Day 3

Once we arrived in Milan we had to check in for the next flight. And imagine that our reservations had been lost. Of course they had. The girl was very pouty-as many Italian girls are-but very helpful. We asked about our baggage-to make sure it made it all the way to Sofia and she checked with the airline and assured us it would. I don’t think I remember much of anything else that went on there, but I know we got on the plane.

A few minutes after boarding we receive what I can only describe as the most vicious nasal attack I’ve ever experienced. Apparently someone bought some cologne in the duty free shop that they thought smelled nice. And maybe, just maybe, it would have if we hadn’t been on a closed airplane with it. We were dying laughing at the experience-better to laugh than to cry, but I couldn’t breathe.

this was taken just moments before our cologne experience

Our flight pulled away a little late. But the pilot assured us we would make it there on time as he was going to take a short cut. Now that made me laugh. But I later found out that they can actually fly closer to the earth to cut out time-who knew! Fog was covering Milan as we left so there were lots of cool clouds.

view from the plane-obviously

We landed in Bulgaria and headed into the airport. First stop-passport control. No big deal but the dude really checked out all the places I’ve been. Then on to the luggage carousel. It took forever for bags to start coming out, and they stopped coming. And the half of the group whose tickets had been cancelled didn’t receive their luggage-including me and Amy. Next stop-the lost luggage department. The lady really didn’t like us. I should’ve kept count on the number of times she threw her pen down. We finally made it through the paperwork though. Then we headed back to join up with the rest of the group and see if Richard and Brian had arrived. Richard arrived with no Brian and no luggage. I headed through customs without anyone even looking at me and found Jeffrey immediately. We gathered up everyone and headed to the bus and on to Khardjali.

on the bus to Khardjali

The bus ride was a nice time to get an idea of the country. We stopped at McDonalds and were immediately introduced to their love of American music-Cotton Eyed Joe was playing.

scenes from the drive

the road there

When we got to the hotel-Hotel Ustra-we got to meet the couple we’d be working with. And eat our last American-ish meal for a while. And have an introduction into the culture and people we’d be working with. Oh, and take a group picture!