Most of you know that Justin does not like to fly. So, we planned to travel the entire year without flying. We started out on Amtrak from Omaha->Chicago->Boston. Then, on a Holland America ship from Boston->Canada->Greenland->Iceland->Norway-> Netherlands. I loved this part of the trip. We got to see places that many haven’t been to (like Greenland) and found the places, people, and culture very interesting. Then, train/ Chunnel from Rotterdam->Paris->London. Rented a car in London and drove all over Scotland, down to Cornwall, Stonehenge, to Liverpool. Train/Ferry from Liverpool to Dublin. Bus tours throughout Ireland and Northern Ireland. Ferry/Train back to London. But, this last one was a long one. London->Paris via Chunnel. Then we had to walk (with all of our big bags) from the Paris Norde station to the l’Est station, about 10 minutes. Paris->Munich with a stop/transfer through Karlsruhe (very tight connection but at least they had escalators). Spent the night in Munich. Munich->Zagreb via stop/transfer via Villach (where there were no escalators or elevators). Remember, 3 of our suitcases weigh over 60 pounds. So, up and down the stairs we go with our luggage. When we got to the Zagreb station, also no escalator. So, again, up and down with our luggage. By this time, we were all over it. I think if we had gone straight through without the transfers it would have been fine. And, two days on a train was quite enough for all of us.
Justyne’s sleeping schedule has been off since we arrived…actually, since we were on the ship. She sleeps all day and is awake all night. We thought we finally had her caught up then we were on the train for 2 days so she slept both days.
It seems romantic to travel on the trains through Europe but I think that’s when you’re in your 20s and without 5 big pieces of luggage and 3 teenage-ish kids. And, traveling on trains seems easy but there’s no direct trains anywhere, or at least anywhere we were going.
Moral of the story, unless you have no luggage and no kids, it’s better just to get there, i.e. fly!!! There’s a reason the airplanes were invented…they’re faster and more direct!! We will be doing a lot of touring while in country so we don’t need to see things via the trains. And, the kids were all asleep through the train rides anyways!
So, we will see how much longer we can go without flying. We rented a car in Croatia so Justin will be driving throughout the country. He didn’t realize it was a stick shift until we got in to go. The guy had delivered our car to the train station and he was long gone by the time we figured this out. So, here we go with a manual transmission. I thought this poor little car was going to die with all of us and 300 pounds of luggage but it got us to our house outside of Split in Podstrana. Our house is great and it’s all on one floor, Yaaayyy!!!! and has 2 bathrooms! Yaaayyy! We are taking our first day to unpack and get settled. Then, we will have to figure out everything we want to see. There is a lot here and we don’t want to miss anything (but of course we will have to miss something). I bought some Croatian beer to try out so I’m happy. I’ll let you know which one I like. I’m not a big beer drinker but it’s warm here and there’s nothing like a cold beer on a hot day! Cheers! Zivjeli!
Kids are all registered for school so we will start as soon as all the materials arrive, hope in a week or so.
Higman Travels 