Croatia Round Two

It was so snowy in Warsaw, While waiting for my flight to Zagreb I just watched the guys on the ground who were driving on of the vehicles clearing the snow from the tarmac. They sure looked like they were having fun zooming all over the place and sliding about. Our flight was delayed by about 30 minutes or so but then it was smooth sailing to Zagreb.

After arriving I did my usual trip to the supermarket. I had a little kitchenette in the place I was staying so got some bits and pieces as I was going to be in town for a few days. I then just went and chilled out for the rest of the night as I was pretty exhausted and I had things to do the next day.

In the morning I got up and headed to the Australian Embassy as I had an appointment to renew my passport. Grateful that Malte had a printer at his house so I could print off all the bits I needed for it before leaving Kiel. That all went smoothly enough and I can hopefully pick it up at the end of January in time before I leave. I was organising the renewal here so that I can go to Japan for a month on my way back to Australia.

I then had plans to go meet up with Karlo and Jill (from Bespoke Croatia) for a catchup. Which was nice to see them again. It’s quite nice to have some friends in the capital to get to see when I am in town. After catching up I headed back towards where I was staying but veered a bit to check out the city and some Christmas markets. The city was crazy buzzing as tonight Croatia was playing Argentina in the World Cup semi’s. There were flags everywhere, even more than normal for Croatia, and if you know Croatians, you know there are always flags. I then just went back and did some work.

I did head out to check out what the city was like while the game was going on. It was crazy, every single venue had screens outside where every seat was filled. There was a huge screen set up in the main city square where there was quite a crowd. In the second half after Argentina scored their 3rd goal, you could feel the air just let out of everyone. Before then, there was still some hope in the crowd, after that. It was gone. People started to wander off, lots of very sad looks on faces. It was pretty sorry to watch, so I left and went back to my room. I really didn’t want to be out with that many sad people all trying to go home at once to cry themselves to sleep. It was certainly an experience though to witness and be present for a whole city coming together for football.

The next day I just did some work and then went for a walk around for a bit. Got some food, and then decided to try to find a hairdresser to deal with my 6 months of regrowth. I ended up finding a place literally 3 doors up from where I was staying. I just popped in to see if they had time the next day and the lovely woman there was happy to squish me in right then. She was concerned as she didn’t have my colour but I let her know I was just next door and had it with me. So I ran and got it and I got my hair done! They were so lovely and I highly recommend if you are in Zagreb and want to get your hair done, stop by Salon Toni.

I just worked mostly on Thursday, really trying to start catching up on all the bits and pieces that had slipped while visiting people over the last few weeks. One of the challenges I have noticed is keeping on top of things when I am in the company of others. When I am just on my own I can control my work and hours a lot more. Even maintaining posting blogs here is easier when it’s just me, in solo travel world. In large part this is due to my evenings becoming a social time with others, where as travelling alone they are really used for working a lot more. Part of this trip was about testing how this works so it’s good to realise what does and what doesn’t and how to try to make it all work.

I went and checked out more Christmas markets. They are all over Zagreb, the whole city is filled with part of the Zagreb Advent. It has topped lists as one of the best Christmas markets to visit and there is lots to see and do. As I have discovered now, these markets are a lot more fun with people as they are about the food, the drinks, and the socialising. So alone, I more wander and take in and appreciate it for what it could be like if I was with people. All the lights are pretty and people watching is also interesting. I did find a whole vegan plant based food stall, but I didn’t eat there. I had already eaten and wasn’t feeling like buying something extra just to say I did.

On Friday after checking out I went and dropped my luggage off at the bus station. The luggage locker there is great, reasonably priced and easy. My bus to Otočac wasn’t until about 3:30pm so I just went for a wander for a couple of hours. Once it was go time that all went smoothly and I went for a bus ride.