After graduating from the University of Wales in Bangor and attending the College of Law at Chester, Timothy qualified as a solicitor in 1994. He lives in York, where he works as a law costs draftsperson. In his spare time he enjoys exploring - on foot and by other means. He writes of a trip he made to Hungary in 2004:

Budapest Experience.

In August 2004, a Hungarian Servas traveller called Valeria from Budapest stayed at my house for two nights. She was friendly, we got on well together and we stayed in touch by e-mail, albeit infrequently. The following February she invited me to visit Budapest for a week over Easter, where she would show me around and introduce me to her friends. She lives in a one room or studio apartment, and her friend Katalin (who is also a member of Servas) also lives in a small flat, so I wasn't able to stay with either of them, but Kate owns another flat and I was able to have sole use of that for the duration of my stay.

Here are some of the places I visited and things I did and saw:

On Easter Saturday I went caving, in Budapest itself. Part of the caves concerned are show caves open to the general public, with electric lighting, a path good enough for push-chairs to use, and many strange rock formations, but Valeria knew the management and was able to arrange access to other parts which are not normally open to the public. We climbed up and down "chimneys" and crawled through U-bends. Unfortunately I didn't have a helmet, head-torch or caving suit (all of which would have been useful), but I didn't let that stop me exploring with my hand-held torch.

On Easter Sunday Kate led me on a six mile walk in the Buda Hills, which are just a short bus- or tram-ride from the city centre on the western outskirts. We saw only a handful of other people all day, which made a nice contrast to the city itself. We saw no long-distance views either, as the weather was misty all day, with light drizzle at first. That was a contrast to the rest of the week; all the other days were completely dry, with hot afternoons and cold evenings. I reckon it was, on average, hotter than it is in this country at the same time of year, but the drop in temperature from afternoon to evening seemed a lot greater and more rapid than here. Dressing appropriately was not helped by the fact that, although my flat fortunately had central heating, the heat could not be adjusted or turned off. I asked Kate about it. She replied that, unfortunately, Hungarian industry was "not strong" in the 1970s, i.e. when my building was built and when, I assume, the heating system was installed. In one hollow high in the Buda hills we came across a patch of snow. It was, apparently, all that was left of a blanket of snow that had lain all over the city for more than a month from January until late February.

The building was made of grey concrete, and had ten storeys with twelve flats on each floor. Looking along my road to the east I could see a row of ten similar buildings stretching into the distance. I first arrived there by mini-cab from the airport. When I saw the estate I thought it looked dreadful, but with hindsight I would say that was based on my prejudices about high-rise housing estates. I didn't actually sense alienation either inside or outside my building and insofar as I felt uneasy in the communal parts I put that down to concern that my neighbours might think me rude, for example if they attempted to strike up a conversation in Hungarian or if my lift etiquette was poor.

My flat was on the fourth floor and faced the city centre. It actually enjoyed a view of the historic Castle Hill district, which is apparently a UNESCO World Heritage Site. However I didn't discover that I could see Castle Hill until seven days after my arrival, when I scanned the view with my monocular. That was because the hill and city centre were some five miles away. That distance was not a problem, as the crossroads outside my block of flats was a transport interchange, with a bus station, tram and night bus stops and a metro station from where tube trains sped into the city centre every few minutes.

My flat was a smart studio or one room apartment consisting of a living room (with sofa-bed), bathroom and kitchenette. The furnishings were contemporary.

On Easter Monday I boarded an out-of-town train with Valeria and another friend of hers, who was also a Servas member. We spent the afternoon in an open-air folk heritage museum where traditional buildings from many different parts of Hungary had been re-erected. It reminded me of St Fagans (although I haven't been there for about 25 years). It was a public holiday and many visitors were present. Had I been dying to study every exhibit and to learn all about the traditional way of life in rural Hungary the crowds might have irritated me, but the museum consisted of a spacious park, there were special events (such as egg painting and folk dancing) for visitors to have a go at and I was happy to get an idea of what residents of Budapest and district do on their days off.

I looked around the national museum of fine art, the parliament building and the museum of ethnography. I saw fine "fin-de-siecle" architecture from the city's heyday a century ago. In this respect Budapest reminded me of Barcelona, where many beautiful buildings date from about the same era and exhibit similar architectural styles. I explored Gellert hill, City Park, Castle Hill by night and Margaret Island, which is essentially a mile-long park in the middle of the Danube. I had dinner at Valeria's flat twice and accompanied her to cafes and restaurants. I had tea at the extremely elegant Astoria Hotel. Prices there were not much higher than elsewhere in Budapest, i.e. much lower than in Britain. Prices of goods and services varied between one third and 100% of what they are here. I got the impression that salaries are little, if any, more than a third of what they are here. Valeria is a self-employed teacher of English to adults, mostly on a one-to-one basis. She bought her flat a few years ago. Her monthly income fluctuates, so she sometimes finds it difficult to meet her mortgage payments. She is thinking of coming to Britain to work, as what she could earn here in even a menial job would enable her to pay off her mortgage more rapidly than she could ever afford to do if she stays in Budapest.

I also visited the Sculpture Park, where Soviet-era monuments from all over Budapest have been put on display again. Apart from this, I saw few signs of the pre-1989 regime. I was reminded of my previous visit to Budapest (for three nights, in 1996), when I felt it had a comfortable, safe, western-European feel to it, more so than Prague or any of the several other cities in formerly Communist central/east European countries I visited on the same trip.

Finally, on my last afternoon, which was Friday 1 April, I visited thermal baths - one of several naturally-heated baths in the city. The bath-house was a beautiful, palatial building - in a Baroque style (according to me). The curvy pools had white stone balustrades and sculptures of fish, dolphins et cetera with jets of water gushing out of their mouths. There were saunas, steam rooms and numerous pools, indoors and out, at various temperatures. That afternoon was cooler than usual. When I entered the building I imagined that the outdoor pools would not be in use on such a cool day so early in the Spring. I couldn't have been more wrong. There were hundreds of people there - and by the time I left at 4.45pm the queues to enter were much longer than they had been two hours earlier. The temperature of the outdoor pools made them very comfortable to just sit about in. The sun came out and, after a brief sauna and an even briefer dip in a chilly indoor plunge pool, just standing on the outdoor terrace felt pleasantly warm.

I particularly enjoyed having my own flat and the independence it gave me, compared to staying in a hotel or hostel or with someone else as a guest in their own home. I suppose I also had a better view of the Hungarian way of life than I would have done had I stayed in a hotel or hostel. The other thing that made the holiday special was the warm welcome I received from Valeria, who spent a few days and evenings with me, and from Kate and Valeria's other friends.

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