Croatia..then...Goodbye Europe!

Stick a fork in me. I’m done. I’ve hit my travel wall, and while my full adventure plans had potentially included Scotland in early September and Oktoberfest in Munich in mid-late September, I had always wondered if I’d make it that far. As I was making plans, and reservations, back in the spring, I had made a point of trying to make accommodations that could be canceled free of charge. There was something in the back of my mind, even then, that was telling me that 3 ½ months of travel might just be a little too much. And I’m definitely feeling that now. It’s been an absolutely phenomenal “vacation” - so many memories, tons of great times I’ll be able to reflect upon once home, and a trip that will be etched in my brain forever. But, like the expression goes…all good things must come to an end. Must they? Well, at least in this case, that old adage does hold true.

While in Bavaria - a couple weeks back - I contemplated heading home. Then, again in Austria, I wondered. But…I continued to have fun, and I continued to enjoy where I was and what I was doing. So, I forged ahead. Then came Croatia - Dubrovnik and the island of Lopud - and I still vacillated between wanting to stay and wanting to go. It was finally last Tuesday, after a long hike on Lopud, that I made the call. I was sitting on the balcony of my hotel room, looking out at the Adriatic, reading up on Scotland, trying to figure out where to go next, what to see and where to stay once I got there. And I just didn’t find myself getting excited. I didn’t have that feeling of anticipation and the thrill of going to a new place like I’d had earlier in the trip. So, it was at that moment that the decision felt like an easy one. I figured, “If you’re not looking forward to what’s next, then why are you doing it?” I made the call and began rebooking my plans for home.

At the moment I’m back in Wangen, Germany, once again staying with the Schmidts and once again enjoying morning cappuccinos, afternoon beers, views of the picturesque countryside out the big picture window, and the fun of hanging out with my Aussie friends. I always intended to circle back here because I had left behind my huge suitcase, wanting to travel light as I made my way through Austria, Croatia and possibly Scotland. It’s definitely not a bad place to hang out for a long weekend, and not a bad place to finish up my trip and wind down a bit before making the long journey home. I arrived here Thursday night and I’ll be setting off for Minnesota - via Frankfurt - tomorrow (Monday) morning at 9:00.

Not only have I had time to wind down, but I’ve also had a fair amount of fun these past few days. Again, a really pretty great way to finish off my trip. On Friday I took an extra long bike ride through the Bavarian countryside, south and east of Starnberg Lake, making plenty of stops to feed my belly and my soul, eating and drinking things that I either won’t be able to find back home or that just won’t be the same. I stopped for a cappuccino in the morning. Then, admittedly (but dammit I just wanted it!), a heavy lunch of roast pork, dumplings, sweet cabbage and two weissbiers on a terrace overlooking the lake. Finally, I rewarded myself after a long climb with some kaffee and kuchen, at a little cafe on the way back to Wangen. Apricot cake and a cappuccino, to be exact. Lovely. All was good in what proved to be another great ride in Bavaria. (I’ve really only had great rides in Bavaria, and this one was no different.)

That night the fun continued as the Schmidts and I went to the lake to meet friends and to celebrate the birthday of Pam, the senior school librarian at MIS. Just terrific hanging out with awesome new(ish) friends of mine - Pam and her husband Andy - and an awesome time seeing some people I hadn’t seen in a couple of years, meeting some new, great people, and having fun with others I’d already had the pleasure of seeing while here. Then…last night proved to be another fun one. This time in Munich. I took the train in and met Hans, Helen, Matt, Madison, Sean and a few others from school at something called Munich Irish Nights, outdoors in the center of the city at Rindermarkt near Marienplatz. The Guinness was flowing. And Irish music was pumping. It was good to be back in the city, having fun at a music festival with good friends. And of course I had to go to the nearby Vinzenzmurr for one last Leberkäse sandwich. Yum!

So, Munich and my final days aside, I need to catch up on my week in Croatia…

Coming off of my time in Austria - hiking and yodeling in the Alps for four days - I was feeling refreshed and energized, but like I mentioned in my previous post, I was also feeling quite lonely. Solo travel is a fairly new concept for me. I’ve done a few camping trips alone and I did some short solo traveling while living in Germany two years ago, but extended time alone, in new places, discovering new things, trying to have fun for days at a time is a novel concept for me. I had spurts of it in Spain - going to Salamanca for three days and a bit of time here and there in Madrid once the family kind of went its separate ways, and I’d had some time in Wangen alone prior to the Schmidt’s return from Turkey. So already on this trip I had experienced a fair amount of alone time. But…being alone in Austria, in a pretty sleepy place, without any other single travelers I could find, didn’t always feel the greatest. So, heading off to Croatia, knowing I’d essentially be alone for another week, honestly made me a bit anxious.

