Portable Yachting...

I'm sure by now you've noticed that all the crew members have numbers associated to them. Their English was good but we couldn't understand them at all when they told us their names...I still don't know #3's name. So, being the nice Americans that we were, just decided to number them so we at least knew who we were talking about. Terrible...but useful. :)

After a couple of hours of driving through the islands on Sunday morning, #2 stopped the boat and #1 tied us to the shore in a beautiful little bay just off of the island of Hvar.



The island was made up of only a single bar named Carpe Diem... What a brilliant idea to put your loud dance club on an island off of your main land!



Our neighbors...



It was our first real day of the vacation so we were still learning the schedule and the crew was learning what was important to us...floating in our "portable yachts" (ie the $5 blow up rafts that we bought) and sampling the finest Croatian beer and wine.



By the end of the trip we all had it down to a science. Eat breakfast, nap, cruise for a couple of hours, nap, serve breakfast again for those that just woke up, park & "portable yacht" in a bay, (#2 would even tie a rope to the side so that we wouldn't drift too far away from the Gardelin because God forbid we use our arms to swim back) nap, eat lunch, nap, drive the boat to a city and park, nap, walk around and have dinner on land, enjoy some cocktails, then back to the boat for more festivities and maybe just a bit of sleep. You'd think that doing that same thing for 7 days would get old....nope....it didn't!

Lost in Translation

After a night of long islands (and some severe jet lag) we woke up on Saturday morning a little worse for ware. Luckily we were able to rally because we had a "yacht" to catch! OK... maybe it was the pizza and ice cream we had for breakfast that really did the trick but we really were extremely excited to get on the boat.



This was Hillary's way of "icing" her lips post flame incident the night before...



Anyways...back to finding our yacht... Joanna received a text message from the boat company the night before saying something to the effect of, "If you'd like to catch the boat at 9am instead of 1pm, that would be fine." Knowing that we still had 5 more people from our group to meet and we'd already told everyone to be at the port at 1pm, we responded, "Thanks but no thanks." They explained that they understood but there was a possibility that the port in Dubrovnik could fill up by that time. Should that happen, we would need to meet them at another port. That was all totally fine with us. There are two ports in the city and we assumed that they meant we'd be just going to the other one 10 minutes away.

Well, fast forward to 15 people in a 15 passenger bus with 15 large bags lining the aisles, we thought we were off to the next port down the road. After about 20 minutes of driving in what we knew was the wrong direction, we asked the driver how long until we got there. "Two and a half hours." Ummmm WHAT!?! Everyone freaked out and even at one point thought that we were on the wrong bus. Thank goodness for cell phones that work internationally because, although we couldn't understand the boat owner's or bus driver's English, we patched them through to each other on our phone and they discussed. Yep...the driver was right, we were going two and a half hours north. Why?...we weren't sure yet.

Joanna gives the situation a big "thumbs down".... Notice the bags piled up in the back and in the aisles.



The drive along the coast through the mountains and vineyards really was beautiful but the mood of the group was one of frustration and panic, along with a bit of car sickness. Not good. Jimmy had his portable speakers with though so, with the flick of a switch, nearly everyone was singing along to some horribly awesome 90's rap music and hoping for the best. With moods beginning to lift, the hamster starting running on the wheel again and Chris (Duffy) asked the driver to stop for some beers. Like any crabby baby that can be soothed by a bottle, our group responded in kind to a different kind of bottle. "Dad" saved the day and all was back on track...for the time being.



After a couple of hours we finally made it to the boat...or so we thought. It turned out that we now had to take a ferry to get to the city where our boat was docked.

The ferry...



The ferry churned up the most beautiful color of water...



Two of the crew members were there to meet us at the ferry and of course our first question was, "what in the heck is going on and why are we here?" The captain, Robbie (#2), gave us about 7 different excuses as to why this happened. None of which made sense. Still feeling a bit weary as to what this trip was really going to be made of, we got off the ferry to then take a dingy to our boat. This process also took a while as well since only 3 people/bags could fit at a time.



As if things couldn't have gotten any worse, we then find out that they weren't taking us to a port where the other beautiful sailboats and yachts were docked...they were taking us to a SHIP YARD. Nothing says "great vacation" like your boat clearly broken and parked next to giant crane and an ice breaker named "Iceborg." Picturesque.





After the long journey, Deann, Dohmen and Hillary were extremely happy to finally be on the boat!



We were eventually told by Alen (#1) that the Gardelin's engine was broken (obviously) and they hoped that we'd be on our way the next day. They did what they could to keep us happy in the mean time though. Damir (#4) took us over to the beach in a dingy, #3 whipped up an awesome dinner, and we then took a water taxi into the city for a night out at the bars in Korcula. We definitely managed to have a great time! The island city was small so we just wandered until we found a bar that was actually on top of a castle/pillar. If we would have been in the States, we would have had to sign about 5 wavers before being allowed to climb the ladder to the bar. It was literally straight up about 15 steps and then you had to climb through a little hole. Going up...great. Coming down post cocktails...down right dangerous.




The view from the top of the castle bar...



We all survived and later headed back to the boat. I assumed that the Gardelin would be the party boat of the area but we returned only to find a drunk and naked Russian singing on the top of his lungs running around the top of the Iceborg. Apparently there are perks to sleeping in a ship yard. ;)

Bright and early on Sunday morning we woke to the creaking and bone chilling scraping of the crane starting work. It was like 100 kids scraping their fingernails on a chalkboard at the same time. (Not the the type of crane I had really planned on waking up to.) Luckily the next sound we heard was the rumble of our engine firing up. We were off on our way to the island of Hvar and finally getting the trip we had planned on! Not a bad way to start your day! Nope...not bad at all...

