Guus Bosman

The first days of the New Year were very relaxed. We stayed in Perushtitsa, where we celebrated New Year with Milan and Nadia. The next days friends and family came visiting us, and we visited Sasha's aunt and uncle.

Saturday we were in Plovdiv to do some shopping.

We packed our luggage Sunday evening, and Milan and Nadia brought us to Plovdiv Monday morning. We traveled by bus to Sofia, and took a cab to the airport. We had of course a huge amount of luggage. This will not surprise people who know our traveling habits; I think the total weight of our luggage was around 70 kg.

The journey to the airport went well. It was snowing a lot in Plovdiv but the road was clean and it was sunny in Sofia. Sasha's plane was scheduled for today, and mine was to leave around 18:15 o'clock.

Flight canceled
Unfortunately the weather in Vienna was very bad (snow) and my flight was canceled. As this was the last flight to Vienna for that day, it meant an unexpected prolongation of my stay in Bulgaria. I was already through passport control, and Sasha and I had said goodbye. Just when I put my Bulgarian money away, the cancellation was announced. We were told to get back into the terminal, get our luggage and check with our airline (Austrian) what to do next.

The airport personel was very friendly and let me use their mobile phone to call Joana (Sasha was staying with her).

It took a long time to arrange everything at the airport. First I stood in line for 45 minutes to get my luggage, and then there was a huge chaos in front of the two booths of Lufthansa and Austrian airlines. Chaos -- I wouldn't dare to call it a line :) It literally took hours before it was my turn. Luckily Sasha came to the airport around 20:00 o'clock, so at least we stood in 'line' together.

Getting angry
At the end I got angry with the girls in the booth. They said I had stood in the wrong line, because they were working for Lufthansa and my plane to Vienna was carried by Austrian.

I don't usually get angry, but I figured it was worth a try. The alternative would have been to fight my way into the crowd in front of Austrian, and it was getting really late. And it worked! After angrily demanding a few times to speak with the supervisors, somebody said: "all right, all right, give me a few minutes" and arranged my ticket within ten minutes. Later I felt a bit guilty and apologized for yelling, but my Bulgarian advisors later told me that it was exactly the right thing to do in such a situation.

Staying at Joana's

We were done around 23:30 o'clock and my new ticket for today was printed. They offered me a place to stay in a hotel (the Hilton!), but I had a better place alternative. Joana immediately said that we both could stay in her plane again. Unfortunately I wasn't able to see Ivelina.

Now I'm writing from Joana's place. Sasha's plane was scheduled for around 8:00 in the morning, and the internet page says that her plane did indeed leave Sofia. She's flying first to Vienna, then to New York and from there to Washington. I hope she didn't have any delays or cancellations.

The hospitality of Joana has been great. Even though we arrived in the middle of the night she had prepared dinner, and it was wonderful to relax with a nice glass of wine and cheeses and great company.

New flight information
My flight for today leaves at 16:10 from Sofia to Budapest (MA 831), after which I'll fly with flight MA 662 from Budapest to Amsterdam. I'll arrive there around 19:45 o'clock, hopefully. It's the same flight that Sasha took a few months ago. Her first flight then had many hours delay and she had to stay a night in Budapest. Well, if that happens: I still have some place for pictures on my camera ;)