To Plovdiv with love.
Jul 23, 2011, 1:08 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Portland, OR
Programs: NW Plat (now they call it DL Diamond) 1MM, soon to be DL Plat, Hilton Diamond, SPG Gold, Dusit Gold
Posts: 2,706
To Plovdiv with love.
Why go to Bulgaria one may ask? Because I had not been there before. My travels have taken me to all the surrounding countries but never into Bulgaria. So since it is there and an inexpensive option in business class became available off I went.
Recently I flew from Portland to Sofia via JFK, Paris and Bucharest and returned from there via Bucharest and Amsterdam on an elusive Delta 100,000 mile business class award with $200 in fees finally booked within 5 days of departure despite thinking it was booked 10 days in advance. The problems with booking any award ticket at reasonable prices and the inability of the airline’s IT department to make the web-site work are well documented. Delta Skymiles reservations seems to not know that Tarom is a full Sky Team member which does a much better job than Delta.
Travel was on Delta (737 and A330-200), Air France (777-300ER and 737-700), Tarom (ATR-72 and ATR-42) and KLM (737-400). Also well documented are travel on DL, AF and KL.
RO (Tarom) is not often covered, but what can one say about one hour flights on propeller planes. Actually something of interest is that despite the preconception on my part that I would be in coach, the two ATRs actually have business class sections-2 rows in the pointy end of the aircraft which allows the strategically-oriented passenger to reach passport control first by standing near the appropriate bus door. Also there are no locks evident on the cockpit doors. A full cold meal is served, appetizer, salad of some sort, entrée, cheese, crackers/cold rolls and desert. Both OTP and SOF have lounges.
The weakness of this low award was the following requirements.
1. Overnight flight to JFK requiring one to pick up AF boarding passes at JFK.
2. 12 hour stop-over in New York. Fortunately a relative who lives in Queens picked me up for a small reunion and lunch with a return to the airport for the flight to CDG.
3. If the connection had been reasonable one still must leave the arrival terminal and get to Terminal 1 thus enduring the probing of TSA.
4. A decent 3 hour connection in Paris requiring being in the Schengen zone for 10 minutes.
5. An overnight and almost a full day connection in Bucharest. The perfectly acceptable Ramada Parc had a 40 euro rate including breakfast. I had previously stayed in a very good one in Sibui.
6. A six hour connection in Bucharest on the return.
7. An overnight in Amsterdam on the return. NH hotel Schipol for $72 ($87 with Priceline fees). NH quality has deteriorated and is probably not worth it anymore. They also have started charging 5 euro for the return bus transfer; waived for me for some reason-probably multiple Priceline stays in the past and newly minted NH card on check-in.
The strengths:
1. The low award despite DL originally booking the ticket to OTP but the return from JFK. Chisholm fixed it after about an hour discussion.
2. Ability to add outbound SOF on what was originally an award to OTP for no additional miles.
3. Ability to later add SOF-OTP return for no additional miles.
4. Tarom business class.
5. Tarom’s ability to check baggage thru and issue all boarding passes for the return for three different Sky Team Airlines especially with long connections.
Trip weaknesses:
1. The Luxury Collection Sheraton Balkon Sofia especially the manager of front end/housekeeping for her attitude. The non-smoking room was fine until the second day when either the staff or casino pumped cigarette smoke into the room. The resolution finally was reasonable. The process to get there was intolerable. Finally being repeatedly asked by housekeeping staff when I was leaving despite having a late check-out just illustrated the lack of communication within the staff. My 4 p.m. check- out became 1 p.m. when I gave up and moved back to the Hilton. Sorry this hotel does not rise the level of the luxury collection. Great location is just not enough. Some staff trying to work around management attitudes is just not enough.
2. Being at the mercy of the taxi mafia at OTP. Fly Taxi is no longer available and have been replaced by Airport-approved taxis charging approximately the same rates starting at 3.5 leu per kilometer rather than the more reasonable 1.59 leu taxis parked outside the airport. The expensive ones know the long way to the Parc. So 80 leu ($US 27) later, I arrived at the Parc. The return was 15 euro ($21 with the official Skoda hotel taxi). Alternatively I could have taken the bus for about a dollar each way and walked a short distance.
