MOI, IN AN HOURLY RATE MOTEL, NEVER? NEVER SAY NEVER... Pretravel day and DAY 1

Barely made it out of the office today.  I even forgot everything I had printed out so I could work from my trip.  Had to go to the office store to recreate it.  Very smart young clerk said “why don’t you use a luggage tag instead of a big laminate page”, duh? Ingenious idea - and it will fit in my wallet.  Good to get other people’s ideas and perspective (just a start to this trip, lots of new perspectives on this trip, just have to be open minded about it). 

The waitress at the Outback was so cheery and helpful, we left her a very generous tip.  It was her first day on the job, hopefully the enthusiasm will last.  

Got to the airport very early, as I had a crack of dawn flight.  This was going to be one very long day -- almost 30 hours to get to Zadar, Croatia..... And I had an antique with me -- a paper ticket.  Not many airlines fly to Croatia and to get there was a major feat, Delta had mailed me an actual old school paper ticket -- the only way I could fly into Split, Croatia and out of Rome, Italy.   The airline clerk didn't even know what to do with it when I handed it to him.  

On plane to NYC from Dallas there was a very nice couple from Fort Worth.  They own some taco restaurants.  They were very happy due to some beverages they had on the plane.  Good advice I got once --- don’t drink on a plane so you won’t feel it when you get there --  So water for me, please-- 24 hours traveling is always tough. 

In NYC, I got my last American turkey sandwich for the next 21 days.  Of all the trips overseas I have been on, this is the one type of food I wish they had.  Italian food in Italy is great but there is nothing like an American sandwich when you have been overseas for a long period of time.  

Very interesting people on plane with me, a Swiss farmer’s wife from Paris, Texas, and a couple from Marin County going to the Jazz Festivals in Italy on the coast.  Visiting with people make the long trips on planes so much more bearable.  Everyone has a story and some are very open about themselves (sometimes a little too much, I don't really need to know if you have bunions) and others are not.  It’s always intriguing to hear a good story.  

Very happy to get to Zurich, Switzerland.  I was in a complete daze.  The airport was vast and not many people there.  It was a little confusing, they had a shop called the “Zurich Hotel”.  Figured out it was a hotel, it’s in the name right? -- remember I was dazed.  It was a pay by the hour hotel.  This place gives new meaning to a flophouse -- very nice flophouse.  

My great grandmother operated boarding houses during the oilboom and supposedly changed sheets every few hours to accommodate the boarders.  I thought of her as I checked in for my 3 hour layover. 

They had communal bathrooms.  Great shower and then crawled into bed for a couple of hours with a wet head (will I catch cold? What would my momma say?  An hourly rate hotel and a wet head, what is this Southern Belle thinking?).  It was actually a great idea -- DFW, Atlanta, or Houston should have this.  

Woke up refreshed and ready to go.  I might not be a total wreck when I get there.  When I went through security again, they didn’t ask for my passport or even the boarding pass, strange.  The Zurich airport was very nice, but the people getting on the Croatian flights looked a little rough.  What was I getting into?  I had to remember I was going to a country that had seen a genocide and war in the last 20 years.  

The Split airport was a little small but not too small.  I knew when I picked up my luggage at baggage check, this was going to be a long trip (I packed too much.  My travel buddy is not that tolerant of “too much” and I always pack “too much” -- but I can pack it if I can pack/carry it, carry it I would, too much or not). I got our car in Split and had no problem putting him down as the driver even though he wasn’t there, real secure. 

My first drive through Croatia and I had no idea what to expect.  One would think that a major city, Split, would have easy access to a major highway and then more easy access to another major coastal city, Zadar.  One would be wrong, I wound through about 20 miles of two lane roads to get to the four lane.  On those roads there were lots of abandoned homes that had been damaged, war damage?  Also most of the houses looked very industrial and severe -- of the previous era? 


The four lane was awesome (and new) and they had a high speed limit.  Made it to the Zadar exit, and again a two lane dinky road to the city.  But the views from the top were excellent -- the coast was so pretty.  

I got turned around once on the way to the hotel and used my GPS on my iphone (maybe this will help us).  The hotel,  Pansion Albion, was in a residential area and looked like an old very large mansion that was on the down swing.  When I got there, the reception staff gave me a very quizzical look.  After they helped me up the three flights of stairs to our room (how lucky is that I get there and find two good looking men to carry my heavy bag up the stairs), I found out why.  I might have traveled for almost two days, Savage, my travel buddy, looked rougher than I did.  He had been out at a music festival almost two days nonstop.  Some things never change.  Glad he has never grown up.  This should be a fun trip. 

