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Month: June 2023

Travel day – Nightmare!

Travel day – Nightmare!

So it was meant to be an easy a quick bus trip to connect with Swiss train to the airport in Zurich, short hop up to Copenhagen then another quick hop to Vilnius, Lithuania.

It wasn’t that! …and I’m missing a bag and a car seat 😩

—-

Well I managed to write the above as we went along so I’ll fill in the gaps. It was QUITE the travel day! One I won’t forget for a long time! 

We got up early, out the door and to the bus stop looking like a travelling circus!!!!!

The bus was late! So odd for Swiss public transportation! 

It finally got to the train station and you’ve never seen me run so fast with my big pack on my back, and a bag of food and a suitcase….with my family trailing behind me!  Found a platform board to work out which platform our train was coming in on, ran to the platform. Got there with a couple of minutes to spare.

Train was late! Again! So odd!

I’d built a big buffer of time in so wasn’t too concerned! 

Train arrived, on we went, with all our stuff! 

A lovely hour of Swiss scenery.

Off at Zurich airport and wow what a long line for check in. We stood in that line an hour and a half! Crazy! We got to the front of the queue just as they started asking ‘anyone else for Copenhagen’ 

We checked our bags and made a beeline for  security. More waiting.

Finally got to our gate. 

“Your carry on suitcase is too big”

What on earth? I just checked my stuff, nobody said anything about my carry on!

“We’ll put it in the hold for you”

Um you should know I’ve got a drone in there with a LITHIUM battery. And 2 power banks and whatever else you said couldn’t go checked, so no you can’t have my bag! It’s got to go in the pressurised cabin!

“Take those items out and carry separately”

Whaaaaa????? Okay then. Whatever.

So i open up my suitcase and haul out all my electronics. I’m thankful for a bag of food I’m carrying because now it’s food and a drone and all kinds of other things! The whole how heavy and how many items I’ve got has entirely become irrelevant!! 

They tag my bag and it goes into a forward hold, right by the stairs onto the plane. I better get that back I think to myself.

I’m one of the last people to board and we’re right at the back. Typical.

I sit. Cute plane I think to myself. It’s like what I’d imagine famous singers fly their crew round in. Little cute private jet feeling.

As we taxi I can feel it’s got some pep to it, then we take off using about a 5th of the runway length. Woe! Powerful little thing! Gosh I love aviation.

But for some reason, we’re late and as we land I think, I’m not sure we’re going to make our connection. Oh. No.

I turn on my phone and my emails clear, oh they’ve worked out we are going to miss our flight. We’re now in Copenhagen but not flying to Vilnius, Lithuania we are now flying to Berlin, Germany. Great. Thanks for the email update but my boarding passes are wrong!!! Gaaah!

They throw my suitcase back at me, THANK YOU, as I disembark the plane, then I run for the transfers desk, family in tow. I quickly explain my boarding passes are wrong and I need new ones right now! She prints them off and we again run to our gate. The flight attendant is very happy to see me, had already printed my boarding passes so chuckled my other ones and the ones I’d just had printed….and we board.

I wonder if our checked luggage got the memo I wonder out loud as we board another peppy jet and my suitcase gets taken off me AGAIN to be put in the forward hold.

Hello Berlin! You’re one of my favourites but I didn’t expect to see you this trip! 

So now I really have the wrong boarding passes. Off to the transfer desk again….we pass the carrousel…

BK “ahh isn’t that your bag going round and round?” 

Yes!!!!!

So give up on transfers desk, grab my pack and it’s through arrivals, back round to check in…

Hello! I’m actually a transfer passenger but I saw my bag going round on the carrousel…so here it is! 

Them : your going where? 

Vilnius

That flight already closed

I’m. A. Transfer. Passenger. I’m. Not. Meant. To. Be. Here! 

So they make a thousand phone calls, check my bag and back through security we go.

We make it, barely. 

By this time Team Knowles are only barely holding it together, we never buy airport food but BK finds something for us to eat as we wait to board.

