Travel

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Ice Broken!

I tried going into the little village shop again today… and made it in. Amazing what an accomplishment that felt like! I was thrilled that they had beer as that was at the top of my shopping list. I hoped to be able to browse at my leisure, but it’s one of those places where everything is behind the counter.

I took a deep breath and asked the attendant for bread. It is a really tough word to pronounce and she didn’t get me the first time. I was going to dig for my dictionary and show her what I wanted when she clued in and said, “Bread?” “Da!” I replied. That was all the excitement I could handle for one afternoon and I made a “that’s it” type of motion with my hands. She told me my total and showed it to me on a piece of paper, 3.65BGN (2.92CAD). These are 0.5L containers of beer. The bread looks very fresh. I would have preferred whole grain, but it’s better than nothing.

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My nice neighbour, Vasa, wanted to chat as I was coming up the hill, but my Bulgarian was useless for that. I reminded her “No Bulgarian!” and then listed my pitiful list of words. She laughed. I did understand when she asked when Max is coming back and also when she said that Bulgarian will come if I work at it. I am, but it’s slow going. I wish there was an app like Duolingo for Bulgarian. I just haven’t found the app that’s making the language stick.

Well, there are two dogs clamouring for my attention, so I guess it’s walk time. Then beer! 😀

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Chicken

No, I haven’t found a Bulgarian chicken lady. The chicken is me. Yesterday evening, I walked down to the village square with the intent of checking out the small shop in the hope that it carries beer and bread and… I chickened out. It’s a combination café and there were people outside and it was just too much. I came home resolute to learn how to say “good day” and “I don’t speak Bulgarian” in the next couple of days. “Good day” is problematic because there are so many ways and they depend on the time of day and who you’re speaking with because, like French and Spanish, Bulgarian has a polite form and I haven’t yet figured out the most generic and least offensive thing I could say to absolutely everyone.

On the way home, I ran into the owner of the guesthouse at the bottom of the hill, to whom I was introduced at the market on Friday. He speaks basic English and asked me where I’m from and how long I’m staying. When he learned that I came all the way from Canada to Bulgaria for the first time and am committed to three months, his eyes went wide and he said, “Good for you!”

I really should start thinking about getting back to work, even without a decent work station, so I can have a pay cheque on Friday. But I’m more focused on my Bulgarian studies now that I have good internet access now and can easily watch YouTube videos and interact with apps that require an internet connection.

I cannot believe what a difference it makes to be able to read Cyrillic! I am going to do a post about that later because it really wasn’t hard and helps so much. For example, when I got to the village square yesterday and looked to where the store was, I noticed a sign that said магазин — mah-gah-zin. Sounds almost exactly like the French magasin, which is a store. So I knew I was at the right place. When in Teteven the other day, I knew where the food store was before we went in because of a sign that said супермаркет, which literally sounds like supermarket. I’m discovering that there are hundreds, if not thousands, of written Bulgarian words I already understand that is making the language less intimidating.

I’m off to hang my laundry. I suspect I’ll be doing that a lot since I don’t have many clothes… I’m trying to fall into a routine before I get to work in earnest. I’ve been getting up, taking the dogs for their walk, and then coming back to have coffee and breakfast. I’d like to keep that up and then quit work around five to do the afternoon walk. I do have to get back into an earlier routine, though, as I’ve been getting up past nine!

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Flying Wizz Air

Wizz Air is a budget airline based in Budapest, Hungary. My best tip for flying Wizz Air is don’t. But if you have no choice, here are some tips.

I flew Wizz Air because it appeared to be the best value between London and Sofia. Well, that was the case, but I still ended up paying fully twice what the posted fare was!

Wizz Air keeps its prices low by nickel and diming you for everything. Read their insane luggage policy very carefully or you will pay very, very, very steep penalties. Basically, you’re allowed a teeny bag on the plane for free, that’s it. I can’t even begin to summarise the myriad of ways they can separate you from your money when it comes to luggage. What I can tell you is how I managed to get both of my bags in the cabin for £14.

First, I paid for a “large cabin bag.” My carry on suitcase was exactly the right size for that. Even though the suitcase is a little smaller than what would be allowable by most reasonable airlines, it was the maximum size for Wizz Air. In fact, I ended up pulling a few things from my suitcase and wearing them to give the suitcase just enough give to fit easily into their sizing rack.

Great, now my suitcase was on the plane, but I’d lost the privilege of bringing my electronics bag with me!

This is where you need to start taking notes. My host, Max, who flies Wizz Air all the time thought I was a genius when I told him what I did to get the electronics bag on board with me.

I paid £3 for priority boarding.