Our retro room was sweet (actually a suite kind of), we had a balcony off the front and then our room was attached to the balcony off the back.  If you looked real hard you could see the coast from there.  The chimneys were very interesting.   

check out the cool light fixture -- straight out of the 60's 

No rest for the weary, it appeared Savage was tired but was very hungry so off to town we went.  We weren’t staying within walking distance of town (bad thing), and parked near the dock areas.  It appeared that old downtown Zadar is an island, that you get to by rowboat.  There is parking there but it is very limited and to drive would be a nightmare maze of one way streets.  

The rowboat was very cool, do we pay?  How much?  We just got money out to leave on the towel and hat the rower had on the edge.  There was a large ferry coming through so our boat had to wait it out and avoid the wake of the ferry (the largest ferry I have seen other than ones that cross the English Channel -- this was a car ferry).  

They had some wickedly huge yachts there also.  

Once in town it was a maze of pedestrian streets, we had been recommended a restaurant and had to ask for directions a couple of times.  On the cobblestone path,  I fell good and hard and thankfully didn’t break anything (of course I was looking up taking pictures)  but I did dislocate my camera (the only one I brought).  I think it is fixable and it still took photographs.  

You have to love a city that has disco balls just hanging around the streets ---

We finally found NapoUre, a local restaurant on a back street, excellent meat risotto and grilled steak.  I was still adjusting to the whole being in a foreign country and jet lag.  People watching was excellent here, extremely scary looking attire -- the 1970’s haven’t left Croatia -- knee socks and sandals are not good.  

It was good to visit with my old friend in one way and bad in another.  I hadn’t seen him in 4 + years and we had both changed a lot.  I was now on high blood pressure meds and in extremely bad shape from all my work stress.  Savage called me out on it, not many friends would tell you that you look like shit and are killing yourself with an unhealthy lifestyle.  Gotta love that --- full on Kiwi directness.  Don’t sugar coat it for me.   

He had gotten older too but was a healthy eater and in decent physical shape (not on high blood pressure meds).  But his career wasn’t probably where it needed to be at our age.  Maybe it's a healthy thing not to be eaten up with work.  I don’t think that has ever been a concern of his, more of a vagabond -- my friend.  He is a surfer first and then worked to support the habit.  His job was there for the sole purpose of funding his surfing and adventures.  My job is my life and then I get to escape sometimes on adventures.  Maybe I could get a different perspective and modify my situation... Maybe.... 

While wandering the streets, we found the local wells with the old pulleys on them.  Also we found an outdoor concert in front of a lit up church.  

I found the clock tower.  As I love the “view”, I was all about those stairs.  He suffers from vertigo so of course he stayed down at the bottom.  

After I hiked up the spiral open staircase to the top and checked out the nighttime view of the city (very tranquil up there and beautiful).  The bells started ringing as soon as I stepped out of the outside overlook.  Good timing on my part or I could have been without hearing for a while.

  

They have a church here that bears my name but we couldn’t find it in the dark.  But in our wanderings we did see the massive fort with the boats around it.   On the top of the fort there were Venetian looking decorations.  I felt like I was in a very quiet Italian town.  

Also they had some nice airconditioners for the buildings too to add to the decor:

And we stumbled upon the sea organ -- there are holes that allow for the tide to come in and play music.  There were lots of people sitting out enjoying the beautiful night by the organ.  You could barely hear the music in some places and in others it was very clear and melodic.  I would have liked to have sat and been quiet and relaxed for a minute.  But we didn’t as there were so many people.  

Around the corner was a good surprise -- think John Travolta and Saturday Night Fever -- a lighted dance floor.  In reality it was a large solar panel that powered the street lamps in town.  At night they lit it up with different colors.  The weather was perfect here.  Not too cold and not too hot, I hope it stays like that.  I didn’t bring a jacket with me  (little did I know that was the coldest I would be the whole trip). 

I love to walk and all this walking around was good for my jet lag -- but when we got back to the room I kept waking up every few hours the first night.  Hope I didn’t wake up my travel buddy.  But he was out pretty good from his weekend activities.  

The first day in a new country is always so exciting and new, but jet lag dampens the excitement.    That hourly rate motel sure was helpful with allowing me to keep up the first day here.