A near-death experience inspired Denae McGaha to move to the other side of the world.
In 2011, when McGaha was 16, a deadly tornado ripped through her parents’ home in Harvest, Alabama, while she, her brother, mother, and father were inside. McGaha’s father, Ronnie, threw himself on top of his daughter to shield her from the wind and debris. He was killed while trying to shield McGaha from the storm.
The last Christmas her father was alive, he gave her a guidebook to Europe. “I’ve always had a travel bug,” says McGaha, 30. “Having that gift made me feel like all my dreams were coming true [to see the world] were supported and confirmed.”
McGaha began planning her move abroad as soon as she turned 18. In college, she spent two semesters studying in London and Copenhagen, respectively, and the summer after graduation, she backpacked through Europe.
“Traveling was a way for me to stay excited about life and heal from the horrible experience I had gone through and the loss of my father,” McGaha says.
“It completely opened up my world and I wanted to experience everything that was there. It also showed me that I could build a new, beautiful life, even after losing so much.”
After returning from her trip, McGaha moved in with her mother on Whidbey Island, Washington and got a job as a barista in a coffee shop.
“I felt like such an impostor,” she recalls. “Everyone I knew was applying to graduate school or getting jobs in big cities, and I was just tired and lost … I had no idea what to do with myself, but I knew I wanted to keep traveling.”
One of her friends suggested that she look into teaching in Budapest, Hungary due to the shortage of teachers and the short processing time for visas.
Within weeks of submitting her application, McGaha landed a job teaching English to preschoolers and in 2017 she moved to Budapest, the same city where she still lives seven years later.
“I don’t see myself living here forever, but I don’t see any immediate reason why I would leave,” she says. “I still love this city so much.”
Moving to Europe with $4,000 and one suitcase
McGaha spent $800 on a new life outside the United States, and that was just for a one-way ticket.
“I think I took one suitcase,” she says. All in all, she saved about $4,000 for her move.
Her teaching contract included a furnished one-bedroom apartment in Budapest, with a monthly stipend to cover rent and utilities. The job paid about $7,800 a year.
McGaha says her new career in Budapest didn’t really have a language barrier, as many Hungarians speak English. After working at the school for a year, she was already fluent in Hungarian.
“I learned a lot from working with the preschoolers because the children speak very simple and repetitive Hungarian,” McGaha explains.
She quickly befriended other teachers, expats she met through Instagram, and employees of businesses in her neighborhood, from open-air farmers markets to Budapest’s famous ruin bars.
For McGaha, the biggest challenge of moving to Budapest was living far from her family and friends in the United States and having to adjust to what she calls “coconut culture.”
“People from ‘peach cultures’, like Americans, are softer on the outside, friendlier to strangers, and enjoy small talk, but there’s a hole in the middle, a few intimate parts of themselves that they reserve for a few people,” she explains. “Hungarian culture is a bit like a coconut: they tend to keep to themselves and don’t engage with strangers very easily, but once you get through the outer shell, they are wonderful and loyal friends, many will treat you like family.”
Transitioning from Teaching to a Remote Career
Shortly after moving to Budapest, McGaha started a blog chronicling her experiences as an American expat and her favorite things to do in the city.
She had no idea that her favorite hobby would become a career.
McGaha was fired from her job as a teacher in March 2020 when Hungary closed schools to curb the spread of Covid-19.
She spent more time updating her blog and promoting her content on LinkedIn and Instagram. Local businesses in Budapest took notice and started reaching out to McGaha through her blog to help revamp their own blogs and social media accounts.
Those opportunities “allowed me to expand my portfolio even further and through Instagram I was approached by an acquaintance who worked at Consumer51 and I wanted to help them grow their international client base,” McGaha explains.
She now works as a freelance travel journalist and part-time digital marketing strategist at Consumer51, a marketing agency in Philadelphia.
McGaha typically works from her one-bedroom apartment in Budapest’s 5th district or from a co-working space in her neighborhood.
Photo: Bence Bamer
Since moving to Budapest – and losing her job as a teacher – McGaha has had to apply for several visas.
She was granted a work visa to teach English when she first arrived in Hungary. Between 2020 and 2024, she applied for and was approved for two different short-term visas — an independent contractor visa and a “visa for other purposes” — valid for approximately two years each, back to back.
In January 2024, the Hungarian government overhauled its immigration system, abolishing the “visa for other purposes,” the type of residency permit McGaha is trying to renew — but because she applied before it was canceled, she still qualifies.
If her application is approved, McGaha could be allowed to live in Hungary for at least another year.
She is still considering applying for permanent residency in Hungary, but has not done so yet, as one of her dreams is to become a digital nomad and travel and work in different countries.
“Living in Budapest makes me laugh,” she says. “The only times I cry here are when I have to deal with immigration papers.”
Living comfortably on less than $40,000 a year
Last year, McGaha earned about $37,731 from her marketing job and freelance work, which she says is “more than enough” to cover her monthly expenses and still have money left over for traveling and dining out with friends.
In early 2020, she moved into a one-bedroom apartment in Budapest’s 5th district that she found on Ingatlan, a popular apartment-finding website. Her rent, which hasn’t changed since she moved here, is about $560 a month.
McGaha says that after paying rent and utilities, she doesn’t plan to spend more than $150 a week.
“I’m grateful that living here has given me so many more options for spending and saving,” McGaha adds. “If I were to live in Seattle, for example, on my current salary, I wouldn’t be able to enjoy the financial independence I have or the peace of mind I have.”
Here’s a monthly look at McGaha’s spending (as of May 2024):
McGaha’s average monthly expenses
Ilham Ataeiazar
Food: $806
Rent and utilities: $664
Insurance: $82
Telephone: $97
Subscriptions: €189
Transport: $8
Business expenses: $25
Discretionary: $400
Pay off debt: $1,089
Total: $3,360
“In May, I spent more than I earned, and I think a big part of that was paying off credit card debt,” she says. “I was also more generous with eating out and having fun with friends … but I’m cutting back on travel this summer and trying to be more conscious with my money.”
Building a new life abroad
McGaha says she rarely feels homesick for the United States.
Carrying on a conversation in Hungarian and navigating the country’s immigration system can be a headache at times, but “there’s not a morning that goes by that I wake up here without being in awe of the fact that this is my life,” she says.
In the evenings she cycles along the Danube, drinks a glass of wine with friends in one of Budapest’s open-air bars or goes out for dinner: lángos, a Hungarian fried flatbread, and one of Europe’s most famous street dishes.
At weekends she heads to Margate Island for a picnic with friends, tries out new bakeries in Budapest or explores the city’s cultural offerings, from late-night museum exhibitions to concerts at Puskás Aréna.
It’s the kind of life McGaha thinks her 16-year-old self would be proud of. “Do I ever see myself moving back to the States? If I could have the same level of comfort, peace, quality of life, I’d be open to it,” she says. “But for now, I love Hungary, I love Budapest, and I’m happy to be here.”
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