Home-Sweet-Holmes

Monday, September 2nd Our journey starts less than 48h after the final landing in a long trip back from the tropical island of Sri-Lanka... And when I say “long”, the word takes on the bitter-sweet after-taste of eons worth of uncanny torments at the hands of unyielding gaolers. After 3 continents, 5 countries, 15 in-flight hours, 2 airlines, 1 unexpected stop, 1 delay, 1 broken plane, 1 itchy infected weird-looking spider bite on the neck and 5 hours of emptying 7 meters of unhappy bowels at 34,000 feet, we finally touch the tarmac in Good Old London. Between our flights in and out again of Heathrow, we manage to repack our ba

It is only a short ride that separates Sofia from the industrial town of Pernik located 40 km to the South-West of the Bulgarian capital. A short ride among forests of decaying grey cubicles thinly sheltering lives from the outside frost where snow mingles with iron.   In our car, a crackling radio blasts an uproarious din of oriental waltzes, blaring techno thumps between the strident jolts of traditional diatonic throat singing. Turbo-folk: when sports cars meet rural conservatism. “Welcome to downtown Bulgarian Texas!” mocks our driver, sniffing at the grotesque figure of the decrepit bastion of heavy industry. He briskly po