Na zdrave (Cheers) Part I

I've been some interesting places. This is the story of one of those trips... More soon. 

I was sitting there on a plane carefree at thirty-five thousand feet above Europe going southeast when it dawned on me what I was doing. I was alone and just a few hours from touching down in a country I’d never been to, to meet some people I’d never met before who spoke a language I did not know. Destination Bulgaria. That’s right, Bulgaria. Another glass of wine seemed like a really good idea all the sudden. I kept wondering what the hell was I doing. Had I lost my mind? I looked around at the mostly empty 737. It was only me, a handful of Bulgarians and a few English blokes on the plane.

“Not too many people going in.” The little voice in my head casually observed.

 This was a solo trip or mission as I thought of it. My brother Chase and Dad drove me to the airport in Charlotte, North Carolina.  From there I flew to London and then Sophia, Bulgaria. Poor old Chase later told me how nervous he was leaving me in Charlotte.  He thought I had bought a one-way ticket. Overall, I felt good looking forward to the adventure ahead. Now Bulgaria is not the first place Americans think of when they hear the word “vacation.” Before whenever I herd “Bulgaria” (which was not often) I had mostly though of female weightlifters and wrestlers for some unknown reason. Nonetheless, here I was. We got close and started to descend, I was eagerly looking out the window to check out the country where I’d be staying the next two weeks. I could not see the ground through the clouds. Suddenly, there was an opening and I looked down.

“It is brown, man!” The little voice spoke again. 

It looked like a desert or perhaps a brown moonscape. The airport from above looked like something out of a bad cold war era movie complete with parked airlines that looked as if they had not flown in a decade or more. Our plane landed in Sophia, the capital of Bulgaria, a little before four pm. Thirteen hours of travel to a former east block country and what is the first thing I hear getting off the plane- a Madonna song in English. (pick one)

“All this way and I still I cannot escape her.” I thought.

Two large Bulgarian guys eased me down the steps in something akin to a wheelchair off the plane and into the airport. I was now a lost soul. Where in the hell were my friends and my luggage? An English speaking German guy told me how to get my bags and where my 

friends would likely be waiting. I eased through customs uneventfully.

“They should be on the other side of those two large doors.” The German guy had said.

I sure was glad to see my new best friends; Ralitsa, her brother Vladimer and Ganadi, a friend of theirs and our driver. I was a little rusty on my Bulgarian geography, not realizing my friends lived on the opposite side of the country from where I landed. I came in on the west side of the country landing in the capital, Sofia. They lived on the eastern side by the Black Sea in a large resort city, Varna. I’d guess it was around two hundred miles. Just an extra road trip tacked on to the flight. Ralitsa is extremely well-educated, fluent in English and easy on the eyes. She’s tall thin, has beautiful green eyes and long black hair. One of the best things about her is her dry sense of humor. She would say things out of blue so funny I would get a stomachache laughing so hard. Her brother Vladimer also had a terrific since humor.  Vladimir looked like a rock star with long black hair, a black beard and little round glasses. He spoke some English but not near as well as Ralitsa. Ganadi basically spoke no English but we could communicate. He is a strong stocky guy with a crew cut who could also laughs easily. All three are college graduates who would teach me much in the next two weeks. The conversations were anything but boring. I had known Ralitsa almost a year online but as anyone who has tried online dating can attest, a person on line and in person are quite different. Just getting there all three were still strangers to me. Just what had gotten me to this point?

I made many international friends via the Internet. I have chatted with people from many different countries Russia, South Korea Malaysia, United Arab Emerance and New Zealand to name just a few.  I met Ralitsa from Bulgaria online.  I was not necessarily looking for girlfriend but open to possibilities. Saying otherwise would be bullshitting you. She turned out to be one of the smartest people I’ve ever met.  I invited her to come visit me here but she was unable to get a tourist visa to visit the United States. I had described myself to her as best I could and sent a picture or two.  She still invited me to come to her country for visit.  What the hell, I agreed.  Many people here thought I was a nut!  In Bulgaria, there is no Bill of Rights and there sure is no ADA.  I felt I traveled enough here to take on this new challenge.  My brother the former navy corpsman, athlete and weightlifter did not want me to go. He even tried to get Mom and Dad to talk me out of it. I know he was only looking out for me and looking back on it, had legitimate concerns.  Even  Todd, my best friend, seemed to have doubts about this one. We were out cruising around just burning time and gas one afternoon.  We got a little fast food and parked to eat it there in the car.

He asked me, “Dude, are you really going to go to Bulgaria?”

I thought for a few seconds and answered simply ” Yes.”