30 Minutes in Paris

I went to Paris today. For half an hour. That’s the time it takes a person to sprint from terminal 2C to terminal 2F, jump the security queue and collapse exhausted on seat 10A of the flight out. The lady at the Air Bulgaria desk in Sofia expressed surprise that I was flying from Sofia to Amsterdam today, what with there being no flights in that direction. Fortunately the airline computers were equal to this, and had me going to Paris first, and then to Amsterdam, and then a six hour wait and then a flight back to Hull.

Lovely.

Fortunately I managed to sprint across the airport and made it  just in time. The rest of the journey passed without incident, although Schipol airport is not actually the most inspiring place to spend the best part of a working day.

The whole trip was worth it though. I’ve met some splendid folks and had a great time. I know it is very dangerous to extrapolate a whole race and culture just from the few people from there you happen to meet (I dread to think what would happen if folks started thinking all English people were like me) but I really liked the Bulgarians I met up with (and I saw quite  a few when we were “Speed dating” on Tuesday). They don’t suffer fools gladly. If you ask a confirming question (which I am wont to do), for example “So that means the Airport Shuttle will be leaving at 5:00 am?” they will look at you as if you are an idiot, bearing in mind they have just told you this. Actually, thinking about it, it was a rather idiotic question though…

Bulgarians also seem to have an earnest seriousness when you first meet them, but this quickly turns to riotous humour – which is great.

We went out for a meal last night. Great food and the beer was really nice but we had to have several glasses just to make sure..

Sofia airport coffee at 5:45 am..