Travel Tips

What Time Will It Be Then?

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You find out about a great webinar and decide you want to register for it.  But you are traveling.  So you’re wondering, “Will I have to get up in the middle of the night to do this?”

Then you start to figure out the math with whatever tricks you’ve developed.  “I know that friends in San Francisco were 9 hours later when I was in Croatia.  But now I’m in Portugal, where my family in New Brunswick is only a 4 hour difference. But I’ll be in Cape Town when the webinar happens, so that’s the posted New York time, minus 3, plus 9, minus 1, plus 2…”

Admittedly, it’s not physics or even trigonometry.  But getting a time adjustment wrong can be frustrating, and can also cause miscommunications and lost opportunities. So it’s worth asking for help….from your phone of course.

Here are a couple ways that I have relied on my phone for assistance:

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Lisbon, Portugal

Algarve Adventures

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When three of us hopped into a rental car for a road trip, we didn’t know what we would see as we explored the southern region of Portugal known as the Algarve, but we knew that it would be a great 48 hour adventure.  (Actually, 47 hours and 50 minutes – making the most of a two day car rental!) We saw two very different coastlines, and stayed in two very different AirBnBs, and laughed and smiled a ton.

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Identity, Split, Croatia

Five Highs and Two Lows – Croatia (Part 2)

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In Part 1 of this post, I shared my picks for geographical heights, and even some descents, from my explorations of Split.

For Part 2, I thought I would share some emotional highs and lows from the experience of living in Split, Croatia for a month, which was also the first month of a full year of travel.

I have written about many highs already – islands, sailboats, the shipyard, Canadian Thanksgiving….  But here are a few more:

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Split, Croatia

Five Highs and Two Lows – Croatia (Part 1)

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When presented with something to climb, usually to get a stunning panoramic view, I am always keen.  Over many years, I have scrambled up large stones, navigated foot paths, conquered seemingly endless staircases, squeezed between inner domes and outer domes, put faith in wooden ladders and ropes, ridden small and large elevators (some with Art Deco interiors or digital displays; some randomly missing buttons on the console), and I even folded into a space pod at the Gateway Arch.

In Part 1 of this post, I am taking a moment to reflect on these physical heights that I discovered while in Croatia. I am throwing in some interesting lows as well, where we climbed down instead of up!

In the categories of best Hill, Fortress, Bell Tower, Oculus, Waterfall, Underground/Manmade, and Underground/Natural, here are my picks for Split, Croatia:

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Split, Croatia

Steel LEGO

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I remember playing with LEGO as a kid.  A lot.  I loved to create planes and spaceships because then you could run around the house waving them in the air as they ‘flew’.  And given how many towers I made, I doubt it was a surprise that I eventually studied both engineering and architecture.  I am captivated by how things are built: bridges, buildings, planes, ships. You know, the big things you can see and touch, like real life LEGO.

Here in Split, we had an opportunity to see the inner workings of the biggest shipyard in Croatia.  So I jumped at the chance! (Well, for those who read the post about the islands, you know that I had a boot on my foot, so don’t take the ‘jump’ part literally.)

Here are 7 reasons to take the tour:

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Split, Croatia

Island Time – Croatia

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One piece of repeated advice I have received about Split is to “visit the islands!”  So I did.

The only way to reach the islands is by boat* – ferry, catamaran, speed boat, sailboat, pirate ship (yes, one is available.)  You can’t just drive over a bridge when it suits you.  To visit an island means really engaging with the Adriatic Sea, and adapting your plans as boat schedules and nature see fit.  It’s a good way to practice living in the moment.

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Split, Croatia, Travel Tips

Sit Down, Power Up

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Have you enjoyed wandering around a city, only to suddenly realize that your phone is running out of juice?  Did you let it roam continuously looking for WiFi or seeking to pair with anything via Bluetooth?  Were you inspired to take a hundred photos?  Did you forget your portable charger, or forget to charge the portable charger?  No matter the reason, once the battery icon has turned red your heart seems to race a little as you wonder if you have enough to use a ride share app to get back to home base.

I’m here to say – just relax!  Go sit on a bench.

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Split, Croatia

One Restaurant, Three Attempts

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It all started when I misunderstood where the Uber app wanted us to stand to catch our ride.  We finally turned ourselves around, and the driver identified us as his likely missing tourists, and we connected.  That opened some communication between us during the ride, as he pretended to have rescued us.  After the usual back and forth about whether he grew up in Split, how the city has changed, and what additional jobs he had, he offered a restaurant suggestion.  I apparently wasn’t repeating it back to him correctly as I tried to search for it on my phone, to the point where he almost pulled over to write it down for us.  But again, we soon were on the same page.

First attempt:

On Saturday evening, we headed to Old Town and strolled over to Konoba Fetivi.  

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Ann’s news, wonderings, and wanderings