Croatia

As I sit on the floor, alone, in a flat in London, I am realizing the significance of the past five weeks. I traveled alone, but I was never alone. I think in backpacker traveling you have to either try pretty hard, or be an asshole if you want to be alone. I instead met wonderful people from around the world to share my experiences with. My days and nights were packed with newness and excitement, so much of it that two days ago felt like a year ago, yet I still can't believe how quickly the time has passed.

But this blog is not meant to be an insight into the psyche of a backpacker. This entry is to tell you about my time in Split, Croatia!

Emma and I traveled together from Vienna to Split. We had to take one 6 hour day train that left at 4pm, and a 6 hour night train that arrived in Split at 7:15am. God I hate night trains. We even spent 22 euros extra for a sleeper car, but I felt like I was in a coffin. I was on the top of a three story bunk with the ceiling 2 feet from my face. I suppose it is better than sitting straight up afraid your bags will be stolen during the night though.

We arrived in Split on the 4th of July. We stayed at a small little hostel, and I told everyone before leaving for the beach that day that there was going to be a 4th of July party on the roof at 8pm. Emma is so sweet, she was just as excited about throwing a party for this American holiday as I was, even though she is Swedish. That evening we cooked hamburgers, corn on the cob and ate watermelon. People asked if they should bring anything, and I told them beer, because 4th of July celebrations always have a lot of beer. Those Europeans/Aussies came through that night. I think we ended up with about 15 2 liter bottles of beer (yes, they sell beer in 2 liter bottles in Croatia). It was a tremendous success, and people at the hostel talked about the celebration for days to come. I was the only American there, and I think that is the first time that has happened to me on the trip. It was nice to be the only one, especially on America day.

The next day I went biking with two Swedish boys. I think the Swedes are my new favorite nationality. Sorry Irish.... I've met quite a few Swedes this trip, and every one of them is kind, down to Earth, friendly and just lovely. I recall being in a group of 5 or so Swedes, and instead of talking Swedish, they spoke in English purely for my sake. Anyway, we went biking through Park Forest Marjan. It is a park on a peninsula on the west side of Split. It isn't very big, but it had nice beaches and mountains. It actually reminded me a lot of Big Sur in California. Half way in the Swedes made me ride up a hill for a long time. That sucked, but I suppose it is worth is when you reach the top and see the view.

The next day Emma, two Spaniards a Canadian guy and myself all took the ferry over to the Island of Broc. Broc is known for the beach of Bol, supposedly the most beautiful beach in Croatia. So we bought tickets, were walking to the ferry, and it pulled out right as we were walking up!! Ok, so we go to the beach and kill an hour and a half waiting for the next one. We finally made it and got over to Broc. We were immediately bombarded with asshole taxi drivers trying to rip us off to drive us to the beach. We actually ended up renting our own car, which ended up being cheaper than had we taken a taxi or even rode the bus! It was even a convertible! So we drive to Bol and lay on the beach some more. I get even more sunburned...

The sun here is so hot, and bright, and burning. It doesn't matter how much sun screen I apply, I think much of my time in Croatia was spent trying to outsmart the sun. The Spaniards told me to get burned one day and then I am brown the next, but I don't think that applies to people as white as myself. That night we had a really good dinner and I somehow ended up at a really shitty club at 2am wanting to shoot myself.

The next day Emma and I spent at the beach. Then in the evening we met up with some of our hostel friends and cooked dinner. It was nice, we all did a cheers to eachother. We had Sweden, England, Spain, Canada, and America represented at that table. I don't know, it's weird, but I know that I am not the only one with this opinion. With this style of traveling, 50% of the joy comes from seeing a new and exciting country, and the other 50% comes from meeting interesting people from all over the world. I mean, it would be great to meet locals too...but it's a little bit more difficult to do that when they are in real life, not on holiday.

I caught a flight this morning from Split to London....quite a long day of travel actually. I think the public transportation to get from London Luton airport to Drew and Amy's flat took longer than the actual flight across the continent. I'm sad to have left the East side, but I know I'll be back.

The Eastern European chapter of my trip has come to a close. Now I revisit normalcy in London at Drew and Amy's for two nights, before heading over to Ireland, the last stop on my trip.