We get on our final flight to our final destination.

We arrive and of course, my bag arrives but we’re missing BK’s duffel with his and CK’s gear in it and RK’s car seat.

We do the paper work. We tell them very loudly we have an AirTag in the bag and can see it’s still in Zurich, it didn’t even get on the first flight!! They tell us the car seat lost its way In Copenhagen but has already been found and rerouted. It’ll be delivered tomorrow.

We find a bus, make our way to our accommodation.

Find more food and fall into bed.

What. A. Day.

Road trip – Switzerland + Lichtenstein

Road trip – Switzerland + Lichtenstein

As I start to write this in December I realise why I stopped writing my blogs, I was utterly exhausted, burning the candle at both ends!! 

So the next few blogs weren’t written as I was on the go. They’re written months later you’ll probably notice a wee bit of a different style, a bit less detail!

We chose not to pay the $80NZD vignette toll as we entered into Switzerland, we’d barely be in the country 2 days and it seemed a ridiculous amount to pay. So we informed our navigation to NOT take us on those roads, country back roads for us it was!! Which actually was extra beautiful.

We arrived to our Airbnb with a pool, kids were STOKED!!! And in they got! 

The next morning we piled in our Peugeot for the final time as a family. We back roaded our way the mini country of Lichtenstein which was 40 minutes away. We found a lovely cafe for morning tea, it was expensive but great service and food!! Little R found some donkeys so was itching to leave the cafe and stand by a paddock watching the donkeys. One kind of came up to her which just made her day!! I looked round some shops by myself. Actually can’t remember what the boys did! Ha!

After a drive round to see a bit more, we back roaded back to our Airbnb. Gave the car a clean out then BK spent the afternoon driving west to Basel, Frace to drop it off. He then train back to us. Took him ages but he enjoyed the drive as he popped back into Germany to use the autobahns!! Swiss trains are pretty spectacular too, along with the scenery!!

A second great experience with Peugeot Euro drive. Loved it. Most DEFINITELY recommend. 

The kids and I stayed at the Airbnb, they swum and I downsized our gear and packed and packed and packed!!!

BK returned and carried on packing, it turns out we’d accumulated a bunch of stuff while we had our own wheels! 

The following morning it was up early for a travel day….it was meant to be easy, it wasn’t!!

Till next time,

Claire

Road trip – Austria

Road trip – Austria

It was going to a long day of driving so we got up early to get on the road at 7.30am. 

We were heading west to Vienna back through Slovakia. We found Slovakia quite cheap so we called in at ikea to top up purchase a few things and to have their famous meatball lunch!!

After driving a bit more. Mum must have been tracking my phone because a message came through….”are you going to that outlet mall” I had no idea what she was talking about so I was informed it was behind me and given a web site link! 

So we drove over to have a look! It was so cute. All the shops were in a historic village type of design. Every brand was there from Nike to dyson to dolce cabana to Lindt. Little R scored some new shoes and a hoody. 

We did a one night stay by the airport, offloaded BK. He was flying to Armenia to see a work colleague. I drove into central Vienna with the kids. We found our Airbnb and we’re so blessed to get a park right outside so we could unload all our gear and Brendan’s as he’d only taken a backpack with him. After trip to the supermarket I put the car safely in a parking garage for the next two days as we explored the city. 

We went to the technology museum, I thought we’d only last an hour but we lasted 2! We went into the old town and saw the Spanish riding school horses in their stables. We saw the beautiful St Stephens church, I think mass was just finishing because the organ was playing at full volume! 

We then went to the butterfly house, that was a bit of a waste of money so we went round that twice.

Then it was 3.30pm and I was utterly exhausted so back to the house for a rest. 

Kababs for dinner then us 3 snuggled into our beds for an early night! 

I hadn’t really got a plan for what to do before we picked up Brendan from the airport but I didn’t need to worry, Mum did! 

