Cruising Along Croatia

Spending time with my extended family is one of my favorite activities.  I am so lucky to have been able to spend incredible moments from this year with two of my cousins and one of my aunts.  Caroline and I explored South East Asia this past May and had a blast.  A few months later, in early October, I was lucky enough to meet up with my aunt and cousin to explore Croatia, and it was awesome!

I feel incredibly lucky that I have such a wonderful relationship with Patti and Patrick.  Our traveling team has an incredible friendship and shared passion for traveling, exploring new places, meeting new people, and (some would say our favorite) taste testing regional cuisines and libations. 

 

Before our group adventures commence, we have a few simple questions we like to ask before making any firm plans. 

Have any of us visited the country previously?  Is the country/region safe? Do they have good food?  Do they have white wine?  Do they have enough white wine? 

We are simple travelers with simple needs.

We like food. A lot.

If the questions are answered to our liking, it is usually only a matter of minutes before we book our flights.  A few of our past international destinations include Argentina, Ireland, and China.  We were anxious to add a new region and more incredible memories to our repertoire.

As Patrick would be in the Balkans for work and I was just a short flight from the region, Patti got to work exploring our choices.  It was not long before the destination was chosen: Croatia.  

(Please Note: Patti is a 5 star travel agent!! More on this in a moment.)

Old City walls in Dubrovnik

I flew from Madrid to Barcelona and arrived in Dubrovnik a day before they were planning to arrive from Bosnia.  Luckily, I met a handful of fun travelers and had a great first night and following morning in the Old City.  Although we had fun briefly exploring the city, I was beyond anxious to meet up with Patti and Patrick. 

Statue outside of a chapel in Hvar

I arrived at our hotel the following afternoon and found a seat on the picturesque boulevard that ran alongside our hotel where I could wait and watch for them.   I was filled with so much excitement that every pair of people walking towards me made my heart skip a beat.   We had been planning our trip for many weeks, and I couldn’t wait for the fun to begin.  Can you tell I cherish our time together?

 

When they did arrive, it was awesome!  We all freaked out, and I’m sure we frightened more than a few onlookers.  Moments later we dropped our bags, grabbed our cameras and found a new table on the boulevard.  The white wine started flowing and the catching up began. 

It ended approximately ten days later.

Me and Patrick in Hvar

Our time together was perfect.  The breathtaking views, friendly local personalities, mouthwatering cuisine, hilarious moments, crazy nightlife and stunning weather didn’t hurt the experience either. 

The time together began in picture-perfect Dubrovnik and then we sauntered up the coast to Split to explore more regional cuisine and eventually make our way by ferry to Hvar, an island off of the coast. 

Why would we ever leave Hvar? 

Being able to explore at our leisure, we accidentally fell into love with Hvar and out of touch with the rest of the world.  Each morning we would casually wake up to one of the most stunning views I’ve ever seen, and over coffee we would decided that “Yes, we need another day here.”   After our difficult decision, I would skip down the stairs and inform the family running the bed and breakfast that we were not leaving… again.  

Endless delicious Croatian cuisine

Their response was always the same: a completely content (and contagious) Croatian attitude.  “Great to hear, now would you like to join us for some wine or cheese?”  Nothing was ever a problem, except their need for us to continuously consume more of their cheeses and homemade wines, which was a problem that we were happy to solve for them.  

Hvar Town

This experience would not have been as authentic or seamless without Patti’s dedicated work before our trip began.  She has the incredible ability of finding unique accommodations that land us in the middle of everything we could possibly want.  

Her combination of patience, meticulous attention to detail, tireless research, and deep desire for finding the most authentic and fiscally sound choice available to us makes her Travel Agent of the Century.  

I'm so lucky to have such an amazing aunt & friend.

From overlooking the Cathedral in the Old Town of Dubrovnik to having our own entire rooftop terrace and apartment above a winery in Hvar (that’s just two of the many!), the accommodations and locals we interacted with because of her hard work made our experience and time together beyond perfect.  