3. Prior to this trip I had been told that Sofia has little to offer. This is certainly true but I found some interesting aspects. A night or two in Sofia is sufficient and locals recommend heading to the Black Sea coast or Carpathians. Trying to make arrangements last minute was too daunting with limited transportation options. Arranging transportation locally was fairly easy even in periods of high demand (summer)
4. No fee Visa cards (British Air and E-trade) working only sporadically (once) in Bulgaria. Fortunately the USAA MC does with a 1% fee. Bring plenty of cards or cash.
The high points:
1. A two hour plus tour of Sofia offered by local students. http://www.freesofiatour.com/
2. The free airport transfer for HHonors diamonds in Sofia. Thank you Chase Visa for not working and Google/Voice for the $02/minute call to Bulgaria for providing this information.
3. The staff at the Hilton Sofia. Despite it being somewhat inconveniently located it is only about 3 lev by taxi to the center.
4. Riding the #10 tram as suggested by Deni, the local student guide, to see the disparity between the old and new in Sofia.
5. Walking thru modern malls with few customers and many higher end stores because most of the population cannot afford what is for sale.
6. Talking with local residents and experiencing their generally happy demeanors while enjoying their cynicism. Learning that many young people live with their parents so that they can almost afford a car. Gasoline is approximately $8.00 per gallon. Talking with a waiter at an over-priced restaurant who had been to the U.S. for a little known work/study program (He worked at the Statue of Liberty) who explained that local people normally do not eat out on Monday or Tuesday because they spend all their money on the weekend.
7. Having an interesting Bulgarian dinner in an almost deserted restaurant near the Sheraton. http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restauran...ata-Sofia.html 28 Solunska Street, opposite the State Opera.
8. Happy Bar all over the city. Inexpensive eclectic menu with cheap beer and wine. Populated predominately with locals but catering to visitors. http://www.happy.bg/en/home.html Salads including the Salad Bulgariche is quite good.
9. Getting to ride trains in both Bulgaria and Romania.
10. 60 stotinki ($.45) Lavazza espresso in the Sofia train station.
11. Inexpensive Bulgarian taxis with some of the surliest drivers that I have ever experienced. Maybe it was just bad luck because a few were quite personable.
Recently I flew from Portland to Sofia via JFK, Paris and Bucharest and returned from there via Bucharest and Amsterdam on an elusive Delta 100,000 mile business class award with $200 in fees finally booked within 5 days of departure despite thinking it was booked 10 days in advance. The problems with booking any award ticket at reasonable prices and the inability of the airline’s IT department to make the web-site work are well documented. Delta Skymiles reservations seems to not know that Tarom is a full Sky Team member which does a much better job than Delta.
Travel was on Delta (737 and A330-200), Air France (777-300ER and 737-700), Tarom (ATR-72 and ATR-42) and KLM (737-400). Also well documented are travel on DL, AF and KL.
RO (Tarom) is not often covered, but what can one say about one hour flights on propeller planes. Actually something of interest is that despite the preconception on my part that I would be in coach, the two ATRs actually have business class sections-2 rows in the pointy end of the aircraft which allows the strategically-oriented passenger to reach passport control first by standing near the appropriate bus door. Also there are no locks evident on the cockpit doors. A full cold meal is served, appetizer, salad of some sort, entrée, cheese, crackers/cold rolls and desert. Both OTP and SOF have lounges.
The weakness of this low award was the following requirements.
1. Overnight flight to JFK requiring one to pick up AF boarding passes at JFK.
2. 12 hour stop-over in New York. Fortunately a relative who lives in Queens picked me up for a small reunion and lunch with a return to the airport for the flight to CDG.
3. If the connection had been reasonable one still must leave the arrival terminal and get to Terminal 1 thus enduring the probing of TSA.
4. A decent 3 hour connection in Paris requiring being in the Schengen zone for 10 minutes.
5. An overnight and almost a full day connection in Bucharest. The perfectly acceptable Ramada Parc had a 40 euro rate including breakfast. I had previously stayed in a very good one in Sibui.
