May 4-5, 2012
Happy Birthday, Tim!!! (May 5)
Please pardon the length of our trip posts if you aren't into lengthy reading. This is going to serve as my journal for our trips and as a way to keep the fam updated back home.
Our trip began with our very first flight ever. The first leg was a short flight, so it broke us in, I guess. We parked at a place away from the airport and took a shuttle. We were the only two on the ride and told the driver this was our first flight. He said, "You mean from this airport?" We said, "No, first flight ever." He was almost speechless. I couldn't count how many times he said "uh" before our 5 minute ride was over. He even offered to stop on the way to get us a beer to calm our nerves. I almost laughed out loud. I believe that was the first time (except for restaurants) that someone has ever offered me a beer. We declined, and he commented that we seemed awfully calm for a first flight. The further into this trip we get I know why. I truly believe we have quite a few folks sincerely praying for us.
We made it through checking in our bags and getting our boarding passes. We went straight through security and found our gate with about 30 minutes to spare. This first plane was a little tight, but we really didn't have anything to compare it to. The only glitch as we boarded was that we realized our seats were not even close to each other...about 7 rows apart. The flight attendants heard us and asked again where our seats were and said that someone would probably be willing to switch. (It was a sold out flight.) Would you believe that the young lady in front of me (making our way down the aisle), turned around and said she would be more than happy to swap with Tim as her seat was next to mine. (Thank you, Lord!) As it turns out we had the aisle between us, but that's way better than 7 rows!
As soon as we got in the air, they came around offering beverages. Almost as soon as everyone had one, they began making rounds to collect the empty cups. I did grab a snack from our bag since we had missed lunch. Then we began our descent and were on the ground. Quickest 1 hr 19 min I can remember.
As we got into the terminal, Tim told me I had something on the back of my pants leg. I found a restroom and discovered a large area of a thin layer of white chewing gum on my black pants. Great! After much scrubbing and picking, I got most of it off. Later, you couldn't really tell it had been there. We walked to the other end of the airport and checked in. The lady asked if our seats were together (you'd think we would have checked this time). They were. She asked if we had boarding passes for the next flight and if our seats were together. They were not. She said, "Let's fix that." So she changed our seats to be together. (Thank you, lady. And thank you, Lord.)
We settled in with about 30 minutes again. Time enough for another bathroom break, a couple of phone calls, and a few minutes of charging the phone. We boarded the new plane. This time we had two seats to ourselves...a window and an aisle. As I settled in my seat, I saw that I still had gum on the back of the other leg. Oh well!
This was the long flight: almost 9 hours. I was surprised to find that I enjoyed looking out the window. We saw Newfoundland, Ireland, and England go by. We missed most of the rest. Although long, this flight was the most comfy. We had a snack, supper, and a breakfast snack. All of the food was actually very good. They were also often coming around with more drinks. Besides cokes, I enjoyed some orange juice and a hot cup of tea, and I tried the coffee--a little strong for me. We watched movies and slept some, but I found I had over-planned my bag of activities. I especially liked watching the animation on my personal TV that showed where the plane was on the map and how much time was left in the trip.
We landed in Munich and almost sprinted to our gate. This was our shortest layover, and we had to get from gate 1 to gate 38. We arrived with about 20 minutes before boarding began. During that time we met a guy there from Tennessee. He was part of the national guard and on his way to Sofia like us. We talked a little and he gave us a few suggestions of things to look for, places to eat, etc.
Our last flight was a much smaller plane but roomier than the first. It took about 1.5 hours to fly to Sofia. We looked down at the Alps with snow still on them. Beautiful. When we arrived, we went through the passport clearance and claimed our bags, no problems. Then we hit our biggest glitch of the day. We went through the door to exit into the waiting area. People were everywhere waiting for someone from our flight. We looked for our greeter who was supposed to be holding a sign with our name on it, but he was nowhere. We waited and waited. Then we called our social worker...twice. We waited 4 hours before he came. Turns out there had been a misunderstanding about our arrival. He thought we were coming in tomorrow like most folks, but we came a day early because we were having a hard time getting a clear answer on whether to arrive Saturday or Sunday. So, we just picked the earlier date because we were running out of time to book the flight. While we were waiting, we met yet another Tennessean. He, too, was with the guard, and he and his wife work at the US Embassy. Before he left (and since we were still waiting), he gave us his number and the number at the embassy in case we never got picked up. That was VERY reassuring! (Thanks AGAIN, Lord!)
ANYWAY, our contact guy did make it and took us to our hotel. Then he gave us a quick overview of downtown Sophia. We set out and had Tim's birthday dinner at an outdoor cafe. Okay, so pizza isn't exactly authentic Bulgarian cuisine, but it was a little different from anything we've had back home. Before we were finished, two ladies were seated at the table 3 inches from ours. We began talking, and learned it was their first day in Sophia, too. They were from Australia. Then she asked if we were Americans. I asked if it was that obvious. She laughed and said that Tim's "ma'am" had been a dead giveaway. (He called her that to get her attention to ask her a question.) Then she asked if we were from the South. Turns out she had been on an "Elvis vacation" to Memphis and also went to Nashville for her dad's love of country music. Afterward, we decided to skip dessert for tonight, but tomorrow we are heading back for some Italian ice cream...that will probably BE lunch. Heehee.
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