I wonder how many guys like us have gone down that same rabbit hole. I find the whole thing unbelievably frustrating. I can echo your thoughts on finding the right surgeon over cost. I too was looking at Hasson and Wong the trouble was they specialize in FUT and not FUE and for me it has to be FUE with manual extraction.
I live in the UK so Belgium would be ideal for me. At the moment I have three surgeon on my list.
* Dr. Bisanga (Belgium) Loads of great results, great reviews 5-3 euros per graft
* Dr Oztan (Turkey) Great results, (need to find more reviews). 2.5 euros per graft
* Dr Lorenzo (Spain) unbelievable results, great reviews, (concerned over his hairlines) 6-3 euros per graft
I would be happy to message you my email address so we can keep in touch.