Bulgaria Away - 6th June 2009

**Paddser** · 28/11/2008, 8:51 AM

Originally Posted by NeilMcD

Sligo Hornet is a Watford fan. Watford and Luton are rivals so its just a little dig against his rivals. Its meant to be a kip and Sligo's picture was meant to be funny

Ah right!!

Was beginning to panic!

Booked into the Rodina Hotel in Sofia. Anyone else staying here? 500+ rooms!! Seems to be very central though and an air-conditioned twin room is €85 a night.

**Sligo Hornet** · 28/11/2008, 1:02 PM

Originally Posted by Paddser

Ah right!!

Was beginning to panic!

Booked into the Rodina Hotel in Sofia. Anyone else staying here? 500+ rooms!! Seems to be very central though and an air-conditioned twin room is €85 a night.

Didn't mean to scare you Paddser about Luton

......but it really is a kip!!

There are some others booked into your Hotel (look further back on this thread).....the bad news AidoM (he who goes to bed with the Foot.ie Flag ) and Beareleven

are amongst them!

**Paddser** · 28/11/2008, 1:47 PM

Originally Posted by Sligo Hornet

Didn't mean to scare you Paddser about Luton

......but it really is a kip!!

There are some others booked into your Hotel (look further back on this thread).....the bad news AidoM (he who goes to bed with the Foot.ie Flag ) and Beareleven

are amongst them!

I dont doubt it Hornet, and I promise not to set foot outside the Airport door on the strength of your recommendation!

AidoM and Beareleven...lookin forward to a few in the Hotel Bar. We'll be there from Thursday night.

**humpmeister7** · 28/11/2008, 10:44 PM

I think you'd be wise not to go anywhere near that place. The airport is bad enough!!

Ever wondered where SARS came from...

**razorb** · 30/11/2008, 4:11 PM

did you check out trip advisor before you booked the Rodina. Apparently the sell rooms by the Hour! Quality place.

Originally Posted by Paddser

Ah right!!

Was beginning to panic!

Booked into the Rodina Hotel in Sofia. Anyone else staying here? 500+ rooms!! Seems to be very central though and an air-conditioned twin room is €85 a night.

**Paddser** · 01/12/2008, 11:03 AM

Compared to some of the places iv stayed in, and considering its central location, i'd say it'll be grand. id rather take my chances with a hotel, rather than take my chances in a taxi to get me to a hotel 8km from Town after a day of "sight-seeing".

**Babysis** · 05/12/2008, 6:58 PM

Myself and Green Tribe got a bargain today on flights. We are booked with Easy Jet Gatwick - Sofia (They released the flights today), going on the Thursday coming back on the Sunday €70 return inc all taxes.

Green Tribe may have already mentioned but we got booked into an apartment for €20 per night.

**Green Tribe** · 05/12/2008, 11:20 PM

Originally Posted by NeilMcD

Yeah 237 is not bad value but you have 7 nights to stay so what you save on aircosts you lose out on hotel and spending money and Annual Leave etc. However if you are a layabout like Green Tribe you are grand.

fooking TRAMP!!

ah we got a great bargain with greasyjet. And booked into allabin apartments, 20 € pp per night sweet!!!!!!!!!!

bang in centre!
whoop!! whoop!!
k spain don't blank me this time in yer interview

**NeilMcD** · 06/12/2008, 12:49 PM

you should not have told me where you are staying girls.

**Paulie** · 08/12/2008, 5:20 PM

For anybody who is travelling on Czech Air to Sofia, they are pulling out of Dublin in early to mid January. I rang them this morning after one of the lads in our group read about it in the paper over the weekend. They told me that the options I had were to either accept a full refund or they would find an alternative route. We are now flying on Air france via Paris. The only bad thing about it is that we now get in to Sofia quite late (about 10pm), so the first day of the trip is pretty much gone. Other than that the flight times are fine with no long stop overs and no early morning starts. All in all, it could have ended up much worse. For anybody who is in a similar situation you can get the Czech Air helpdesk at 0818 200 014 (I don't know what rate this line is charged at, so be careful). They were very helpful and it was a pretty painless process to change the flights. I think that the Air france flights, were you to go in and buy them now, would cost you about 320 Euros. If you were one of the people (thankfully I wasn't) that paid the guts of 600 Euros for the flights, I don't know if you have any chance of getting the difference back. If you were one of these people, you could just accept the offer of the refund and so get your full amount back, and then just go on to the Air France website and book the new flights yourself while they are still at 320 Euros.

**Babysis** · 08/12/2008, 6:17 PM

Originally Posted by NeilMcD

you should not have told me where you are staying girls.

