After a sleepless night of brainstorming Plan A-Z, we booked flights on Turkish Airlines to Varna, Bulgaria. When you miss the ship, you need to pick it up at the next stop or port which in our case was Burgas. But alas, Burgas sold out so we booked flights to Varna a.k.a. the second stop/port. The adventure continues…
To be safe, we took the super early Marriott Courtyard Shuttle to Istanbul Airport(IST). We enjoyed as many hours as possible in the Turkish Airlines Airport Lounge. That place is magical. Honestly, it is Disney World for American international travelers because U.S. lounges are embarrassing by comparison. IST Turkish Airlines Lounge executed being one of the Best Airport Lounges like a champion! So much so, I almost forgot all about the events that went down the day before, but then I remembered again. #fail Mostly, due to the fact my body was so sore from running a billion miles through the hilly streets of Istanbul only to miss the cruise ship. #worstfailever The Turkish Airlines Lounge mini-vacation eventually came to an end–don’t worry, I’ll return again. We boarded our Turkish Airlines flight to Varna. Note: Full meal service on a less than 45 minute flight! Impressive!
Good news! My stress level was returning back to normal now that I was convinced we were not going to take an overnight bus from Istanbul to Varna (Burgas bus was also sold out). During a time when Turkey just declared war on ISIS, border control in these areas is out of my comfort zone. I don’t have many travel fears, but crossing over the Bulgarian border in the middle of the night knowing that terrorists get to Syria for training and so forth through Turkey, Bulgaria, and other bordering countries did not sit well. In other words, I was a hot mess and I was not getting on that 12 hour bus ride.
So here were the facts, the cruise ship was in Burgas until 11PM and heading to Varna the next day. We were flying to Varna–Burgas is about a 3 hour car ride away from Varna. We will arrive in Varna around 3PM. Yet, another day totally wasted. Are we really going to stay in a hotel in Varna to wait for the ship to dock in the morning? There must be a better plan! I noticed some other American passengers having a conversation with buzz words like, “missed connection,” “cruise ship,” “Celebrity,” and “traffic.” So a long story short, I knew they were on our flight and our cruise ship. We all missed the boat, but now is an opportunity. We decided as a group to share a taxi-van from Varna to Bourgas in order to embark on the ship that day rather than stay in another hotel room again.
Welcome to Bulgaria! Well, not for everyone. As we deplaned, we had to show Bulgarian authorities our passports before loading the bus to the Terminal and Immigration. Agents inspected everyone’s passport–looking through the pages and checking the picture. As I handed my passport to the agent, he glanced at the U.S.A blue and gold cover, and motioned the Americans to just keep going to the bus. One male passenger attempted to deplane and the agent escorted him back on the plane which was headed to Romania next. Bulgaria did not want him there so off he went to Romania. I thought that was pretty crazy. The Immigration line sectioned off the European Union and American citizens and then everyone else. The other line was pretty intense with multiple agents looking up information on the traveler and making phone calls to verify identity. It was clear that Bulgaria has its challenges with keeping the right people in their country and the wrong people out.
Nessebar is a Bulgarian Black Sea resort town. It was pretty quiet as we drove through the area. In the summertime, it is a popular destination!
The kicker to this story of driving from Varna to Burgas was the announcement on board the next day. At 7AM, the Captain announced due to the rough waters, the tendering process, and the Bulgarian authorities, we would NOT port at Varna. Instead, the cruise ship would have a “Sea Day” and continue onto Constanta, Romania. WHAT?!?!?! My stress level went WAY up again. If we stayed overnight to catch the cruise ship in Varna (as Celebrity recommended), we would have missed the boat again!!! Thank goodness we decided to take the 3 hour taxi-van to Burgas! If you do get the chance to stop in Varna, I reserved a free walking tour with “Free Varna Tour.” I was a little disappointed we missed it. Next time! Here is a link to their website: http://www.freevarnatour.com/
Bulgaria Part 2 coming next!
Ed says
Bulgaria is not on my bucket list…