So I was given a cafe name, once I’d put it in Google maps and off we went for morning tea, mum on video call enjoying a cafe she’d visited when she was in Vienna. We had hot chocolates and got to try apple strudel cake and an Austrian chocolate cake. Yum.

After that I went and got the car back out of the parking garage and drive about 20 minutes out of the city to go tobogganing. Kinda like luging but kinda not. A cart on a rail, you control the speed. RK didn’t enjoy it but CK and I did! 

After that thrill I found a park on Google maps out by the airport, I thought I was going to a ‘yatton park’  but it was more ‘mclarens falls’ (with no falls!) we saw some men playing disc golf. I’ve heard so much about that game but never seen it played.

Once we were bored of that we drove to a park up place by the airport and watched the planes land till our Daddy’s one came in. Then it was a long drive of 4.5 hours towards Innsbruck. So blessed it’s summer as we cruised the autobahns in the evening we could see the beautiful sights. We rolled into our Airbnb  just after 9pm. It was still light outside. Haven’t seen the sun set in weeeeeks, months even? 

After a quick one night stay, less than 12 hours! It was a long day of driving and touristing ahead of us. 

This was our 3rd time to Austria and each time before I’d tried to get to the Swarovski flagship store in Wattens but failed. This time it was third time lucky! We arrived before it opened. Admired their grounds and iconic face waterfall and went to the store where BK bought me my first figurine! “Carry on luggage!!!” the lady said to me as she was packaging it up! 

After finishing up there, it was off to the only other touristy thing I wanted to do while in Europe (along with Sintra in Portugal) we drove 2 hours to the Neuschwanstn castle. This is the castle Disney castles are modelled off. It’s under major Reno at the moment so I didn’t get tickets to go in, that would be a waste of money. 

Once we arrived we found parking, finally found how to catch the bus up the hill – nobody was walking 40 minutes up hill in 30 degree heat – and up we went! 

We first went to the bridge behind it to admire it, had lunch perched on some tree stumps. 

Then walked round to admire it from the base. Beautiful and so worth the mission. 

Back on the autobahns and into Switzerland we went. 

Till next time,

Claire

Road trip – Poland

Road trip – Poland

We drove north and into Poland. We’d decided staying in a big city wasn’t for us so chose an area called Zakopane. 

We arrived to a very beautiful area in the mountain. Very Queenstown-ish we thought. 

And it was cold! 16! All the central heating was on. We’re not carrying winter jarmies so I hunted through the cupboards for extra blankets. 

The following day we decided it was time for a water park. The area we were staying in is known for its mineral pools. Polands biggest and most famous was 15 minutes away.,

We purchased a 4 hour pass and had a lovely soak. Being a Sunday afternoon it was busy but we could always find somewhere to linger. We had fun on the hydro slides, in a whirl pool, a pool with disco lights. 

We’d brought sandwiches and water with us so inhaled them then BK bought hot chips and drinks (at resort type prices!) to top us up. It was a lovely time and something different to do.

The next day after that we missioned up to Krakow. What a pretty city! Not what I expected. Google reviews found us some cheap parking and we wondered round the old town enjoying the sights, the architecture, the art work for sale. We then went over to the Jewish quarter and wondered round that. I wanted to go into a Jewish bookshop but it appeared closed.

Topped up on thickshakes we made our way back to the car and drove 20 minutes to a salt mine. Again, came across some cheap parking and lined up ready for our tour. It was a beautiful hot day but I changed to jeans, grabbed my hoody and my beanie and ended up wearing both!! The tour started with 400 steps downward!! Took ages!! Once we were at 110m below ground and the guide started with the history and information. It was fascinating, the use of wood is extensive. The guide joked there was several forests of wood in the mine, I’m sure she wasn’t wrong! The salt would damage and weaken any other substance but with wood it makes it firmer, like stone/concrete. 

We walked through tunnel and mine shaft. We saw lakes of brine, so beautifully blue in colour.