My first two days in Croatia were spent in the ancient walled city by the sea of Dubrovnik - think Kings Landing for any of you Game of Thrones fans. (The “shame steps” were one of my first stops.) Truth be told, I almost immediately didn’t really like Dubrovnik. As I said, it’s a walled city, with just 3-4 old “gates” permitting entrance into the city, and at one of the busiest gates there’s an actual entry line and exit line. To get into the city! Like it was all just one big tourist attraction. Old Europe in Disneyworld form. I was told that very few people live in the old town of Dubrovnik anymore, and that rather almost all the apartments have been turned into Air BNBs or vacation rentals. You feel it. The city is swarming with tourists, not just those staying overnight like me, but the thousands that disembark from cruise ships every day and flood the city. The old town, don’t get me wrong, is beautiful and a sight to behold. It’s just that, for my money, I don’t love visiting a foreign country and then finding myself shoulder to shoulder only with other tourists, an actual cultural experience nary to be found. The fact that I was also staying in an AirBNB didn’t help. - - - Here’s my rant about AirBNBs. For the most part on this trip, I have kind of despised them. Many of the ones we’ve stayed at have been dark, somewhat windowless places, and I just really don’t love the impersonal, isolated feeling I get when staying at one. I more often than not would rather be at a hotel, or a guesthouse, or a place where I’m going to be taken care of, where I can chat with the employees, maybe meet other guests, where I can spread out in the lounge, or the bar, or the rooftop terrace. And, where I have a freaking window looking out to the place I paid all this money to visit!  (Fist raised in the air - “Damn you, AirBNBs!”) OK. Crazy, uptight traveler rant over. - - -  AirBNBs, I feel, are also terrible for solo travel. While in Dubrovnik, again I felt the loneliness. There I was, in my apartment, alone. No one to chat with. No lounge or lobby or breakfast room to hang out in and meet people. Just me and my couch and my Croatian beers. But, make the best of my time in Dubrovnik I did. During my only full day in the city, I spent my time walking the city walls and lounging at a beach about a 30-minute walk from the old town. Good day all around, but, honestly, by the next morning I was ready to leave.

The next five days were spent on the beautiful, smallish, car-free Croatian island of Lopud. Fantastic experience! Mostly, because I finally met some people. Yay!!! While on the 90-minute ferry to the island I just basically told myself, “You’re not going to be lonely for the next five days. You’re going to talk to people, dammit.” So, talk to people on the ferry, I did. I met Dimmy, a young doctor from London who was traveling while on sabbatical and who will finish her travels with a 6-month residency in Australia before returning to her home in the UK. And I met Nikki, a solo wanderer like me, from Düsseldorf, Germany who was day-tripping it to Lopud while spending a week at a family flat outside of Dubrovnik. Conversation. With other humans. What a concept! It felt terrific. My time on Lopud was filled with - thank God - conversation and time spent with many fun, new acquaintances. There were Pete from North Carolina and Angus from Bristol, England who were strangers but who were rooming together at my guesthouse as both had signed up for the same “Kayak the Croatian Islands” tour. There was Ivana, a Croatian journalist from Zagreb, who was solo traveling to a couple different islands and who would later meet up with friends on the mainland before returning home. There were the many, many super friendly employees at the guesthouse - partners Francesco and Andrea from Mexico, Slava from Croatia, “grandma,” who’s been running the place for decades, and a slew of grandma’s grandkids who come to the island to work each summer season. There was Alba, a Croatian national champion canoeist and kayaker who was leading Pete and Angus’ kayak tour, and with whom I had the pleasure of meeting over dinner one night. There was Noriko, a Swedish social worker by way of Japan, who I met over breakfast on my final - and her first - morning on the island. She, like me, was traveling solo and was also worried about feeling lonely. Too bad our time on Lopud didn’t overlap a little bit more. And, finally, there were Marek and his girlfriend (forgot her name), from Prague, who were also staying at the guesthouse but with whom I didn’t talk much until we ended up sharing an hour-long Uber from the ferry terminal to the airport on our way out of the country. I can’t say I have the whole “solo travel” thing figured out - not by a long shot - but I did learn that staying in Air BNBs or in sleepy, little Austrian villages aren’t great for the single traveler, but staying at beach-side, smallish, eat-breakfast-in-close-quarters, family-run places in Croatia are. Would this hold up in a peer-reviewed, academic study? Maybe, maybe not. But, to do it again, I like my odds at the beach-front, family place in Croatia.

There’s no need to really chronicle each day on the island, because, honestly, each day kind of just drifted into the next. Beach time. Swimming. Beer drinking. Pizza eating. Hiking. Running. Hanging out. Sleeping late in my sweet, little room. So, instead I’ll touch on the highlights.

One was the guesthouse. It goes by different names for some reason, but I knew it as Apartmani Tereza. It was this 6-8 room place, about 30 steps up the hill from the sea, run by the aforementioned Croatian family, with grandma as the matriarch. My room, with a large balcony, had the most amazing view out to the sea and the long, crescent-shaped boardwalk of the village below me. Breakfasts each morning were these huge monstrosities that kept me satiated until well into the afternoon - eggs from the family chickens, bread, meat, cheese, butter, jam, fruit, crepes, coffee and juice. Often I’d linger for an hour at a time, not only because there was so much damn food to eat, but because there were always other guests or guest house family members to talk with. The place was everything I needed - a lucky find on an island recommended to me by my friend, Lynne, from my time in Germany. Solid, solid experience.

