How many times have people told you “it’s sooo cheap to travel around Europe!!”? Sorry to break it to you, but it’s really not. When people tell you it’s cheap they’re probably…
A) comparing it to the cost of taking a flight from the U.S. to Europe
B) buying budget airline tickets at 4am to places that aren’t necessarily their "top choice"
C) being unrealistic about the actual costs
Traveling (comfortably) is not cheap. I've definitely done my fair share of "cheap" travel but it's typically not glamorous like the moments shared through instagram but more commonly it's sweaty, loud 16-person room hostels, 6 hour layovers and 4 am flights.
That being said, my approach to this semester was to choose quality over quantity. The reason for this was not only because I'm on a #studentbudget but also because I wanted to travel a bit more comfortably when I did travel.
WHICH, brings me to my trip to Croatia over Easter break! My friends Ali, Kristen and I had booked our flights back in February and were so excited. The funny thing is, we are all super type A, planning extraordinaires, but we planned nothing more than our transportation and accommodations.
On Tuesday, April 16th we flew to Dubrovnik, settled into our Airbnb, then set off to explore the city center, known as the Old Town. It. Was. BEAUTIFUL. We spent the afternoon walking around the quaint cobblestone streets and historic buildings, basking in the heat of the sun. We walked along the city walls (something I'd highly recommend doing if you ever find yourself in Dubrovnik!) and my friend Ali is a huge Game of Thrones fan so we also went to see where some of the scenes were filmed around the city. For dinner, we sat at a restaurant with an ocean view and enjoyed happy hour and a nice seafood meal, something I definitely wouldn't have spent money on if I had already spent a lot traveling around Europe this semester.
The next morning, we woke up early to do a hike. At the top was a viewpoint of the ocean and entire city. It only took us about 45 minutes to get to the top and was such a great way to start the day!
We spent the afternoon at an island called Lokrum, a short ferry ride away from the city center. We hiked around the entire island, enjoying the sunshine, greenery, and ocean views.
That evening, we had a lovely oceanside dinner at a seafood restaurant recommended to us by our Airbnb host. One of his friends owned the restaurant so they were extra nice to us and even gave us a free drink at the end of our meal!
The next day, we walked around the rest of the city, had a picnic at the beach, then took a 4.5 hour ferry to the town of Split.
Surprise, surprise, we woke up early the next morning to do another hike to a viewpoint of Split!
...and then soaked up some much needed sun at Bacvice Beach.
Croatia is known for its olive oil so we grabbed some post-beach lunch at Uje Oil Bar. I would highly recommend checking this place out if you're ever in Split... it was delicious! We indulged in bread and olive oil, a cheese platter, and homemade pesto pasta.
Then we topped off a lovely vacation by grabbing drinks at a rooftop bar and spending the rest of our Croatian currency on ice cream!
Cheers to a lovely time in Croatia!