We walked a total of 3km over 2 levels, apparently only 1% of the whole mine! Crazy! 

Once the tour was over we caught a lift up to the surface. It spat us out not anywhere near where we went into the mine, so after finding our car, getting massively long donar kababs it was the long drive back to our apartment. 

One very full touristing day!!

The next couple of days BK worked. 

The kids and I rested.

We popped into the Main Street which was so pretty. I found someone selling deep friend potato curls on a stick. Yum.

I also drove for the first time in 12 weeks!! I needed to get some practice in for later in the week. 

Poland you were lovely but now it’s time to turn west for a wee side mission of returning our Peugeot.

Till next time,

Claire 

 

Ps I’ve added a few photo’s from inside the salt mine. A carving into the wall – you can guess what it’s of! A chapel for the workers of the salt mine back in the day. The track for carts to be pushed along. Fascinating. Never been anywhere quite like it.

Road trip – Slovakia

Road trip – Slovakia

We arrived to a large apartment on the 5th floor. Checked in and Bk found his favourite supermarket, Kaufland. He was there ages texting me pictures of how cheap it was and “this is what Europe supermarkets should be like”. Needless to say, he returned with half the supermarkets worth of stuff!!! We’re only here 4 nights! 

The first day I did absolutely nothing. Didn’t leave the apartment. Travel fatigue had hit and I was exhausted, not at all interested in anything. BK took the kids out for a bit which was a lovely break for me, of course he returned with more stuff from Kaufland!!!

The next day I hauled my self out to a mall, had a very nice vanilla thickshake, bought R some new shoes and an extra small suitcase. It turns out we’ve bought way too much stuff since having the car and it’s all gotta go somewhere when we give the car back and get on a plane again! R decided she was having it as hers once we return home so that’ll suit her for camps, sleep overs and trips to Hawkes Bay.

I’d struggled to settle on an Airbnb in Slovakia. There were lots of options yet not many things to do. The city we are staying in is small and the only one attraction, is a castle. One of the top things to do in the entire country! So early the next morning we got up to go visit. We got to the entrance gate only to realise that it had a fairytale thing going for this week, it was all in the Slovak language and the people at the gate told us there was no point us, who only speak and understand English, going in. What a fail! Looked at going to a look out but that was upwards of $50 NZD to visit, which is pointless paying for with kids! So back to the apartment it was for some ball throw and catch, some packing, some educational screen time.

BK worked and I did a bit of work on all 3 of my roles I juggle in the second half of the year. Anything to get me ahead is a win!

 

And that was Slovakia. Just a bit of catch up really. Nothing touristy.

Till next time, 

Claire

Road trip – Hungary

Road trip – Hungary

After recovering from our travel day we enjoyed the farm stay so much we stayed another day. Achieved nothing. But with the cute dogs, the frogs in the pond, the ping pong table, the trampoline, the swing ball set, the good wifi, the comfy memory foam mattresses…absolutely nobody in our family wanted to move. 

It was the oasis we needed. The rest. The calm. The peace.

The following day we packed up and headed for IKEA. Love their lunch specials, a walk round the show room, bought a few things then went into central Budapest to find our next Airbnb.
We were only in Budapest 2 days. BK and I have been before but it was 15 years ago and it was in winter!! It was a different experience this time. Nothing seemed familiar to me? 

The first day we were there we thought we’d go to yet another island in the middle of  a river. This time we successfully hired a 4 person 4 wheel bike, we all piled in and had a turn at peddling, that was pretty fun! We walked through flower gardens, the boys played catch with a ball, little R practiced cart wheels. I stood and watched! We walked by the Danube, BK and I decided once we’ve offloaded our kids to adulthood we’d come back and do a river cruise of the Rhine and Danube rivers.
As we returned our bike we heard music beside a big water fountain….turns out the fountain was synced to the music! It was the fanciest fountain we’d ever seen as it shot water high then low, then swirled round. 15 minutes later it finished. Good timing!

