The Plan. Time to GTFO of Sofia?

There is nothing in the physical place I am located in that is holding me here, in fact, to the contrary. At the end of the month, I am due to pay rent again and to be perfectly honest, I am paying too much. I can't even wash my clothes properly anyway. It's warmer in here, but it has to get a lot colder before I am in any real difficulty.

I have only one large item that would be a hassle to carry, a monitor, but the computer is smaller than a laptop. I can carry it with me easily until I find somewhere new to set up. The monitor will be left behind. It is only worth 17.50 EUR and I could maybe get 9 EUR if I sold it. I may do this.

And I have a laptop, an aging but robust Dell E4300.

A bit over a week ago I already talked about getting ready to go on the road, and in preparation for this I got myself a sewing kit. My backpack needs some repairs, as do a lot of my clothes. The money I have been building up to pay rent will go a lot further on essentials to keep myself during this transition period.

When I was nearing the end of my time in my previous job, one afternoon I stopped in at one of my old haunts, an underground tunnel where I slept often after they bolted down the tunnel I had been sleeping in. Despite the problems I had, I missed it very much.

I have built a significant following here and I think you all will enjoy my stories of life on the road. In fact, I am itching to get out of here, regardless of having paid up another 9 days clear. It will only take me a day to get everything in order, and I don't think my landlord will care if I leave a couple of things behind, like the electric hotplate and this monitor.

I have more money coming in, about 50 euros, which should help a lot. I am not afraid of having to walk around to find myself a warm dry place to sleep. Bulgarian cities, indeed most eastern european cities, have a lot of things that make it a lot easier, like the underpasses and lots of abandoned buildings. I can just jump on a train for about 10 euros to go directly to Plovdiv, which is a bit over 100km away.

I am going to continue doing my calculations and maybe start arranging my stuff as to what I will bring and how I will carry it, but I am pretty much set on leaving within a week, before the end of this current holiday period which ends on Tuesday.

Life on the street has its advantages

No rent bill, if you don't like your neighbours, you can find another place to sit or to sleep, here in Bulgaria, there is also a lot of free internet to be had, although I don't have to be stuck with nothing now - 5 euros can get my Max Telecom sim a 5Gb chunk and it will keep working for a month as well.

I am not going to hitch-hike, but rather, I am going to head directly to another city on a train. The city of Plovdiv, has a lot of advantages over Sofia:

For one thing, it is only 150m above sea level. Sofia is 620. Sofia is pretty much about the coldest place in Bulgaria. The air will be denser as well, which will probably improve my cardiovascular performance a lot. It should not get nearly as cold there. Here's more info about the city:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plovdiv

It also happens to be, I think, the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world, with evidence of settlement there dating back to 6000BC. It has many of the advantages of Sofia, but one of the things it has very much an advantage over Sofia is that it is not full of government buildings and its bloodsucking employees. It is a major transport hub for much of the agricultural and primary production of Bulgaria, and is probably the most productive part of the country.

I will be travelling there by train, I am only really waiting on getting some money back out of a security deposit for a failed project that produced only a little more than was required to set it up. It is not far from here, I will be there within a day.

I am enjoying fixing my backpack's straps, I have a good set of tools for stitching things now, so I can keep my things together. I have good walking shoes, that proved themselves very well during my two big walks that I documented previously. I have a pair of speakers I can use to amuse myself, and a multi-socket adapter with a long cable that will make any opportunity I find for charging up far easier to make use of than was the case in the past.

Hobo living is only bad the first time around. After that, it gets a lot easier.

The hardest part is making the break when it's obvious you can't continue where you are.

I know well from experience about how much I need to carry, it is light, though not quite as light as what the chap in the picture at the top carried, it is not much heavier, either. I started a 7 month journey that ended in 4 months living in Sofia's underground tunnels, with far less. I had to sell the laptop I had, or more precisely, take it back for refund because its' keyboard with integrated extra battery was not working. I only had a smartphone because I was given one by my travelling companion, the only compensation for all the money and my ID he stole from me. The phone I have is gonna be a hassle at times, but I think if I reserve it for internet access when I can't get it from a hotspot, I won't be bothered too much by it.

It was on the street that I received the ideas discussed in a post I made $108 of reward from.

The ample free time, the low costs, though there is some hassles, the upsides are there. There is some small chance that what I publish while I am out there, will yield some big votes, and I have certainly learned plenty of things about how to write winning posts - this is not one, by the way, I know this already. It doesn't have to be terribly original, just well put together, and on a subject, and under a tag, where people are looking. I just haven't got the stomach to do this kind of work in my current physical circumstances.

I was good, until I finished the Underworld review. Then my shoulder went spaz again, and my mood turned very black. I couldn't get myself into the right mood to do the kind of work required to continue my spate of great posts. I am over my situation. Time to move on...

Here is a poem I wrote to commemorate my decision to depart: https://steemit.com/poetry/@l0k1/ode-to-sofia-farewell-my-love

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We can't stop here! This is Whale country!