Ah no worries, we wont be wearing green wigs this time, it will be a different disguise, you will only know its us if we ask you "Sheep or Dog?"

**NeilMcD** · 09/12/2008, 9:39 AM

Don't be so harsh on yourself, I would never say you were a sheep and GT was a dog.

**eaststand85** · 09/12/2008, 10:23 AM

Originally Posted by Paulie

For anybody who is travelling on Czech Air to Sofia, they are pulling out of Dublin in early to mid January. I rang them this morning after one of the lads in our group read about it in the paper over the weekend. They told me that the options I had were to either accept a full refund or they would find an alternative route. We are now flying on Air france via Paris. The only bad thing about it is that we now get in to Sofia quite late (about 10pm), so the first day of the trip is pretty much gone. Other than that the flight times are fine with no long stop overs and no early morning starts. All in all, it could have ended up much worse. For anybody who is in a similar situation you can get the Czech Air helpdesk at 0818 200 014 (I don't know what rate this line is charged at, so be careful). They were very helpful and it was a pretty painless process to change the flights. I think that the Air france flights, were you to go in and buy them now, would cost you about 320 Euros. If you were one of the people (thankfully I wasn't) that paid the guts of 600 Euros for the flights, I don't know if you have any chance of getting the difference back. If you were one of these people, you could just accept the offer of the refund and so get your full amount back, and then just go on to the Air France website and book the new flights yourself while they are still at 320 Euros.

Problem with the new Czech Air flights is it's now three flights each way rather than two and first day is a waste as you don't get in to airport until 10.55pm (click on image below to see itinerary) so it'll be after midnight by time you get to hotel. Did they offer you any alternatives Paulie? They told us it was pretty much this or a refund so think we're going to look at going via London instead.

Attachment 1244

**NeilMcD** · 09/12/2008, 10:30 AM

Just realised its three flights rather than two. I think I will go for the full refund.

**Sligo Hornet** · 09/12/2008, 11:02 AM

Originally Posted by NeilMcD

Don't be so harsh on yourself, I would never say you were a sheep and GT was a dog.

So is it the other way round?.......wouldn't want to upset anyone next time I meet them?

**Paulie** · 09/12/2008, 12:41 PM

Originally Posted by Paulie

We are now flying on Air france via Paris.

Czech Air will not be flying out from Dublin after January. They have put us on to an Air France flight from Dublin to Sofia via Paris. Two flights going over and two flights coming back.

The flight times are:

Depart Dublin on June 4th at 14:20, arrive Paris at 17:20

Depart Paris at 18:30, arrive Sofia at 22:15

Depart Sofia on June 7th at 14:45, arrive Paris at 16:40

Depart Paris at 18:45, arrive Dublin at 19:45

I know the connection time in Paris on the way over is short but the booking is on the one airline so that means you're covered in the eventuality of your first flight being delayed.

**eaststand85** · 09/12/2008, 1:25 PM

Originally Posted by Paulie

Czech Air will not be flying out from Dublin after January. They have put us on to an Air France flight from Dublin to Sofia via Paris. Two flights going over and two flights coming back.

The flight times are:

Depart Dublin on June 4th at 14:20, arrive Paris at 17:20

Depart Paris at 18:30, arrive Sofia at 22:15

Depart Sofia on June 7th at 14:45, arrive Paris at 16:40

Depart Paris at 18:45, arrive Dublin at 19:45

I know the connection time in Paris on the way over is short but the booking is on the one airline so that means you're covered in the eventuality of your first flight being delayed.

Thanks Paulie. We asked them if we could fly all the way with Air France but they said it wasn't an option! Going to ring again and try and sort this out.

**Newryrep** · 09/12/2008, 1:26 PM

Originally Posted by Paulie

For anybody who is travelling on Czech Air to Sofia, they are pulling out of Dublin in early to mid January ...........the new flights yourself while they are still at 320 Euros.

Bad news in general not just for this particular game, they seemed consistantly lower than most national carriers out of Dublin.

and a halfway house between the budget carriers and the expensive carriers

**Paulie** · 09/12/2008, 1:56 PM

Originally Posted by eaststand85

Thanks Paulie. We asked them if we could fly all the way with Air France but they said it wasn't an option! Going to ring again and try and sort this out.

No bother. Let me know how you get on. It seems odd that they did it for me but not for you.

**offaly16** · 09/12/2008, 1:59 PM

We got caught the same with the flights, now flying via paris and on to sofia. But we had also booked Cyprus via prague and now have to fly Dublin - Paris - Paris - Prague - Prague - Larnaca. Disaster will spend all day flying there and all day getting back