Croatia Preview

 Our hotel on the island of Hvar.  Right on the Adriatic; nice swimming once past the pebble beach.

 Zagreb city plaza at night.  The capital; a university town; many outdoor restaurants and parks.

A park across the street from our hotel in Zagreb.

Travel blog; a re-purposed website

                                                                 Sunset at Hvar.

This blog originally started as a place to record thoughts and experiences concerning my boat designing & building hobby.  As the years went by, the boats I built got increasing complex and expensive.  Completion of my 8th boat was about a $20K endeavor, and amateur-designed, home-built, wooden boats command very little resale value.  My current boat functions well; thus, I have no logical reason to part with it and build another.  Update: I am now building boat #13, but these more recent designs have all been row boats or kayaks which are much less expensive.  I love the challenge of design and building these nautical structures with all curved surfaces.  These are explained in a newer blog:  developable-surface-boat-designs.blogspot.com.

As a result, the time previously spent on planning for a possible new boat has now been re-directed to planning new vacations.  Today, with the internet, there is nothing a travel agent can do that you can't do yourself.  A trip can be customized to the price range, destinations, time allotment and pace that you desire.  You can explore accommodation alternatives, transportation schedules, local activities, whatever your interest.

After a career in the US military, living overseas for nine years and visiting many countries, Dawn and I did not do much traveling for several years after settling in Colorado.  Colorado itself was new to us.  Then we started a few years ago (2010) with trips to Victoria, B.C., Spain (Barcelona and Costa Bravo), Turks & Caicos (nothing but beach) and Hawaii (western Maui).  Next, we got more ambitious with separate trips to Costa Rica, Ecuador & Galapagos, Panama, and Belize.  Each trip proved to be a real adventure.  In Costa Rica, we rented a car and drove first to the coast for some snorkeling, then drove (narrow, winding roads) to the volcanic interior mountains for some zip-lining and hiking.  When in Ecuador, we had to do some quick shopping in Guayaquil when the airline lost Dawn's luggage; then it was on to a memorable snorkeling tour of the Galapagos islands.  In Panama we experienced the growth and prosperity of Panama City; revisited our old home and the ruins of Spanish forts on the Atlantic coast; and went snorkeling from remote Bocas del Toro. In Belize we swam with sharks and stingrays as the guide chummed with fish parts over the side of the boat near us.  Last Spring, I planned a September extended European trip for us.  At Christmas we went to the Yucatan in Mexico and swam (and hiked) in underground caves, "cenotes".

Our goal in Europe was to re-visit Dubrovnik, Croatia (first visited in 1990).  The history of the Balkan area is complex and worth studying.  Being able to see it and listen to the experiences of people living there made it come alive.  The first step in planning the trip was to book the international flights.  What I discovered was that substantial money could be saved by booking separately for each airline and flight.  Booking through one airline we were quoted about $7000 for airfare from Denver to Dubrovnik and return.  Booking through multiple airlines with added stops, the total cost was reduced by half.  Thus, we flew to Iceland and stayed there for 2 1/2 days; then we flew to Copenhagen and stayed for 3 days; then we flew to Zagreb and picked up a rental car.  For the next two weeks we wandered through Slovenia, made side trips into Austria and Italy, then re-entered Croatia and, after four more stops, arrived in Dubrovnik (made another side trip to Montenegro), and finally flew to Dublin, Ireland for a three-day visit before flying home.  Everything went absolutely perfectly.  We stayed in some four-star hotels and some simple B&B's; whatever placed us in the location where we wanted to be (usually within walking distance of the old city center or other attractions).  Most of the hotels were small; some with less than ten rooms. The roads were excellent.  The restaurants catered to my lactose-intolerance.  The ferry boats (3) were on time.  The costs were moderate.  It was attractive enough that I could see myself living there.  It felt like Germany except less expensive and with better weather.

Dawn says the "bar" has been set so high that future trips may not compare.  I've taken that as a challenge.  We are now scheduled for four weeks total to fly from Denver to Oslo; take a train over the mountains to Bergen; boat trip to the fjords; fly to Stockholm; overnight ferry (with cabin) to Helsinki; ferry to Tallin, Estonia; car rental for two weeks to wander south through Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania; fly from Vilnius to Berlin; and then fly back to Denver.  By careful planning, our flights from here to Oslo and Berlin back to Denver will be free, courtesy of frequent flyer miles. Our five-star hotel in Berlin will be inexpensive due to Expedia points accumulated (although I prefer Booking.com for Europe).  The Scandinavian cities are expensive, but much less so when you book hotels on the internet rather than through a travel agent.  The Baltic countries are a travel bargain.

We leave in late May.  As the trip progressed, I intended to use this site as a travel blog with photos but transferring photos from my iPad has proved difficult.  Instead, I'll update this site once we are back home.