Dubrovnik Harbor

She made this trip happen and I was lucky enough to tag along.  If you have a chance to travel with her, and opt out, you’re crazy! 

Me and the owner of our B&B in Hvar 

Saying goodbye to Patti and Patrick in Split ten days after our adventure began was bittersweet, but seeing them in a few short weeks at Thanksgiving made parting a bit easier to handle. 

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We "Run BKK"...Sorta

Last Wednesday, April 30, I woke up at 4:00 AM and headed for the train station in Chiang Mai fully prepared to start the next chapter of my journey.  I was sad to say goodbye to Lolly for the third time, but I was beyond excited for her and her new apartment that we had moved her into the day before. 

Although I rode on a train in Ukraine a few years ago, I had never spent an entire day, or 15 hours to be exact, riding on one.  My destination was Bangkok to meet my cousin, Caroline, who was landing at 11:45 PM that night by way of Japan. 

 The train ride was uneventful with the exception of one unanticipated stop on the way.  For South East Asian transportation, this was miraculous.  I spent most of the morning reading, and when the batteries of my electronic reader were exhausted, I busied myself with staring out the window and trying to make new friends.  Given that there were only a handful of Thais scattered throughout my train car, staring out the window became the preferred activity of choice.  

The views were quite impressive, and I got to see parts of the countryside that most night buses do not afford their riders.  If you have 15 hours and find yourself in Chiang Mai trying to get to Bangkok for next to nothing, I would actually recommend the train - check out Seat 61's amazing guide to transportation and pricing options. If you have $65, and you don’t want to sweat on a train and stare out of the window, then you can take the 1.5 hour flight…whatever works.

            When we arrived at the Don Mueng airport in Bangkok at 9 PM, I used a little bit of the street smarts that I have acquired in Thailand along with a pinch of luck, and got myself on the exclusive tram that runs between the two international airports.  This free mode of transportation being reserved for paying passengers only, a rule that was enforced by a very strict, yet equally as disgruntled Thai guard, I felt quite proud of my sneaky accomplishment AKA creating a fake reservation.

          Around 11:30 PM I arrived at the proper airport and waited for Caroline to walk out from behind the international arrivals partition.  After holding my breath while watching hundreds of Chinese tourists with guides holding colored flags, countless backpackers, and more than a few businessmen, I was starting to worry that she didn’t make her connecting flight leaving Japan.  I had no wifi to check one way or the other. Thankfully, she walked out at about 12:15 AM, and our Bangkok adventure official began!

            For those of you who have spent time in Bangkok, you know that our first stop had to be the infamous Khao San Road.  We soaked up the night life, and caught up over a liter of Chang while watching the craziness that was unfolding in the street – you can find a little bit of everything in Bangkok… We met some characters, but around 5 AM we were exhausted, so we took our backpacks, left the party scene, and headed to find a place to crash. 

            This trip marked Caroline’s first time in Thailand and my first experience spending time exclusively in Bangkok.  Suffice to say, we both learned a lot.  We adventured on foot, tuk tuk, metro, private boat (we accidentally chartered our own tour boat…seriously), and taxi and after three days reflected that each part of the city we had seen was truly unique from the rest of the city.  

Bangkok is enormous, busy, HOT, and at all hours of the day and night, teeming with activity. 

 

            In just a few short days we had visited the Grand Palace & Wat Phra Kaew, or the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, The Pavilion of Regalia, the Golden Buddha of Wat Traimit Wittayaram, seen The Grand Swing, stayed in three hostels, partied on Kao San Road twice, tasted the best Pad Thai ever, accidentally walked through a protest (seriously), drank out of a coconut, ate scorpion and some fried grub in hopes of getting a free night at our hostel, toured the city on the Chao Phraya River, visited a floating market, saw Soi Cowboy (if you don’t know what this is, you’re better off), and smelled more scents that I knew existed. 

            Best of all, we got to catch up with one another.  It was so much fun getting lost with Caroline in Bangkok, and when it was time for Jennifer to arrive on Sunday night, we were both ready to say goodbye to the City of Angels and hit the beaches of southern Thailand!

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