any problems carrying then overland through the other countries Begium/France/Germany/Austria/slovenia/Hungary

No problem, plants can be freely transited across EU countries. I just brought a suitcase full back from the UK

You are a bit of a diamond arent you Rural

I was discussing this with Nicole whilst in the UK and we concluded that because we have so many dramatic events happen and tend to veer from the trodden path so often, I have accumulated a ton of obscure facts and information on totally random subjects

Remind me - over a glass of wine - to tell you about how to remove 5l of varnish from the carpets and electrical seat gubbings of a car

My wife will be pleased when we eventually move to Hungary ... which is still a long way off .... 8 years when I retire!

Am looking forward to random facts after 2-3 glasses of wine!!! all the the important things in life

Fentiger we are retiring early while we can still stand I could work on another 5 years but for what, my wage is rubbish anyway and compared to others at my workplace we are realtively poor money wise, but we have done the sums and believe quality of life back to basics is what we want and can afford to live in Hungary but not in Eurozone countries.

Understand your point about retiring early. I do, however, have a sneaky feeling that I might be asked if I would like to retire early in 3-5 years time because my employers, NHS, have alot of pressure to make cut-backs. The services side of things are down to the bone now so head office is where I think they will shift the next round of cut-backs to. Apart from the Director I think at 52 I'm the oldest in my department.

My one worry is that with my wife being Hungarian we already have friends living over there we hope they don't expect us to subsidise them every time we go out or invite them over! That has happened on a couple of occasions when we have gone out for a drink!!! I don't mind up to a point because they do not earn an awful lot of money although some of them live comfortably enough.

Igen FenTiger get your point about being expected to subsidise, the last time we arrived at our house within seconds of getting out of the car an old bloke was speaking with his hand open I suspect for money, my reply of course was nem nem nem! We do not want to be thought of as rich British cos we are not so a low profile is in order till we sus things out. I too work for the NHS and understand about cut backs etc but I am at the low end of the pecking order.

Well i have my triangle/high viz jacket/first aid kit/spare bulbs/breathalyser kit/stickers/ headlamp diflectors /toll stickers etc etc(even though I cant make head nor tail of where to fit to my Ford Focus) the only problem is that I cant get any luggage in the car

Spare bulbs/ first aid kit , thanks for the reminder

OGSG amazon best place to shop

One thing to consider ref haulage is that if you pack your stuff in boxes the haulage company will only insure what they pack such as export wrap furniture etc. the only insurance available with respect to Pickfords removals is "Total Loss Insurance" which is not that expensive.
There are very few companies that insure your packed goods and they need an inventory of everything you packed, I contacted one and they have not responded, in our case we had to pack alot of our stuff before arranging transport and put in storage. So we trust to luck that all goods will re appear Hungary end

This makes my day totally when i see everyone else getting "packed up" to move to Hungary..thanks for keeping me smiling guys hope maybe we can meet up when we are all out there...
We are going out leaving the UK on 29th Aug we have our own van and have reduced all our belongings to essentials ..after 20 yrs of living in a house its not an easy task either ...but will be worth it once we get settled in t our new home and life out in hungary...Thanks for the smiles and its good to know others are doing the same thing...Lesley

xpats meet monthly, one venue is the Piki Restaurant Balatonszentgyorgy thee other i believe is Glenesdias (spelling)

oh thats fab but when in the month ? lol