Wednesday, March 14
We ran a few errands today. Of course, this meant another trip to the post office. The last time we went we bought a couple of extra stamps (the really expensive ones) so this time we just dropped the letter in what we thought was the appropriate chute. It would be nice to know if any of these letters got through. The return address on all of them is our official residence in the U.S., so who knows where they might wind up if the postage is wrong. We could’t use our Sofia address for two reasons: who knows where we’ll be if/when the letters are returned and we don’t have access to the mailbox in the building.
The big news of the day is that we accumulated enough punches on our frequent buyer cards at the Owllee (our favorite coffee shop here in Sofia) that we both got free coffees today. We timed it perfectly because we’re leaving tomorrow. If only things at the post office worked out so well…
Speaking of the post office we never relayed our post office story from Rome. My iPad was a model two and was over seven years old. I had read many articles about how you should not upgrade the operating system on those models because they would run pathetically slowly, if at all. Of course this meant that I couldn’t run the newer versions of many apps and some of the older apps wouldn’t run well or at all. One day, in frustration, I upgraded the operating system. Big mistake. Now my iPad was basically just an expensive boat anchor.
Before leaving for Italy we bought new iPhones and, in return for trading in our old phones, we received gift cards. The problem was that the gift cards were only valid in the U.S. so, in order to use them, I went online and had a new iPad shipped to my mother’s house. That part was easy. Getting it to Italy was going to be hard.
The cost for sending it FedEx, UPS, DHL, etc. was prohibitively expensive so Mom sent it via U.S. Mail. I told her to state the value as being $45 and not to insure it. I was hoping to avoid having to pay the import fees. At least I had a tracking number. Five days later the package was listed as having departing Milan for its destination. Three weeks after that it still had the same status. We went to the post office to inquire and they said that it was normal for packages to take a while to get from Milan to Rome. Really? That long?
Two more weeks went by and we went back to the post office. The clerk tracked the package and said that, according to the Poste Italiane computer system, the package had never arrived in Italy. It was still in the United States. Seriously? We went back the next day and spoke to someone else. This time they had no idea where the package was but suggested that we fill out a lost package form. I filled one out there and went home and filled one out on the U.S.P.S web site. Maybe one of them would find it.
A few days went by and I got an email from the U.S.P.S. telling me that they were on the job. Two weeks later I got a similar one from the Poste Italiane. Every week I got an automated email from U.S.P.S reminding me that they were working hard to resolve my problem. I never heard anything else from Poste Italiane. Every so often I would check the tracking status on my package. After three weeks it changed – it said it had arrived in Milan. Was that progress? Three weeks later it said that it was in Milan clearing customs. That sounded hopeful. Three weeks later someone rang our doorbell. It was Poste Italiane. My iPad had arrived. They charged me $86.00 for import duty.
Just last week I got an email from U.S.P.S. They were sorry. They had done an exhaustive investigation but my package was considered lost. When I told this story to my Mom she said, “See, you should have had it insured. Then you would have gotten it for free. Who says Mom doesn’t always know best?
After our trip to the Sofia post office we went over to Shipka Street and had pizza at our favorite shop. Today they had one topped with peppers and onions. It was delicious. I noticed that the cost for two slices was 4.40 Лв. Normally it was 1.80 Лв each. That’s an increase of over 16%. Never mind that the total cost for two slices was still only about $2.72. It’s a good thing we’re leaving tomorrow. This place is starting to get expensive!
Our last stop of the day was a nearby bakery. We had to have their baklava one last time. I offered to share a piece with Deborah but she wanted her own.
Packing for Plovdiv presented a unique challenge. Wanting to sample the chocolates we bought at the festival we had opened several packages. Two packages were left and we didn’t think they would travel well. In the end we decided that we’d just have to eat them. Oh, the rigors of traveling.
Tomorrow we’re off to Plovdiv on the 10:30 am train. We’re looking forward to new adventures.
Distance walked: 4.6 miles