Trips

On Wednesday morning we departed Stari Grad earlier than planned and headed to Hvar Town, our second stop on the island of Hvar. Hvar town was originally supposed to be an overnight stop, but due to the upcoming weather, the ship departed Stari Grad immediately after breakfast. We had a tour from a local guide, […]

At about 5pm on Sunday, our bus dropped us off at the promenade in Split right in front of our ship, Motor Yacht Barbara. This was the start of a truly special journey. The ship was fantastic. A link that has some info about the ship is https://www.barbara-cruising.com/my-barbara/.  Our group of 22 participants, our group […]

Since I arrived in Split six hours before the start of the group tour orientation meeting, I explored the old town on my own. Split is the second largest city in Croatia. The hotel location was perfect, right on the edge of the old area of town that was a retired Roman emperor’s palace (from […]

The long layover When I booked my outbound flight, I knew I had a long layover at Helsinki. Rather than spend 7 hours at the airport, I had made plans to take the 30-minute train that goes from the airport into central Helsinki. For me, walking and staying active is the best way to fight […]

How it came together Cindy and I had discussed a possible trip to Croatia in fall 2023 as our next big trip. As we watched travel videos of people navigating steep hills and many stairs in Dubrovnik and Split, it became clear that Cindy’s knee was not yet ready for a physically demanding trip like […]

The last stop on our trip: Two nights in The Hague, three nights in Amsterdam, and the last night at an Amsterdam airport hotel. Our flight at 12 noon on Friday from Bilbao to Amsterdam was in KLM business class, using miles. For flights within Europe, most airlines, including KLM, use the same 3×3 seating […]