The next day we were up and off to Buda castle, Buda as in Budapest not the god. The river separates the city in half. One side called Buda, one side called pest…except they pronounce pech. Got some great views of the Danube while we were at the castle….which isn’t a castle at all! Had a ride on a tram to get to the other side of the river and after a top up of chips and a thick shake at KFC, CK and I went on an afternoon walking tour. Lots of info, lots of history, lots of sights. Tick tick tick. Budapest done! 

The following day we packed up our gear and headed north to our next country. It was an uneventful day and we were thankful for that! 

Till next time,

Claire

Road trip – Denied entry to Romania

Road trip – Denied entry to Romania

We got going from Belgrade about 9am, it was to be a short 2.5 hours over the border to Timisoara.  I wasn’t sure what the city had in store for us but I was keen to see Romania anyway. We’d decided against Bucharest as it was just too much driving to the east to then have to double back.
We drove through back road after back road. Lots of agriculture. Lots of tractors. We knew we were in the middle of no where and weren’t surprised when we approached a very non descript border control. We were stamped out of Serbia and drove up to the Romania border control to be stamped in. We gave the border guard all our stuff, 4 passports, car registration and insurance documents. That’s all any country has ever asked for so we were pretty surprised when he asked for BK’s license! But he had his kiwi one so we handed it over. 

And this is where it started to go pear shaped!!

The guard then asks if we have an international drivers license.
Oh. Dear.
We then explain BK did get one before he left NZ but we’d misplaced the physical copy.
The guard checked something and comes back to inform us he could not let us in to Romania without it. He was so apologetic, he could see he’d just turned a kiwi family’s plans upside down. His english started to fail him so he wrote a heartfelt sorry message into google translate for us to read.

We turned around and parked up in ‘no mans land’ …and I pulled apart all our gear! Nope it really wasn’t with us. I knew I’d packed it as soon as it has arrived before we left NZ. I knew I’d put it with our travel insurance documents. All I can think of is that it has fallen out without me seeing earlier in our trip. We hadn’t used it or shown it for the car rental in Amsterdam or Barcelona or to pick up our Peugeot in Italy. 

So back through Serbia border control, they looked at us weirdly and off we went.

Then it was time for logistics, and while I just wanted to fall apart and cry I slowly and methodically worked through each problem.
I found a busy looking border to Hungary – my logic, if we could just be a car in a big long line they wouldn’t have time to trawl our passports and look at our weird stamp collection of out of Serbia then back in with no other country stamp between which screams ‘PROBLEM CHILD!’ 

So we set the nav and BK drove. 

Next was Airbnb, a big sorry we’re not coming to stay today because we can’t get into your country! She was the most lovely host and told me quickly to cancel so I’d get some money back. Which I did. She was so apologetic and so was I!
Next was accommodation for that night, I had a quick looking on booking.com and Airbnb, heaps around but was too nervous about the border crossing back into the EU so decided once we’d cleared the border I’d book.

And then I decided I’d write to the New Zealand embassy in Romania to complain!
Yes I probably could have worded it better or stronger or something but I was doing everything on the fly!

This is what I wrote :

Hi there,

We were denied entry to Romania at a road border crossing from Serbia today. The reason given : we weren’t carrying an international drivers licence to accompany our NZ drivers license. We did get one before we left New Zealand but have since misplaced it, only being here another (X) weeks it’s pointless ordering a new one from NZ and having it shipped over. We rung the AA in Belgrade but they could only do Serbian drivers licenses.
Please could you tell me if this was the correct measure taken by the border guard or were we unfairly treated?
Claire

This is their very unhelpful reply : 

Kia ora Claire,
Thank you for your email. I’m sorry to hear you were unable to enter Romania. Please note that the Romanian immigration authorities, like any country, have the right to refuse entry to their country to anyone that does not meet the criteria they set, in the same way that for example Immigration New Zealand can refuse people entry into New Zealand if they don’t meet our criteria. Entry into any country is never guaranteed, and is always up to the immigration authorities at the border. We cannot interfere in another country’s immigration policies, in the same way that other countries cannot interfere in New Zealand’s immigration policies.
Ngā mihi,


The one positive, that reply email did come back within 70 minutes of me sending mine so I was pretty pleased with their promptness!
The negative, not at all helpful! Didn’t at all answer my question!!

