Mon 03/08/09 04:38

Well, I’ve made it to Varna, Bulgaria. I got in yesterday at about 7 in the morning after my twenty hour bus rides. The first leg of the trip was from Kusdasi to Istanbul about ten hours. I still think that taking a bus is the best way to travel and the trip to Istanbul confirmed that, even though I did struggle for my own space with the guy sitting next to me. The bus makes regular stops which allows a person to stretch and kind of recharge your battery a little bit before another leg starts again. Anyway I kind of got off subject, mainly because it was just a normal bus ride with some of the good things, and some of the bad and there’s no reason to bore you with the details. Same goes with the second leg of the trip, except there was some difference in that we had to cross the border from Turkey to Bulgaria. We got to the border at about midnight and the whole process ended up taking about 3.5 hours. I got into Varna Sunday morning at about 645 and spent the next 3 hours looking for the hostel. The major problem was that there really wasn’t a lot of people that I could ask for directions, and the driver dropped me off in the city and not at the bus station. I had directions from the bus station, but since I didn’t know where the bus station was I was disoriented in which way to go. Needless to say I found it, and it has been a great time so far. The first thing that I did was head to the beach… oh, yeah, the hostel didn’t have a room for me, actually it was a reservation glitch, when I got here they thought that I was there to camp, and I thought that I reserved a room. We were both right because I went back and double-checked. The website says 1 bedroom, shared bathroom, but the reservation confirmation said that I reserved a tent… so, now I’m camping, which has been great.

Back to my story, the first thing that I did was head to the beach, it was very crowded, but the water was warm, lots of pretty women to look at, and generally I couldn’t have asked for a better time, even though I only there for about an hour or so.

Later in the day I went for dinner with another guest of the hostel and then we walked around the open-air market before heading back to the hostel. On our way back we picked up some beer, of course. :)

There was a couple already drinking when we got back, and the four of us ended up hanging out until about 230 in the morning just talking about the nuances between our countries. The couple was from Australia, Carl (the guy I was hanging out with) is from England, and me from America… it was fun except they all have strange accents. :)

After I finish this entry I think I’m going to go wander a little bit, maybe take some pictures and stuff, though the thought of actually getting moving seems like a lot of work right now.