I'm going home – Tuesday, February 18
The next morning I was lucky. My initial plans were to catch a city bus to the bus station, then we changed the plan, a friend of theirs was going to take me by taxi just to be safe… and finally my brother said that he had to be at work very early that day and would send me off. Great. I had a ticket booked for 6:30. We went early, Nicky parked around the corner and pointed out a certain bus, he decided it was for me. We said goodbye and I confidently went to get on. Imagine my surprise when the driver told me in simple English that my ticket was not for this car. And the sign said that it goes through Gatwick Airport. I stubbornly and slightly worriedly started to insist on getting on. The driver was nice, but he didn’t explain in detail. Finally we agreed that my bus would come in 15 minutes. Okay… we wait. When the car showed up, I quickly jumped first so that he wouldn’t leave me.
The journey didn't seem long to me. I stared out the window, I dozed off. The route seemed strange to me. First we passed through Heathrow, then we passed Gatwick and headed towards Luton. I looked around like a fool, but apparently that was the route. The bus went in the opposite direction and turned off at the Gatwick junction. I couldn't understand the logic of this detour... it wasn't really important at all, I was just trying to fill my time with thoughts other than what really bothered me.
I arrived at the airport very early. I went to the security check, passed the scanner without being stripped or undressed. However, my luggage at some point deviated into another lane. I reached through the plastic barrier to get my backpack and an employee politely informed me not to touch it, there was a problem. And turned my back. I nudged him on the shoulder… he turned angrily and told me to wait. Another man came, smiling, who called me aside and we started rummaging through my luggage. In addition to the backpack, I had a bag with some food and an empty bottle of water. The problem – there were literally three drops of liquid splattered at the bottom of the bottle. He smiled at me and shouted that I had drunk my water and not thrown the bottle. I looked at him in disbelief and asked “Are you serious?” “The rules…”, so those are the rules. I drank the three drops of water and they let me through.
I entered the waiting room. A lady from the cleaning staff assured me that there was a smoking area in the intermediate area. What a lie! I bought a sandwich and, sniffing like a hungry person, I called my husband. We fooled around a bit, informed him about the situation and waited to see the gate number on the board. I was tired of waiting. Finally, the number came up and I went with the flow of people. When we reached the exit, what did I see – the husband of Maggie, my friend's daughter. I looked around and soon fixed my eyes on her and her daughter. And our seats turned out to be one behind the other. We chatted… about the weather, about the flights, about the fact that this time we would take off from Gatwick on time…
It was cold and snowing in Varna. Even though I said I didn't need someone to pick me up from the airport, my son had come. He looked tired and I felt sorry for having to tell him that he would take me to Shumen early the next day for his grandmother. The weather was getting worse, the roads were icy and snowy, completely unsuitable for a mediocre driver like me. My husband was working the night shift and I was alone. The child and I agreed to leave at 6 am. I packed my bags and went to bed tired and worried.
Despite the dangerous weather, although a bit late, we managed to get to Shumen – in about two hours. It’s a good thing that I have a son – a trafficker… not that I wouldn’t have gone alone, I just had no choice, but I felt calmer with him. The operation was successful, my mother endured the anesthesia and two months later she was already walking with a walker, sometimes without. Dad also had a successful operation in early March. And I decided that February was definitely not my month for traveling. Last year I visited Sicily again at the end of February and when I got home, I was unpleasantly surprised, to put it mildly, that my child had cancer… also defeated to this day. So… in February I will be sitting at home.
© 2025 Iliana Dechkova