6. A six hour connection in Bucharest on the return.
7. An overnight in Amsterdam on the return. NH hotel Schipol for $72 ($87 with Priceline fees). NH quality has deteriorated and is probably not worth it anymore. They also have started charging 5 euro for the return bus transfer; waived for me for some reason-probably multiple Priceline stays in the past and newly minted NH card on check-in.
The strengths:
1. The low award despite DL originally booking the ticket to OTP but the return from JFK. Chisholm fixed it after about an hour discussion.
2. Ability to add outbound SOF on what was originally an award to OTP for no additional miles.
3. Ability to later add SOF-OTP return for no additional miles.
4. Tarom business class.
5. Tarom’s ability to check baggage thru and issue all boarding passes for the return for three different Sky Team Airlines especially with long connections.
Trip weaknesses:
1. The Luxury Collection Sheraton Balkon Sofia especially the manager of front end/housekeeping for her attitude. The non-smoking room was fine until the second day when either the staff or casino pumped cigarette smoke into the room. The resolution finally was reasonable. The process to get there was intolerable. Finally being repeatedly asked by housekeeping staff when I was leaving despite having a late check-out just illustrated the lack of communication within the staff. My 4 p.m. check- out became 1 p.m. when I gave up and moved back to the Hilton. Sorry this hotel does not rise the level of the luxury collection. Great location is just not enough. Some staff trying to work around management attitudes is just not enough.
2. Being at the mercy of the taxi mafia at OTP. Fly Taxi is no longer available and have been replaced by Airport-approved taxis charging approximately the same rates starting at 3.5 leu per kilometer rather than the more reasonable 1.59 leu taxis parked outside the airport. The expensive ones know the long way to the Parc. So 80 leu ($US 27) later, I arrived at the Parc. The return was 15 euro ($21 with the official Skoda hotel taxi). Alternatively I could have taken the bus for about a dollar each way and walked a short distance.
3. Prior to this trip I had been told that Sofia has little to offer. This is certainly true but I found some interesting aspects. A night or two in Sofia is sufficient and locals recommend heading to the Black Sea coast or Carpathians. Trying to make arrangements last minute was too daunting with limited transportation options. Arranging transportation locally was fairly easy even in periods of high demand (summer)
4. No fee Visa cards (British Air and E-trade) working only sporadically (once) in Bulgaria. Fortunately the USAA MC does with a 1% fee. Bring plenty of cards or cash.
The high points:
1. A two hour plus tour of Sofia offered by local students. http://www.freesofiatour.com/
2. The free airport transfer for HHonors diamonds in Sofia. Thank you Chase Visa for not working and Google/Voice for the $02/minute call to Bulgaria for providing this information.
3. The staff at the Hilton Sofia. Despite it being somewhat inconveniently located it is only about 3 lev by taxi to the center.
4. Riding the #10 tram as suggested by Deni, the local student guide, to see the disparity between the old and new in Sofia.
5. Walking thru modern malls with few customers and many higher end stores because most of the population cannot afford what is for sale.
6. Talking with local residents and experiencing their generally happy demeanors while enjoying their cynicism. Learning that many young people live with their parents so that they can almost afford a car. Gasoline is approximately $8.00 per gallon. Talking with a waiter at an over-priced restaurant who had been to the U.S. for a little known work/study program (He worked at the Statue of Liberty) who explained that local people normally do not eat out on Monday or Tuesday because they spend all their money on the weekend.
7. Having an interesting Bulgarian dinner in an almost deserted restaurant near the Sheraton. http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restauran...ata-Sofia.html 28 Solunska Street, opposite the State Opera.
8. Happy Bar all over the city. Inexpensive eclectic menu with cheap beer and wine. Populated predominately with locals but catering to visitors. http://www.happy.bg/en/home.html Salads including the Salad Bulgariche is quite good.
9. Getting to ride trains in both Bulgaria and Romania.
10. 60 stotinki ($.45) Lavazza espresso in the Sofia train station.
11. Inexpensive Bulgarian taxis with some of the surliest drivers that I have ever experienced. Maybe it was just bad luck because a few were quite personable.
