The final day...

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Well this morning we left Plovdiv to head back to Sofia. After the usual train fun we have come to enjoy (really how can you call a train 'express' when its 30 minutes late?!?) we made it back to Sofia, or as they call it here, squiggle. Sofia bored us before, there was little to do and were here purely because the plane happens to be here. Were stopping in a different hostel this second time, a place that's won loads of awards and shiny things. When we arrived we were given a talk off the staff about what to do in Sofia (most of which we had already done). Sadly this was wasted on us, since tomorrow at 9-ish we'll be off to the airport.

We took the tram, each armed with two tickets for our rucksacks. The inspectors boarded and told me (SS) that I didn't need the second ticket. This annoyed me much after we were fined for this exact reason less than two days ago (we blogged about it).

We made it to the hostel though, without getting lost, or anything. A rare occurrence on this trip thus far. After dumping our bags we went to find food and went to some traditional Bulgarian food place where SB had something chicken related and I had something involving potato.

On this trip many things have annoyed us, or amused us such as:
-Lack of fruit and vegetables. Considering this is where all the fruit is grown, what are they doing with it?!? The rare time you see fruit its often mouldy. We have come to stocking up on fruit at every market we come too, in an attempt to make our stomachs hate us less.

- The rain. Good grief, the rain. Not little showers, but full blown thunderstorms have been an almost daily occurrence. Were not actually sure if there has ever been a completely dry day. But, we doubt it.

- The yes/no thing in Bulgaria. Shaking and nodding your head is backwards here. This causes much confusion, especially when you already don't speak the same language. I asked someone if I could pay with card, they shook their head (to say no in my head) then ran off to get the card machine.

- The language was bad, and got dramatically worse in Bulgaria. The fact that they don't use a latin alphabet made it all seem worse, and it really does feel like were in Greece.

- The lack of good directions to hostels. Many have been good, but some have consisted off 'walk 300 metres, do a little rain dance, walk up the hill, down the road, then up the tree, were on the left'

- Lack of card machines and card related issues. I'm pretty sure we had a minor rant about this in Poland, so we shall leave it at that.

- Rucksacks are heavy, and sadly finding willing people to carry them is hard. There really hard to left on and off of trains. The trains also seem to think its acceptable to have to climb a ladder to get onto them. Really, really quite hard. They are also made for tall people (taller than even me - SS) and its just impossible.

- Platforms. They move without warning in any language, quite often when you are already on the train. (This happened in Poland, thankfully it didn't end in too many tears).

- Everything in a pharmacy/shop being behind a counter so you have to ask for it. Trying to point to something on a shelf is hard. Also, trying to explain to pharmacists what is wrong when its not visible is hard (and when it is visible, sometimes they appear afraid)

- Mosquitos. Enough said.

- Getting the bill in restaurants. Getting the plates taken away is easy, then the staff disappear often leaving you in a rainstorm outside 😞

- Potholes. Often they claim there is an archeological site in the road (seriously) but we see through this.

- The Hungarian currency. Spending tens of thousands on food was crazy. Making you feel both rich and poor at once. In fact currencies in general that don't convert easily. (Sweden was annoying 12.5 kroners to the pound).

- People. Especially other backpackers trying to give 'helpful' advice. (Don't take the night train, you'll get gassed and die).

I'm sure a fully exhaustible list will by posted by Sarah B at some point (she has been making notes). Until then, we will see you all in the UK!

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