A trip to the sea with a dog. Albena.
I hope that my first experience of going on vacation abroad with a dog will be useful to those who are still thinking about it, but have not decided in any way.
So, the idea of a trip to Bulgaria appeared quite spontaneously. In the spring, I decided to go to the Balkan Marathon (a series of dog shows of several countries, which traditionally takes place in Bulgaria in Albena) and combine an attempt to get the champion titles of several countries for my golden retriever Oscar and a vacation at the sea.
Since I have never gone to the sea, and even more so abroad with a dog, a lot of questions immediately arose.
The first step was to decide how to get there. The choice fell on friends who go to dog shows with a company in a minibus. I’ll make a reservation right away, this part scared me the most: a long road, borders, how a dog will endure, but in fact everything turned out to be not so scary. Yes, tiring, but not fatal. If you are on your own car, I think this is the best option. If you are not afraid of long driving trips.
Then the hotel. Our choice fell on the Panorama Hotel in Albena. We were guided, firstly, by the presence of air conditioning in the room, and secondly, by the price. It is located 500 meters from the sea, but for us it was not so important. Of course, there are better hotels in Albena, but, in my opinion, the prices for Bulgaria are unreasonably high.
Next, your documents and the dog. With human, everything is clear - passport, visa, insurance. And for dogs, in addition to a veterinary passport with all vaccinations and instructions, when you were treated for ticks and fleas and worms (required with a veterinarian's seal), a rabies test is needed, which is done for three weeks in one laboratory in Kyiv and costs almost $ 100 ( but only done once). Then you need a veterinary form No. 1 from the veterinary clinic for a dog, which at the customs in Kyiv is changed to another form, the so-called "green certificate". And you need a 998 form.
Plus, the dog must be microchipped and the chip number is on the veterinary passport.
Also, just in case, make copies of your documents and documents for the dog.
Take care of the first aid kit for you and for the dog. Anything is possible on the road.
Another important point is mobile communications. Find out in advance what roaming rates are in your host country and find a more economical option. I have already burned myself more than once while roaming abroad, when huge bills for mobile communications awaited me upon arrival home. And here, definitely, it will be necessary to call home and work. As a result, I chose the “Travel life: )” tariff, since calls to my phone in Bulgaria cost UAH 2.49 per minute, and outgoing UAH 4.99, which, you see, is much less than UAH 15 per minute in roaming. Looking ahead, I have no regrets. But you need to talk a little differently - after all, billing is not per second, as at home, but per minute. Arriving home, I was not too lazy to call the call center and verify all conversations to make sure that I did not overpay. Everything came together to the minute. But I digress
Fast forward a little, the road was fine, except for 4 hours at the border. The hotel turned out to be good. Not super duper, but passable. A big plus, we got a room on the first floor, and the dog could run out onto the lawn in front of the room at almost any moment. Panorama Hotel has free Wi-Fi, but only in the lobby. Yes, and I constantly had connection problems.
We only had breakfast, but most of the people in the hotel use the all-inclusive system. I am one of those who does not see the point in it. We only took breakfast and that was enough for us. It is much more interesting to go out into the city (if Albena can be called that) and have a bite to eat in numerous restaurants and cafes.
What Albena liked was the people. Bulgarians are incredibly friendly and welcoming people. The visiting audience is quite international. We heard speech from all over Europe. The Russians, of course, predominate. If you speak Russian or English, you will not have problems with communication.
Albena, in comparison with neighboring resort towns in Bulgaria, is probably the most expensive. On the way back, we stopped in Balchik, so there in the restaurant the prices were two times lower than in Albena.
Being in Albena, there is a feeling that you are in an ennobled version of some Soviet resort. This is felt in the architecture of hotels, and in a large number of roses, and in something else elusive. But at the same time, there is no one negative. In addition, Albena cannot even be called a city - there are no residents, only infrastructure for tourists: hotels, restaurants, shops, etc.
Also liked the beach. Wide - 100 meters - white clean sand. The only thing for me is the shallow sea. But for families with children - that's it. Almost all hotels have their own beaches, where sunbeds and umbrellas are free. But the beach of our hotel was too far away, and we went to the free beach closer, between the beaches of the two hotels. You could spread your own towel (so as not to drag it from Kyiv, we bought it on the spot) and lie perfectly on the soft sand, since there was enough space for everyone. Since we had dog shows in the evening, we had enough time to lie on the beach. A couple of times I took Oscar for a swim - like all retrievers, he just loves the water. But be careful. It was the first time we got to know the sea, so Oscar drank salt water, which resulted in a very upset. As I later found out, this is absolutely normal. If the dog swims in the sea often, he gets used to not drinking salt water. However, excesses are possible.
And finally, a few tips for those who are going to Bulgaria.
Bulgaria has the most delicious dairy products: cheeses (hard kashkaval and cheese - sirine), sour milk. From the local cuisine, I advise you to try chushki byurek - peppers stuffed with cheese and deep-fried, various meat plates, local soup - tarator (something like our okroshka). The choice is large, so you won't go hungry.
Bulgaria is famous for its wines. Our choice fell on the local Traminer, which we brought with us.
In exchange offices, you can easily change almost any currency, sometimes even hryvnia. You can also withdraw money from an ATM. You can pay by card in many restaurants and shops.
Another, as it turned out, important advice, this applies to any trip. When you cross the border and your passports are returned to you, check that there is an entry or exit stamp. I never paid attention to it. But when leaving Romania, I had a problem: when leaving Bulgaria and entering Romania, I was not marked. As a result, the border guard wanted to send us back (which is 250 km). As a result, 20 euros solved the issue, but it ruffled my nerves.
I hope that my story will be useful to someone.
Yes, and Oscar returned from a trip as a champion of 7 countries
