Bulgaria: January 2018
An early morning flight to Newark (EWR), made at least semi-decent by an exit row seat and the fact that a hot meal has been brought back to transcontinental flights. Plus, takeoff was right around sunrise, which, when combined with the morning fog, made for a beautiful view.
Decided to splurge at the over-hyped "Classified" at EWR for lunch. Tucked in behind Saison, the lobster was actually pretty good and the cabbage wasn't bad. The fancy Bloody Mary was a little too fancy with its foot-high celery stalk, but the views of the tarmac were nice. Keep in mind this is still airport food in terms of quality and price, which means I'm really not sure I could justify going back. Even the ambiance... let's just say when the "secret" restaurant entrance is right next the bathrooms, something is left to be desired.
Two last minute aircraft substitutions lead to some seating PITA's, but it worked out in the end, so long as you don't mind your ice cream sundae served in a paper cup. And the flight from Newark to Munich isn't all that long, although the early morning arrival meant both a disappointing airplane breakfast and almost as disappointing snack at the terminal in MUC (clearly not Lufthansa's A-game?). At least the shower rooms at MUC were very nice.
A few hours later, the flight to Sofia was mostly empty. Hard seats, short seat cushions, cramped leg room... was hoping European airlines would be better, but apparently not?