Travel Tips

After our recent trip to Italy and Bulgaria, I thought I would pass along some travel tips that may seem obvious to some and could save you frustration later.

1. Let your bank and credit cards know you are traveling
The banks are trying harder to fight fraud so they will quickly put a security block on your ATM and credit cards. Take the 5 minutes to call the number on the back of your cards (including your ATM card) and let them know your travel dates and destinations. There were 5-6 of us on our Italy trip that had problems with our ATM cards.

2. Consider using a GPS
The Europe maps for our GPS unit were worth every penny of the $150 we spent. Just be sure how to enter the addresses for your destination. They saved us several times when driving through Italy.

3. Get the phone numbers for your credit cards and bank
Get the international calling details for your credit cards and bank BEFORE you leave. We had problems using the toll free numbers from outside of the USA - and of course, when the bank called to alert us to the security block placed on our cards they left the toll free number to call them back.

4. Find out the details of Roaming coverage and Costs for your mobile phone
Find out the roaming costs before you leave and determine if it makes sense to sign up for an International Calling Plan before you leave. Even if you don't plan on using your mobile phone it's good to have the info just in case. And be careful about data charges!!! Just because you can get a data connection doesn't mean it's covered under you plan -- and roaming data plans typically charge per MB which can add up quickly!

5. Understand how to call FROM your destination
This part really made me feel like an idiot. But figure out how to call from your mobile in roaming mode either within your destination country and back to the US. Also how to call from a landline phone.

6. Set up email filters and rules to hide the non-urgent emails
If you are traveling for vacation you probably still want to read email but try to hide the crap from your inbox, especially if you will be using internet cafes or pay for bandwidth connections. I just setup a label (SAVE) and quickly labeled the msgs from my Inbox as I checked email -- I would have rather had them automatically labeled based on rules defined before I left.

7. Get currency before you leave or right when you land
I'm on the fence on this one and will have to do some more research, but I'm starting to like having a small amount of local currency as soon as I arrive. I'm suspicious of the fees charged when exchanging money at the airports, so I'm going to consider getting currency from the foreign exchange desk of my local bank. My bank also charged a Currency Exchange Fee when I used the ATM card for purchases, so watch out for these fees too.

What's in a Head Nod?

Have you ever realized how much is communicated by a head nod? Especially when you can't use verbal communication? Over the last week, I've been even more aware of how much I depend on body language and head movements for communication. In Bulgaria, you can't depend on the head nod of up/down for Yes and side/side for No because it's reversed in BG. They use the up/down for No and side/side for Yes. Does any other culture do this?

There are many communication studies about how much is communicated via non-verbal cues -- something like 80% is communicated via non-verbal actions (I'm too lazy to link to a specific study). So even though I know the Bulgarian words for Yes and No (da = yes, ne = no), I still find myself paying more attention to the body language than the words. It's even worse if I'm not close enough to hear the words.

We were walking across the parking lot of the metro station on Monday near the BG capital of Sophia and tried to wave down a taxi. As the driver saw the hand wave (seems the taxi hand motion is understood across cultures), he moved his head left to right. I slowed down and started looking for another taxi. When I turned back, Ava was walking faster to the cab as I saw him still shaking his head but also waving us to the taxi.

The head nod can get even more confusing when some Bulgarians switch it up because they know you aren't a local, so you really need to pay attention to the words!!

Sofia Take Two

Background - My first trip to Sofia, Bulgaria was two years ago in August 2006. Sofia is where Ava was born and lived until 1991 when she moved to California. She's been back to Sofia four times before this trip to see family and friends.

It's been two years since Ava and I were last in Sofia, Bulgaria. So what were my initial impressions of Sofia on this second trip?

It's been a little over a year since BG was accepted into the EU, so I expected to see visiable changes.

First - the Sofia airport is now sporting a new terminal that looks very nice and presents a great first impression upon arrival. Clean, shiny surfaces. Good signage (including English). And all in all pretty efficient to clear through Passport checks, baggage claims, and customs review. No forms to fill out, just show passport, get your bags and get out. No need for us to deal with a rental car since Ava's aunt picked us up, but I'm not brave enough to drive in the capital anyways.

Second - on the drive from the airport, the number of newer cars on the road was surprising. It seems one of the results of an improving economy is that people replace the old cars. Many are used cars that have come from the US (and other countries), but most of the cars look to be less than 10 years old. There are a fair number of new and expensive cars (Porsche, BMW, Audi...even saw a Bentley one night). The driving habits seem to be improved as well -- I guess if you drive a new car you aren't as willing to risk a fender bender. Two years ago, it was down right scary sitting in the back seat of a car driving in Sofia. Now it's still a bit freaky at times, but not scary (at least not scary ALL of the time). It's almost to the point that I may consider renting a car next trip for our drives outside of the capital.

Third - as the price of gas passed $4/gallon at home before we left, I had been tracking gas increases for months. Well, $4/gallon is chump change compared to fuel prices in Europe. In Sofia, the price is about 2.50 leva/liter for diesel -- which works out to $7.72/gallon!!!! It was even more expensive in Italy -- diesel ended up about $8.61/gallon. So while the economy has improved, cars are newer which is great for improved emissions, but the overall number of cars has increased. So traffic is pretty bad now in and around Sofia at rush hour.

Forth - the basic infrastructure in and around Sofia is in need of major investments. The roads and sidewalks probably haven't had any work in the last two years. The roads are full of pot holes, some are big enough to be called sink holes. The locals know where they are and swerve all over the road to avoid them -- sometimes at 40 mph. So to the outsider, it looks like cars are just swerving around randomly, but it's an orchorstated manuveur that is anticipated by other drivers. The government really needs to pick up the pace of improvements in this area.

Fifth -- (the numbers will stop now) The number of new construction projects taking place within sight of older run down buildings is even more pronounced. It's just odd to see solid structurally sound buildings in need of TLC sitting next to the new 10-15 story hotel or business office building. It must be due to the ownership and legal structures of the old buildings that make it easier for developers to acquire land and start a new building. I don't have any real info on this situation but I just can't stop wondering why it's the case. It presents an odd juxtoposition of shiny new building along side what appears to be a run down structure.

These are just the top items that hit me at the beginning of this trip to BG. Nothing too deep or emotional. Sometimees it's strange what stays at the top of my mind on trips.

IkeaHacker Headboards

Our custom Malm Headboard hack was mentioned on IkeaHacker this week!!! Yeah!!

Here is the link -- LINK to IkeaHacker Post. We were mentioned along with a few other headboards.

Amazing Engagement Shots

I just couldn't resist posting about these engagement shots. Our good friend Augie Chang (who shot our engagement photos, wedding, and some casual photos) frequently posts to his blog about his activities and puts teaser shots of his photo sessions. Today he posted some of the most amazing engagement photos I've seen -- if I didn't know better I'd swear they were a work of photoshop magic. I'm just going to put a single image from Augie's site here (hope he approves) as my teaser, but know it's worth clicking the link below.

Augie - Linda and Calvin E-Session Soaked