[Sofia, Bulgaria, Sept 14, 2017]

Here I am, headed home again. This time I am spending a couple of weeks in Sofia with a small 3-day side trip to Northern Greece. I am excited to be home for the first day of school (Sept 15) so I can see my niece and nephew off. I’ll also get to celebrate my name day (Sept 17) and my dad’s birthday (Sept 18). It should be a great trip!

Even though the international terminal at LAX was busy, it only took 30 minutes total for me to wait in line to check my bag and for the security line. Since I had about an hour to kill before boarding (my flight was delayed by 30 minutes), I took advantage of the lounge access I get with my Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card for the first time. I got to relax and got some food and drink in the Korean Air lounge, instead of hanging out at the gate or spending money at a restaurant.

I flew Lufthansa through Munich. The first leg was on an Airbus 340 and it took about 10.5 hours. The plane was nice and big, I had plenty of legroom and the bathrooms were all downstairs and were much bigger than what I am accustomed to on airplanes. There was even counter space near the sink! I took this photo as proof. Writing this blog makes me take pictures I would never otherwise take!

I watched a couple of movies, slept and tried to get up and move a few times. My ankles always swell on long plane trips, so I have to make sure I get up a handful of times.

At the Munich airport, right outside my arrival gate, I saw these neat little cabins you can sneak into to take a nap (for a price, of course). They are called nap cabs and are nothing more than a twin bed and a nightstand. The blinds were open on one that needed to be cleaned, so I could see inside. Very nice! I could have used one of these back in 1999 when I had an 18-hour layover in Amsterdam (my longest layover to date).

The other thing you see here are the smoking lounges. I guess some airports in the US still have them too, but here I saw 2 about 10 gates apart. Even when I was a smoker I couldn’t go into one of these. They are terrible!

The flight to Sofia was quick and easy! My parents were waiting at the airport as usual! It was so great to see them – it’s been a year! I drove the car home and was amazed at all the traffic! It can get kind of crazy between all the cars, public transport and pedestrians but we made it home in one piece!

We only had a couple of hours to catch up over dinner at home before it got late. We are all getting up early tomorrow for the first day of school! I am so excited to see my niece and nephew! I missed them when I was here last year (they were with their other grandparents in Varna), so it’s been almost 2 years since I’ve seen them. I can’t wait to give them a big hug and celebrate their big day with them.