East or West, Home Has to Be Best (for Bulgarians)

Novinite Insider » EDITORIAL | Author: Irina Samokovska |July 6, 2011, Wednesday // 17:06
Bulgaria: East or West, Home Has to Be Best (for Bulgarians)

A Bulgarian saying goes "You are most human when you travel".

Not true.

In Bulgaria you are most vulnerable when you travel.

The basic human right to travel in has degenerated here into the fear of travel.

The different types of transport have been consecutively proved unreliable, unpredictable and unsafe.

If you decide to go by rail, you'd better remember that trains catching fire have been a regular occurrence in Bulgaria since 2008, with the most horrific accident on the Sofia-Kardam train claiming nine lives.

Bulgaria has also witnessed train collisions, which experts say could have been avoided if it were not for the outdated infrastructure and the poor condition of the wagons and engines.

Apart from that, Bulgaria has long been unnecessarily tolerant of its slow, overcrowded and vastly uncomfortable trains.

If you decide to take the bus, bear in mind that a vast majority of Bulgarian buses are similarly substandard.

They crash, spiral out of control and catch fire. Or they simply break down, middle-of-the-road.

If you decide to go by car, you need to face the facts that Bulgarian roads are peppered with potholes, divers are reckless, road signs are oftentimes invisible, and traffic police is wildly corrupt.

If you decide to fly, you might like to repack your luggage, emphasizing on locks, security straps, or perhaps wrapping? A Bulgarian MEP has raised the alarm that luggage mafia has been ransacking through suitcases at Sofia Airport. The results of this "unauthorized interference" with luggage include passengers discomfort, stolen personal belongings and opportunities for terrorist incursions.

What do all of these things have in common?

First of all, poor oversight. By poor I mean largely ad-hoc, inefficient, without consequences or with negligible or negotiable-against-payment consequences.

Second of all, inadmissibly flexible bodies in charge, shifting the blame to either the next in line, or the higher in rank.

Last of all, executive escape tactics involving mass, or frequent, or prominent, dismissals.

The question remains, will Bulgarians continue to stay put?

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