Star Trek: Beyond is now in theatres and after much hemming and hawing, I’ve decided I need to see it in theatres even if I know I’m going to be disappointed by it. 😀 I had quite a lot of research to do, though, to determine that seeing it in a Bulgarian theatre was feasible.

First, I trolled a bunch of travel forums to learn that films in Bulgaria are subtitled. So like in Mexico, I could enjoy a movie in English.

Next, I had to determine if getting to a cinema on a day trip would be feasible. I did a search for “kino sofia” (кино софия) and got a list of cinemas. I picked the IMAX theatre at the Mall of Sofia because I had a rough idea of where it is and that it would be convenient to get to from the bus station and have grocery stores between the two.

On their website, I assumed that “Star Trek” wouldn’t be translated and so I typed “стар” into the search box, the Cyrillic phonetic spelling for star. I didn’t have to go any further because this pop up appeared:

This page confirmed that the movie is in English (английски) and that it started on July 22nd. In the drop down menus below, I selected IMAX Sofia, 3D performance, the date (July 28th), and then looked at the times. 12:30 would be perfect!

Then, I had to figure out how to get to Sofia and back! This was the biggest challenge. I cobbled together a rough bus schedule from a number of sources. In an absolute best case scenario tomorrow morning, I will leave here around 6:40AM to get to the junction by 7:00AM to hopefully catch the Teteven-Sofia bus something before 7:00 and 7:30. Worst case, I will have to walk to Yablanitsa to arrive by 8:00AM and then catch the first of numerous buses to Sofia. If I get offered a lift to Yablanitsa before the Teteven bus is due to pass, I’m taking it!

That would get me to Sofia by 10:00AM at the latest, giving me time to walk to the Mall of Sofia by way of a few places whose interiors I wanted to visit, grab an early lunch, and find the theatre.

According to the information above, the movie is two hours long, so, counting previews, I should be out of there by 3:00PM. That would give me just enough time to get a few groceries before grabbing the 4:00PM bus to Teteven that would let me off at the junction. Miss that one and I have a couple of buses to Yablanista I can take. Worst case for that scenario, I can’t get the taxi or a lift and I have to walk all the way home. So I’d be home between 6:00PM and 8:00PM.

Will I succeed in my mission? Check back this time tomorrow. I suspect that since I’ve been getting up around 8:00, getting up by 5:30AM so I have time to walk the dogs will be the hardest part of the day!