Luckyal

Left Varna for Sofia on Thursday and it's the first time I have nearly missed a plane, I was literally the last person on the plane. If it had not been for someone coming to the Hotel and waking me up I would have missed it altogether. 2 uneventfull nights in Sofia and I'm now in Milan. Been to the Douma, The National History Museum and the Planetarium, what do I do for the next 4 days :-). The last tickets for the Milan V Juventus game went on sale yesterday on the Milan website, the cheapest one is 156 Euros so think I'll just watch it on the tele. Fly to Prague Wednesday to meet up with Sammy then home late on Monday night. Look forward to seeing everone soon. Cheers ... read more

The leaves are starting to drop, tourists have gone home, the sun's stopped shining and the tan's fading fast. Time to move on and prepare mentally for home which I'm now looking forward to. Have achieved most aims apart from losing weight but hey, can't have everything. Have started waking up later in the days and spending some nights just watching the tele, so really feels like home. Varna is the friendiest place on all my travels so far and have more than enjoyed the company of the locals and the expats, who are basically all raiving alchoholics. Anyway, it's just starting raining so think I'll head to Costa Coffee for a Capucinno before buying the papers and settling down for another lazy day in Bulgaria. Hard life. Cheers ... read more

Bloody French Air Traffic Controllers, complaining because they have to move retirement from 60 to 62, sack therm all I say, as it's causing me chaos. Have been in 3 countries since I last wrote. Morroco, Hot, smellly, dirt, smelly, clossed (Ramadan), smelly. Every person you meet is trying to con you or sell you drugs. Also seem to be the angriest people I have encountered, everyone is arguing or shouting at each other, must have something to do with not being akle to eat of drink all day. Hung out at the Ramada Hotel with all the other Europeans, it was like seige mentality. Went to a Morrocan Dentist to get my crownput back and he has damaged it beyond repair, magic. Met some nice people, especially a Norwegian guy who is renting me his ... read more

Back in Madrid on the way to Morocco. One night in Madrid just happened to be the night Athletico Madrid were presented with the Supercup and the city was practically closed. Heading to the airport in 3 hours and thankfully the temperatures have started to drop. Porto was fantastic, went to see Bragga as Porto were away from home on Sunday, they won 1-0 but the game was terrible. Found myself a bit lost after the game with no buses or taxis, the Police however phoned me a Taxi to get me back to the station. Monday went on the tours of the Douro River and the Port Wine Cellars, really interesting. Only downside was lack of good eating places, they looked at me as if I was stupid when I asked for a Portugese Steak, ... read more

Last week in Madrid covered all the usual tourist spots. Trip round Real Madrid´s ground, the Royal Palace, the Thyssen Muesem and the Prada Muesem. Madrid would rival Barcelonca it it only was on the coast, somewhere definately to return to. Arrived in Portugal on Monday and now all my systems seem to back up and working correctly, normal food, clean clothes and proper conversation has been a godsend and a great break with great company. On to Porto tomorrow then Madrid for a day then Morrocco, hopefully the tempatures will start to drop by then. Cheers for now. ... read more

Just a quick update as I see to have found the only available computer in Sofia. Managed to get here by flying over Serbia. Flight problem solved by booking through an agency. Macedonia was OK but the Hotel was ancient, built in 1923 and not been touched since, still with the original staff. Tempatures on Sunday reached 46 degrees, I've never experienced heat like it. Luckly McDonalds was air conditioned so it was a matter of keep bringing me food, I'm here for the day :-). Slightly scary moment on the way to the airport when the driver stoped to let a guy in the back of the taxi at 03.00am carrying a gun, thankfully he was a policeman on his way to starting duty at the airport. Arrived in Sofia and it has great buildings ... read more

For the first time the travel blog would not let me enter Kosovo as a country. I suppose there is not a category for 'UN Protectorate' . Flight here on an aging DC9 was another experience I could have done without. They kindly parked a brand new British Aerospace 146 at the boarding gate then put us on a bus to this thing from the dark ages, 40 minutes in a thunderstorm with people throwing up will live with me for a long time to come. Still have a problem with the next leg of the journey as they have stamped my passport. Could have got a flight from Macedonia to Bulgarian but Air Bulgaria do not let you buy a ticket unless your register with them, that takes them sending a code to your bank ... read more

At a huge Hotel in Tirana and I think I'm the only guest, all I need is some snow and it could be quite scary. Arrived in Durres after an 11 1/2 hour ferry journey from Italy with no functioning toilets, that was a bit of a challenge. arriving at 02.00am in the scariest of ports my first thought was to get the hell out of the country as quick as possible, so happens it has started to grow on me. Travelled from Durres to Tirana by train. The website has a picture of a TGV which is a laugh when you see the real trains, OK the fair was only 40P but still think it is overpriced :-). Think I may have made a bit of an error on my next trip, Tirana to Prishtina. ... read more

Well, Day 15 and I'm I haven't sunbathed once. So what are the lessons so far. 1) White underwear on a trip like this is not a good idea !!. 2) Don't take 2 books that are comedians autobiographies. They both were mad, drugged, depressed alcoholics. Seems I missed my calling. One good think in Jack Dee's Colin is about page 175 and is a story on Cleevdon (? spelling), just go into WH Smith and read it, don't but the book. 3) Croatia is clean with no drunks or fights for a reason, it is very expensive. 4) Always take your camera everwhere. 5) When filming with your mobile phone) see 4) above, try and film the top Holywood Oscar star (Morgan Freeman) and not his security guard. 6) Ditto above for Caprice but try ... read more

So, 2 airplane crashes in 2 days, spooky or what ? . Still in Croatia and heading to Italy on Tuesday. Split is really nice and spotlessly clean but have seen all there is to see. Spent last night with 3 US Maries on a stop off on the way back from the middle east after a 6 months tour of duty, goes to prove they are not all mad as they proved to be well educated and interesting. Apart from 2 female 3d year Law students from Glasgow I haven't heard another Scots accent. One gut for some reason claimed to be Scottish but he had a South African accent, he was so drunk he was hanging onto a lampost and coudn't move. Apparently he was claiming to be in the secret services and abusing ... read more