Goodbye St Albans - Bulgaria tomorrow!

I've been saying my goodbyes gradually over the last few days in preparation for my departure to Bulgaria tomorrow for my new teaching contract for the coming academic year.

I went to Asda in Hatfield on Wednesday morning to buy some trainers and casual trousers, neither of which they had (apart from jeans). I did get to speak to some friends who work there, though, which was nice. Then that evening I went down to the rugby club and caught up with some people there.

Yesterday Dave and I went into St Albans city centre, had lunch at the Meating Room (a gem of a burger place which had been highly recommended to me) and stopped at the cemetery on our way home in order say hello and goodbye to Dad. We went out again in the evening to have a drink and game or two of pool at The Crown.

Earlier today we went to Hemel Hempstead for a birthday barbecue at Kate & Andrew's.

Dave has now left for Manchester as he has work tomorrow. My flight leaves Gatwick at 6.35 am so I'm not going to go to bed tonight - I can't risk sleeping through my alarm! I'm getting a train in the middle of the night. My first time flying with Ryanair - hopefully it will go OK!

I've been given instructions for what to do on arrival in Sofia. I'll need to go to a specific taxi company desk at the airport, get a taxi to the main bus station and then a bus from there to Veliko Tarnovo. I know how much the ticket should cost and how long the journey should be.