Raslog, Bulgaria

9.15.12
We took our 10 pm train out of Varna to Sofia in the company of 3 non English speaking Bulgarians. Everyone seemed intent on sleep. We had intended to get a sleeper but there were none offered on this train. After 8 hours sleeping in various upright positions, with various changes in cabin mates, we arrived in Sofia. We weren't sure what to expect when we arrived because we hadn't been able to get reliable information on how we would get from Sofia to Raslog, our timeshare destination. We struggled the day before to make arrangements with the timeshare to send a shuttle to pick us up but a lot was "lost in translation". I tried two months ago to make the arrangements, and again two weeks ago but never got a response from the timeshare office. Finally at 5 pm the night before our arrival we received an email saying they could pick us up, but at that point they didn't know our specific arrival time, etc so we called (the lost in translation part) and emailed, and hoped someone would be there. As we checked out of the hostel in Varna, we mentioned our destination and the guy was an avid snowboarder and knew our destination well (the mountains of Bulgaria). He assured us there were plenty of buses so we knew we could get to our destination if the shuttle wasn't in Sofia. As a gypsy cab driver was trying to pick us up a man holding a sign from the resort approached us. We rode to the resort in a Mercedes SUV. We paid dearly for it, but after the all night train the trouble free trip to our destination was worth it. (despite the harrowing Bulgarian driver we had. They are certifiably CRAZY on the roads here, driving like there is a multi million Leva prize at the end of every trip if you get there first)

Check in time at our resort is 4pm and thanks to our driver we were here before 8:30. They invited us to get coffee and breakfast in the restaurant while they finished preparing our room, which we did. Just after 10 they let us know our room was ready and we decided a nap was the first order of business. After naps we unpacked, had a look around the resort and shot a game of pool while we waited for the shuttle to take us to the grocery store.

Our resort is nice and overlooks a beautiful golf course with the mountains in the background. It has rained on and off, but this is our recharge and recover destination so our sightseeing plans are very fluid (just like the weather!)