I ride the elevator up to the top floor of the hotel, a cool breeze hitting me from an open doorway leading the stairwell balcony. Leaning against the railings, I soak in the remnants of the breeze, the afternoon sun sitting overhead, the thermometer climbing to 33°C as Summer strikes in full swing. Looking around the small, tiled balcony, I notice a hatchway in the ceiling. An irresistible adventure sits waiting for me… An unattended ladder and no warning signs. Never one to waste a view, I make my ascent.

I climb up to the enclosed rooftop of the hotel. Air conditioning units and grated ducts litter the surroundings. Air vents releasing plumes of steam, silver vent pipes running across the floor. Generators whir with life, hotel guests in constant demand. I bush past the machinery and across to the edge of the walled roof, gravel crunching beneath my sandals. I look out across the rolling hillside stretched out in front of me. The coastal town of Sveti Vlas, Bulgaria, sits to my East, nestled on the southern slopes of the Balkan Mountains, the Ortoto National Park stretching out to the North. Picturesque houses of orange and red paint dot the scene, red rooftops reaching a bright blue sky, a picture-perfect postcard in real time.

The scraping rattle of metal being dragged fills the air; the clunking of a ladder being taken away. I rush back over to the open hatchway, calling down to the floor below. A bemused Bulgarian workman appears in the opening, a tin of white gloss in his hands, a newspaper underneath the arms of his paint-covered overalls. Pressure takes her advantage, and I blurt out the first thing that comes to mind.

“Sorry, I got lost… Can I borrow your ladder?”.

Hotel security didn’t believe me either.

Only Happy Days.

~ A ~