Fortunately we had food in the car so fed the crew and sat feeling extremely anxious as we closed in on our next border crossing, praying we’d get through back into the EU with internal borders and it would be simple. We sat in the queue, I was happy to be ‘yet another vehicle’
We checked out of Serbia very simply – I had all the passports open to the photo page and stacked together, she didn’t even look at the passports just blindly found a page to stamp!
There was 2 guards checking everyone’s luggage so I opened our boot to show ours. They asked if we had anything to declare, I said no, they asked if I was a diplomat, I said no. She took our passports, stamped them and said “goodbye!”  As we drove out, we realised there wasn’t another building to drive up to, that was the EU entry in the same building as the Serbia exit…we’d just very simply got back into the EU and not even realised it! 

Praise God, what a relief! Internal borders from now till we are stamped out to come home. 

Back to the logistics, found a farm stay on Airbnb, messaged them to see if they could receive us in an hour, they came back quickly that they could! So it was a top up of food at our favourite supermarket and we were on our way to a bed for the night. We arrived to a beautiful Airbnb and wonderfully friendly host. We got chatting and found out he’d done 5 caminos! We just finished one we exclaimed!
BK cooked spag bol for dinner and then the kids went to bed. I video called Mum and woke her up “you’ll never believe my day! I’m not where I’m meant to be!”

Yep 40 years old and still worth worrying about Mum! 🤪

So now we have 48 hours to fill before we rejoin the pre made plans. We lost about $100 NZD on Airbnb cancellation, few extra hours of driving and diesel, but in the big picture, that’s nothing at all really. I’m just glad that sago is over!  I’m happy to be back in the EU, I’m very thankful for data on my phone!

Till next time,

Claire

Road trip – Serbia

Road trip – Serbia

We lined up at border control and it took ages! Fortunately, BK had popped into the supermarket before we left and bought pastries so at least we weren’t hungry…one of us needed the toilet though….

The Bulgarian border control lady saw our French number plated car and asked if we were going to France.
Us : uhh? Serbia?
The Serbian border control man smiled as our passports were handed over “New Zealand huh?”
Us : yep 😁😁😁😁

Such weird comments, just stamp our passports and let us through! Country number 50 for BK and I!

Our EU SIM cards stopped roaming, again. This game is getting a wee bit old!!! The used SIM card collection is growing! I’m very careful to keep my kiwi one safe, I’ll need that one! I think this is our final non EU country, so hopefully that’s the end of it! The EU roaming has been great when it’s worked. A great rule the EU put on phone companies in my opinion!

Then it was 4 hours drive up to Belgrade.

The highways, oh the highways. The speed limit is 130km and you sit at that speed undisturbed for hours. Our Peugeot purrs along beautifully and it’s such a wonderful smooth ride. Time just passes by. I let CK sit in the front beside his Daddy. I was surviving on a rough night of 5 hours sleep so was happy to be cocooned in the back.

The Airbnb host had told me the street number was 187, there wasn’t a 187!! Agh!!! That does NOT bode well with attention to detail me. With no data on our phones it was a mad dash back to a supermarket to use the free wifi, got better instructions and found out it was number 1 (??!!)
Back to the house, checked in and was very happy with my Airbnb choice that within a couple of hours I was extending our stay!

The following day we headed out to Ada ciganlija, it’s a manmade island in the middle of a river. We thought we’d hire bikes and cycle round. We stood in line, in the hot sun, for 30 minutes, only to get to the front of the queue and find out you need Serbian ID to hire. We were so shocked (to put it very politely!!) Why on earth you wouldn’t want foreigners’ money is beyond us! So we went for a walk to see what we could see. Little R had a swim. We had ice creams, we had hot chips. It was a lovely summers day with many families out enjoying the area and weather.

