Our home this month

Just a quick one. http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lvh368ZF6nE#

First Days

After a very long day (about 35 hours) we have arrived safe in Parvomijci.

Our flight was uneventful, if slightly uncomfortable. Easyjet is cheap but nobody seems to have told them that people have legs that need to fit in somewhere. Oh well, you get what you pay for.

At Sofia airport, which is the quietest airport I’ve ever seen, we were approached by someone offering a shuttle bus ride to the train station on the other side of town. I had my suspicions; over charging, stealing bags, taking the long way, you name it, it went through my head. It turned out to be a genuine company with helpful friendly staff. It’s always reassuring when locals use the same service.

Arriving at the train station we spotted another huge backpack and chased him down in the hope that he spoke English. Our luck was in. Tim was from London and, unbelievably, he was heading our way.

Tim on the train.

After buying tickets we had a couple of hours to kill. We walked to a local cafe and had a delicious salad. While we ate Tim tried to teach us a few Bulgarian words. Not much sank in, but his advice about the alphabet made deciphering signs and menus a lot less daunting.

There are modern trains in Bulgaria, but we weren’t on one. To be honest, I preferred riding the older more traditional train. It felt more appropriate to be travelling that way. It even sounded right. The scenery was beautiful, with the rails following the course of a river for some time.

We started talking to a local woman in the compartment who was about to travel to Ireland to start her Phd in Astrophysics. She pointed out interesting features and suggested places to visit whilst in Bulgaria. When we reached her stop, an older woman sat with her got up and wished us a good stay in her country. She seemed delighted when we thanked her and said goodbye in Bulgarian rather than English.

A few stops later and Tim left us after swapping contact details. He told us that the next stop was ours and mentioned some landmarks so we would know we were approaching the station. This gave us time to get our bags off the luggage racks and move towards the doors.

Cliff, our first host picked us up from the train station and gave us a guided tour to our home for a month, Trinity Rocks Farm. After showing us round, the three of us sat down to egg, chips and beans. Not very Bulgarian I know, but just what I needed.

We’ve spent our first full day here; chainsawing trees to improve the internet signal, cleaning rooms ready for some paying guests arrival and sitting around drinking coffee.

Oh, and meeting Edward, a professional footballer turned high flying architect. Now semi-retired, Edward was born and spent most of his life in Barcelona. Flying around the world on business, he says he spent more time in the heavens than on the ground. He now finds the birds, sun, and growing vegetables more ‘real’ than his previous life.

I’ve made more friends, heard more stories and seen more amazing places in the last 2 days than in an average year.

J.

A journey of 1000 miles…..

….Begins with a single step.

After (another) final bag pack we’re off!

To avoid imposing too much on some very generous family members, we chose to arrive early for our flight. With approximately 3 hours until check in opens we’ll try and catch a couple of hours sleep.

Airports are strange places at night. Full of meetings, greetings and goodbyes at busy times, they always seem slightly sad after midnight. Suntanned arrivals in flip flops bemoaning the weather. Lonely travellers trying to get comfortable on hard seats.

Anyway, managed to pass through security with no problems. Sat having a coke and relaxing. Also trying to use up random currency as I don’t plan on needing sterling any time soon.

Not sure when our next post will be. As soon as we have free wifi we’ll let you know how it’s going.

J.

Not long now

After lots of research, planning, decorating and packing we’ve finally reached the point of no return. Just a couple of days left until we fly.

After 3 weeks with Thirzah’s parents, we now wandering from one relative to another until we end up at Gatwick airport. I finished work a week ago and have spent my time visiting friends, packing bags, weighing bags and repacking bags. Did I mention packing bags?!

It’s finally starting to feel real to me. Up until now it was life as normal plus some extra work. Since I ‘retired’ the adventure seems closer.

Things I’ve learnt:

Trust serendipity. After hours of detective work to find a friend came to nothing I ran into them in a supermarket.

Friends won’t let you pay your way if you’ve got something interesting to tell them.

Big companies never live up to your expectations. (Call centres are not going to be missed).

Technology doesn’t perform as the ads would have you believe.

Someone once asked; Would you chase the rabbit into Wonderland?

It feels like that’s just what we’re about to do.

J.

Saying good bye

We have been saying good bye to friends for a few weeks. Today was no exception.

More fun had last night saying good bye to more friends.

Bye bye bike

Should be sold and collected today grrrr but needs must.

No pets

Today has been the first day in over 11 years that I haven’t had a pet to look after or feed. I had a strange moment in a small super market earlier when I realised that the price of cat food wasn’t an issue to me anymore.

Complicated packing.

One Galileo packed. Well the first layer of packaging.

Finale layer of packing.

New banister

We loved our rope banister so much that we died it brown and made it nice for our tenant. However it wasn’t legal so we have had to replace it. £100 later it’s up and stained dark brown to go with other elements of the hall way and landing.

Ben’s tree

I really hope the leaves are open before we leave in 5 sleeps