What made us pick Bulgaria? Quite simply an advert on Radio Clyde about a wee boy who had just returned from a holiday with his family and he was having an argument with his teacher over 1 + 1, he said the teacher was wrong in her response that 1+1 = 2 because when they were in Bulgaria 1+1 = 4, my ears picked up to this response and it captured my imagination and thus the story begins in October 1989.

We flew from Glasgow to Burgas and arrived at an airport that looked like something out of the 50's until you got through and met your Balkantourist rep who handed you an envelope containing meal vouchers for each member of the party. You were then directed to your coach that would take you and your luggage through to the resorts, although on the road from Burgas to Sunny Beach the bus came to a sudden stop as a Lada had overturned on the road in front of us, or so we thought! No sooner and the bus driver and rep left the bus than we were presented with a new face teaching you the Bulgarian words for Hello (YOU WANT CHANGE MONEY!!!!!!), after the business had been concluded the driver and rep helped the car owner turn the Lada back on to it's wheels and off it went and we were back on the black winding road, with no lights and white bands round the trees heading for Sunny Beach.

We had picked the Hotel Continental Central as our base, and never expected what awaited us, when we arrived at Reception we were greeted with 2 smiling faces one of the Receptionist Tina and the porter who unfortunately we can not name as he had a nice little sideline which we were still to find out about. Once we had our keys the porter offered to help us carry our cases to room 211, where to our surprise he again taught us the Bulgaria for Hello, at twice the amount being given as part of the currency bonus scheme this meant we received 8 times our money (90 levs for £10). We thought we would head down to the bar for a drink and take a look in the Corecom to get an idea of where we were and what we could get, for £10 we managed to get 1 skin of Coke, 1 skin of Heinken Beer, 1 carton of John Player Special, 1 2lt Bottle of Vodka but with the lack of currency our change was 1 bar of Toblerone and three small sweets (not bad for a tenner).

The next morning breakfast was a shock but we soon learned how to ask Anton or Peter in the day bar for what we wanted although it took a little getting used too, but we found sharing vodka or two with them got you a long way and still does to this day! Like everyone else we thought we would explore and found that the resort was a little limited in pools and facilities for children, however the beach and Chicken George's Bar just opposite the Burgas Hotel became a haven as did the kid's club. No sooner had we arrived but our time was over, and we were leaving behind a number of new friends, as soon as we arrived back in Glasgow we were certain of one thing the journey wasn't over it was only just beginning and the misses was in the Travel Agents booking our next adventure and here we are 19 years and 30 trips later and we wouldn't change a thing. We've seen some of the most amazing sites in Sofia, Varna, Balchik, Plovdiv, Pomorie, Nessebar, Burgas, Atos, Sliven and Stara Zagora. Although, now we like to find places away from the hustle of Sunny Beach where the family can sit and drink a few Rakia's together and where our friends can visit us and stay if necessary.