Business Travel In Bulgaria?
August 22, 2013 3:36 PM Subscribe
I'm traveling to Sofia for a week next month and I have a couple of questions about money and phones.
1. What's the best way to handle money? I could use my ATM card but I've heard that there are problems with ATM skimmers. I'm wondering if I should just exchange some dollars for Lev when I arrive and then cash some traveler's checks for Lev as I go, or should I setup a temporary checking account with my bank so I can have a separate ATM card? Am I just being too paranoid about skimmers being an issue in Bulgaria? Is there a better way to handle money that I'm not seeing?
2. I'd love to be able to use my US AT&T iPhone for mapping and the occasional voice call. I see that AT&T has international roaming and data and I've heard you can get it for a month and then cancel it, but it seems expensive and the minutes/data you get seem kind of paltry for what you're paying.
I suppose my phone is locked so there's little point in trying to get a local SIM card for my phone. Should I just forget about it and just use the hotel WiFi and carry a paper map? Or is there a better way?
1. What's the best way to handle money? I could use my ATM card but I've heard that there are problems with ATM skimmers. I'm wondering if I should just exchange some dollars for Lev when I arrive and then cash some traveler's checks for Lev as I go, or should I setup a temporary checking account with my bank so I can have a separate ATM card? Am I just being too paranoid about skimmers being an issue in Bulgaria? Is there a better way to handle money that I'm not seeing?
2. I'd love to be able to use my US AT&T iPhone for mapping and the occasional voice call. I see that AT&T has international roaming and data and I've heard you can get it for a month and then cancel it, but it seems expensive and the minutes/data you get seem kind of paltry for what you're paying.
I suppose my phone is locked so there's little point in trying to get a local SIM card for my phone. Should I just forget about it and just use the hotel WiFi and carry a paper map? Or is there a better way?
My AT&T iPhone worked just fine all over Bulgaria. Yes, the roaming gets very expensive if you aren't watching it like a hawk. Be careful with data usage especially. Yikes.
I went the "dollars into lev" route once I arrived. I had a local connection in Sofia so I didn't have to deal with airport change fees and such. For a week, you should be able to get by without using cards if you're that paranoid about it. I don't recall really needing to use mine, though. (Nb.: I was traveling out in the rural areas doing field recording, where there wasn't much use for cards anyway.)
I hope you'll take some time to stroll around Sofia at night! It's a gorgeous place, lots of parks, and it's a lot of fun stumbling into all the old Socialist sculptures everywhere. I stayed at the Radisson Blu in Narodno Sabranie Square, and I really enjoyed that area in particular. The Blu did have local maps of Sofia on offer, so perhaps your hotel will as well.
posted by mykescipark at 4:52 PM on August 22, 2013
I went the "dollars into lev" route once I arrived. I had a local connection in Sofia so I didn't have to deal with airport change fees and such. For a week, you should be able to get by without using cards if you're that paranoid about it. I don't recall really needing to use mine, though. (Nb.: I was traveling out in the rural areas doing field recording, where there wasn't much use for cards anyway.)
I hope you'll take some time to stroll around Sofia at night! It's a gorgeous place, lots of parks, and it's a lot of fun stumbling into all the old Socialist sculptures everywhere. I stayed at the Radisson Blu in Narodno Sabranie Square, and I really enjoyed that area in particular. The Blu did have local maps of Sofia on offer, so perhaps your hotel will as well.
posted by mykescipark at 4:52 PM on August 22, 2013
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The AT&T international plan is a bit of a rip. I stayed at Hotel Les Fleurs and found the Internet connection to be reliable and fast.
I loved Bulgaria, and Sofia in particular. There's a great cafe behind the art academy. The mojitos were excellent.
posted by Admiral Haddock at 3:52 PM on August 22, 2013