It’s a travel day to reach Varna, and one never knows what to expect when on a train ride in Bulgaria.
It was 4 hours to Karnobat where we got off the train. Then we had a 1½ layover. We had packed a few things for lunch. Rob wanted to supplement with a few items from their small convenience store. Rob came back, pleased to learn that the worker spoke English.
Rob was giving me a rundown while the worker locked the door and got into his car and drove away. I noted another store outside the station so Rob went over to get something.
While he was gone, I thought that I was going to get arrested. I was cleaning out my backpack, and the station manager yelled at me in Bulgarian indicating that I was to use the trash can. I told him that I spoke English and tried to motion that the trash was the final destination for my wrappers.
He was quite rude. I told Rob about it when he returned. Then the man came and yelled at Rob, indicating that he needed to eat his newly acquired roll outside and not in the station.
We obliged and were thrilled that our train arrived so we could get out of there. Little did we know that things were going to get worse.
for mine.
On the train the lady next to us had a market bag that was leaking yellow liquid all over the floor. I tried to give her tissues, but she declined.
There was no air circulating. Windows were stuck shut. The outside temperature was 88⁰F, and the sun was hitting the seats we were in. I had a little water, but I felt sure that I would drop 10 pounds in the next 2½ hours. I feel for wrestlers trying to cut weight.
But first, as he had done several times already, Rob needed to get seat reservations for our next train ride in three days, back to Sofia, to complement our Eurailpass tickets.
After asking at a couple of windows inside the station, he came out and went through a door marked “Advance Tickets”. The person at that desk, as was typical, didn’t speak any English.
The ticket agent read the note, and after passing Rob’s phone back and forth a few times to view the train tickets and Eurailpasses, she provided two seat reservations for 1 lev (59¢) each.
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