A Nightmare with Wizzair

Got back from Bulgaria yesterday. Had an eventful trip this time! Started with the flight out,
Edinburgh to Plovdiv. We were 4 1/2 hours late taking off in Edinburgh due to freezing fog
stopping the plane from taking off in Plovdiv. I was later told the fog at Plovdiv had been hanging around for 2 weeks. As we were descending to land we were told it was not Plovdiv but Burgas airport. We had been diverted! They were proposing to take everyone on a bus to Plovdiv, 6 hours drive. It was already 2 am. So by the time I would reached the Hostel I had booked into at Plovdiv, the night would be gone. I decided to stay in Burgas town for the night and travel on the next day to Veliko Tarnovo, (VT).

Fortunately one of the other passengers was a Bulgarian who spoke English and knew Burgas. He told me I could get a direct bus to VT but there was only one a day, very early in the morning. The alternative was a bus to Varna then a bus from Varna to VT. That's what I did, after a night in a Burgas hotel.

I first had to get a taxi from the airport to town. I asked the taxi drivers how much it would cost and at first I was told it was 24km and would be 70leva. I said that was too much and walked back into the airport. I found an information desk and asked them about taxi costs. They said it should not be more than 25leva and it was about 11km. I went back to the taxis and found a driver who was quoting 20 leva. As it happened I ended up paying 30lev as he swore that was what he quoted. I asked him to take me to a cheap hotel. The place he took me was 70leva but it was a nice place so I went along with it and stayed there. It was about 2 star standard so would be a lot dearer than that in UK.

The next day I had to find my way to the bus station in Burgas and get on a 15 seat minibus to Varna. This dropped everyone off at a normal bus stop in the town, not the bus station. I then had to find my way to the bus station for my next bus to VT. I did not have a clue where to go but found the Address Estate Agent office and asked in there. They gave me directions and I walked the 2km or so with my luggage! I later found out the Burgas bus probably went to the bus station after dropping people off so I could have just stayed on the bus!!

Varna bus station is an interesting piece of civil engineering so take a look at it if you get chance. There are no pillars holding up the ceiling/roof, which seems unfeasibly long.
At Varna I got the Etap (Etar?) bus ticket, the same firm as I used to go from VT to Sofia
last time. I went to their ticket office as I already knew that bus went to Sofia via VT. In
the event, I think I got on the wrong bus, although with the same company. The bus I got on
said Grup3 or somesuch on the side and did not go direct to VT but stopped at about 4 other
towns on the way there. I could probably have got another earlier bus from a different company but had already got the ticket before I realised there were several companies doing that route.

I got to Veliko Tarnovo late evening and stayed at Trinity Rocks Farm just outside town. They did a free pickup service and he ventured out in all the snow & ice to fetch me. Cliff is a great bloke, he gave me no end of advice and savedme a lot of money. I stayed in the Cottage. This was the highlight of the week. It overlooked the Yantra River with log burning stove. It was 15 Euro/night including towels. It should have been 30! When I arrived there was only one other guest, an Australian guy, but more people came and went over the 5 days I was there. They stayed in the Hostel part. This place is the only Campsite anywhere near Veliko Tarnovo. .Ideal for you when you go touring Eastern Europe. Although it is just outside of VT it is a short bus ride away from the centre of town and a 7 Leva taxi drive.

I did my stuff with the lawyer so with any luck my company now exists. As it is all very new, nobody understands the 2008 system for company registration and the people who have to operate the computers don't yet have computers! I'm told all existing companies have to re-register within the next 2 years to get themselves on the computerised system. On Saturday I got the bus to Plovdiv and stayed at the Hikers Hostel, where I had failed to show up on the previous Sunday. I liked Plovdiv, what little I saw of it. The hostel is in the old town, on a cobbled street. It is very handy for the main drag and is set amongst a load of antiques shops. I went with an Aussie bloke to a restaurant called Dayanas and had a really nice meal, probably a bit cheaper than the places in Veliko Tarnovo. On Sunday I needed to make an early
start to get my flight home. I checked on the Balkan Holidays website that the flight was
unchanged as there was thick fog. You can enter your booking number etc and get an update. It said "No change of itinerary". To be sure, I asked the girl at the hostel to ring the airport
and ask if the flight would be delayed. She was told that the flight was on time but going from Sofia airport, NOT Plovdiv!! I asked how long it takes to get to Sofia. Taxi ride to bus
station, buy ticket, bus to Sofia, taxi to airport all adds up to 2 1/2 or 3 hours so I knew I
could not hope to catch it. I've since learned several things but at the time I was having
great difficulty getting information. It turned out:

1) I was supposed to check in for flight 2 hours before departure. I didn't know this
2) A bus had been organised to take me to Sofia, leaving Plovdiv airport 2 hours before flight
departure. I didn't know this
3) I was supposed to ring Balkan Holidays 24 hours before going home, to check for changes in flight details. I think I did read this on the website but none of my documents for the flight
gave the number to ring. I had tried to find the information again on the website but failed to
find it. When I found the facility for checking for updates online I thought that would do as
an alternative to ringing.
4) The plane waited an hour for me at Sofia airport.
5) Balkan Holidays in London had not even been told about the flight diversion to Sofia and the website is maintained in London.

Anyway, to cut a long story a bit shorter, I missed my flight and ended up coming home a day later by spending megga bucks on 2 BA tickets, Sofia to Heathrow and Heathrow to Edinburgh. I had parked my car at a mates house at Dechmont, near Edinburgh. He came and picked me up from the airport and I left his house about midnight, arriving home about 4 am. That drive was really dodgy. I had not had much sleep the night before as I was so stressed out, so was not in a good state for a long drive. I was OK until about Dundee but then I kept falling asleep at the wheel for a second or so. I tried stopping at a couple of laybys but the car would go cold really quickly without the engine running. If I had gone properly to sleep I might have got hypothermia and never woken up. So that was my trip to Bulgaria, hows yours to UK?

I THINK I WILL DRIVE NEXT TIME!!

All the best,

Jerry