In May 2001 I spent 2 weeks travelling in Bulgaria. This is a very ancient and honourable culture that disappeared from the history books for longer than my own country has been in existence. There are wonderful ruins, great churches and interesting people.

My trip began in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria and a major city. I was able to stay with a Servas host that gave me a totally different perspective of the city. Sofia offered two highlights for me: the first was an evening at the opera. Tickets were 15 BGL (about $7 USD). The opera was Don Carlos with glorious singing and acting and a set too large for the stage. The second highlight was a day excursion to Rila Monastery. This is an ancient monastery, with monks still living there. I chose an English language day trip from Sophia with an English speaking guide and lunch. It cost ($65 USD) and I’m certain it could be done less expensive than that. But I chose to go with convenience. Behind Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, which was under restoration while I was there, women come to sell their handwork. The quality was good and the prices were very reasonable. You can negotiate.

Bulgarians use the Cyrillic alphabet that was difficult for me. I carried the alphabet with me, but even then I had difficulty. Languages are not my forte, normally I was able to find English speakers and to make my needs and wants known. I found that many Bulgarians spoke both French and German so those languages would help.

From Sofia, I preceded to Plovdiv. Throughout the country I used local busses. They were inexpensive, had good equipment, and were normally on time. Bulgarian drivers are very aggressive. There is also a railroad system, but it was just easier to use the busses.

Plovdiv is another ancient city that has a Roman amphitheatre, which was fascinating to see. There my Servas host family took me to Bachkovo Monastery. It has not been restored like Rila and is darker and more mysterious. I liked it a lot. While I was there the Spring International Trade Fair was going on. I attended one morning. It was fascinating to see the various vendors from all over Europe and what they were offering.

From Plovdiv I continued to Veliko Turnovo – a medieval city in the mountains. I highly recommend this. It has a beautiful setting with interesting craft shops. While I was there the folk festival was going on near my hotel. I couldn’t understand a word of the songs, but the dancing was interesting, the costumes colourful and the people a joy to watch.

Then it was on to the Black Sea. This was probably my favourite part of the trip. I began in Varna – which has one of the most beautiful Cathedral churches, I have ever seen. Then I spent a night in Nessebar – a coast city and ended in Burgas, a large port. From there I took the bus to Istanbul, Turkey for another week.

One last note – wherever I went in the country I was able to find computer cafes. For the most part, the prices were good and the equipment was fast. I sent e-mails on a regular basis.

Thank you Sandra – this is so inspiring! You have given the Beetle an idea for a European holiday! If you would like to contact her, she can be reached on: smingua32@msn.com

David Showalter, Personal Traveler’s President’s, has kindly offered E-Newsletter readers a great discount on his new travel course, “The Best European Vacation of Your Life.”. This course was writen, based upon David’s personal experience traveling through Eastern Europe. The finsihed product is an affordable, highly informative Audio CD course on how/why/when etc to travel through this wonderful, overlooked region.

The course shows you how to avoid Traditional Western European tourist traps where absolutely everything is too expensive, greatly limiting your ability to go places and participate in events. Most items and services cost 1/20th of their U.S. Prices, and we have found that we could afford to go anywhere, eat everything, and buy anything we wanted.

A 10% discount on all their courses are avalible to all E-Newsletter subscribers, just enter “GTC1” in the “merchant code for discount” box on their online order form.

To learn more visit europejam.com

Early November. I need WARMTH and SUN. Flights to Malaga are cheap, temperature check on the web – 22-23°C, comfortable for walking. SO I decided on Andalusia. No, I don’t speak Spanish but I am happy to travel alone and try and chat to people as I go along.

On arrival at Malaga it was T-shirt weather. It was great to feel the sun on my face, quietly sipping coffee and chilling out. Just the job: I decided to head to Granada the next day, and, being typically British, wondered about the weather: would it be too cold, Granada nestling under the mountains. What a lovely city! No problem with the weather or so I thought!! After a lovely day, as the evening closed I could physically feel the temperature dropping by degrees.

Later that night, I shivered under 5 layers of blankets and dare not move off the small patch I had managed to warm as the sheets were like ice. Next day I set off early to visit the Alhambra. It was cold but that meant that it wasn’t busy, giving me plenty of opportunity to absorb the beautiful architecture and the ornate decoration. On my return I begged for a heater for my room `but heaters aren’t supplied until the 15^th of November (shades of Faulty Tower’s – the Beetle!) – oh yes they are!

The view of the mountains from the station next day was very picturesque, all covered in snow! I headed away from the mountains – Seville had to be warmer – but passing a digital display confirmed my worst fears, one o’clock in the afternoon and only 10°. I found a spot out of the bitter wind and actually got warm but you can’t see a city sitting down unless you are cooped up in a vehicle – not my scene. I like to walk, explore and discover the unexpected. Things got worse: the skin on my feet started to crack up and the next day not only did I have sore, bleeding feet but also a sore throat. I persevered.

