4-2/3-16

*written by Ry while in country

The name of the title is not just convenient, but it is indicative of the way that the first 24 hours of this trip has felt-I couldn’t tell where one day ended and the next began!  My dad was so awesome when he offered to come with me on his own dime, knowing that he would be stuck in a hotel or wondering the town by himself most of the time and not able to see N at all.  We drove together to Cincinnati.  We were going to stop at Chris and Leah’s house (friends from college who I wish would move to Louisville), but realized that it would be cheaper than a taxi just to park at the airport.  But a shout out to C and L for volunteering to help us out!  It didn’t take long for things to get interesting for Dad; he had lost his Nyquil to airport security and got a Philly Cheesesteak sandwich from a vendor that only had one girl working (taking orders and making food).  I got Chik-fil-a and had no problems, as usual with Chik-fil-a; but no sooner than Dad sat down with his food, the airport went dark as the electricity was lost!  I casually mentioned to Dad, “It stinks for anyone in that elevator.”  We ate our food comfortably and walked back to our gate at the planned time to board the plane.  Our flight was delayed, however, due to the electricity, and even more so, our pilots were stuck in the elevator!  I’ll hold my tongue next time!

Leaving an hour late only caused our 7 hour flight to arrive late by 30 minutes due to some tail-wind we had.  I tried (I promise!) to sleep and catch up on some sleep I had been missing the past 5 weeks due to Jack, but I failed, and watched Terminator Genesys instead (actually better than I thought it would be; it definitely beats Terminator 3…).  I slept for about 2 hours total.  I did get a picture of the Eiffel Tower from the plane, so I was satisfied!  We had heard that Paris was a monster of an airport to navigate, and that all sorts of problems could occur there.  But we had ZERO issues!  We made it from our plane to the gate of our connecting flight in no time, and we had plenty of time to sit and walk and stretch our legs.  We heard that baggage can get lost or you might have to take a bus from one terminal to another, but we didn’t have a single problem.  As the Bulgarian people started sitting around me waiting to get on the plane to take them home, it all began to feel very real for me. 

Our three hour flight to Bulgaria was made one hour shorter via nap time J.  Our bags showed up in about 5 minutes (pretty much a miracle), and we made our way to meet Maggie (not her real name, but changed for privacy) who would be riding with us and a private driver for three hours from Sofia to Yambol.  Maggie has been nothing but sweet, kind, and helpful since we met, and she has made our trip very comfortable with her language skills and country knowledge.  The first thing you notice about Bulgarian countryside is the mountains.  What starts as distant clouds, later turns out to be snowcapped mountains!  The range approximately splits north and south Bulgaria, and we ran the length of them.  The rest of the countryside was flat, the land reminding me of Indiana or Kansas, the sheep and farmers bringing to mind Ireland, and the juxtaposition of flat and mountain recalling Kauai, Hawaii.  We stopped for a driver smoke break, and we managed not to get hit going 150km/hr (93mph) when we finally made it to our hotel.  After saying thank you “Blagodaria” and good night “Leke nosht” to Maggie and our driver, we immediately made use of Google to ask our receptionist why neither myself nor my dad had power in our rooms.  Note to self:  check or a card activated switch next time I rent a hotel in Europe-that’s probably why the lights and receptacles don’t work!