Party time (unfortunately)!

I've been looking forward to Bulgaria for some time now. Things have been going well poker-wise for the last month and I felt on top of my game coming here.
The weekend started well when I won a satellite for the 550 side event on the first night I arrived and I felt good.
My table draw could have been better. Just one local and of the others there was only one I didn't recognise as a good player from previous tournaments. He was one to my left, more of him later.
The tournament couldn't have started worse for me. First hand utg, the local, opened for 175. I flatted in mp with JJ and 2 others called. Flop of T62 looked good for me and I raised his cbet, which he called. He then check-called my 80% pot bet on a 3 turn and lead the 9 river for 25% pot. The only hand that made sense to me here was 99 but i called anyway given the price I was getting and he showed 78. NH.
This took me down to 16.5 k from the starting stack of 20k. I grinded for the next few hours without making any real progress. The player to my left turned out to be the table fish that everyone was after, obviously totally unused to playing live, limp calling all the time and generally being awful. The only hand of note that I played in the early levels came when he opened utg and got 2 callers. I reraised from BB with AQs, the 2 callers got out of the way and I won the pot on a raggy flop. This pot took me back up to about 18k, which as it turned out, was as good as it was going to get. I lost another 7k to the local when he raised and I made the call from BB with KJs. Flop of AJJ looked good but to cut a long story short, he called flop and turn with KTs and runner-runnered the flush. At 11k and the blinds at 400/800 I was getting into short-stack country. My opportunities were very limited, however, as most pots were opened before I could act and I blinded down to 8.5k before I made my move. A good Swedish player on a stack opened from mp to 2.5k and I shoved from the button with 66. He made the call with QJs and a J on the turn ended my tournament.
The rest of the team didn't get any luck either. Sandro went out in level 4, shoving AK from the BB, for 19k, after a raise and 2 callers. One of the callers made a hero-call with 99 and held. Dave departed after correctly putting his opponent on AK on a K high flop and playing his hand like a set, shoving the river for most of his opponents stack. Feargal grinded for hours without cards and shoved for 20k with KK after a raise and 2 callers to run into the AA of the or. Jamie went in the second level running JJJ into QQQ on the flop. Robbie went out on a Q high flop with AQ to Q7 in a reraised pre-flop pot. Lisbon winner Tim made day 2 but went out when he shoved 37k over a raiser with TT, only for the raiser to call with QT and make a straight.
We all went to the player party on Friday night but I can't remember anything at all about it!!
On Saturday I played in the 550 side-event. The structure, in direct contrast with main event, was essentially a turbo. 30 min clock and 5k stack. We really are spoiled in Ireland. I played well in this and thought at one stage that I would make the final table. With 12 left and 8 getting paid I opened from the CO with KQs and the chipleader shoved from the sb. If I fold I have 15k left at 1/2k blinds with a 2oo ante. His range is huge as he's been bullying lot's of raisers into folding so I made the call. I hit my K and he hit his 4 for 444. I win the race there and I ft for sure with a chance.
I'm not going to play any more poker on the trip. The weather is fantastic and I'm going to soak up a bit before I go home. The locals are friendly and welcoming food and drink are ridiculously cheap and this is a real party town. I'm surprised it hasn't been "discovered" yet by the young holiday crowd. Cheap booze and all-night music bars would make it a cheap holiday. Kinda like Spain 20 years ago.
The Irish Eyes crew are going out on the town together tonight. Could be interesting!!
The next EMOP is Barcelona and all the talk here is that it will break records for numbers. The biggest EMOP so far was Barcelona last year with 399 and 430 is confidently being predicted. We will have at least 20. If you want to join us and have a great weekend of poker and partying, satellites are running now on Irish Eyes Poker from €2. We will also be running live satellites around the country. It would be great if we could bring a team of 30 or more and turn Barcelona into a big Irish party.