Last edited by opushomes; Jul 23, 2011 at 1:14 pm
Jul 23, 2011, 1:09 pm
#2
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Portland, OR
Programs: NW Plat (now they call it DL Diamond) 1MM, soon to be DL Plat, Hilton Diamond, SPG Gold, Dusit Gold
Posts: 2,706
To Plovdiv and back
reserved this space in 2011. Today, I came across the need to fill this space with my recollections of this portion of the trip. Almost 10 years late is better than never.
I like trains so I bought a ticket from Sofia to Plovdiv. Why not. One way only. Bulgarian trains, at least this one, ran *maybe no longer, who knows? on time. I found my seat and soon thereafter a woman (older than me) sat down across the aisle. Turned out she was a Vetinarian living in Sofia on her way to visit a relative in a village near Plovdiv. She spoke good English unexpected in a former Soviet client state. When we arrived in Plovdiv, she asked for help to take two of her shopping bags off the car and into the station. She said that it was some meat for her relative. The two bags weighed at least 100 pounds. Was the meat perhaps surgical mishaps or even her dismembered husband? No one will ever know as I did not ask the nature of the meat. As a reward she insisted that she buy me an espresso in the station cafe. Soon her bus arrived and I again helped load the meat and said my goodbyes.
After exploring the wonders of Plovdiv, I caught a taxi and instructed him to take me to the Sofia Autogar (bus station for buses to Sobia). The driver did not speak nor understand English and we soon were on an expressway toward Sofia. Having downloaded Google instructions and a poor map for the bus station. A bit of "nyet, nyet" and ":Autogar Sofia" ensued , no I am hiring you to take me to Sofia; he finally caught on. Thus I was safely deposited at the right place
and managed to buy a ticket to the right city. The bus was comfortable and was much quicker than the train. My day trip was a success with only the normal problems of travelling in a country where English and German are very foreign languages. The signs are in Cyrillic, this is a former Soviet client state where the older generation grew up with Russian and Bulgarian. My day in Plovdiv must have been interesting but almost 10 years later and do not recall all the exciting things I did or the sights I saw. I definitely did not find love in Plovdiv but with a with a Weber barbeque could have had unrefrigerated meat.
Although trains in Bulgaria based on one trip run on time but very slow. I decided to take the bus back.
I like trains so I bought a ticket from Sofia to Plovdiv. Why not. One way only. Bulgarian trains, at least this one, ran *maybe no longer, who knows? on time. I found my seat and soon thereafter a woman (older than me) sat down across the aisle. Turned out she was a Vetinarian living in Sofia on her way to visit a relative in a village near Plovdiv. She spoke good English unexpected in a former Soviet client state. When we arrived in Plovdiv, she asked for help to take two of her shopping bags off the car and into the station. She said that it was some meat for her relative. The two bags weighed at least 100 pounds. Was the meat perhaps surgical mishaps or even her dismembered husband? No one will ever know as I did not ask the nature of the meat. As a reward she insisted that she buy me an espresso in the station cafe. Soon her bus arrived and I again helped load the meat and said my goodbyes.
After exploring the wonders of Plovdiv, I caught a taxi and instructed him to take me to the Sofia Autogar (bus station for buses to Sobia). The driver did not speak nor understand English and we soon were on an expressway toward Sofia. Having downloaded Google instructions and a poor map for the bus station. A bit of "nyet, nyet" and ":Autogar Sofia" ensued , no I am hiring you to take me to Sofia; he finally caught on. Thus I was safely deposited at the right place
and managed to buy a ticket to the right city. The bus was comfortable and was much quicker than the train. My day trip was a success with only the normal problems of travelling in a country where English and German are very foreign languages. The signs are in Cyrillic, this is a former Soviet client state where the older generation grew up with Russian and Bulgarian. My day in Plovdiv must have been interesting but almost 10 years later and do not recall all the exciting things I did or the sights I saw. I definitely did not find love in Plovdiv but with a with a Weber barbeque could have had unrefrigerated meat.
Although trains in Bulgaria based on one trip run on time but very slow. I decided to take the bus back.
Last edited by opushomes; Feb 26, 2021 at 12:19 am Reason: forgot to write up the adventure