Golden Sands, Bulgaira

After breakfast and saying goodbyes to Allan and the other guests we were speaking to from the USA and Netherlands, we headed to the bus stop next to the catherdal and jumped on the bus which took us 19km north to the resort of Golden Sands. The price was good and cheap, and local people helped us to tell us which stop to get off at. It looked like we got off in the middle of a forest at first and headed slightly downhill on a dirt track. In front of us was the sight of the five star hotel in which for the next three nights me and Olga will be staying in.

The Melia Grand Hermitage hotel. Sounds like fun. A very modern water fountain greets the guests outside the main entrance and then as soon as we walked inside, the hotel is one of the grandest I have been in.

All decorated in oak wooden furniture and bage floors, this place was the works. Even better was the staff and their service which I will put the highest I have ever had. At £50 per person a night, this was fantastic and also a bargin. (www.travelrepublic.co.uk)

After checking in, and going up to the seventh floor, we found our room, which we booked in advance as non-smoking, deluxe sea views and double beds. Nearly perfect. We had our fridge, we had our double bed, or should I say triple bed, and was non-smoking. The deluxe sea views from our balcony, well; we got some kind of sea view, but more of a forest view as we were on the side of the hotel. Oh well, can't get everything in life.

So me and Olga were seeing what other surprises could be found, like free shaving kits, shampoos, a deluxe shower which the water runs from the ceiling and what television channels we had on our television.

This was so much fun for me as I never stayed in a five star hotel before and so much used to hostels and sleeping on trains. We did have a few problems mind you. OK here we go -

1) The laundry service. Me and Olga were looking at this before we arrived so we could wash and dry all our clothes which we taken with us on this tour. Found a price list inside the wardrobe. It worked out they charge £2 ($4) per item! So in total would cost about £60 ($120) in total to do all the laundry? No way, so we went to a local supermarket nearby, brought some washing powder, filled the huge bath tub in the bathroom with the right temperature, added the powder and started to scrub away.

Then after soaking and getting rid of the powder stuck to the clothes in the sink, we would hang them out to dry on chairs, tables, and the trouser rack on the balcony! Dam, the bathroom smelt like an laundrette afterwards. I bet the cleaners were happy with that!

2) The drinks in the mini bar. More expensive than ordering out of a cafe back home in London!

3) Television channels - loads of channels in Bulgarian, Deutsch, French, Turkish, Greek, Russian, Serbian, but only a few in English, like CNN (Olga hates news channels), MTV, VH1, Discovery channel and Animal Planet. Most of the time it was left on MTV so we played loud music whilst in the shower but most of the time we kept watching Animal Planet. This is such a really cool channel to watch.

Moosh the moose in an moose rescue centre in Canada really made me happy (and sometimes sad) about this poor animal (which is one of my favourite animals with cats, tigers and bears!) He grew up and eventually made to contact with other moose's in the rescue centre, banging their antlers together. Then there were the monkeys and how one of them saved his girlfriend from torture from a really old monkey who escaped from another rescue centre in Asia or South America. Can't remember. But this was funny, especially when one monkey tried to chat up his girlfriend, didn't work, so starts hitting her with a stick to gain attention. Fantastic. So anyway, with no entertainment (see below) in the hotel or the resort, we would watch Animal Planet for a few hours!

4) No entertainment - on the resort or in the hotel.

This sucks! Nothing to do. The first night me and Olga walked along the resort which has a fairground (with a fake Eiffel Tower in the middle), a beach (which is golden, but you also sink in it, so I renamed it Sinking Sands), Bars which sell overpriced drinks and playing loud Deutsch songs (I have nothing against the Deutsch) and karaoke in French, and these tourist touts who drag you into bars or restaurants or try and give you leaflets and won't leave you along when you have already said no to them! That bothers me so much. So if you're English, this really sucks! Stalls selling fake Channel sunglasses and D&G bags were lined up along the sea front. After walking around the area, I wanted to go back to travelling and get out of Golden Sands. Apart from the hotel, Golden Sands really sucks and is so fake. I hated it. I am an explorer...get me out of here!

So anyway, apart from laying on the sun lounge everyday next to the pool, chilling out, and pigging out on our food (breakfast and dinner included with the price as we went half board) it was time to head back to Sofia. Checked out, we went to the bus stop to head back into Varna so we could catch our private coach back to the city. At the bus stop, a taxi pulls up. He wants business. I said we very short on money and I do not want taxi. He hated this answer, and I waved my arms to shoo him away. Then he starts swearing at me in Deutsch. I understood him and replied back, in threaten tone of voice and he pulled away. What a stupid idiot! Anyway, bus came, and we arrived in Varna in time for our coach back to Sofia to meet Ollie Tong.