Getting to Croatia... Dubrovnik day 1

A driver came to pick us up extremely early on Friday morning to take us to Gatwick. Unfortunately the airport is around 45 minutes away so being tired, slightly hungover, and flying around corners in the back of a van for that length of time didn't make for a great start to the day.

Deann using my trusty pick during our long drive...



Traffic was less than we had anticipated so we were able to take our time and shop, eat breakfast and change currency. We were so busy "killing time" that, in the end, we actually almost missed our flight! Our run to the plane rivaled the Home Alone scene. Of course all of the escalators happened to be out of order that day too but we made it to the gate, albeit sweating profusely, and happily boarded the plane for our 2.5 hour flight.

Thank goodness I was on my way to vacation and my mood was great otherwise there may have been a report of two "lost" kids from a BA flight to Dubrovnik. The mother behind me had twins that proceeded to kick my seat and scream the entire time. I can't imagine what it would be like to try to keep two, two year olds happy on a flight but she had clearly given up. Trying to keep karma on my side for when that crazed mother is me, I kept my "turn and glares" through the seat crack to a minimum. :)

We landed in Dubrovnik right on time and the weather was amazing. Mid eighties and only a few clouds. FINALLY some summer! I was so excited to be there that I even took a picture of the airport. ha!



Our hotel had arranged two cabs for us so we hopped right in and ooh'd and ahh'd the entire way into old town. In very unlike Lara fashion, I had done ZERO research as to what Croatia was all about or what it even looked like. Having the surprise of dark blue waters along the mountainous terrain wasn't at all what I expected. It was simply stunning. And, even though the view through the car window wasn't perfect, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to take a few pictures. This was definitely the start of an amazing vacation!!



Our hotel inside of old town was really a collection of apartments all owned by the same woman. Old town is really beautiful with it's large squares and stone streets...but when you have a large suitcase, all you can really see are massive crowds and never ending stairs.



Finally at the top, I had to take the time to enjoy the view back to the bottom...



After a few beers and a few naps, we headed out for an awesome dinner at Gil's which is right on the old wall of the city. The weather was absolutely perfect and the sky was clear so we enjoyed both good food and a great view of the harbor from high up on the wall.





Joanna was very excited to make the first charge on her UK credit card...3 years in the making!



By the end of the meal I was exhausted but, what turned out to be a theme of the week, I tried my hardest to keep up with Joanna and my friends and ventured out to a city square filled with bars. It seemed to be a great idea at the time so we immediately ordered the 3 liter long island that we saw so many other people "enjoying."



The square was absolutely packed so we wound up talking to other tourists...and by talking I really mean decoding broken English. It was mostly a lot of smiling and nodding but overall everyone was really nice and we were all having a great time. So great in fact that my friend Hillary decided to try to keep up with the French guys at the next table. It started out with just lighting a glass full of brandy on fire and sniffing it. Well apparently using the glass got too boring and they told her they would just light the brandy in her mouth. I say "apparently" because I was at a different table and only realized what was going on when I looked over and saw her spitting flames.

You've gotta love technology because we got it all on film...


Click here for video posted on facebook

At about that time, we decided that we should probably call it a night. Playing with fire is all well and good but we had a boat to catch in the morning and figured we should save the third degree burns for another day....

Heading to London

Getting myself prepared to leave home for three weeks proved to be more of a challenge than I had anticipated. I've taken long trips before, but not while renting a home and owning two dogs. Never the less, after I got the bills prepaid, the mail stopped, the dogs' boarding settled, transportation to/from the airport booked, and bags packed, I was ecstatic to be on my way to London! I left the house very early on Wednesday morning (August 18th) and didn't get to Joanna's flat until 2pm on Thursday. However, once I stepped out of the taxi and onto her Notting Hill street, the hours of travel slipped out of my memory and I was ready to go and explore.

Going to London was really just a stepping stone on our way to Croatia. Thanks to my sister's amazing vacation planning skills, 15 of us would be meeting in Dubrovnik's port on Saturday to start a week long cruise throughout the islands in the Adriatic. Rough life we all lead, I know. Many of us had different flights on different days coming through different cities, but Courtney, Hillary and I all found our way through London and decided to start our holiday immediately! Joanna was still at work so the three of us headed down the street to a pub called the Prince Bonaparte to partake in some pints and fish & chips while we waited.



Maybe it was the beer effecting our extremely jet lagged bodies but we laughed and laughed for hours. We were definitely those "loud Americans" but, given that we were the only people in the pub, even I was able to relax and just have fun. (I've found out recently that I'm far too concerned with what other people think of me and if I could possibly be bothering them. It takes a LOT to get me upset but people being rude or inconsiderate sets me off. Anyways, I digress...)

After the pub we met up with Jo at another place for dinner and a few more drinks. We ran into some more of her friends and talked for a while but the lack of sleep finally took over. It was to be an early Friday morning getting to Gatwick for our flight to Croatia so I needed some major shuteye. We headed home, face planted into some pillows, and called it a night. We may have only made it a few blocks away from her flat, but a night in London is always a great night!

My Sabbatical... Not working = Not overrated

I've always known that I work for a great company. But during the last couple of weeks I've never loved Centro more! When I started my job five years ago, they told me that, after I finished my 4th year with the company, they'd offer me a three week sabbatical on top of my allotted vacation days. This sabbatical was to be used all at one time and hopefully allow me to truly get away from work. In other words, recharge my batteries. It's hard to believe how quickly those five years went flying by but here I am, sitting on my mom's couch, enjoying the last week of that sabbatical, trying to write down all of my memories of the past days before my brain loses everything and goes back into "work" mode.

Here goes...