Priority boarding is an absolute joke since Wizz Air makes you stand for ages on the tarmac before boarding, but it allows you a “personal item” on top of your large one! My electronics bag was actually a “small cabin bag” and therefore not eligible to fly free with me under priority boarding, but I knew that the bag had to fit under the seat and that I wouldn’t have any problems making it fit. When I checked in with Wizz Air at Luton Airport, I wore my electronics bag on my back, where it had a very slim profile, and did not draw attention to it, making sure they stayed focused on the larger bag, which weighed just over 5KG less than I would have been allowed. No one said boo about my smaller bag.

As if the luggage issues weren’t enough, the Wizz Air website is an absolute disaster and not particularly well translated. The iPhone app is a bit better. Be prepared to receive A LOT of emails reminding you of their luggage policy. One thing that Wizz Air could do to tighten up its operations and make me less annoyed with it is to stop sending irrelevant threatening emails. I’d paid for a large cabin bag and shouldn’t have received something like 10 emails telling me that I was going to have to pay something like £65 to check my bag at the airport!

Wizz Air also works with National Express coach lines in the UK to offer a slightly reduced rate to get to the airports. This can be good value for some people, but the information is lacking. They were unable to tell me where and when I could be picked up near Baker Street and should have told me to check with National Express.

Another thing I found ridiculous is that I had to check in online or else pay a steep fee at the airport to check in in person, but I still had to go to the check in desk because I’m a non EU resident/Bulgarian citizen. Checking in online involved a ton of hoops, including installing the Wizz Air app on my phone, and I should have been spared those hoops since I had to go to the check in desk anyway.

Once I was out of the wind and rain and finally settled in the plane, I got a lot less cranky with Wizz Air. While not exactly spacious, the seats were a tad more roomy than WestJet and I had a bit more leg room, even with my bag under the seat. They don’t have a free beverage service, but their prices are comparable to what I pay on WestJet as was the quality of the sandwich I got. Staff was very friendly and spoke good English. And I have to say that I liked Wizz Air’s pink and purple colour scheme. 🙂

I don’t like jumping through hoops for nothing. Flying with Wizz Air was actually not that bad, but getting onto the plane was a nightmare. If they could tighten up their ticket purchase and check in procedures, they’d be a halfway decent airline, even with their insane luggage policy!

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Trying to Figure Out London’s Oyster Card

One thing I remember from Scotland that has not improved in 20 years is that there are a lot of different transportation agencies in the UK and they don’t place nicely with each other. So it’s a miracle, really, that London has such good public transportation considering how many players are in the game. They all operate under the name Transport for London (TFL), but they are very much separate entities (including Underground, Overground, National Rail, but there are many more!).

All of these companies servicing London agree to use a payment method known as Oyster. It’s a prepaid electronic card that offers big savings over buying individual tickets. UK residents (and visitors from some other countries, depending on their banks) can use a contactless credit card instead and get the same rates. There are other ways to pay for transport, including daily travel cards, but going with Oyster made the most sense for my trip because it offers a daily cap. That means that after spending so much, you get unlimited travel. Once I got to my Airbnb, I would only be traveling between zones 1 and 2, with a daily cap of £6.50.  I downloaded my journey history and see that if you make at least three trips in a day, the daily cap offers a lot of value.

I bought my Oyster card at Gatwick train terminal, paying a refundable £5 deposit and adding £30 of credit. It would cost me £8 just to get to Central London, plus however much to get to Kensal Green. This first day wound up being very expensive, transportation-wise, because I went back to Central London in the late afternoon, with my travel costs for the day being £15. But if I had not gotten my Oyster card and had instead taken the much better advertised “Gatwick Express” train, I would have paid £20 just to get to Central London. So I think this illustrates the value of going with Oyster.

Here is my travel history and the fares:

Saturday, June 25th:

Gatwick to Kensal Green: £10.20

Kensal Green to Regent’s Park: £2.40

Baker Street to Kensal Green: £2.40

Total: £15

Note: I did not reach any caps on this day.

Sunday, June 25th:

Kensal Green to Westminster: £2.40

Knightsbridge to Baker Street: £2.40

Baker Street to Kensal Green: £1.70

Total: £6.50

Note: My last trip was capped. If I had, say, taken a bus from Kensal Green to home, the bus ride would have been free.

Monday, June 26th:

Kensal Green to Euston (on National Rail): £2.40

Russell Square to Kensal Green: £2.90

Total: £5.30

Note: This day offered me the least value since I didn’t reach my cap.

Tuesday, June 27th:

Kensal Green to London Bridge: £2.90

St. Paul’s to Green Park: £2.40

Piccadilly Circus to Kensal Green: £1.20

Total: £6.50

Note: This is a day that if I hadn’t had a card with a cap, I would have likely walked from St. Paul’s to The Wolseley to save the £1.40 I would have spent on a full fare ride…

Wednesday, June 29th:

Kensal Green to London Victoria: £2.40

Note: This is where I cashed out my Oyster card and got my £5 deposit back, but still got to keep the card and the little wallet with three slots they’d given me to go with it. I was rather happy with the latter item since I only brought a change purse with me and was worried that my cards will get scratched up in it. Now, I have a solid and slim place to store my cards safely.

