Thursday 13 January 2011

Special report - Tim, Phil and Roman do Bulgaria!

I'm going to take a break from the normal format here to talk about an amazing trip I just had.

I went to Bulgaria for one of my best mates' stag weekend along with seven other friends.  It was an awesome, messy experience for all.  But disaster struck on the last day, when the thick fog at Sofia airport made it impossible for the plane that was supposed to take us home to even land in the first place.  We could have been put on another flight in a couple of days' time, but we were pretty sure the fog was still going to be there.  So we had to make alternative arrangements.

Most of the group took a bus to Thessaloniki with a view to taking the cheapest flight they could from there.  I, however, am a poor unemployed law graduate waiting for the chance to get paid for unleashing my inner Alan Shore, so I opted for the cheaper option of a bus all the way from Sofia to London, along with two others.  We were told this would leave the following morning at 9am and that the journey would take 40 hours (it actually ended up taking 50).

The bus company were kind enough to hook us up with a local hostel, which was nice because I thought at some points that they just wanted to rape us and harvest our organs.  However, true to their word, these very nice people dropped us off at the bus station the following morning.

After a couple of hours' travel we got to the Serbian border.  Roman and I got searched by the border police, which was a bit scary because the first things they found in our suitcases were my wig from the Anchorman-themed night out and Roman's target paper from the shooting range complete with a load of bullet holes.  All was well in the end and we were let through.  There was, however, some delay caused by a guy who seemed to be trying to take his girlfriend with him against her will in order to pimp her.  She kept flying into fits of rage on the bus, which was entertaining in a scary way!  I was fine, however, because I had eaten the biggest burger known to man at a Serbian services station.

Next on the list of countries was Croatia.  I swear to God that applicants to the Croatian police force have to be 7 feet tall and come from Middle Earth.  They were nice guys though and they were impressed with Roman's shooting.  Next came Slovenia, and after that we went through Austria, Germany and France with no border checks until Calais.

On the way we met some very cool guys from Macedonia who now live in Essex, of all places, so we exchanged numbers and agreed to meet up if we're ever near their area.  We watched some cool films on the bus and had a good laugh despite the loooooong journey back.  I have to sincerely thank the guys who travelled with me for making what could have been a very depressing journey into a cool adventure in its own right!

Now I'm going to have a shower.  Bye.

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