On Monday we had Ben Leyden, yesterday we had Manhead, and for todays ‘Route One in Bulgaria’ interview, we have Sam Bruce!

Have yourself a read about what Sam made of her time in Bulgaria now, and keep checking back each day for thoughts on the trip from the rest of the crew.

What were your first thoughts upon arriving in Sofia? Was it wildly different to what you were expecting?

I’d never thought about going to Bulgaria before and therefore knew nothing about the place, apart from it being in Europe, leading me to believe it’d have the same vibe as any other place. So when we got out of the airport all I could see was mountains, I’d say first impressions were good. Then we started to drive and it quickly turned to something else.

It seemed as though we had stepped back in time. The trams and cars were old school, the buildings looked pretty run down and it was kind of picturesque at the same time. I was expecting it to be more up to date seeing as it was the capital, but it was far from it.

How did you find being the only girl skater on the tour? Was it hard work having to deal with a van full of aggravated males for the most part of a week?

Not at all! I’ve always said I get on better with guys than girls, and I definitely know how to join in with some aggravated banter. Abuse is my forte. When you’re a girl skater, you’re surrounded by guys, so you just get used to it. I find it great ’cause they push you harder.

Top three tricks of the trip?

1 – Makepeace ollie-ing the rail because it was gnarly! The run up was shitty and he managed to pull it off, but as a consequence he ended up pissing out pints of blood!

2 – Manhead kickflipping the grass gap at the Monument, because it was pretty big and the run up and landing was just covered in glass with the odd puddle of underaged kids beer ridden puke.

3 – Leyden skating street.

Top five most memorable experiences of the trip?

1 – Firstly; not getting over the fact that in Bulgaria, nodding your head means no, and shaking your head means yes! Although someone told me before we left, it’s still hard to get your head round it. Every time we asked for something they would shake their heads and I just thought they were being c**ts… My bad. I soon got in to it though. Phrase of the tour. (How it sounds) Casovobaleshka ma: Receipt please.

2 – Rye and I were on a mission to find somewhere to go and party, so after taking a wonder, managed to find a couple who looked pretty cool. Leather jackets and all, the woman even looked like Cher! She asked what music we were in to, and I replied with rock. ”Ah, we know a really good rock bar, we take you there”. We walked through a really dodgy looking estate, and went in to the basement of this run down building. At this point, I thought they were going to butcher us. As soon as we got in all I could hear was “Mambo Number 5” playing. That was well hardcore…Thankfully I got ID’d, and with nothing on me, we had to leave!

3 – After that we headed back to the hostel and met up with Lynners and Avid. Avid and I were still on the hunt for beer and managed to pop across the way to a shop staffed by woman who had been dancing and singing in her underwear, before slipping something on to serve us! Stoked!

4 – When the whole team was seated for a nice civilised meal, you could hear the odd thud on the roof, then before you know it, a tree comes crashing through the roof… This was due to the heavy thunderstorm the night before, and the guys on the roof – experienced tree surgeons I’m guessing – were trying to fix it somehow…It was time to leave.

5 – When we went street skating, Amir was trying to ollie this massive set of stairs, finally security were called and being out of order to Amir. I think one of them assaulted him in some way. Then before you knew it, pacifist Amir was off, with security following us off premises. One of our Bulgarian friends managed to catch a bit of their conversations and said that the security said they were ‘going to beat the shit of him’. We drove a little down town and picked Amir up, at this point he had ditched his shoes and shirt and we managed to make it back to our hostel in one piece.

Most memorable Amir lyric?

He only spoke in rhymes. He’s the modern age Bible.