Having enjoyed a weekend in Sofia, Bulgaria a few years ago, I was quite keen to visit another country in the area and not only because I could earn a good chunk of BA Tier points (honestly!). Ian was undoubtedly less keen, mainly due I think to Romania bordering the Ukraine but also the British view of Romanians which has been tainted by the few criminals and scroungers who flooded into England around 10 years ago.
Our favourite tour operator was running a tour but it was 9 days and quite a bit more money than we wanted to spend, so we took the bones of their itinerary and chopped out the middle section which went farther north. And this is what we've ended up with:
1 night Bucharest (unavoidable really as our flight doesn't get in until mid-afternoon)
1 night Sibiu
1 night Sighișoara
2 nights Brașov
The only travel book I could get was published in 2007 but Ian spent a good long time researching what we might see along the way.
The flight was from Heathrow T3 at 08:55 and for once there were no road closures to contend with so having dropped the car off at Purple Parking and endured their lengthy transfer shuttle we were still in good time. The first flight since Ian's Gold status finished so no more whizzing through the executive security area. Although we still have Fast Track it was still quite busy and being the first time Ian had flown since his pacemaker was fitted we were rather unsure of the procedures and online research produced different answers as to whether he was OK to go through the scanner, but in the event he just told one of the staff and was immediately taken to one side and hand searched. Meanwhile all of our bags were held for inspection as our mouthwash was causing concern - that's a first.
Breakfast in the main lounge is back to self service but sadly they haven't brought back the delicious seeded rolls they used to serve. Still we found enough to eat and of course we'll be served a breakfast on the plane.
The flight was uneventful and I enjoyed looking out of the window; we followed the course of a fairly major river for a long, long way - how I wish the pilots would give us the route as they used to in the past. After an age we came to the top of a large lake, it had a very blunt end which made it quite easy to track down - Lake Balaton in Hungary and the river was the Danube (which has its delta on Romania's black sea coast).
Having plenty of space around us meant I could have my camera out coming into land in Bucharest; it looks like the majority of land is used for growing crops.
The other noticeable feature (which I didn't photograph) was how towns/villages are laid out; the houses don't seem to be in clusters like they are here in England, but strung out along the road with barely any roads going off.
Despite having done all checking in procedures with Avis online, we still had to visit the desk at the airport (I'd phoned in advance to check as when we went to Lake Como we were berated for standing in a queue!). Being hand luggage only and at the front of the plane, we were through immigration very quickly and pretty sure we were the first from our plane to reach the Avis desk. To our surprise there was a queue of about 6 people so I asked a young couple if they spoke English - luckily they did - and whether they had Quick Pass - they didn't, so we just stood in line and waited. I heard the couple giggling and it turned out they were English and he was impressed when she simply confirmed she could speak English instead of saying she WAS English. Turns out a WizzAir flight had arrived just minutes before us, hence the queue. I'd already found out in the phone call that the cars were all parked off site and we would have to use a transfer bus. However it was considerably longer than the quoted 10 min wait but seeing as the chaps in front of us in the queue also ended up in the same minibus I couldn't really complain. Once again I didn't get the car I'd ordered - Group A VW Up - I want a small car because that's what I feel comfortable driving and, more importantly, attempting to park. Instead we were given a brand new VW Polo which I must admit was lovely to drive.
Although we should have GPS working on both phones, we'd printed off maps giving us directions to all of the hotels just in case but the satnav worked beautifully and even told me which of the many lanes I needed to be in at various points on the way into Bucharest (5-6 lanes wide at times).
We found the hotel with ease and to my absolute joy there were two off road parking spaces right in front. I'd read that they had an underground car park but that parking was limited and very tight so when the receptionist confirmed we could leave the car there for €10 we nearly bit his hand off.