| on 24-09-2007 02:07
|
Published in : , Politics |
 Gregg McWilliams
HostelFest.com
The first question I‘m usually asked about “Escape Out Of Bulgaria” is “OMG! Why did this happen to you?”…And I’d love to start off with “It was a dark and stormy night…” but honestly I really didn’t even see it coming. Initially I was to spend a little over a week with two buddies at this great festival. The party situation was going down somewhere outside of Sofia. Pure Excitement!
The festival started off really crappy and I’m not bashing. I’m not the bashing type. Everybody that knows about it knows what really went down out there in the wilderness. First of all, there was no concrete direction of how to get to this frickin place. We were lucky we found the forest, which supposedly was the fortress of protection for our little party location.
I was stoked but even before that I was picked up from the airport late. I missed the last bus transporting the party kidz to their land mark. You know, the usual foundation of a good travel experience just to get the blood pumping. However, that means we had to hop in a Taxi for two or three hours. We also had to change cars cause the first one ended up breaking down… It was me, the Brazilian, the Hungarian, the Australian and the Bulgarian Taxi driver. Sounds like the start of a dirty joke huh? I’m the black one by the way, in case you’re trying to see the full picture.
Ok basically the generator for the fest was four days late. So we’re at a music festival with no music for four days. We’re just fartin’ around the campfire getting to know everybody, trying to make the most of what we had- Each Other!…For those of us that either found the place without giving up or hadn’t decided to bounce due to a missing generator, things eventually started to seem brighter. We created new friendships, danced at weird hours of the night and day, cooked what seemed like a feast out there but would be a real bootleg meal deal back home. There was lots of smiling, passing out in strange locations, crazy danceathons. I mean the whole nine. In the end everyone exchanged contacts, hugged, kissed, made promises. We did all the things you’d normally do at a beautiful bonding experience like a festival.
So we get back to civilization and I decide to kick it for a few days. At this point I wanna experience the greatness of Sofia for a bit. Plus I’m not really ready to leave all these absolutely amazing people I’ve met, except one of em’…There’s always gotta be one buster no matter what planet you’re on…but that’s a whole nother story…
Eventually I had to leave! So now I’m at the airport. I’ve checked my bag in. I’m at customs and I’m in line but I see a shorter one, so naturally I would move to it. This is when all the waste material hits the fan blades. The customs dude is like not normal at all! He’s the enemy and I realize this but he has my passport in hand. Honest to God, the guy starts telling me that the passport is no good… He starts peeling the corner towards the photo. He’s not supposed to do that but it’s possible cause I got this passport before they started making the hologram ones. I start pleading for him to lay off. He starts yelling. At this point, I’m feeling like a frickin girl scout, who got all the thin mints stolen on delivery day. I’m begging for my embassy and he leaves me standing there for the longest 20 minutes of my life. The dude comes back and takes me to the police station inside the airport. Everyone
is cuffed to their chairs except me.
Now there are eight cops standing around me. They’re all talking at the same time. They’re mixing Bulgarian and really horrible English. They’re staring at me with that look of authority but the evil one, not the civil one. They’re laughing at me, cause I know they aren’t laughing with me. I ain’t laughing at all! Finally they disappear close to the time I’m supposed to board the plane and they’re still gone for quite a while after I’ve long missed it.
The original guy comes to confiscate me. He and another fella escort me back into the main section of the airport where the people have no idea what’s happening behind closed doors to poor defenceless tourists like me. My wings are broken. I’m weak. I’m hurt, you know? “Why me?” is what’s going through my mind. We approach my bag, which is just sitting in the middle of the floor with no one attending it. I’m like “Wow, this is intense…” The guy just says sorry he’s just doing his job and hands me the passport. You can not imagine the condition of this thing! The plastic covering is pealed all the way to the point where you can just slide the photo out. There are two holes in it that never existed and a huge red stamp that said in Bulgarian “No Exit!”. So pretty much, I’m screwed!!! I go to one of the airport attendants and I tell her she has to help me. She does for several days which ends up being a whole nother story, as well. We’re friends now…
So I was supposed to be in the country of Bulgaria for a little over one week. I had a life, a job, my friends and family to get back to and all in one moment my reality of every day living was shot in the back without a cause. My week turned into almost a month.
During the time I was waiting for a new passport, I slept in the airport one night. I taught a bunch of people how to play Czech dice. Luckily everyone loved the game because then I took up gambling to pay for beer and cigarettes. The things you end up doing to make ends meet. I shared most meals with others to reduce rates and increase quantity. After finally getting cash wired I paid my accommodation at this hostel which had finally let me stick around given my situation. The day before I left they gave me all the money back, part of the good Samaritan movement I would say. Even the airline gave me a free ride home after they found out what had happened.
All in all, I learned that there are people working in customs waiting to be offered cash they don’t deserve. This way they can go put a few cold ones back with their buddies after hours. The thought never crossed my mind until people smarted than me mentioned it. Just think, if I had only offered my wallet instead of just standing there watching my own scandalization happen before my eyes, none of this would have ever happened.
On the other hand, It had all turned into this really bitter sweet moment in life. I met all these really wonderful people who showed me that there are folks who genuinely care. Many of them have visited me here in Prague since the situation. And do you know that one of the gambling buddies I met there now lives here? Life is good and in the end I did made the “Escape Out Of Bulgaria !”
|
|
|
Users' Comments  |
|
Average user rating
 (0 vote)
|
|
Add your comment
|