Another highlight was time spent with Pete, Angus and Ivana. After a hard day of paddling for Pete and Angus, and a long day of lounging for Ivana and me, the four of us spent our evenings together, mostly on the guesthouse terrace, mostly shooting the breeze and having lots of laughs, and mostly drinking lots and lots of Ožujsko beer into the wee hours of the morning. It was fantastic fun. Fun except for the mosquitoes whose bites were undetectable in the moment but which caused dozens of itchy, red bumps all over my ankles and feet the following days. On our group’s last night together we met kayak instructor Alba for dinner in the village and rather than going back to the terrace for drinks, we stayed out late at a beachside bar followed by a very early morning, moonlight swim. Great last night. What a gift to have met the three of them on Lopud!

A final highlight on the island was actually more of a lowlight, but definitely a good story to tell now that the experience is behind me. It involved the beach, a half-drunk can of beer, a hornet, and my tongue. While on Sunj beach, during my first afternoon on Lopud, I was chilling in a lounge chair, enjoying the surroundings, when I innocently put my open can of beer to my lips. A chug of Karlovačko in my mouth and quickly something felt amiss. Besides beer, there was something else in my mouth. “What could it be?” I wondered for a stupid second or two. Then, of course, it dawned on me. Hornet!!! But, before I could spit-take the thing out of my mouth, I felt the stings. Several of them. Shit!!! Almost immediately the pain became unbearable. I bothered the young bartender to my right for a cup of ice, and then chewed. “I’ll be alright,” I thought. I’ll suck on some ice. That’ll keep the swelling down. And in no time I’ll be drinking another - this time hornet-free - beer. More ice. I tried - like all real men do - to walk it off. I took a swim. But in the surf, with my tongue on fire, I kind of realized, “This could be serious.” My tongue was swelling something fierce, and I was having a hard time swallowing. I started to get scared.

So, I made the call. I gathered my stuff, then fled the beach. Mind you, the beach was a good 30-minute walk from the village, but thank God, there were golf carts that shuttled people back and forth from the beach to the village. I hopped in one and my driver took off. I didn’t know exactly where I’d be going once I got back to the village. A Google search showed me there were no pharmacies on the island in which to buy Benadryl or something similar, but I did see a red cross sign for a doctor’s office. A knock on the door revealed the office was closed. It was a Saturday, afterall. So back to the guest house I went where I saw Slava hanging up the laundry. She had no English. Of course I have no Croatian. But we managed somehow to communicate and she rang for Francesco, who spoke English and who was able to come over and assist. In the end, after many phone calls, they were able to track down the only doctor - and so it was, also a beach-bar owner - on the island who met Francesco and me back at the same office I’d tried an hour earlier. He was this cool kind of Croatian doctor guy who seemed to be living a pretty chill life on Lopud and who demanded only a fist-bump after Francesco asked him what sort of payment I owed after the antihistamine/steroid shot he had given me in my ass. Back in my room, antihistamine coursing through my veins, my tongue still throbbing, I finally did have that other beer and then fell asleep around 7:00. A fateful first day on Lopud.

Alright. That’s a wrap. That’s all she wrote. I could go on and write about the “Best of the Trip” highlights, but, nah, nobody needs that. The highlights are all there, in past posts, to read and relish for years to come. I’ll just end by saying - it was definitely a trip. Damn, was it a trip. I’ve never been on a vacation for this long before in my life - 11 plus weeks. Not sure I’ll ever do it again. Well, not in this form anyway. But, damn I’m glad I did it. I can’t honestly wait to get home, gain some perspective, and then laugh about all the crazy crap that happened along the way. And feel intense gratitude for all the time I was able to spend with people I love. It’s the people, for damn sure, that made the trip what it was. Family. Friends. And new friends. I met some amazing, amazing, interesting, kind, full-of-life, beautiful, lovely, fun people on this trip. I feel so lucky. If any of you are reading this, let’s please, please stay in touch!!! You met me, so now you’re in my life forever. Sorry, didn’t I tell you that was part of the deal when we met? Oh well. Too bad for you!

What’s next? Not sure. I am the type to start planning the next vacation before the current one is over, but this time I really need to give myself a break. I’ll get back and start figuring out what’s next for me in life. I’ll probably start a cursory search for jobs. I might look into graduate programs. I’ll probably reopen my teaching file with an international teacher recruiter. I’ll hopefully do a lot of writing. I’m going to see my family. And I’m going to get together with you! Yes, you, dear reader! If you’ve made it this far, you’re truly someone I cannot wait to see once I’m back. So, drop me a line. Let’s make it happen. Thanks for reading, and here’s to the future. Yours and mine!