Tour retrospective: Our bus driver!

Hello! We are back from our trip, but we still have some memories to share. This one from Meredith!

When we visited Bulgaria eleven years ago, Dunava spent a lot of time traveling from place to place on our tour bus. This gave us ample time to connect with our driver, Neno. Neno was boisterous and gregarious with an ample supply of Bulgarian dad-jokes. Soon after we met, he told us to call him "Dedo" (grandpa). He was especially taken with our youngest member, my baby E, who was four months old at the time, and whom he would serenade with a song called "Eleonora Moja."

This year as we planned for our tour, we were informed that Dedo Neno had retired and would not be able to drive us. This was disappointing for those of us who traveled with him in 2014, but understandable, seeing as a decade had gone by. We looked forward to meeting a new driver, knowing that no one could replace Neno.


The Bulgarian portion of our tour began in Pazardzhik. We had a very early start the day we were to travel to our next location. Dunava and entourage, with much eye rubbing and yawning, were waiting when our bus pulled up. The door opened and a spry, suntanned gentleman stepped out singing, "Eleonora moja..."

I was surprised by how emotional I became as we were reunited with Neno. Was it the ungodly hour of the morning? Perhaps. But meeting Neno again reminded me of our last trip, and of the challenges and joys of traveling with my infant daughter, who is rapidly growing into a young woman. I joyfully shared photos of E, and Neno pulled out our CD and a postcard we gifted him on our last tour. It was a wonderful way to connect on a personal level.

Neno drove us from Pazardzhik to Burgas, and from there to Strelcha (where we'd stay while visiting the folk festival in Koprivshtitsa). To say good-bye, he brought his wife and granddaughter to our hotel for breakfast on our last morning in Strelcha. (I guess they wanted to know what the fuss was all about with these American women!)