From Perushtitsa, Bulgaria we wish you a very happy 2007!

It's 12:44 am and Bulgaria is now officially part of the European Union -- double reason for celebrations therefore.

We are back from our stay in Hungary.

Thursday, the first day we stayed together with Martijn at Erika and Daniel's place. It was very good to see everyone.

The second day Sasha and I went to Budapest. Unfortunately our plan to meet up with Daniel, Erika and Martijn on Friday didn't work out.

Budapest is beautiful! We stayed two nights and saw many things. We had a busy schedule and we saw all attractions that we wanted to see. I really like "The Palace", a monument of different building styles in Budapest. Pictures and stories, later.

We had a really good time in Hungary. Yesterday around 7.00 pm we arrived in Perushtitsa again, and we had a long dinner to share everyone's experiences.

We're leaving to Hungary now! We'll visit our friends Daniel and Erika there, and explore Budapest.

Not much time to write, as you'll understand -- stories and pictures later.

From Perushtista, Bulgaria, we would like to wish our readers a very Merry Christmas!

Here is a nice Christmas song, make sure to have your sound on! (through Blips).

Yesterday I arrived in Bulgaria around 3.00 pm.

Milan and Sasha picked me up from the airport and we drove to Perushtitsa. I haven't seen Milan and Nadia for 3 years and it was great to see them again.

My luggage arrived fine, the tape I used was still on the bag. There is a good internet connection at home, via the cable.

I arrived in Frankfurt, Germany, and my flight to Sofia seems to be pretty much on-time, 20 minutes delay at the most.

Just like when I arrived in Amsterdam in October, the very first impression of the airport: "smoking?!" There is smoking everywhere, not exactly pleasant after a short night of sleep. I suppose my nose is spoiled with everything being smoke free in the U.S. Frankfurt is a beautiful airport though.

The flight to Sofia is over booked and they're asking for 3 volunteers to give up their seats... obviously not me!

For 2 euro per 15 minutes I can make a Skype call here also.

So far I have been very lucky with my flights. The first flight from Raleigh to Chicago, where I am now, had only 20 minutes delay. Yesterday around the same time there were many delays between Raleigh between Chicago, and today the average delay for flights coming into O'Hare is over an hour.

The plane that will take me to Germany will land in about 15 minutes -- later than expected so I'm sure there will be some delay but at least the plane is here.

I'm heading to the gate now -- tomorrow I should be in Frankfurt, Germany and take a Lufthansa flight to Sofia, Bulgaria.

Wednesday evening I went to the mall to prepare for Christmas and my trip to Bulgaria. I stayed till late, and went I got home at 11.00 pm I took out the Christmas tree.

There is of course no point in having the tree slowly loose its needles on the carpet when there's nobody to enjoy it, so I wrapped the tree in a special anti-needle bag and took it out... It's a little bit sad, but I'm happy we have had a nice tree in the house since after Thanksgiving.

And of course, I still have my tree at work.

Wrapping up the tree...

...gone!

I still have my tree at work in my cubicle.

This morning I got up around 6.15 am and left for the airport around 7.30 am.

Just when I wanted to leave I saw that one of the locks on my main suitcase was broken -- there was a note by the TSA inside saying that they had to open it by force for an inspection. I always leave my suitcase unlocked but it must have incidentally got locked on my way home from the Netherlands.

Too late of course to get a new suitcase, but even with 3 locks the suitcase was closing fine. When I checked in the bag I taped the 4th lock, perhaps it helps a little bit.

Anyway -- I am on my way to Bulgaria!

We are going to visit Sasha's parents. I haven't seen them in 3 years and I am really looking forward to spend time with them and Jonathan and Irena. Sasha left a few days ago.

I didn't really think my travel to the airport through very well and drove instead of taking a cab. Silly, because now I'm paying for parking. Lessons for a new driver, I suppose.

There's high-speed wireless here, fast enough for streaming audio and even video Skype calls!