Since Sunday, I’ve set foot in El Salvador, the US, Turkey, Albania, Macedonia, and Bulgaria.
Going from San Salvador to Sofia on as little money as possible is a great way to have one of those travel day(s) the World Race is notorious for. While we’ve had some tiring travel in Central America, this is our first big move across the world, and with what’s left of my brain, I’ve tried to chart what exactly we’ve done to get to where we are. Times given are local, since I couldn’t and wish not to figure out what time our bodies think it is, and because we’ve just gone through too many time zones by now. The World Race just gets crazier and crazier.
I can tell you, however, that our total travel time ended up being……
76 hours.
Here’s how it looked.
Oh, by the way, I forgot if I said this earlier, but our original plan to visit Albania THEN Bulgaria has changed, so my team is in Bulgaria this month and we’ll go to Albania in May.
2:30 am: We took a bus to the airport in San Salvador (45 minutes). I actually cannot remember what the San Salvador airport looks like now.
6:30 am: Took a flight to Houston, Texas (3 hours). Some of us enjoyed a long layover in Houston, and the rest were in Washington DC. The best part was seeing our coaches Bobby and Sharon! And I got care package from my parents with my favorite flannel shirt and chocolate. (Kate: note that I’m wearing your sweatshirt.)
5:00 pm: We took a flight from Houston to Washington DC (3 hours)
10:30 pm: Flight from Washington DC to Istanbul, Turkey (10 hours). I fell in love with Turkish Airlines. They serve Turkish delight! They give you great food (I ate four portions of yogurt and cucumbers and cheese and tomatoes) and lots of movies. That’s the high point. The low point is the hours and hours spent not sleeping because I can’t nod off on planes.
4:00 pm-ish, Turkey time: We landed in Istanbul and go to the bathroom with Kori and Carly. Wander into the makeup section of a duty free store and watch Kori get mistaken for a massage therapist by two women from Crete (it’s because she was rubbing my back).
Who knows what time, maybe 7 or so pm Turkey time: Another flight from Istanbul to Tirana, Albania (2 hours).
8:30 pm-ish maybe, Albania time: We get into the airport and learn that there will be no buses to take us to Bulgaria until the morning. REJOICED because you’ve had a half hour of sleep in the last day or two and the kind Albanian airport people have given you all a bunch of booths to crash on for the night.
12:00 am: Woke up and saw that one team, the one staying in Albania this month, is leaving now to go to their ministry. This is because…. let me see if I can get it straight…. because the ministry host was coming to pick up a woman from the airport, who recognized our Nate Borntrager as her cousin’s son. She woke up Nate and was like, “Hey, we’re family!” and her ride arranged rides for that team. After this wacky coincidence, fall asleep again.
4:43 am: I woke up on the cold tile floor feeling semi-rested and chilly enough to wear jeans and a sweater. I washed my face and ordered a croissant, espresso, and water (with gas, please!) and enjoyed the espresso standing up the counter.
It had been difficult to fly through the US. The customs guy told me, “Welcome home,” and it hurt because I wasn’t staying home. I had to leave again. For a few hours, I got a glimpse of my familiar life and it was wonderful, but sad because I knew that after that time I wouldn’t set foot in America for eight months.
However, it felt homey in a different way to be in Europe because I’ve been there before and it feels familiar. Italy and Croatia are so close. The flights are coming in from places I’ve been: Rome, Verona, Milan. I’ve never been to Albania or Bulgaria before, but it’s still comforting. In Central America, Lacey pointed out that if we wanted to go home we were close enough to get there the same day. We could theoretically drive back. But not anymore. This familiar strangeness is a high point.
7:00 am: Learn that the 7:00 am bus to Macedonia will actually be a 7 pm bus to Macedonia. Spend the day with your team carrying all your gear, eating pizza, and ordering coffee. Ordering coffee will get you not a mug of the stuff, but a tiny shot of thick, black, powerful espresso. I ordered it three times.
7:00 pm: Board that bus. Try to sleep but wake up to cross into Macedonia at 3 am and Bulgaria at 6 am. In 14 hours, travel through Macedonia all the way to Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria and our home for the month. It takes a really long time, and the driver plays lots of Eastern European dance club music all through the night. The snow in the mountains and the pine trees and dreary stone houses remind me that we are not in Central America anymore. I love it.
10:00 am: Get picked up by Tanner, one of our ministry hosts, and leave with him to his apartment on the metro (a half hour).
Upon arriving at the apartment, we crashed on the sofa, took showers, and got giddy at the fact that the tap water is clean here and that you don’t need to bleach the produce.
I’ll write more soon about our ministry this month and the changes we’re going through, like my BRAND NEW TEAM, Deep Roots! Stay tuned, friends!
