17 May  Travelling from Dubai to Sofia

Breakfast at the Dubai hotel consisted of fried eggs, hard boiled eggs and pita bread with coffee. We watched fellow hotel guests, all Africans at the next table.  There was this lady with yellow ochre painted all over her face.  It is difficult here to determine whether it would be rude or okay to ask about such interesting traditions as well as the observations of everyday life we made yesterday morning on the streets.

We must made quite a sight, with our roller bag, and a back pack walking the entire distance between the hotel and Al Ras metro … it was hot but we made the trip in 20 minutes.  It cost a mere AED 3 to get to the airport.  Metros in cities are really great as they are wonderful for getting around independently without having to expose oneself to the wiles of any specific individual.  There is safety in masses too .... just like the herd keep together so that the hunter cannot pinpoint a prey.

Dubai airport hands out 60 minutes complementary WiFi.  Having more than a single device is a good thing as then one can get several blocks of 60 minutes.  

Qatar flight was on the new Boeing 787-9.  The windows had polarized screens that switch on once a certain attitude is reached.  Suddenly everything had a blue hue which gave us a little surprised.  LEDs dot the ceiling of the plane creating the illusion of a starry night sky outdoor.  The polarized windows cleared automatically as the plane got ready to land.

There as no one in the seat between us and the person on the aisle.  On the next leg to Sophia, we had all the three seats to ourselves so we took a nap.   Emirates flight from Brisbane to Dubai several days earlier was also that empty that everyone had space to stretch out to sleep.  What is the business model of these airlines?  How do they remain profitable with such great service, delicious and generous in flight menus offer compared to western operated airlines?

DOHA airport is wonderful.  It offered unlimited complementary high speed internet.  We stayed only 15 minutes at DOHA on transit as our flight arrived late.  Something tells us that Doha / Qatar is better at customer focus than Dubai.  Enabling communications is an important part of good international airports especially if it would like transit business.

Arrival in Sofia was interesting.   The first thing that one notices is the green that greets one as we approach the airport.  Green valleys surrounded by high hills, some still snow covered even though it is summer.  We would learn that the snow presence is unusual later.

The airport was not large compared to Dubai but the WiFi was good.  Even the approach to Sofia was a welcoming sight – lush green after all that brown dryness of the desert.  It was beautiful.  We arrived at sunset.  The weather was cool but not cold.  Bags arrived promptly.  Doha is able to handle luggage the same way Singapore is able from the look of things as nothing was amiss even though the stop in Doha was only momentary by comparison.  

We collected my bags and headed for the metro.  It was not yet dark.  We paid 1 LEV for the metro ticket (AUD 0.8) to the city to where our hotel was, a short distance from the Central Railway Station.  Cyrillic writing and our inability to read Cyrillic not withstanding, we were able to navigate the metro system as they all appear to operate in similar ways throughout the world.  The names of all the stations were also written in Latin names.  Approach to stations were announced over the intercom but they sounded like nothing we would expect.  So we counted the number of stops between us and our destination to ensure that we did miss our stop.   They announced stations in both Bulgarian and English. Metro limited the interaction required while enabling achievement of task in a place where communications skills are limited.  The metro was run down but it worked as expected.  And it felt safe and quite comfortable.

We arrived at our station and walked to where we needed to go without too much trouble at all.   Note to self : 20kg bags are hard to lug up flight of stairs where elevators are not working and escalators are non existent.  People here are strong from doing all these manual exertions.  The hotel is on a quiet street which hosts mostly apartment buildings.  It is small but the internet is speedy.  The receptionist spoke good English and was most helpful.  It was the only hotel on that street.  There is a convenience store next door which closes at 9.

We hand washed our sweat sodden gear from Dubai as soon as we were in our room.  By the time we were done, it was too late to get a snack from the convenience store downstairs so the receptionist ordered us a pizza which was promptly delivered to the hotel for all of 6.20 LEV (less than AUD 5).  It was warm and delicious.  Unbelievable. Welcome to Sofia, Bulgaria!!

Reflection : Having just spent days at Dubai with all the desert and the constant need to maintain access to a source of water to remain alive, it suddenly becomes very clear why green is the official colour of Islam.  The green of the oasis ... green is life ... Islam is a religion that started in the heat and dryness of the desert.