Trains and how to get tickets ...

First rule when taking trains from one country to another: Don't think that the schedule you saw online will automatically be the same in real life. Second rule: Never really count on the efficiency of main station staff \ train ticket officers to get yourself a ticket for a city in another country. Because: if this city is not a capital, they might actually look for hours in their big railway system book. And still, they won't find it. That's why, one should always choose the city which seems to be big enough and close enough to your actual target. And hope they might understand it. Best example: Getting from Bratislava to Budapest is not difficult. But getting a ticket that goes further, like to Southern Hungary, close to Lake Balaton seems actually very, very difficult.

Once you arrive in Budapest main station (see photo), do not think that the ticket officers actually know when the next train to Lake Balaton is leaving. You need to go to the information center, they will tell you and you better write down the train number. You need to bring all these information to the ticket officer, and then they will manage to print your ticket. Hurray!