Preparations
Here are the adventures I had with Filip and Kuba in the beautiful Bulgarian mountains (called Rila, not Ukulele).
I explored the Rila mountains before, and I was stunned by the beauty. The hills are relatively high, but not very hard. You hike in the elevation of 2000 meters, and it is a nice walk on soil (not stone). So when Filip and Kuba qualified for the competition in Bulgaria and wanted to go hiking, I was enthusiastic.
Some years before the adventure, I went there by bus. It has quite a charm to spend 24 hours on a bus with commuting Bulgars,
but as a philosopher says: you never step in the same river twice.
So I vetoed going by bus.
We decided to go by plane. For around 20 euro, the plan was to get from Ostrava to Milan-Bergamo and then to Sofia. We also did not want to pay for the luggage (this is a recurring theme here, sometimes if you ask why they did it, it is just because it is cheaper), so the plan was to pack in such a way that we can take everything as carry on. There are some disadvantages to it. For instance, a knife is not allowed, we were also scared to test if pegs from the tent would go through, so we did not take them. I took a tent for two people. Yes, we were three with an average height of over 185 cm. I needed to fit the tent to the carry-on, so I reduced the variety of my outfits. I took two t-shirts, one for sleeping and one for walking.
Flight
Two days before the flight, I got some stomachache. I was visiting the toilet every hour and was feeling like shit (pun intended). It was so bad that I considered not going. In the end, my suicide genes prevailed, and I went. During the beginning of the trip, I was significantly lazier than I would be otherwise.
It was slightly after twelve when, equipped with dry bread and rolls of toilet paper, I arrived at the Ostrava's airport. I met with my friends, and we spent these obligatory 90 minutes cheerfully planning and making fun of my diarrhea.
We expected a message to start boarding, but something different appeared: The delay, 60 minutes. I was delighted, during that time, I can visit more toilets, Kuba and Filip were Ok with that too. We needed to wait a lot in Milan-Bergamo anyway. Sunny Italy is better, but the airport is the airport (and they have comfortable carpets in Ostrava, we tested them in various positions).
Then the delay increased. And then again.
The atmosphere heated, up to shouting matches. I did not give a shit because I was mostly sitting on the toilet.
The delay was increasing. It was so bad that Ryanair gave us coupons for food, to not die from hunger at the airport.
Then the night came. I started to feel a little better (thanks to Finding Dory playing in the children's corner, captivating). Others become apathetic. We wanted to move. We just tied a knot on my jacket and used it as a ball. Then we found some papers and made paper planes. We did some competitions and briefly convinced a random person to join us.
For that, we were honored by the general manager of the airport as the most enthusiastic group. Maybe he did not meant it. We invited him, and he did not want to play with us.
Then some mechanic (or pilot) came from London on a private plane, did his magic, and we could fly. The company was fair. They even told us how to claim money for the delay. In the end, we got the compensation. It was enough money to pay for the whole trip, food and everything.
Finally, with a delay, we were landing in the night Bergamo.
Night Bergamo
We had almost the whole night to explore Bergamo, because they kicked us out of the airport. It is closed during the night. We also met two girls that were in a similar situation as we were. They needed to wait too. So they joined us.
Bergamo is a beautiful medieval city. We walked around and finally found some restaurant garden where we slept for a few hours before going back.
Sofia
Public transport connects the airport to the center of the city. You pay for the metro, and you are there in no time. We had time, and we wanted to continue by train. Close to the airport, there is a high concentration of rails (on the map). So we thought we get there in a few minutes and hop on a train.
We turned like three corners, and culture shock hit us. There was a street, not asphalt, just mud and puddles and around running goose and wild children. I ducked my head and speeded up. Filip was more outgoing, but then when I was far, he realized that we are not returning for him if these children take him to play with them. He got faster too.
Finally, we were close to the highest concentration of train rails in Sofia. It was a glorious big station. About 20 years ago. Now, most of them are overgrown by grass.
So, we bought our food in Billa, the best thing we found was a coconut fat (more calories than butter and handy case). Afterward, we went by bus to the train station. (I am still thinking about it. I do not suppose that buses in Sofia are free, but when we asked a driver for the ticket, he just waved us inside. From then on, I wonder if I broke the law or not.)
Then we waited for a few hours for a train that would bring us closer to the mountains.
The train was nice, but there was a summer storm, some water got to the train. It stirred
everything already dry on the floor.
So we were going to the mountains in the horrible stench of piss.
It was unbearable. I decided to walk around to find more pleasant seats.
I found out that other places do not smell...
like piss.