After a day of sun but little warmth I decided to head south to Jerez the next day. I spent ages looking for the tourist office that I located after tramping through most of the streets and seeking directions from half of the residents. Please note that it is not where the Lonely Planet or the road signs say. They have moved it away from the centre and kept it a secret from the locals! All I wanted was bus routes! After visiting stables and watching the magnificent Andalucian horses being put through their paces I could walk no further so found a bench in the sun and escaped into fantasy with Harry Potter, supplied by a very thoughtful friend.

That night my nose turned into a tap and I shook from head to feet as my cold took it course. It was no good I wanted to go home so next day I headed, defeated, back to Malaga to try and get an earlier flight. There was nothing till the following morning so I got a room near the station ready for a 6am start. Hi Ho. This trip had definitely been jinxed. That evening they decided to knock down the corridor around my room. I do not speak Spanish but I think they got the idea of what I was saying!!! How could my timing be so bad, hitting the week when all Europe was hit by abnormal and extreme weather conditions. Needless to say, on arriving back at Gatwick it was a pleasant sunny autumn day, warm for the time of year……. Harry Potter was great fun…..

Poor sun-starved Gill, who wants the second HP now – my little Beetle heart goes out to her! If you would like to contact Gill, to commiserate, she can be reached on:gill.ward@virgin.net

Meeting news from our branches around the world.

This report of the last London meeting on the 1st December is written by Padmassana.

John Hornbuckle’s wonderful slides took us around Chile. He showed us the wildlife and landscape of the country. Though John began with a slide of an owl, this was a topical Harry Potter joke, he went on to show us photos of birds that can only be found in the Andes and animals like the Vicuna. He went on to tell us about Arica, which until recently was the driest place on earth, Lauca National Park in northern Chile. We saw photos of snow-capped mountains and volcano’s. John’s slides then showed us the salt area of Salar de Uyuni and down to the far south via the hot springs of El Tatio.

After the break, Denise Heywood showed us Vietnam, without too many references to the war. She explained that over 60% of the population were born after 1975 and showed us photo’s of the children, who are Vietnams future. Denise showed us colonial French architecture, such as the Opera House, which is a copy of the one in Paris and towns like Hoi An and Na Trang. She also showed us the Cu chi tunnels left over from the war, which are difficult for westerners to enter. These tunnels led into underground schools, hospitals that the Vietnamese operated in during the war, there are hundreds of miles of tunnels going as far as the Cambodian border.

Coming on 5^th January: Four Mini-Talk Presentations and New Year Party – a programme of four twenty minute talks, offering a format that aims to offer the opportunity for different, specialist and off beat subjects and first time speakers.

After the meeting we will be having our annual New Year Party, please bring a contribution of food and non-alcoholic drink

London meetings are held at The Church of Scotland, Crown Court, behind the Fortune Theatre in Covent Gardenat 2.30pm the first Saturday of each month. For more information, you can contact the Globetrotters Info line on +44 (0) 20 8674 6229, or visit the website: www.globetrotters.co.uk

Hello Globies! Hope you all had a good Thanksgiving. Due to holiday parties, travel and cheer, we will not be holding a December Globies meeting. We WILL resume on 5^th January with a treat! Matt Link, an Associate Editor from Arthur Frommer’s Budget Travel will be our guest speaker.

Matt will be giving a slide show and discussing the sites and culture of Ghana (the most popular country for American tourists in West Africa), with notes on spending time with the Muslims who live and work there, as well as important sites i.e., visiting a mud mosque and much more. He plans to make us feel a part of the Ghanaian culture and will be bringing some special props to help with our immersion! Matt has been travelling since the age of twelve, when he boarded his family’s boat for five years and sailed around the Pacific including the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Micronesia, the Solomon Islands, and New Zealand, where he attended high school. He hasn’t stopped since, having visited dozens of countries in Eurasia and living for a number of years in both Hong Kong and Hawaii, where he ran kayak tours and published the guidebook Rainbow Handbook Hawaii. He now lives in New York where he works with Arthur Frommer as Associate Editor of the magazine Budget Travel. Keep an eye out of this Sunday’s (12/16) travel section of the LA Times and Miami Herald and a few other regional papers – Matt’s account of his trip to Ghana will appear in Frommer’s column! On January 4th, he’s a guest on The Early Today show (and they mean early – 4:30-5:30 AM!) on NBC.

I hope you all have a safe and happy holiday. See you all soon!

New York meetings are held at The Wings Theater, 154 Christopher Street(btw Greenwich Stand Washington St), to the right of Crunch Fitness, in the Archive on the first Saturday of each month at 4 pm.

The next meeting will be on January 18th at the the Woodsworth Co-op : Ann Dohler will talk about her recent trip to Peru, the Galapagos and the Amazon.

For further information on Ontario meetings, please contact: Svatka Hermanek: shermanek@schulich.yorku.ca or Bruce Weber: tel. 416-203-0911 or Paul Webb: tel. 416-694-8259.

Toronto GT Meetings are held on the third Friday of January, March, May, September and November. Usually at the Woodsworth Co-op, Penthouse, 133, Wilton Street in downtown Toronto at 8.00 p.m.