After a relaxing week at home - it was time to hit the road!

5am wake-up call, and it was the start of my three week road-trip. No trouble on the way to Albena, Bulgaria..

First leg was flight from Birmingham to Dusseldorf, nice change to receive an 'Actimel' and apples in the plane, not a cheese sandwich for a change :-) 50 minute transit in Germany, stuck on the non-Schengen area, €3.20 for water.. nice!

Next, two hour flight Dusseldorf-Bucharest (yes, I know Bucharest is in Romania) - land in 28 degree sunshine, looking forward to 4 hours on the road. Get the rental car, SatNav on (limited road info!) and start driving. Enjoying the Romanian highways, well worth paying the 13 LEI Road Toll for traffic free journey! We need more Toll Roads in the UK!! Good that I had some local currency, otherwise might have been an awkward situation at the toll booth :-)

And if any of my Romanian friends know what is the going rate for an iPhone 5 at the road-side petrol station.. do let me know :-) Young guys standing outside the station as I pull out and showing me the latest mobile phones for sale.. Who says traveling is boring.

Eventually get to Romanian-Bulgarian border, passports checked on myself and the car - get the Bulgarian Toll charge paid and last 90 minutes on small roads with locals stuck to my bumper as I obviously am not speeding enough. Once again, having Bulgarian currency readily available.. saves time and hassle.

Last 400 meters is interesting, road just keeps on getting smaller and bumpier - but yes, eventually there is my Guest House. Very friendly owner greets me at the gate and explains everything.

Quick trip to local supermarket to get something to drink and eat.. and time to hit the sack, it's been a long day on the road. Tomorrow - start of the U20's Women B-division EuroBasket!!