The Truth About Budapest’s New York Café: €12 for a Instagram Ticket

Standing in line at the famous New York Café in Budapest, I found myself trapped in a classic FOMO dilemma (Fear Of Missing Out).👌 Do I keep waiting in this endless queue? Or do I walk away and feel like I’ve wasted my chance? This line gives you plenty of time to reflect on life — like whether free will even exists. Did I really choose to be here, or was it the result of ten back-to-back “must-visit” posts on Xiaohongshu? It’s a lot like what I call “check-in PTSD” from traveling abroad: ✈️ You’ve already spent half a year’s savings on flights and hotels 📸 So you fill your itinerary like a KPI checklist — “Since we’re already here…” 🕌 Repeating the same poses at the same angles everyone else has shot 🧩 Assembling a nine-grid post to prove, “This trip was worth it!” I’m not particularly sensitive to caffeine, nor do I know much about Baroque architecture — but I’m extremely sensitive to the idea that “others have it, and I don’t.” Maybe it’s the modern traveler’s version of “fear of inequality.” I have a deep fear of a “gap in my social media feed.” After all, the sunk cost of an international flight ticket needs at least 18 well-edited photos to feel justified. While waiting, I diagnosed myself with “contemporary travel syndrome”: Scrolling through the next attraction’s while still at the current one😁 Spending more time editing photos than actually experiencing the moment Turning “travel” into “working a remote shift in a foreign land”🤣 Eventually, I realized: The only way to fight FOMO is to admit that most “must-visit places in your lifetime” are just fairy tales written by others. And the ultimate act of adult rebellion? Allowing yourself to miss out. But it’s too late for that now — the line has already reached the Hungarian phrase for “please wait.” Leaving at this point would be more awkward than drinking a €12 cup of dishwater coffee. ☕️😅 #NewYorkCafeBudapest #TravelTruths #FOMOSyndrome #InstagramVsReality #BudapestTravel #CoffeeCulture