Prison Break

As soon as mom heard the news about her substitute assignment coming to an end, she packed a suitcase, dragged me to the train station, and we fled.

Fleeing was not easy. The road was paved with obstacles. First, the cashier at the train station told mom that I needed a passport and a muzzle to travel. Then, frustrated, she said that she'd let the conductor decide.

Mom and I hopped on the train. Fortunately, it was one of the modern ones, the ones like look like buses, and not the ones with cabins. So mom tied me on the doorway and took the first seat from where she could check on me.

People were getting on, and mom made sure that I stayed out of the way. Then, a guy sees me, exclaims "куче!" (="dog!"), walks straight up to me, and starts petting me. Mom checked him out, and saw the I.D. of the conductor on his jacket. As you can imagine, that first ride from Plovdiv to Sofia went fine :)

Then we got to Sofia. Mom usually travels on the sleeper train, but since dogs are not allowed in cabins, she bought a simple round-trip ticket for both of us (yes, dogs pay too, in Bulgaria!). When we got to the platform, though, the conductor told us that the train is full and that I have to stay in the doorway again. Now, that's a different kind of train and mom didn't feel comfortable having me out of reach for so many hours. She must have looked quite desperate, because the conductor referred her to the conductor of the sleeper wagon, who told her that there is a cabin where she can be all by herself with me. Great.

After we got settled, the conductor called mom to his 'office', where he explained to her that she owes an extra 70 euro because of she had a cabin to herself so it counted as first class. In vain did mom try to argue that the ticket she had already paid for should be subtracted from this 70 euros. The conductors English seemed to fail when it came to that point. Mom didn't have many options so she paid the money.

It turned out that it was all for the best, because due to various problems and delays, the ride ended up lasting close to 11 hours! I can't imagine spending all this time by the doorway! The good news is that I have been doing great, no accidents and no diapers needed! I didn't even ask to go out during the trip. Mom was so relieved.

Now we're home. Maria, Vakis and Marianna (who's 5 years old today!!!) at a wedding in Litohoro and my great-grandma Varvara is visiting. Mom is trying to wash school off of her skin by tomorrow when everybody will be back. Time for me to stop blogging and start helping!