The next day we went into the city centre. I had booked a city tour on segways for me and CK as his reward for walking the Camino without a single word of complaint.
BK dropped us off and after a bit of practice off we went with only one other tour mate to see the central city sights. It was a fabulous way to get around. Zooming here and there, pausing for some history. We had great guide who could see Master teenager just wanted to be let loose!
BK stayed with R and they met us afterward, we saw more city sights then it was time to cruise back to our apartment, we’d been standing way toooooo long! It’s tiring being a tourist!

BK found himself, what he calls, the best co working space he’s ever stumbled upon!  If you’re new around here, BK has worked in co working spaces through lots of the 50 countries he’s visited so that’s really saying something! Along with the very cheap price tag of $54 NZD for two days! He was stoked!

One thing that has stood out to me the whole time we’ve been here in Serbia is the piles and piles of people waiting at bus/tram stops. Public transport is very very very heavily used. So I thought we should give it a try as much as it’s lovely being privately chauffeured round in our brand-new Peugeot.
To finish off our Belgrade stay I took the kids to the zoo. We used the bus to get to the zoo and the bus and a very old soviet looking tram (which was just awesome!!) to get back to the apartment we were staying in.
The zoo was fantastic, obviously not Singapore or London Zoo style but for a small city zoo it punched well above expectations! They had a fantastic variety of animals, some with only netting keeping dangerous animals from the public. We got very close to the tigers. OSH in New Zealand would have been absolutely horrified!!! We had mum on a video call and even through the phone she was surprised!
It was a great morning out with our animal crazed wee girl totally in her element…and fiercely judging every single enclosure and state of each animals’ welfare!! She then wrote her opinions in a Google review for her Daddy to post on her behalf!

I finished booking Airbnb’s for the rest of our trip while we were here, that was such a relief! Decision fatigue is real!!
So that’s all accommodation / transport / flights booked and paid for. Just need to glide through it now and find bits n pieces to do in each place.

Serbia, you surprised me! What a lovely time we’ve had. Belgrade is a great city and most definitely worth visiting! BK wants to stay another week – probably that co working space calling his name and the back log of work he’s pushing to get through, but he’s only meant to be working 2 days a week!

Onward we must go!

Till next time,

Claire

Road trip – Bulgaria

Road trip – Bulgaria

We crossed successfully into Bulgaria and drove straight for Sofia. Our friends were following us, somewhere. Our first mission was to find someone who sold vignettes- an alternative to paying tolls. Once we found that we felt much better about the cameras on the highways!! Please no fines for us! 

We arrived at our Airbnb. Realised we were back in the EU so our SIM cards should be roaming and waited for our friends who’d got distracted at a monastery along the way.

Sofia was a weird one, I trawled through the internet looking for stuff to do and it just didn’t come up with much apart from churches. So we visited one then walked around aimlessly! The best thing about the church was the many massive art works painted on its walls of bible stories. It became a bible knowledge quiz…One example: So that’s Jesus and he’s with a dude who is wrapped up like he’s been dead, but isn’t anymore….
Answer : _______

The next day I had another go looking for something to do and still couldn’t find anything. So Sofia was all about connection. It was chatting, it was drinking Colada flavoured baileys, it was resting. The men did a bit of work, the ladies half entertained the children. The men cooked, the ladies ate…haha.

Then our friends flew back to London, that’s the last time we’ll see them for this trip but 3 times in 9 weeks has been wonderful. See ya down-under next time Nix!

And…. that was Sofia. That was Bulgaria. 

Barely worth visiting and I’m 100% sure we’ve been short changed but we only had 2 full days to explore. The annoying thing is, I think Bulgaria makes rose oil and I really would have liked to have seen that but I think its in the south which we didn’t have time to get to.

Ahh well. Off we go.

Till next time, 

Claire