A near-death experience inspired Denae McGaha to move halfway across the world.

In 2011, when McGaha was 16 years old, a deadly tornado ripped through her parents’ house in Harvest, Alabama while she, her brother, mother and father were inside. McGaha’s father, Ronnie, threw himself on top of his daughter to protect her from the wind and debris. He was killed while shielding McGaha from the storm.

The last Christmas her father was alive, he gifted her a travel guidebook to Europe. “I always had the travel bug,” McGaha, 30, says. “With that gift, it felt like all of my dreams [to see the world] were supported and confirmed.”

McGaha started plotting her move abroad as soon as she turned 18. In college, she spent two semesters studying in London and Copenhagen, respectively, and backpacked through Europe the summer after she graduated.

“Travel started as a coping mechanism for me to stay excited about life and heal after surviving such a horrific experience and losing my dad,” McGaha says.

“It cracked my world right open, and I wanted to experience everything that was out there. It also showed me I could build a new, beautiful life even after losing so much.”

After returning home from her trip, McGaha moved in with her mom on Whidbey Island in Washington and got a job as a barista at a coffee shop.

“I felt like such an imposter,” she recalls. “Everyone I knew was applying to grad school or landing job offers 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 she look at teaching jobs in Budapest, Hungary, noting the teacher shortage there and the short visa processing timeline.

Within weeks of submitting her application, McGaha landed a job teaching English to kindergarteners and, in 2017, moved to Budapest — the same city she still calls home seven years later.

“I don’t see myself living here forever, but I don’t see an immediate reason why I would leave,” she says. “There’s still so much love I have for this city.”

Moving to Europe with $4,000 and a single suitcase

McGaha spent $800 for a new life outside the United States — and that was just on the one-way plane ticket.

“I think I brought one suitcase with me,” she says. All in all, she saved about $4,000 for her relocation.

Her teaching contract included a furnished one-bedroom apartment in Budapest, with a monthly stipend to help cover rent and utilities. The job paid about $7,800 a year.

Navigating her new career in Budapest didn’t involve much of a language barrier, McGaha says, as many Hungarians speak English, and she became proficient in Hungarian after working in the school for a year.

“I learned a lot working with the kindergarteners because the kids speak very simple and repetitive Hungarian,” McGaha explains.

She quickly made friends with other teachers, expats she met through Instagram and staff at the businesses in her neighborhood — from outdoor farmers markets to Budapest’s famous ruin bars.

For McGaha, the biggest challenge of relocating to Budapest has been being far from her family and friends in the United States, and acclimating to what she calls a “coconut culture.”

“People from ‘peach cultures,’ like Americans, tend to be softer on the outside, friendlier to strangers, eager to make small talk, but there’s a pit in the middle, some private parts of themselves, that they save for a few people,” she explains. “Hungarian culture is a bit more like a coconut: they mostly keep to themselves and don’t easily engage with strangers, but once you break through the outer shell, they’re wonderful and loyal friends, many will treat you like family.”

Switching from teaching to a remote-first career

Soon after moving to Budapest, McGaha started a blog to recount her experiences as an American expat and her favorite things to do around the city.

Little did she know that her favorite hobby would turn into a career.

McGaha was laid off from her teaching job in March 2020 when Hungary closed its schools to curb the spread of Covid-19.

She spent more time updating her blog, promoting her content on LinkedIn and Instagram. Local businesses in Budapest took note and started contacting McGaha through her blog to help revamp their own blogs and social media accounts.

From those opportunities, “I was able to build even more of a portfolio, and I got approached through Instagram by an acquaintance who worked at Consumer51 about helping them build out their international customer roster,” McGaha explains.

She now works as a freelance travel writer and part-time remote digital marketing strategist at Consumer51, a marketing agency based in Philadelphia.

McGaha typically works from her one-bedroom apartment in Budapest’s 5th District neighborhood or a co-working space in her neighborhood.

Photo: Bence Bamer

Since moving to Budapest — and losing her teaching job — McGaha has had to apply for several different visas.

She was given a work visa to teach English when she first arrived in Hungary. Between 2020 and 2024, she applied and was approved for two different short-term visas — a self-employed entrepreneur visa and a “visa for other purposes” — valid for about two years each, consecutively.

In January 2024, the Hungarian government overhauled its immigration system. It abolished the “visa for other purposes,” the type of residence permit McGaha is trying to extend — but because she applied before it was nullified, she’s still eligible for it.

If her application is approved, McGaha could be allowed to live in Hungary for at least another year.

She’s still considering applying for permanent residency in Hungary — but hasn’t yet because part of her dreams of being a digital nomad, traveling and working in different countries.

“Living in Budapest makes me smile,” she says. “The only times I cry here is when I have to deal with immigration paperwork.”

Living comfortably on less than $40,000 a year

Last year McGaha earned about $37,731 from her marketing job and freelance gigs, which she says has been “more than enough” to cover her monthly expenses and still save money to travel and dine out with friends.

In early 2020 she moved into a one-bedroom apartment in Budapest’s 5th District neighborhood, which she found on Ingatlan, a popular apartment-hunting website. Her rent, which hasn’t changed since she moved in, is about $560 a month.

After paying rent and utilities, McGaha says she aims to spend no more than $150 a week.

“I’m grateful that living here has given me so many more options for how to spend and save,” McGaha adds. “If I lived in Seattle on my current salary, for example, I wouldn’t be able to enjoy the financial independence I have now or the peace of mind.”

Here’s a monthly breakdown of McGaha’s spending (as of May 2024):

McGaha’s average monthly spending

Elham Ataeiazar

Food: $806

Rent and utilities: $664

Insurance: $82

Phone: $97

Subscriptions: $189

Transportation: $8

Business expenses: $25

Discretionary: $400

Debt repayment: $1,089

Total: $3,360

“In May, I ended up spending more than I made, and I think a big part of that was repayment of credit card debt,” she says. “I was also being more liberal with going out to eat and have fun with friends … but I’m cutting back on travel a bit this summer, and trying to be more intentional about money.”

Building a new life abroad

McGaha says she rarely feels homesick for the United States.

Carrying a conversation in Hungarian and navigating the country’s immigration system might be a headache at times, but “there’s not one morning I wake up here and don’t feel in awe that this is my life,” she says.

Evenings are spent riding her bike along the Danube River, having a glass of wine with friends at one of Budapest’s open-air bars or going out for lángos, a Hungarian deep-fried flatbread, and one of Europe’s most famous street foods.

On the weekends, she heads to Margate Island for picnics with friends, tries new bakeries around Budapest or explores some of the city’s cultural offerings, from late-night museum exhibits to concerts at Puskás Aréna.

It’s the kind of life McGaha thinks her 16-year-old self would be proud of. “Do I see myself moving back to the States again? If I could manage to have the same level of comfort and peace and quality of life, then I’m open to it,” she says. “But for now, I love Hungary, I love Budapest, and I’m glad to be here.”