20 days in September, first on our own for Hungary and Slovakia, then joining a Rick Steves tour (our third) to explore Bulgaria. Why these three places? We visited Budapest back in 2014 and determined we just had not spent enough time there, so it needed another stay. Bratislava is not too far from Budapest and is very close to Vienna where it was easy to get a direct flight to Sofia, Bulgaria — so why not add a new country? Finally, Bulgaria. Why a tour of Bulgaria? Well, first, it was being offered at a discount and it was one of the less expensive itineraries to begin with –that never hurts. Second, it sounded like a fascinating place, one we hadn’t heard much about, but offering some unique sites. Finally, we choose the tour route when it feels that there might be some challenges navigating — either linguistically, culturally or transportation wise. Given Bulgaria is not on the standard European touring route, and the fact that the utilize the Cyrillic alphabet, we felt a tour was the way to go and we have had positive experiences on our previous Rick Steves tours. So, we packed our bags, and our notes and headed out!
General Trip Route
Rick Steves “Best of Bulgaria” Tour Route
Airport Parking (Newark):
- Used Park/Sleep/Fly – https://parksleepfly.com/:
- The Kenilworth, Kenilworth NJ
- Parked and slept night before departure date, hotel provided airport transfer.
- 20 days of parking
- On return arrival date, hotel provided airport transfer to pick up the car
Flights:
Newark to Budapest:
- LH Flight 413 depart EWR @8:30PM, arrive MUC @10:20AM (7 hours, 50 minutes; 6 hour time zone change)
- 70 minute layover in Munich
- LH Flight 1676 depart MUC @11:30AM, arrive BUD @12:45PM (1 hour, 15 minutes)
Vienna to Sofia:
- RYR Flight 182 depart VIE @4:00PM, arrive SOF @6:30PM (1 hours, 30 minutes, 1 hour time zone change)
Sofia to Newark:
- LH Flight 1707 depart SOF @6:00AM, arrive MUC @7:00AM (2 hours, 1 hour time zone change)
- 55 minute layover in Oslo
- UA Flight 31 depart MUC @9:35AM, arrive EWR @12:45PM (9 hours, 10 minutes; 6 hour time zone change)
Tour Information:
Daily Itinerary:
Itinerary-1 Itinerary-2Hotels:
Hotel-p-1Trip Insurance:
- Medical
- Tin Leg Luxury:
- No Medial Deductible
- Accident & Sickness Medical Expense – $500,00 per person, Primary Coverage
- Emergency Evacuation – $250,000 per person
- Pre-Existing Condition – no coverage, 180 day look back period
- Tin Leg Luxury:
- Trip Cancellation/Interruption, etc.
- Tin Leg Luxury
- 100%
- Tin Leg Luxury