Not a Vacation, a New Life

I was scheduled to see my vacation home for the first time in April of 2020. In today’s world of cyberspace, long distance real estate is not a foreign concept. Lots of inventors buy multiple real estate properties without even seeing them. 

There is only one thing specific I want for my dream home, a bedroom with a door that leads to a balcony or a patio. After a thorough research and with power attorney, I was able to buy a property in Bulgaria in November of 2019. Sadly, I was not able to see it in person as planned in April of the following year due to the coronavirus that caught the whole world by surprise. The month before I was scheduled to travel, US President Trump issued a travel ban for 30 days. The ban was prolonged as the virus continued to spread. To be on the safe side, I didn’t reschedule my flights until September of 2020. 

By summertime, international flights started departing from the San Francisco airport to Europe, until July 1st when the European Union opened its borders and blocked the countries with severe Covid-19 outbreaks and the US was one of them, since it had more confirmed coronavirus cases than anywhere else in the world at the time. My airline canceled my flights again for the second time. I was so disappointed.

Finally, by the summer of 2021, vaccinated US citizens were allowed to travel to Europe again. I started to make my travel plans for the 3rd time. Unexpectedly, 5 days before I was scheduled to travel, on September 1st, Bulgaria added the United States to what they call a “red zone.” Arrivals from the United States were prohibited. I was devastated. Would I have to cancel for the 3rd time? The more I thought about it, the more it made sense. Technically, I would not be arriving from the US, I would be arriving from Germany, which was my transfer destination. Germany is in their orange zone. Travel is allowed from the orange zone as long as there is either a proof of vaccination, a negative test or immunity. It was still a risk. There was a good chance I was interpreting it incorrectly. I was so afraid that once I arrive, they would not let me enter the country. 

According to the US Embassy website and I did check it twice the day of my departure, I still only needed proof of vaccination or one of the requirements, but when I got to the airport, the airline said I needed a PCR test too. I found out the requirements were only changed the day before. They probably were not online yet. Fortunately, they have test laboratories at the airport, so I was able to take one, but I didn’t get the result on time, so the airline rescheduled me for the next day without any rebooking fee. They are very flexible during the pandemic. 

Normally, I fly with Norwegian, but they are not flying to and from the US yet. If they were, they would arrive at the nearest airport to my destination, Sunny Beach. Lufhantsa is flying to Bulgaria, but only to the capital of Bulgaria, which is Sofia and which is a 6-hour bus ride to Sunny Beach. The last bus was supposed to depart at 12:01 AM, but the plane was late for 15 minutes. The pilot said it could not land yet for some reason and he turned around and tried to land again. 

The airport taxi driver that was supposed to take me to the bus station ended up taking me to Sunny Beach, which was a 4-hour drive. She was the first friend I made in Bulgaria, her name is Mina. I would call her as one those people (angels in disguise) who was sent to help me. I said this because we arrived at 4 AM and there was no 24-hour front desk as I expected. Many Bulgarians don’t speak English. We saw a man across the street and he told Mina to knock on the door. We did and someone opened it. He didn’t speak good English either. It was a good thing that Mina translated because I could not even use my key fob to use the elevator. He told her that I needed to go to the front desk the next day and they would fix it. 

From the day I found out that the US was restricted again from traveling to Bulgaria until the immigration officer stamped my passport, I have been so nervous and scared. The whole time I have been afraid, I kept reminding myself something I heard somewhere a really long time ago, “What is supposed to happen will happen and I will end up exactly where I am supposed to be.” 

Seeing pictures and videos cannot compare to actually being here in person. It doesn’t feel like a vacation though. It feels more like a new life.