Hotel Lovech

... presents in places like this (and Botevgrad Roma community too, which has the same problems but is four times the size): you are conscious that you want to make sure the process is dignified but Roma people are naturally a bit on the excitable side so you have to ignore the jostling and sometimes... heated debates that break out from time to time as the pecking of who gets their boxes first is sorted out. We do use a voucher system so that ...

Well another day has come and eventually gone so for most of the team it's time for a rest.

I guess we should really introduce the team so you can see who's who and so you can avoid them in the street back in the UK lest they start talking about Christmas boxes when it is in fact March... This does happen.

The team from The Trussell Trust UK are Lizzie Abnett (Trussell's UK Volunteer Co-ordinator), Sophia Chichester (gap year student with the Bulgaria dept) and Rich ...

... Bulgaria) has found for us.

It was really good to see Tedy and Mimi again. Both are Christmas box veterans now but they are still excited about the arrival of the gifts from Salisbury. They have been talking to various orphanage directors and liasing with Roma communities and other Bulgaria based NGO's with whom we partner to try and make sure that all the boxes our friends in the UK and USA(!) have donated find good ...

... very day (the Italian prime minister came for a political visit and we saw him while he watched a military parade). The country is cheap though and we only spent 7 euros for 2 people for an entire day.

Special thanks to Bernhard for letting us use his shower before we got on the evening bus to Istanbul. We are not necessarily looking forward to the 2nd night on the bus in a row, but we are hardcore backpackers and that's the way a world trip should start!! ;)

... 8230;.decadent street markets where you can find nostalgic souvenirs of forgotten times…..i.e. russian icons of a communist enclave.
As the first stop of the trip, we couldn't ask for more…..but, anyways, just an opinion….and yes, still cheap. Marina

got to the airport at half 4 in the morning, flight left on time at half 6, 3 seats between the two of us wohoo i can stretch out!

Got off the plane and was sooo excited I was going to see my dad in the next half hour I wanted to just leave the bas and get outside and meet him!! gray had to calm me down a bit!

Once we had bags we went to the entrance and turned the mobile on...argh it ...

Really nice place to find yourself close to the nature. It is high in the mountain ,all around trees,but still you have the comfort you need. The owners are very nice and always help you and cook special local delicious food.it is very quit there,fresh alpine air,nice place for mountain bike, walking,fishing
we spent 4 amazing days , 6 friends enjoying all that.

it' nice to see it

The following morning, Tuesday, I went down to the train station at 9:00 to get the ticket for the 10:30 train. After a while I found the international ticket window and managed to get a ticket, but no seat reservation, discovering that the train was actually a sleeper going all the way through to Thesoliniki in Greece. Forewarded is forearmed, so I bought supplies, and went and waited on the platform. About 15 minutes before departure there was a sudden scramble, and ...

We headed back to Istanbul for our stop over in Zurich, then flight to Nairobi Kenya. We ran around Istanbul doing errands and I bought a leather jacket with the kids chanting for a lower price during the haggle. Walking through the markets there is a great amount of (as John Carroll would say) 'commission breath'. This year has not been kind to the merchants of Turkey. The Eurpeans stayed home ...

We went to Mount Olympus which is a huge backpackers hangout and it reminded Deb and I of the kind of place that we would have loved to hang out in 25 years ago. There are tree houses everywhere, we upgraded after the first night. The place is famous for the eternal flame or chimera. Methane gas for centuries has been burning on the mountainside, visible to ships passing by on the sea. On the way to ...