Total spent on Oyster while in London (not counting the deposit): £35.70 or about 65CAD.

Topping up Oyster is where things got really messy. There are self-serve machines at all stations where you can top up. I tried three times in one day and while TFL took my money, none of the credit was applied to my Oyster card. I knew that I had to tap my card a second time for the top up to “take,” but I never got the prompt for that. When I called my bank, they had London Overground and Southern Rail (I think) as having taken my money, not TFL. When I called the Oyster helpline, they were absolutely useless, something that makes a lot more sense now that I understand that many different companies take payment for Oyster. I’m monitoring my credit card and none of the failed Oyster charges have actually posted. Once I catch up on my bookkeeping, I will be able to confirm if Oyster released my funds or not.

How I ended up successfully topping up was going to a newsagent (convenience store/dépanneur) in Kensal Green with an “Oyster Stop” poster in the front window. She was very patient and guided me through the steps, giving me a receipt as proof that I’d added £10 to my card. I recommend topping up this way even if it’s not as convenient.

One final Oyster tip, how to use it! For rail travel, you have to touch in and out at the start and end of your journey. For buses, which I did not use, you just have to tap in. If you forget to tap out, you will be charged the largest possible fare. Also, note there are very steep penalties if you cannot provide proof of payment and that fares for some zones differ based on the time of day! I wish I had known Sunday that’s not the case for zones 1 and 2 because I would have left earlier instead of waiting for the “off peak” time to save a few pounds.

Even after using Oyster for four days, it still leaves me a little bewildered. But it was really nice to be able to pass through the gates so quickly like a local!

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London Recap

My brief trip to London already feels like it happened in a dream. It might feel more real when I get my Visa statement… 😀

I decided that I would only be there a few days and that therefore I didn’t have a budget (within reason), a huge decision for me considering the price of food! I am so grateful that I happened to be in London at the first time in my life that I could make that decision, which was further aided, of course, by knowing I had almost no bills ahead of me in Bulgaria.

I got to London with very little knowledge of the city and even fewer expectations. I’m glad I made the decision to not take a London crash course that would have had me trying to cram even more into my brief stay, but rather explored at my own pace. I still managed to pack in a lot and am exhausted, so I can’t imagine have been to fit more in anyway…

Food and attraction prices not withstanding, I found London very accessible. It is very easy to get around in, the locals are incredibly friendly, and I felt safe.

Service in restaurants was always stellar. I liked that I didn’t have to tip since there was always a service charge included. The food was generally fantastic. My two favourite meals, not counting my ultra special afternoon tea, were, for a sit down meal, the curry platter in Kensal Rise, and, for takeaway, the falafel on Baker Street.

One of my big treats while there was that I took advantage of my body not knowing what time it was to wait to have coffee until I got to Central London and then buying espressos at proper sit down restaurants (except my last one at Victoria London). I didn’t have a single “fast food” drip coffee my whole time in London (even my last one was an espresso made just for me). My coffee expenditures averaged £2.50 per day. My best coffee was the cappuccino at Speedy’s and my worst (which was still excellent) was the Americano at Café Rouge.

The attractions I paid for offered good value even if they were expensive. I would have regretted paying for the admission to the aquarium, but since it was free, I’m glad I went. I still think Madame Tussaud’s wasn’t necessarily the best use of my time in London, but it’s something I’ve wanted to do at least one more time in my life and I got a good deal on my ticket. I don’t have a favourite attraction I visited, but have to say that the London Eye and St. Paul’s are must dos! The Eye should be done early in a visit to London to give an idea of the city’s layout. St. Paul’s is worth a visit for the architecture. If you’re fit enough to climb to the Golden Gallery, you will be rewarded with another amazing overview of London. The Roman amphitheatre is off the beaten path and not well-known, so I feel like I discovered a secret bit of London to call my own.

When I go back to London, because that feels like a certainty to me, I hope I will be able to afford to stay in Central London so I can check out the nightlife. But considering how little I knew of the city when I booked my Airbnb, I did a stellar job of choosing it. I would never have been able to enjoy London as much as I did had I paid much more than the 55.50CAD a night I ended up paying! I have to say that I enjoyed staying in a house in the suburbs as it felt like I was living as a local.

To sum up, London absolutely charmed the skirt off me!

Which reminds me of a funny story I forgot to tell. I don’t remember at which tube station this happened, but my skirt got caught in the escalator mechanism. It didn’t rip, thankfully (although it got very greasy), but I ended up flashing my drawers before I managed to rescue it!!! Needless to say, I was VERY careful to hold my skirt up on all future escalator rides!