Useful Information

Local time
Winter time - GMT + 02:00 hours
Summer time - GMT + 03:00 hours
Daylight saving time - from last Sunday of March to last Sunday of October
Weekend - Saturday, Sunday

Public Holidays
1 January - New Year
3 March - Liberation Day
1 May - Labour Day
Late April/May - Easter
6 May - St. George's Day (Day of Bulgarian Army)
24 May - National Culture Day
6 September - the Union Day
22 September - the Independence Day
1 November - Day of National Revivals
24 December - Christmas Eve
25 December - Christmas
26 December - 1st day of Christmas

Electricity
220 Volt;
50 Hertz - Western-style appliances need adapters for the country's twin-prong plugs, as well as voltage converters (for US applicances only)

Roads
Right hand drive. Speed limits:
- residential areas - 50 km/h
- country roads - 90 km/h
- motorways - 120 km/h

Checkpoints
with Serbia: Kalotina (E80), Vrashka Chuka, Otomantsi
with Republic of Macedonia: Gyueshevo (E871), Zlatarevo
with Turkey: Kapitan Andreevo (E80), Malko Turnovo (E87)
with Greece: Kulata (E79)
with Romania: Vidin (E79), Oryahovo, Rousse (E70, E85), Silistra
Black Sea Ports - Varna, Burgas
Airports - Sofia, Varna, Bourgas

Medical Service
Free first aid and consultation in emergencies

Shopping hours
Offices - Mon-Fri 9am-5:30pm
Banks - Mon-Fri 9am-3pm
Shops - Mon-Fri 9am-7pm;
half-day Saturday. But more of the shops stay open until 8pm on weekdays and 5pm on Saturdays. Few shops (except for grocery stores) are open on Sunday.

Currency Exchange
In banks and 24-hour change bureaux. The exchange rate is announced every day.

Credit Cards
Visa, MasterCard, JCB, Diners Club, American Express, Access, Airplus.
They can be used both on ATMs and for payment of all standard services in hotels, restaurants, night clubs, shops, car rentals, plane tickets, etc.

This is very interesting. It's about time Google were bought to task
[size=150:3boidqpe]Google fined over privacy breach

(UKPA) – 1 day ago

Google is paying a record £14.4 million fine to settle allegations that it broke a privacy promise by secretly tracking millions of web surfers who use Apple's Safari browser.

The penalty announced today by the Federal Trade Commission matches the figure that The Associated Press and other media outlets had reported last month. It's the largest fine that the FTC has imposed against a company for violating a previous agreement with the agency.

To settle a previous case, Google had signed a 20-year agreement that, among other things, included a company pledge not to mislead consumers about its privacy practices.

The FTC opened its investigation into the Safari activities six months ago after a researcher at Stanford University revealed that Google had overridden Safari safeguards that are supposed to prevent outside parties from monitoring web surfing activity without a user's permission.

The tracking occurs through snippets of computer coding, known as cookies, that help internet services and advertisers target marketing pitches based on an analysis of the interests implied by a person's web surfing activity.

Google immediately withdrew its intrusive technology from Safari after the manipulation was reported.

But the circumvention of Apple's built-in settings appeared to contradict a statement in Google's online help centre assuring Safari users that they didn't need to do anything more to ensure their online activities wouldn't be logged by Google.

The apparent contradiction between Google's words and actions became the focal point of the FTC investigation.

Google Inc isn't admitting any wrongdoing in the latest settlement.

Google's fine surpasses a £12 million penalty that the FTC slapped on a telemarketer accused of duping people into believing they were donating to charities.

Is this post from willowsend in the wrong place? don't shoot me I'm only asking

Admin wrote:

Useful Information

Local time
Winter time - GMT + 02:00 hours
Summer time - GMT + 03:00 hours
Daylight saving time - from last Sunday of March to last Sunday of October
Weekend - Saturday, Sunday

Public Holidays
1 January - New Year
3 March - Liberation Day
1 May - Labour Day
Late April/May - Easter
6 May - St. George's Day (Day of Bulgarian Army)
24 May - National Culture Day
6 September - the Union Day
22 September - the Independence Day
1 November - Day of National Revivals
24 December - Christmas Eve
25 December - Christmas
26 December - 1st day of Christmas

Electricity
220 Volt;
50 Hertz - Western-style appliances need adapters for the country's twin-prong plugs, as well as voltage converters (for US applicances only)

Roads
Right hand drive. Speed limits:
- residential areas - 50 km/h
- country roads - 90 km/h
- motorways - 120 km/h

Checkpoints
with Serbia: Kalotina (E80), Vrashka Chuka, Otomantsi
with Republic of Macedonia: Gyueshevo (E871), Zlatarevo
with Turkey: Kapitan Andreevo (E80), Malko Turnovo (E87)
with Greece: Kulata (E79)
with Romania: Vidin (E79), Oryahovo, Rousse (E70, E85), Silistra
Black Sea Ports - Varna, Burgas
Airports - Sofia, Varna, Bourgas

Medical Service
Free first aid and consultation in emergencies

Shopping hours
Offices - Mon-Fri 9am-5:30pm
Banks - Mon-Fri 9am-3pm
Shops - Mon-Fri 9am-7pm;
half-day Saturday. But more of the shops stay open until 8pm on weekdays and 5pm on Saturdays. Few shops (except for grocery stores) are open on Sunday.

Currency Exchange
In banks and 24-hour change bureaux. The exchange rate is announced every day.

Credit Cards
Visa, MasterCard, JCB, Diners Club, American Express, Access, Airplus.
They can be used both on ATMs and for payment of all standard services in hotels, restaurants, night clubs, shops, car rentals, plane tickets, etc.

fantastic info thank you is it possible to add Plovdiv airport Ryanair do some great deals from London

Holidays in Bulgaria in 2015

Jan 1 Thursday New Year's Day National holiday
Jan 2 Friday Special non-working day National holiday
Jan 24 Saturday Working day for January 2 Observance
Feb 1 Sunday Day of Remembrance and Respect to Victims of the Communist Regime Observance
Mar 1 Sunday Baba Marta Observance
Mar 2 Monday Special non-working day National holiday
Mar 3 Tuesday Liberation Day National holiday
Mar 20 Friday March equinox Season
Mar 21 Saturday Working day for March 2 Observance
Mar 29 Sunday Daylight Saving Time starts Clock change/Daylight Saving Time
Apr 10 Friday Good Friday National holiday
Apr 11 Saturday Holy Saturday National holiday
Apr 12 Sunday Easter Sunday National holiday
Apr 13 Monday Easter Monday National holiday
May 1 Friday Labor Day National holiday
May 6 Wednesday St. George's Day National holiday
May 24 Sunday Culture and Literacy Day National holiday
Jun 21 Sunday June Solstice Season
Sep 6 Sunday Unification Day National holiday
Sep 12 Saturday Working day for September 21 Observance
Sep 21 Monday Special non-working day National holiday
Sep 22 Tuesday Independence Day National holiday
Sep 23 Wednesday September equinox Season
Oct 25 Sunday Daylight Saving Time ends Clock change/Daylight Saving Time
Nov 1 Sunday Revival Day Observance
Dec 12 Saturday Working day for December 31 Observance
Dec 22 Tuesday December Solstice Season
Dec 24 Thursday Christmas Eve National holiday
Dec 25 Friday Christmas Day National holiday
Dec 26 Saturday Second day of Christmas National holiday
Dec 31 Thursday New Year's Eve National holiday